Book series – Excited to read!

In an effort to have more control over all the book series I have started to read, need to finish or want to start on, I decided to make a few categories I can arrange them into and make myself busy with planning on how to fit them in my future reading plans!

First category are the book series I am excited to read.

I love reading books with lots of sequels. When I find a story and characters I love, I want to have more books to read trough and enjoy. For this reason I will sometimes decide to buy more than one book from a completely new book series before I even started to read the first book! And this is also why the books I already own and have on my physical bookshelves are being promoted into priority category for the purpose of making any future reading plans.

Few years back I have made a decision to always prioritize the books I own and it has actually worked out wonderfully. When I look around the books on my shelves I am happy to report that the ratio of unread and read books is not as alarming as it might be.

Here are the books I am excited to read as a continuation of the book series I already enjoy and have on my shelves. They are not sorted in any particular order and these are all book series that I rated highly enjoyable to read because I like the characters, writing style of the author or the ideas they represent. Some of them are on my shelves longer and some are recent purchases. all of them are part of my ever present reading goal – to read trough all the books I own!

Vorkosigan Saga by Lois MacMaster Bujold

I was not always fond of science fiction because space is a confusing place and in theory I found it hard to relate and get into the cold outer space setting. Vorkosigan saga is one of those book series that completely changed how I view space opera genre and science fiction in general. The characters are relatable and “down to earth”. Even though my primary goal when I was buying the series was buying them for my BF to read and not me – I have learned to love and appreciate these books. The editions I have are translations in Croatian from a publisher that no longer exists which makes them a bit of a rarity. These books are highly underrated and they deal with ideas and topics relevant in any day and age – traditions, science versus belief, questions about gender, characters with disabilities, dealing with expectations of others, and so many more unexpected moral and personal questions you will be thinking about once you start reading trough satisfying number of books in the series.

My progress of the series is slow paced. I am somewhere half trough the series and I am excited follow more space adventures of the characters author has created about forty years ago!

Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) by Leigh Bardugo

One of the most recent additions to my book shelves since Hell Bent has only been published earlier this year. Leigh Bardugo has become an author whose books are automatically on my TBR and wish list. I have great respect for who ever is making the decisions to make her books well designed physically and beautiful too. I always choose to get her books in hard cover editions whenever possible. This particular series is dark academia theme and I have found the horror and mystery elements quite appealing. Again, this is an example of a book series that has helped me include genres I don’t normally read – mainly horror genre.

My progress with the series is: need to read the second book and then slowly and not so patiently wait for the next book after that to come out – probably why I’m not in a hurry to get to it…

Elves

Only exception on the lists of book series I own is a graphic novel I am reading in digital form. This is a part of an ongoing series that is currently on volume 30. This series is collaboration of many authors and artists. Most are originally European and mainly French descent but some of the collaborators expand out of those limits as well. This graphic novel came as a recommendation from a friend and I was impressed with depth of the story and beautiful coloring. Story is long and expanding many continents in a fantasy world filled with magical creatures and many different races. The volumes are short – around fifty pages each but are

My progress with the series: I am on volume nine out of current thirty available. I come back to this graphic novel series every time I need a good and fast read I know I am going to enjoy for a reading challenge!

Alpha (Strays #6) by Rachel Vincent

I love urban fantasy book series with interesting female protagonists. This is an older shifter book series with cats, they had me at cats! I love this series so much that I made my peace with not all the books being same size and format – otherwise this is a horrifying concept for me! One of the books I even bought used and a bit scraped up since I could not find it in any better condition – also not a comforting thought for me. This book series has been a lot of firsts for me in this regard even though it is a genre and theme I usually go for.

My progress with the series is almost done since I have only the last book of the series to read! I think i am saving it for some reading challenge that requires me to finish a book series or something…

Aurora’s End (The Aurora Cycle, #3) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

My motivation when I got the first two books was to give author a try – I’m still very picky when space theme is present. It was supposed to prepare me to read another book by Jay Kristoff and it was not a planned buy when I got the first two books. I ended up reading both books in the same month and then immediately had to order the third one. That is how much I liked the characters and their dynamics! Also I really like the covers and how the characters are portrayed on them. The extra content in these soft cover edition has been impressive and it made me wonder if I can afford to get the hard cover editions. That is how much the extra content has been important to me. I would love seeing this book series turned into animated series or a TV series but I don’t hold my breath for that to happen at all…

My progress into the series: need to read the last book and I am postponing it because this is only a trilogy and I don’t want it to end so soon…

Staked (The Iron Druid Chronicles #8) by Kevin Hearne

This is one of the older book series I got into so many years ago. Trough the years my interest has lessened. But then I read next book of the series after a long pause ( years long pause!) and was surprised at how easy I got into the story and how the characters were still captivating. It was one of the book series I started collecting in hopes of reading it along with my BF. He ended up reading more than I did and now I’m not sure if he is going to finish it at all after such a long break.

My progress with the series is close to finishing – three books left! Good thing is the author has finished writing and aside from the books I already have, there are also few short stories I can read.

The Queen of the Damned (The Vampire Chronicles, #3) by Anne Rice

Vampire theme was always a fascination of mine and I still have a tendency to collect vampire themed books – be it short story collections or book series. Anne Rice has always been a staple of vampire genre and I always had a feeling I needed to read these. This nagging feeling I needed to read something had made me collect Anne Rice books but held me back from actually reading any of them. At one point I had more than ten books written by Anne Rice and have not read one single of them. After a shaky and bumpy start with the first book of the famous Vampire Chronicles I got to read the second one and finally gotten thrilled with it. I am slightly unhappy with all the different covers for the mass market paperback editions I own but the hard truth is I can’t find all the books in a more uniformed editions because there has been so many different editions over the years. I would love to own these in a prettier collector editions – something more like Folio society editions.

