Hi! It's Penny here and today we're gonna
be wrapping up the books that I read
in May. I did do a mid-may wrap-up so I
will link that up here and down below if
you want to check that out. And I am
going to run this wrap-up as a book
battle as I have been doing recently. So
basically I pair up the books and I have
them battle against each other until we
work our way up to the champion of the
month. So in my mid-may wrap up I picked
a champion for the first half of the
month and it was Fool's Errand by Robin
Hobb. So whichever book comes out as the
champion for the second half of the
month will be going up against that to
decide what is the champion for the
whole month, which I'm sure is going to
be a really difficult decision because I
did read some really good books. Also,
overall this month I read 22 books. 
11 of those were in the second
half of the month so I spread them out quite
evenly. So let's get into round one! Our
first battle is The City of Brass by S.A.
Chakraborty up against Before the
Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray. Now
I've seen the City of Brass listed as
both YA fantasy and adult fantasy and
I think it's a bit on the border of them
both but personally, I would put it more
in YA fantasy. Just because it is a
bit simpler and has that more YA
writing style, which is impossible to
actually express what that means but
that's how I felt about it. Also the
characters did feel quite young and the
themes of trying to find somewhere where
you belong are themes that are really
dealt with more in YA. So what is
the story about? We follow this girl
who has no idea what happened to her
family but she does have the ability to
understand any language and in fact she
knows a language that nobody else knows.
And as well she has healing powers but
she uses those healing powers to con
people. Then she accidentally ends up
doing some real magic and she ends up on
the run with this Jinn and they end up
going to this city of magical beings,
most of which I believe are inspired by
Arabian mythology. Then there is also
another perspective introduced in this
book, which is a prince from this city
and obviously eventually they end up
meeting up. What really frustrated me
about this story was the pacing. A lot of
the world-building was done through
conversation
between different characters and the
main character being told how this
magical world worked and just because of
how long it took to actually get into
the interesting action at the end of the
book, by the time we got there I wasn't
really very engaged. I didn't care much
about the different characters. Kind of
wasn't that interesting to me. Also a lot
of the story is very politics focused
with the politics of these magical
beings in this city. But again, I don't
really care about that kind of plot
unless it's really interesting and twisty
but this wasn't really. Overall, I just
ended up a little bit disappointed and
now I'm not sure whether I should
actually continue that series or not. If
you have read the series then tell me
whether it gets better or not. Then we
have Before the Devil Breaks You by
Libba Bray. This is a YA paranormal
fantasy where we have these different
characters with supernatural abilities
and they're trying to solve this ghost
related murder mystery. So this is the
third book in the diviners trilogy and I
was a little bit disappointed in the
first two books. I thought this third
book was actually way better. It is still
relatively slow paced and there's not
much happening but we do start to learn
about a government conspiracy, a little
bit about the previous generation of the
Diviners, and a little bit about the
source of the Diviner's powers. And a lot
of the characters are finally becoming
interesting. Their relationships and
conflicts that have been building up for the
first three books are finally getting
interesting.
But I do just think this book is very
unfocused. There's a lot going on and so
that's why none of the individual
threads are really progressed very far,
even though this is a massive book. What
was interesting about the story, and also
kind of depressing, is that even though
the series is set in the 20s - the 1920s - a
lot of the themes are still relevant
today. And that is the themes of racism,
also a pandemic where people blame
people of certain race for it,
and also sexual assault. So lots of
bad stuff that we still have to deal
with. And that is really frustrating. I will
say I'm hoping that the black lives
matter movement that is happening at the
moment will lead to more positive
changes. There have been some positive
changes already and hopefully that will
continue and we can
end up with a better world instead of
being 100 years later and being like are
things really that much better? But
they are! Still, I did think that the
story did a really good job of
investigating those themes. As far as the
battle oges, it's actually quite hard for
me to compare these books. Because I went
into them with such different
expectations.
I went into the City of Brass expecting
it to be amazing because I'd seen a lot
of hype for it and then I went into
Before the Devil Breaks You not really
expecting to like it at all. So I think I
ended up rating Before the Devil Breaks
You higher than the City of Brass even
though like objectively maybe they're
more similar than that. Still, in the end
I feel like the characters in Before
the Devil Breaks You are much more
interesting and the plot was much more
interesting so I'm gonna put Before the
Devil Breaks You through to the next
round. The next battle is between two
shorter pieces of work. So we have the
Sandman volume 1 by Neil Gaiman and the
Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman
Perkins. The Sandman is this comic series
that is about this magical being,
god-like being, that has the power of
dreams.
