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First Three Books of 2021
Jan. 12th, 2021 08:32 pmHere are the first three books of 2021 and so far I am really enjoying what I am reading.
The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.
Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head... literally. ~Amazon Description
I have loved Alice in Wonderland since I was a kid and so I try to get my hands on any pastiches, reworkings, or au's I can. This was such an awesome book. I loved how the author wrote Alice and how as a POC the teen has different worries to deal with in modern day America then the original Alice had in Victorian England. I've seen this touted as a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that is not entirely incorrect but only in the best of ways. Overall a very good book and I am definitely going to read the next one in the series.
Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love.
Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself.
Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love. ~Amazon Description
This was a really excellent book. I loved the complex, fallible, and well-written characters. The world-building was excellent and so in-depth. The author switches pov's between chapters and does such a wonderful job of conveying each person's thoughts and motivations and how they see the other characters. All of the characters are so flawed and are ruled by their past while trying to navigate their way through a world that is harsh, unforgiving, and yet magical. A couple of warnings: there is a rape that happens off page before the book begins and it is spoken of a few times. Also there is a very detailed torture scene.
( One More Under the Cut... )
The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.
Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head... literally. ~Amazon Description
I have loved Alice in Wonderland since I was a kid and so I try to get my hands on any pastiches, reworkings, or au's I can. This was such an awesome book. I loved how the author wrote Alice and how as a POC the teen has different worries to deal with in modern day America then the original Alice had in Victorian England. I've seen this touted as a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that is not entirely incorrect but only in the best of ways. Overall a very good book and I am definitely going to read the next one in the series.
Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love.
Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself.
Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love. ~Amazon Description
This was a really excellent book. I loved the complex, fallible, and well-written characters. The world-building was excellent and so in-depth. The author switches pov's between chapters and does such a wonderful job of conveying each person's thoughts and motivations and how they see the other characters. All of the characters are so flawed and are ruled by their past while trying to navigate their way through a world that is harsh, unforgiving, and yet magical. A couple of warnings: there is a rape that happens off page before the book begins and it is spoken of a few times. Also there is a very detailed torture scene.
( One More Under the Cut... )