My progress with the series is slower than any other book series I own so many books of – I need to start reading the third book in the series and the small mass market paperback editions with chubby 500+ pages are not that inviting not easy to fit in any reading challenge…

Hellboy #2 by Mike Mignola

Graphic novel collection that started as a yearly present I picked out on a Zagreb Book Fair Interliber for my BF. These editions are hard cover and in Croatian. They each have more than one volume inside them and it makes it harder to follow on GR once I start reading them. I plan to collect the rest but have been unable to afford them last few years.

My progress with the series – I have accidentally read the first and the last graphic novel of the series and not I need to get and start reading the second omnibus edition ( right one in the picture)

Batman: Nightwalker (Dc Icons #2) by Marie Lu

Once I had an idea to collect all the books from the DC Icons series because the list of authors connected into this project was impressive. Each book is written by one of the popular YA authors and I liked the opportunity to try reading some new popular author for the first time without being sucked into another YA book series that everyone else is into. Hard cover books were a present from my BF and now I am struggling to find the resto of the DC Icons editions in hard cover which is proving to be near impossible…

My progress with the series: not in any hurry to read the second book since the prospect of finding the next book is going to be a nightmare…

In conclusion

Book series I am excited to continue reading from my own book shelf ( with one notable exception) is not that long but I can not call it short either. I expect that with starting some new book series and finishing out the last books from the series on this list – the number of the books that are part of a series and I am excited to continue will change, evolve and, most likely, grow. I am perfectly fine with that thought and I am happily looking forward to exciting books I can enjoy reading in the future!

Bookopoly Chance Cards Season 2.

Just over a year ago I made my first Bookopoly TBR board and decided to make Bookopoly reading challenge a buddy reading project with a booklover friend Vivone. You can check out that first Bookopoly post HERE. Since then we had many changes to our boards to make them fit more to our reading habits and preferences.

One of the requirements for the Bookopoly board was a set of 16 Chance Cards with book titles for a random draw each time we end our movement on a Chance Card tile. Eight Chance Cards have titles of eight books I am looking forward to read and other eight Chance Cards have titles of books I am less excited about but still want to read. I decided to use this opportunity and use books that I already own and choose the titles from my own bookshelves. This resulted in first 15 out of 16 titles to be books I already own and is something I am very happy about.

Here are the first 16 book titles I put on Chance Cards:

The Chosen Half-Elf (Elfes #4) by Éric Corbeyran, Jean-Paul Bordier (Illustrator) ★★★★

The Scent of Shadows (Signs of the Zodiac #1) by Vicki Pettersson ★★★★

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux ★★

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon ★★★★

Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos ★★★

Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo ★★★★★

Pride (Shifters #3) by Rachel Vincent ★★★★★

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu ★★★

Naked City by Ellen Datlow (Editor) ★★★★

Elminster: The Making of a Mage (Forgotten Realms: Elminster #1) by Ed Greenwood  ★★★★

Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow ★★★

The Hedge Knight: The Tales of Dunk and Egg by George R.R. Martin  ★★★★

Time Weaver (Drakon #5) by Shana Abe ★★★

Antologija suvremene japanske novele by Kazuo Tanaka (Editor) ★★★★

Real World by Natsuo Kirino ★★★

The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

On this picture The Chosen Half-Elf (Elfes #4) by Éric Corbeyran, Jean-Paul Bordier is missing because it was a digital edition.

Some books I put on Chance Cards I ended up reading for some other reading challenges and the amount of times I landed on the Chance Card tile was surprisingly high. This resulted in me needing a new set of 16 titles for Chance Cards! This time I decided to use all the titles from my own bookshelves and it is a big part of the reason why I have not updated my TBR Jar Draw project. The purpose of my TBR Jar Draw project was to read the books from my own shelves and I have been doing that surprisingly well in the last few years.

At the moment I am reading the last book from the first set – The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice and have already drawn a new Chance Card from the second batch and have added the Bajki robotów by Stanisław Lem to my reading for October ( I am not sure if I’m going to make it by the end of the month since life interrupts a lot of my reading sessions lately).

Here are the 16 new book titles for Chance Cards:

Bajki robotów by Stanisław Lem

Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (Millennial Contest #1) by Roger Zelazny, Robert Sheckley

Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1) by Leigh Bardugo

A Wind in the Door (Time Quintet #2) by Madeleine L’Engle

Necroscope (Necroscope #1) by Brian Lumley

The Poison Diaries (The Poison Diaries #1) by Maryrose Wood

The Great Book of Amber (The Chronicles of Amber #1-10 ) by Roger Zelazny

Concertina: The Life And Loves Of A Dominatrix by Susan Winemaker

Shattered (The Iron Druid Chronicles #7) by Kevin Hearne

Loki: Where Mischief Lies (Marvel Press Novels) by Mackenzi Lee

Wait Till Your Vampire Gets Home (Broken Heart #4) by Michele Bardsley

Love In Vein: Tales of Vampire Erotica by Poppy Z. Brite

Wolf Brother (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #1) by Michelle Paver

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 2 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) by Nancy Holder

Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) by William Gibson

On this picture Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) by William Gibson is missing since I loaned the book to a friend.

First sixteen books for Chance Cards have amounted to 5081 pages and are mostly around 300 pages long each. The longest book from the first batch is 539 pages long and the shortest is only 55. From all the book titles I had on my Chance Cards only one book was rated with two stars and I did not particularly liked it. In contrast 9 out of 16 books I loved and rated four or five stars. I am happy to report that this made me read trough some books that I had on my shelf for years and I even liked them more than I expected to. I had a clear vision of the books I was looking forward to read and this might be why I read some of them even before I pulled their Chance Card out for Bookopoly. This might happen again with the new batch and I refuse to save or hold the titles just because I will pull their Chance Card eventually. When I pull a title I have already read I just draw the next one until I run out of Chance Cards.