Unfortunately, at the start of the series
he is trapped and when he eventually
escapes he has to be in try and reclaim
his power. Now I'm always a little bit
iffy on Neil Gaiman and unfortunately
this fell more on the side of something
I was a bit disappointed in. I didn't
really like the art style for starters but
this is an older series and trends in art
do change so it's probably not entirely
fair to judge it on that. But still, I
just felt like there was a lot of stuff
included in the comics which didn't
really seem to have much point. I did
find the Sandman to be a really
interesting character and I am gonna
continue the series because I do want to
see if he can do more with that
character but I didn't feel like we got
enough of their character within this
first volume. So as I said, I am hopeful
for the rest of the series. Then the
Yellow Wallpaper.
I believe this is a book that a lot of
people read in like high school. It does
push back on the way that women were
being treated at the time that this was
written like 19... 1892 it was written! So a
long time ago.
And at that time obviously women were a
lot more oppressed than they are now,
although still the world... why have we not
made it much much better yet? We're
working on it! So this is a story about a
woman who seems to be suffering from
postnatal depression but at the time her
doctor husband and brother just think
that she's being a bit oversensitive - you
know that's how women are sometimes :( so
they basically isolate her in this one
room.
She doesn't really agree with this
approach but she doesn't have much of a
choice. And during her time in the room
she becomes more and more obsessed with
this yellow wallpaper. The part with the
yellow wallpaper was really creepy but I
did think it really personified the
anger she was feeling about being stuck
in the room. Also, I really like the use
of capitalization throughout the story
and how that was used to further express
her anger. So overall, I did really enjoy
this. So if I had to put this up against
the Sandman, the Yellow Wallpaper would
definitely be the one that heads through
to the next round. Then we have the Guest
List by Lucy Foley up against Fragments
of the Lost by Megan Miranda. So I read
both of these books for Kayla's
Literally Dead book club. The Guest List is a
thriller about this wedding that is set
out in this really remote island and
throughout the story you're learning
about all the secrets and traumas of the
different guests. And you also know right
from the very beginning that the wedding
something is going horribly wrong. I
really enjoyed it.
I liked all of the characters, even the
ones who were really screwed up. And I
thought the story just did such an
amazing job of weaving all the different
plot threads together into a cohesive
whole. I think it also had quite a lot to
say about sexual assault and just like
men being very abusive and using women
for their own purposes, and also just I
guess callous people who use anybody for
their own purposes. I would say for this
maybe trigger warnings for violence
against children. Not hmmm school children
type age. Because the past of some of
these characters relates to what happened o
them at school
and it was not very nice. Then
Fragments of the Lost is a YA
thriller. So we've got this girl whose
ex-boyfriend has died and she is going
through his stuff helping to clear his
room out. And as she's going through it
she's finding all these different things
that trigger different memories and then
she starts to find some things that hint
that her ex-boyfriend had a secret. I did
like the way that the story investigated
grief, especially when you're in that
situation where you're the ex-girlfriend
and people don't really allow you the
same position as if you were a current
girlfriend, even though you might feel
very similar grief. I did find it a lot
of fun trying to guess what the secrets
were and what it was going to add up to.
But I would also say that a lot of it
was just about their relationship and
them getting to know each other which
wasn't that interesting. They're ex partners
so I don't think the connection was
that amazing. And just like, it's been a
little while since I've read this now
and I feel like I've forgotten quite a
lot. So if I had to put one of these two
through to the next round, it would
definitely be the Guest List.
Okay so on to round two! Our first
battle is between Shadowblack by
Sebastien de Castell and Before the Devil
Breaks You by Libba Bray. Shadowblack is
the second book in the Spellslinger
series. In the first book our main
character Kellan is coming up to his
mage exams but his magic has started to
go missing. So at the end of that book he
ends up having to kind of go his own way.
And in this one he finds some other
people who are having the same problem
as him and then he's trying to help them.
I thought that this was a lot of fun. I
don't necessarily find these books to be
anything revolutionary but they're just fun
and enjoyable. There is quite a lot of
humor throughout them. So there's this
squirrel-cat, who sometimes is a little
bit cliche in his violence and crime
tendencies, but I still find them quite
funny.