Both piles have one title missing from the list.

The second batch of sixteen books I have chosen have a bit more pages total – 6501. The average book is around 350 long and the biggest difference is with the book with the most pages. The longest book in the second batch has 1258 pages and the shortest has 166. I realize that I might have to give myself more time to finish my Bookopoly reading in the future, since my schedule is more busy than it was last few years. Right now I am quite busy with reading for work and some of my books have taken the back seat until I ease into things I have on my plate right now. The amount of books in English language ratio and books in Croatian language remains the same and I still have a lot of variety in genres. Some of the books on my lists are older and not so well known but I always have some popular and bestseller titles I have yet to read.

What do you think about my lists and book choices? Have you read any and what did you think about them?

Leave a comment and let me know!

Orilium – Magical Readathon Novice Path September 2021 – Update

Orilium by Lizzart

This September and the first week of October were a real mess for me. While I did manage to get some nice reading squeezed in and have read most of the books I planed to read, I am behind on making posts and updates in general. To illustrate the gravity of the situation let me just point out that while I did read the books out of order and finished reading six books out of seven I’ve chosen I completely forgot that I was supposed to record them in trough the form provided. Thankfully the form is still open and I was able do do that later on even though my books were not counted towards the statistics for September.

One thing I feel I must mention is that I did not exactly follow the path but instead I visited the locations in my own order and pace – I read the books in a different order than they were presented by the prompts! I will contribute this to my future Orilium character weird personality in which I tend to stray from the usual path and the way of doing things. From all my experience in role playing games I have a tendency to play characters that are of the chaotic alignment.

Hare are the books and prompts for the Novice Path I have read in September:

Site: Novice Path Entrance

Prompt: Book with a map

Book: Half the World (Shattered Sea #2) by Joe Abercrombie ★★★★

It was a strange choice for me to pick a second book in the Shattered Sea trilogy as the first book to start on my Novice path. Choosing the book with a map as was the requirement was harder than I anticipated and I went trough some other options I wanted more than this book but could not just find the right one. I read the first book last year and liked it very much but was apprehensive since my boyfriend did not like it because it follows some new characters other than those in the first book. I went fearfully into this book.

The map in the book is an expended version of the map in the first books and on it it was interesting to follow the adventurous path of the characters. I kept returning to the map and referring to the locations on it while I was reading. Just like the first book of the series it is a book that describes a great journey – both geographical as well as mental and personal for the characters. It was not the first book I read in September but in the end I was happy with it and enjoyed it much more than I expected. I even enjoyed myself so much I am still on the lookout for the third book in hardcover edition.

Site: Ashtorn Tree

Prompt: A book that keeps tempting you or a book on top of your TBR

Book: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch ★★★★

This is one of the books on my list for book club suggestions. It has been years since it was translated into Croatian and I was intrigued since the time I was working in a bookstore. It is not a type of a book I normally go for which only speaks so much more for about the attention it garnered from me. I expected an emotional rollercoaster of a book and tried to prepare myself for the slightly morbid topic of a man who knows he is about to die and is sharing his views and values trough a story and ultimately a lecture at a university. I am not ashamed to admit that I cried on some parts of the book and some parts I considered to be thoughtful and inspiring – especially the parts where he talks about his dreams and life goals and aspirations for his own children. I will continue to advocate for this book to my book club group because I would really like to hear what they think and share my thoughts about this unusually inspiring book.

Site: The Mist of Solitude

Prompt: Standalone book

Book: Les Hirondelles de Kaboul by Yasmina Khadra ★★★

From all the books I’ve chosen for this reading challenge this one was the one I was the least looking forward to. I used to for the standalone prompt because it fit another reading challenge I was doing in September as well. It was for Becca’s Bookoplathon and you can read more about it HERE. I think I prepared myself for the harshness of this book so well that when I read the parts I was worried about, it went much easier than I anticipated. The story portrays human and practical characters in a brutal setting that we sometimes forget is very real in the parts of the world we live in. I managed to disconnect myself from the story because otherwise I would not be able to wrestle with my daily chores. I prefer to use books as a balm and inspiration.

Site: Ruin of the Skye

Prompt: Book with ghosts/haunted house or other supernatural elements

Book: The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

This is one of the last books I started reading in September and I did not finish yet. My chosen supernatural element were vampires. I got a full shelf of Anne Rice’s books and out of all of them I read only one!

I often get sidetracked in my quests and I will count this one as a part of the scenic rout taken on my adventuring path in Orilium. I plan to finish it soon and as you will see from some other stats below I have reasons not to be very upset about not finishing this book in September

Site: Obsidian Falls

Prompt: Thriller or a mystery book

Book: Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked #1)by Kerri Maniscalco

Thriller or a mystery book prompt did not inspire confidence. I was happy when I was checking my TBR on Goodreads and in the tags found a few options that I actually liked. I decided to go with the latest Kindle edition of a book that is popular at the moment. I had high hopes of liking it too. I don’t know what did I expect from this book but I was more frustrated by it then I enjoyed it. Plot and the characters seemed weak and predictable and the explanations and plot twists seemed convenient. Some things just did not hold up for me. The vague timeline and open world that was reduced to a small Italian island felt too small and constricting while giving a respectable medieval vibe which in turn was slightly off from the open worldview of the townsfolk and their general behaviour. The book could have used a glossary of Italian words the author used. The cooking bit did not impress me as much it should have. All that being said – I liked the witch story twist and demonology theme even though I felt it to be unclear in some things. I am debating on giving the next book a try because I think it might have more potential and most of my issues with the book setting might be resolved.

Site: Tower of Rumination

Prompt: Five star prediction

Book: Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells ★★★★★

From the first book in Murderbot Diaries series I was enamored with this science fiction stories. I loved all three previous books and I loved this one as well. I am still surprised at how much easy to read these little books are especially since space theme science fiction is still not a genre I consider a favorite. But these books are definitely my favorite and I am getting the other books related to Murderbot Diaries by the end of the year as well.

In fact I loved it so much that I am even looking out for the new fantasy book by the same author named Witch King and set to hit the bookstores in the fall next year!

Site: Orilium Academy Arc

Prompt: Book with a school setting

Book: The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy #1) by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer ★★★★★

I really thought that it would be easier to find a book with a school setting on my own shelves that was not a part of the Harry Potter book series! at one point I even thought I was going to reread one of those. Instead I accidentally stumbled on a new Croatian edition and translation of the author one of my bookish friends really loves – K.F. Breene. While I never before read anything from this author I have found some of her other books on Kindle sales and collected them for some new reading opportunity and some new reading challenge. This book is fairly new and I was waiting for weeks to get it from the library. I almost did not read it in time because of it! The book actually offered a sort of prequel to some really interesting and brutal school setting and because it ended on a cliffhanger I am rethinking of reading it in English because I might not be able to wait forever for Croatian translation!

Character background prompts and book choices:

Even though I technically have time by April 2022. to finish up reading the books for my character background choices I read two out of three right away in September!

Background: Urban

Prompt: Book set in a city or town

Book: Darkfever (Fever #1) by Karen Marie Moning ★★★

As one of the books that has been on my TBR for almost a decade I expected a lot more from it. I did not want to believe the ugly cover to be a true indicator of how good the book in general is. I had issues with this book. It has been quite some time since I’ve read an urban fantasy book with the main character as unlikable and annoying as this one. I tried liking her and as soon as I could come to terms with one annoying thing two new popped up! What I did have a healthy respect for was that the story was not set on the romance and that the sole purpose of the main character was not to fall for the dark mysterious brooding guy – Jericho Barrons. What killed this book for me and made me not want to continue reading the rest of the series was the last chapter where nothing made sense in lieu of what the characters did.
Getting a manicure from the person she got the manicure from seemed like something that should have happened in a chaotic dream and not the cliffhanger plot it turned out to be… I’m glad I gave it a try and I would have tried giving this book series another try with the sequel but I just could not digest that last chapter. Maybe I would have liked it more if I had read it first at the time when I added it to my TBR.

Province: Kerador

Prompt: Book from an ongoing series

Book: The Crystal of the Wood Elves (Elfes #7) by Nicolas Jarry, Gianluca Maconi, Christina Cox-De Ravel ★★★★

The Elfes fantasy graphic novel series has around 30 volumes and there are supposed to be other related graphic novels with other races as the main topic. For me this is going to be an ongoing series for a long time because I am using the casual approach and I’m adding a volume TBR each month or a chance I get to include it in some future reading challenge. Volumes are relatively short – each is around 50 pages long but the artwork is stunning and I enjoy the fantasy setting. I might have rushed this volume in order to read it in time but the short episode format is starting to bug me.

In addition to the options and choices above I got an update to my guild choice and have finally chosen a name for myself. So let me introduce myself for now:

My name is Petaniqua and I am a of skaimorn descent. I come from a city in the province of Kerador and belong to The Archivists guild. The ancient art of book keeping is one of our specialties.

I am looking forward to new content and details that come with each guild, quest and lore. From the prompts I have left to complete until April I have only one more left and I will probably start on it at the in December if not somewhere in early 2022.

Heritage: Skaimorn

Prompt: Oldest book I own or have on TBR

Book: Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

This reading challenge feels more like an adventure game and I hope I will continue to enjoy it. How do you like my journey so far and what do you think about participating in this type of a reading challenge? For more details on the Orilium challenge check out the video announcement HERE and give Book Roast some love and support.

Becca’s Bookopoly – Bookoplathon September 2021 – Experience and thoughts

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This September my reading buddy and I decided to both join in on Bookoplathon September reading challenge by using Becca’s Bookoplathon board instead of our usual Bookopoly board that was based on Becca’s but modified for our reading needs and goals trough this last year. We got the idea last year and carried it on by ourselves and when the opportunity to once again join Becca’s reading challenge came along we were all in. I must say I was impressed with the prompts across the board being well thought out and gave readers freedom in picking out books in a way that not many other reading challenges do. You should check out Becca’s YouTube channel HERE and give her some love because she really deserves it! You can also check out the original post where I picked out my books HERE.

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I had six rolls total and six books to read since one roll was a double and added one extra roll and book with the usual five that were the base on my start.

Here is how my prompts and my reading experience went:

Prompt: Gods

Book: Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology #1) by Stephen Fry

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My first roll got me a book I did not finish by the end of the month. Mythos was not what I expected and truth be told I did not think much about what to expect when I bought this book. If I thought logically I would have been more aware of this book being a retelling of Greek mythology by a British comedian. I was reading a lovely luxury edition translated to Croatian and I felt the bumps and hurdles in what was probably originally created to be witty and humorous commentary on Greek mythology. I found out the hard way that I hoped for something more informative and educational and while I certainly got that; I also got silly observations and bland comedic comments that lost the amusing bits somewhere in translation. I really wanted to like this book and the final product was a very slow reading progress and gradually growing disinterest. I don’t feel compelled to pick up the book to enjoy reading and only goal in mind I have is to get it out of my reading schedule. I will finish it eventually but it will take longer than I anticipated. I decided to count it as reading in progress an not apply any penalty reading in October since I read over one third of it and plan to finish it anyway… Sad and disappointed 😦

Prompt: Mood Read

Book: Darkfever (Fever #1) by Karen Marie Moning

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When I first rolled my dice and got the “Mood Read” prompt I was pleased. Then I got really undecided on what to pick since I wanted to pick something that can crossover with the second reading challenge I had going on for September and something I thought I would enjoy. Urban fantasy has been my go to genre and a safety blanket for almost a decade so this book seemed like a good choice. My only explanation is that over the years I might have started to be a lot more judgy for my favorite genre. Also, I guess I like a little bit more direction in my reading prompts. I was too easily annoyed with the main character and while this book had some good points the end just kicked down the whole series from my future TBR. I’m glad I gave it a try and I would have tried giving this book series another try with the sequel, but I just could not digest that last chapter in which nothing made sense to me. And I had a chat with a friend where we could not help but comment on how ugly and poorly designed this book cover really is. I mean really the main character doesn’t even have blue eyes and it shows how little the publisher thought about this book 😦

Prompt: Current News / Events

Book: Les Hirondelles de Kaboul by Yasmina Khadra

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I was dreading reading this book. My reading buddy is really into these middle eastern real life story retellings and I just need a bit more hope and magic in my books. I knew that the harsh reality of this book will be something that will make me cry. I expected the worst and I might have softened the blow the story would have had on me if I was less prepared. I tend to cry and get really depressed when reading these types of books and I am a low energy person that can’t really afford to waste it on a book that will traumatize me for weeks. Because that’s how long some sad and horrific books stay with me sometimes. I am glad this book was short and that I chose it for the first book to read in September because I had other books to occupy my mind and not dwell on it too much.

Prompt: Opulent

Book: Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor

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I had another book in mind for this prompt: Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire #1) by Jay Kristoff. Sadly that book has yet to arrive even though I preordered it back in August. I was ready to read this 700+ pages vampire book and love it. The replacement book was a little less opulent but the vivid blue streaked with gold details on the cover got my attention instead. This was not a random pick since it was a part of duology with Strange the Dreamer I planned to read this September as well. I liked the book more than I thought I would and got an extra kick from reading both of the books in the same month!

Prompt: Poll Pick

Book: Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor

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First book in the Strange the Dreamer duology and a part of the buddy reading project. I was not sure if I would like this book but the main character was endearing in his practicality and love of books. I can even describe this book as a dreamy bookish adventure. This book was from the library and I think the blue and orange on the cover really look good. I am glad to have finally read this book and I can totally see why people love it. On the poll I created all of my bookish friends voted for me to read it!

Prompt: Chance card

Book: The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

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My sixth prompt and the last book I started reading this September is The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice. I remember the first book Interview with the Vampire as a bookish trauma of sorts. I could not get into it and kept confusing the book with the movie that I used to watch often and loved it every time. I was so apprehensive about reading this book that I did not even start it until the last day of September and knowing I will not be finishing it in time for the challenge. Once I started reading it I wanted to scream at myself because it pulled me in from the first sentence! I loved reading Lestat perspective and finding out more about his past! I find myself wanting to read it all the time and adore how engaging this book is for me. I think I need to count this one for the penalty in October since I did not manage to read it and sabotaged myself this way. For my penalty I will be adding one more roll for October for my usual Bookopoly reading challenge!

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My thoughts on my experience in Bookoplathon September 2021

First let me share some stats about the books I have read. This is a first Bookopoly book pile that has same number of books from the library as from my own shelves. All but one book was in Croatian language. Total number of pages I was supposed to read was 2242 instead I read 1321 which is almost one thousand pages less in just two books difference.

I was super impressed with the prompts and because I consider the Bookopoly board I use for my usual monthly reading challenge a work in progress I might take some inspiration on simple prompts that offer a wide range of books to fulfill them. I am glad to have participated even though I am not that happy with how I did. From six books I planned to read for the challenge only four I actually read. I plan to finish those that I have leftover but this brings the number of books I have for reading in progress up to three and makes me feel really bad about tagging books along from month to month. I will enjoy finishing at least one of these soon enough but it might reflect bad on my reading in October and I might even have to slow down. Another reason I loved participating in Becca’s reading challenge is because I find her content entertaining and her ideas inspiring. Thank you Becca 🙂

Orilium – Magical Readathon Novice Path September 2021

This year I felt the absence of Harry Potter Magical Readathon that Book Roast used to organize. In preparation for a whole new original magical readathon that will be in full swing next year, she prepared an intro for all those who are interested. You can check out Book Roast channel for more of her content HERE and the video announcement for Orilium Magical readathon with explanations and detail HERE.

This is going to be a roleplaying type of a reading challenge where each participant will make a character like for a video game or the usual roleplaying game of Dungeons & Dragons. You have your character sheet with origin and trait details and you will be progressing trough quests and events by reading books that fir given prompts. But for now there is a Novice Path for all participants to get into their characters and get the feel of the game.

Novice Path has a map with six quest sites that offer a prompt for reading a book. Two are a minimum to be able to advance and participate in the next round in spring next year. So, the goal is to read at least two books that fit the prompts and solve the quests that way. As I love challenging myself I will try to read the books for all seven prompts and travel the map for all the quests!

Here are the prompts and my book choices:

Site: Novice Path Entrance

Prompt: Book with a map

Book: Half the World (Shattered Sea #2) by Joe Abercrombie

Site: Ashtorn Tree

Prompt: A book that keeps tempting you or a book on top of your TBR

Book: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Site: The Mist of Solitude

Prompt: Standalone book

Book: Les Hirondelles de Kaboul by Yasmina Khadra

Site: Ruin of the Skye

Prompt: Book with ghosts/haunted house or other supernatural elements

Book: The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

Site: Obsidian Falls

Prompt: Thriller or a mystery book

Book: Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked #1)by Kerri Maniscalco

Site: Tower of Rumination

Prompt: Five star prediction

Book: Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells

Site: Orilium Academy Arc

Prompt: Book with a school setting

Book: The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy #1) by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer

Other than the Novice Path reading challenge there are also three reading prompts designed for character creation. These can be done anytime by April 2022. when the next part of Orilium reading challenge is set to begin. The prompts are made to choose the background of the character – urban or wild, province of origin out of those provided on the first map and a heritage of the character which is a race the character belongs out of those that were provided trough the lore and materials about the world of Aldia. For all the reading prompts above mentioned there is a rule that each prompt requires a separate book.

Here are my character background prompts and book choices:

Background: Urban

Prompt: Book set in a city or town

Book: Darkfever (Fever #1) by Karen Marie Moning

Province: Kerador

Prompt: Book from an ongoing series

Book: The Crystal of the Wood Elves (Elfes #7) by Nicolas Jarry, Gianluca Maconi, Christina Cox-De Ravel

Heritage: Skaimorn

Prompt: Oldest book I own or have on TBR

Book: Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

There are some other things that will be linked to character creation and development like being part of a particular guild and Lunar phase at birth that will be introduced later on. Those who wish to try out more than one character can do that as well as they will be reading prompts for each character separately. I am not that ambitious and will be sticking to just one!

How do you like my plans and choices? What choices did you pick?

Becca’s Bookopoly – Bookoplathon September 2021

In September there are many wonderful reading challenges to choose from and unless I find a doorway to a secret dimension where time flows slower and spent equal amount of time in it as in this one! Sadly I am still on the lookout for that kind of doorway. Until I find it I have made a selection of reading challenges I will be participating in and Becca’s Bookopoly is something I simply can’t miss since she inspired me to make my own Bookopoly board and then work on it and modify it for the last year! This September all who are interested are given the chance to play together on a special Bookopoly board that is designed to include options for many different types of readers.

You can check out Becca’s channel Becca and the Books HERE and her own throwdown for the Bookoplathon HERE – Warning: the dice have not gone easy on her and it was a blast! Thank you Becca! Love your content and hope you read all the books you set for yourself in September!

I printed out the board for this on a normal A4 size paper on my home printer and it turned out rather small so I had to improvise the figure to represent me on the board. The figure I use is from a board game I own called Tang Garden. It is a cool looking board game we backed on Kickstarter few years back. For more info on the game you can check out HERE. The figure is painted by my boyfriend and I love the colors used.

I will be making another post on my August Bookopoly results later this week. This Bookoplathon is going to be instead of my own usual Bookopoly board play and those will continue as normal in October. The dice favored me better than they did Becca and while I also had a double roll it was not multiple times!

Here are my Bookoplathon rolls for September:

Prompt: Gods

Book: Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology #1) by Stephen Fry

My first roll looked very promising and gave me rather unusual prompt for a book with Gods of some kind. Since I was looking for an excuse to finally take on one of the books I already have a sequel waiting I was happy to pick out at Mythology #1) by Stephen Fry. This edition is a one of the highly sought out for in Croatian since it is a limited edition that is printed out in only 500 numbered copies with luxury treatment. Each luxury book from this publisher is later published in normal paperback edition but the first numbered edition is quickly sold out and reaches high prices at reseller markets. I used to be crazy about them like many others but have soon decided to stick to the books I am really interested in. I love mythology and hope to have a five star book on my hands here!

Prompt: Mood Read

Book: Darkfever (Fever #1) by Karen Marie Moning

My second roll was a double! Both dices showed two and the sum was four which landed me on Mood Read spot. At first it was cool but later while trying to choose books for all the prompts I realized I like a bit more guidance. Mood Read is cool but how do you choose a book for mood reading in advance? How do I know what will I be in the mood for reading of? And I can’t make plans for mood reading at the beginning of the month like that. so you might understand my frustration on this roll. In the end I picked out a bunch of books I was thinking about reading, some for other reading challenge some for other prompts and take what was left for this one. I ended up with a book I have been interested in reading for over a decade: Darkfever (Fever #1) by Karen Marie Moning. I even have and edition in Croatian on my shelf! It is an urban fantasy with a prominent female lead that I usually love. Technically I am always in the mood for some good urban fantasy!

Prompt: Current News / Events

Book: Les Hirondelles de Kaboul by Yasmina Khadra

Third roll was a sum of seven and got me Current News / Events. I tried to fight the onslaught of current news about Kabul and the conflicts in the world. I even had a few interesting options with the not so long ago commercial flights to space and some feel good and less popular news about repopulation of some endangered species in Australia but finding a book on those was a chore. I could not find a close enough book about travelling to space to count it for the prompt and I was not in the mood for reading Richard Branson’s biography. Back to Afghanistan and Kabul it was… The English title of this book is The Swallows of Kabul and my Croatian edition is titled Kabulske lastavice. I am apprehensive just thinking about reading this book and will probably go and read it first just to be done with it before it breaks me since I am very easily influenced by stuff I read in books in general. And I don’t mean just the crying but I get cripplingly depressed and it makes hard for me to function in my daily life. If you have some jokes or funny memes pls send them my way I will need them…

Prompt: Opulent

Book: Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire #1) by Jay Kristoff / Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor

Roll number four was a low roll and sum four! I think Opulent is a really cool and doable prompt. This is the prompt I wanted to use for Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology #1) by Stephen Fry but then I got excited and hyped and really optimistic about Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire #1) by Jay Kristoff that comes out in the first week of September. I preordered it and would love reading it if it gets here on time. I even thought about making sure I read all the other books before the last week of September so I can be ready to start reading this one as soon as it arrives! If my experience with last book I preordered has anything similar with this one I will probably get this book in October though… In the case that happens I decided to have a back up and my back up is a book with a cover I find pretty and spoiler for my next roll: Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor. This way I might start and finish a series in September. Still hoping for my preorder to arrive!

Prompt: Poll Pick

Book: Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor

Second to last roll was another lower number and it landed me on a Poll Pick tile. The books I decided to offer for the poll were all from my Buddy reading list for 2021. I put the poll up on my book club Facebook group. And my fellow readers from the book club all voted for Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor. Other three options didn’t even get a single vote in the first few days the poll was up and it did not seem they would get any at all! So my book for this prompt is Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor. I got my book from the library and my library has a rule that if the book is part of the series up to five books you get all the books in the series as a set. This is how I ended up with both books in this duology and it might even seem I will be reading both of them this September!

Prompt: Chance card

Book: The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

My last extra roll was an eight and I got a Chance Card. For this month’s Bookoplathon I decided to use the Chance card I use normally for my Bookopoly each month. My deck of starting sixteen Chance cards was down to only one and it was The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice. I will be making a post on all the books that were in my Bookopoly Chance Card deck and making a new pile for next month. It has been a few years since I’ve read the Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles #1) by Anne Rice. It has been exactly four years since I finished reading it and it was a book I just could not get into. I kept mixing the movies and the book and it did not end well. I hope this book fares better.

Six books for Bookoplathon is a good number of books to read and while some of these book will be crossing over with the other reading challenges I will be doing in September (post on them soon) some are going to be adding up on my total number of books for September. Also this might be the first time to have all but one (two if Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire #1) by Jay Kristoff arrives in time for me to read it) books in Croatian! I only noticed this when taking the pictures. I hope to read all that I have planned and continue with Bookopoly as usual in October!

January Book Wrap Up 2021

Monthly reading review – January 2021

This January I have read:

Elminster: The Making of a Mage (Forgotten Realms: Elminster #1) by Ed Greenwood  ★★★★

Sucker Punch (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #27) by Laurell K. Hamilton ★★★

Vitez slavonske ravni by Marija Jurić Zagorka ★★★

Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin ★★★★

1. How many books have you read last month? Are you happy with the amount you read?

This year started depressingly slow and I had problems with finding the will to read anything. I have read three whole books and finished one I got left from Bookopoly TBR picks from December. This makes it 4 books finished and another 4 I started. I am not happy with the amount or the books I read…

2. What was the best of all the books you’ve read in January? Any scenes or characters that made a lasting impression?

The book that made my reading experience more livelier in January was Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin. It was a 500+ pages long book I finished off in about three days as opposed to some other books I’m dragging on for weeks and months now. I connected with the drama and the tragic quality of the characters in Serpent & Dove and would like to continue the series sometime this year.

3. Were there any not so good books for you last month? What made it hard or not enjoyable to read?

I had really high hopes for Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) by Laurell K. Hamilton and in most ways it let me down. I built my own high expectations for it and needed it to be that good. After it fell flat I kinda lost most of my drive for reading. Next book I read after it I dragged on for almost two weeks. I missed the excitement of picking up a book to read and diving into it.

4. How did the books you were reading last month fit in your reading plans if you had any?

I had humble plans for January from the start. After reading thirteen books in December I knew I needed a bit of a break to slow down my pace. I went with only five books for Bookopoly TBR game and did not manage to finish even those. I finished one book I got left over from December, read another three for Bookopoly TBR and got stuck on the fourth book. I got one book I did not even start at all. All my reading was planned and I find it telling that I did not even got to read anything interesting beside those books I set out.

5. Any updates on the series you are reading or are you starting any new series?

Elminster and Serpent & Dove were technically first books of two new series. I got up to date with Anita Blake the Vampire Hunter series by reading Sucker Punch – the book 27! The book I started on this month Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow is also first book of a series which makes a lot of new book series for a really slow reading month!

6. Would you like to recommend any books or authors you’ve been reading this last month?

My recommendation from January is just to keep reading and finish books in general. My score sheet for January left me with four books finished and another four I started and did not finish. This is starting to frustrate me and I need to clear my reading pile soon!

Final thoughts on January 2021 reading

I tried out some new authors for me and the results were warried. At one point I even got to the dazzling revelation that I don’t like books without emotional conflicts, love or sex in them. Without those I just can’t seem to keep my interest for the book. I have been toying around with reading only romance books for the whole month or even a year to see how would that work out! Right now I am left with battling to do just that or to take a whole month off any new book and just finish off all the books I am in the middle of reading.

To give myself some books to indulge into or to work trough the books I have already started and feel like a chore that needs to be finished?

Here are the books I have started at some point and are still going as “in the middle of reading“:

Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow

Started it out this month. It has been on my shelf for over a decade. Also have two another from the series. I don’t seem that inspired with the plot but the reading is going better than expected – I am about 1/4 in.

Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons by Andy Collins, Skip Williams, James Wyatt

Started it in August last year for the N.E.W.T.s Magical Readathon. I did not expect to take so much time to read it trough. It is not a novel but a guide supplement for Dungeon and Dragons players I have had for over fifteen years. It is large in format and has many details that players of the game might want to read trough. The illustrations are very nice and detailed. I have been reading it on and off since August and I am not even halfway trough!

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

I started this book courageously for my birthday last year – July 2020. Since then I picked it up a few times out of guilt since it was one of the books I was planning to read last year for my personal reading challenge. I decided to postpone reading it in favor of some other books and challenges since it is a probably the longest book I have read in years if ever! From 1055 pages I am on 295 currently! The weird thing is I find the book interesting and easy to read considering the style and the adventure theme. The sheer number of pages and the weight of it in my hands while I am reading it and holding it feels oppressive.

MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik

I barely started this book in December since it was another book from my personal challenge list for 2020. I read the first chapter and left it at that. I am not sure what to expect from it still. It is a new author that works in a local history museum. The thing that drew me in was a dark fantasy story set in my hometown.

There is also one more book I was supposed to read this January that I did not even get to:

The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

There are some ideas and fantasies I have about myself as a reader. One of them includes reading the classics of the urban fantasy genre and Anne Rice is on top of that list for sure. I remember having problems with reading the first book of The Vampire Chronicles series – I dragged it on for months and months unable to finish it and unable to separate the book from the movie which I have watched a lot of times. I am worried that this will happen again with the second book. I have a big collection of books by Anne Rice and from the seventeen books I own from Anne Rice I have read only one! The book series are all over the place and I should probably write a guide on the order of reading them…

Bookopoly TBR game – January 2021

I am making this post a little later than usual because I wanted to finish one book I had leftover from December. The rolls for January were made well back in December sometime after Christmas to have enough time to pick my books. As it turned out I have already read one of the books from this list this month and am choosing which I will read next. So without further babble from me here are the rolls and the books I picked for my Bookopoly reading challenge this January:

The first roll for January was an eight and it landed me on a 5 Star Prediction tile for the first time ever! I was debating for a book to choose for this and decided to go with the book that I am most excited to read and really want to love: Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) by Laurell K. Hamilton. I am very fond of the Anita Blake book series and sometimes I even feel it to be a lifeline of a sort trough some tough times. I pushed reading this book in digital form since the mass market paperback is not out yet and the next book of the series comes out in paperback next month and I already preordered it!

Prompt: 5 Star Prediction

Book: Sucker Punch (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #27) by Laurell K. Hamilton

My second roll got me to a Chance card spot. This time the book on the card was: The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice. I had so much issues with reading the first book of the series and a lot of problems to stop imagining movie version of characters and parts of the plot. The book is a different medium and I hope I will have less problems with this book. The first book took me months to read trough and I would like to avoid the repeat of that as well.

Prompt: Chance card

Book: The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

Third roll got me another six and landed me on Community shelf tile. The card I got said: Historical romance and that even made me a bit happy. I picked out a book from my TBR that would fit this prompt perfectly but then I changed my mind on it to accommodate a book my book club choose for February: Vitez slavonske ravni by Marija Jurić Zagorka. It is a historical adventure and romance book by one of the most popular Croatian female writers and a first Croatian female journalist. I have never read anything by her before and she is well beloved author.

Prompt: Community shelf

Book: Vitez slavonske ravni by Marija Jurić Zagorka

Next roll got me another Chance card tile! I am running out of these even faster than anticipated and after a careful review of the cards I got left I realized I got four left out of starting sixteen. some of the book on the cards I read already as a part of some other challenges and had to take them out as well. I decided that I will be adding more books after I finish all that are left. The book I got this time is : Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow. This is one of the books I have for a very long time and I am glad to have a reason to pick it up.

Prompt: Chance card

Book: Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow

And since I did not roll any doubles this time my fifth and last roll for this month was an eleven and got me a prompt I have already been on: Young Adult. I had to actually stop and think carefully about the options I have on my own shelves. I am not really into Young Adult book that much and with a few notable exceptions from last year I had to carefully choose among the books I own. In the end I decided on one of the last books I bought: Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin. This one is a buddy read with a friend this month so we will see how we both like it.

Prompt: Young Adult

Book: Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin

Interview with the Vampire – Book Review

Finished reading

Interview with the Vampire

(The Vampire Chronicles #1)

by Anne Rice

★★★

Expectation

As a reader who enjoys stories with vampires this has been on my reading list for a shamefully long time. I even had a phase when I was collecting Anne Rice books with vampires. I managed to get most of them and right now there are only a few out of a dozen that I’m missing. I was hyped about this book and when I pulled it out of my TBR Draw Jar I felt good. When I was younger I watched the movie version more times than I can count.

Summary

And it was watching the movie so many times that gave me issues with reading the book. This is the third time I was beginning to read this book. I kept coming back to the movie plots and characters. This was a problem since the movie and the books are very different. The differences, especially in the beginning where there were some characters that were left out of the movie, kept me thinking about the character motivation. I was lost through the most of this pensive book. I was not prepared for the languid pace of this book. Metaphors were aplenty and so were constant melancholic states of the characters. At times it was exhausting.

The writing style reminded me of some mandatory reading I had trough schooling. It was almost as it was written long ago. Now that I think more on it, I can hardly believe that the author is a modern writer.

“I wanted love and goodness in this which is living death,’ I said. ‘It was impossible from the beginning, because you cannot have love and goodness when you do what you know to be evil, what you know to be wrong. You can only have the desperate confusion and longing and the chasing of phantom goodness in its human form. I knew the real answer to my quest before I ever reached Paris. I knew it when I first took a human life to feed my craving. It was my death. And yet I would not accept it, could not accept it, because like all creatures I don’t wish to die! And so I sought for other vampires, for God, for the devil, for a hundred things under a hundred names. And it was all the same, all evil. And all wrong. Because no one could in any guise convince me of what I myself knew to be ture, that I was damned in my own mind and soul.”
― Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire

The Goth aspect of the book was harrowing. All the while I was reading I found one thing to resonate with the book I kept going back to the actor Tom Cruise – whose fan I am NOT – and this video insert from the movie.

Conclusion

I wanted to like it and gave it all the chances I could. It did not blew me away and I could not connect with any of the characters. I still harbor a certain respect for this book, genre and the author. I am still intrigued by this genre and this book series. I did not like the cliffhanger ending. I’m at odds and ends about continuing this book series. While I still hold the opinion that it is a must for any reader that likes vampire literature I’m not as infatuated with it as I was. Reading this book took a lot of effort. Also I’m still intrigued with the character of Lestat, not because he impressed me in the book, but because I cant seem to connect what I’ve read and watched with the impression I got from reviews and friends that read the other books as well. And I do have the other book of the series waiting on the shelf …