I do also really like the philosophers
characters that are in this and I
thought that was progressed quite well
in this particular book. And it's their
aspect of the story that I'm looking
forward to learning more about in future
books. So as far as deciding who would
win the battle between these two books. I
think that Before the Devil Breaks
You is trying to do something on a much
grander scale,
but because of that, for me at least,
it's not really achieving that. Whereas
Shadowblack, I don't think it's really
setting out to achieve anything more
than it is. And so it did a really good
job and it was just a lot more fun to
listen to than Before the Devil Breaks
You, which I still felt like I was
slogging through it at some points. So
because of that I would have to put
Shadowblack through to the next round.
Next, we have The Slug Queen Chronicles by
S.O. Thomas up against the Vampires
Assistant by Darren Shan. The Slug Queen
Chronicles is a middle grade fantasy. We
following this girl who's able to see
colors when she sees or... sees (?) strong
smells or strong tastes or people
speaking strongly. And at the beginning
of this book she finds out that her
mother also had this ability but her
mother discovered that this was because
of fairy dust and she got involved with
the fairy world. So our main character
then attempts to trap a tooth fairy
and unfortunately, that leads to her
brother being kidnapped because the
tooth fairies have decided that they're
not going to bother with just stealing
teeth anymore, they're gonna steal the
whole child instead. So she goes to
fairyland to try and save her brother. I
thought that the world that has been
created for the story, it was really
interesting  and has quite a unique take on
Santas and the tooth fairies and
there's flying cats. So that was really
cool but unfortunately I just didn't
think that it was well enough explained,
especially since it was so unique you
need a little bit more explanation to
understand it. And also, like I was
confused so that's a sign to me that a
middle grade person would be more
confused. Although not necessarily,
because sometimes middle grade people
don't have the same assumptions going in
that us older people do so who knows. But I
was definitely confused in some points. I
also just thought the plot was a little
bit overly convoluted and that if it
had been simplified a bit, it could have
been a much stronger story. I will say
though that I also really enjoyed the
cute pictures that were included
throughout the book. And I appreciated
the neurodivergent representation in
that a main character is someone who
doesn't really like to be touched and
doesn't always
understand emotions and other people. And
it seemed to be fairly well represented.
Then we have the Vampire's Assistant by
Darren Shan. This was so short! I listened to
the audiobook of this and I felt like I
barely started it and then it was
finished. But it was still also a lot of
fun. These are ones where I've seen them
listed as middle grade and also listed
as YA, and the beginning definitely felt
very middle grade in that it was very
simply written. I should say that this is
the second book in the Cirque du Rreak
series. So in this one, our main character
is a vampire's assistant and he's just
spending some time with the Freak Show
until some things go wrong. So at the end
the things that go wrong were quite
dark and that's the part that I wasn't
entirely sure that it fits the middle
grade demographic. But at the same time I
like really dark things so I quite
enjoyed the ending. So  picking one of
these to go through to the next round,
I would definitely go with the Vampire's
Assistant. Then we have the Lies of Locke
Lamora by Scott Lynch up against the
Yellow Wallpaper.
I need my notes to talk about the Lies
of Locke Lamora.
the Lies of Locke Lamora is a really
popular adult fantasy so I went in with
a lot of expectations, which is always
dangerous. And so I want to preface this
by saying that I did really enjoy it
and I am looking forward to continuing
the series. However, I did find there were
some problems. Firstly, the story jumps
back and forth in time and while at
first, I found that quite clever, over
time it got a little bit tedious and I
felt like it really restricted the flow
of the story. And it just felt like the
book was trying to be too smart rather
than just telling me the story. Then when
it came to the characters. So the main
character in the story is Locke Lamora
and he is a thief. He has this little
band of thieves and they're doing bigger
and bigger cons as they learn to be
better thieves and they end up stealing
like excessive amounts of money from the
nobles of the city. But why are they
doing this??????
Who knows! They've got huge amounts of
cash just stuck in their vault, no plans
for how to use them. At the same time
they don't really seem to have anything
particularly against the nobles. They just had
no vision at all,
which considering that Locke is supposed
to be this really smart guy, it just
didn't make sense to me that he wouldn't
have some kind of vision to take this
band of thieves that are supposedly like
his family - why would he not be trying to
get them into a better situation or do
something with all that money? Something
surely! And because he had no vision then
later in the story when he does
something sort of heroic, it just felt kind
of out of character for him because all
the stupid heist stuff he'd been doing
earlier didn't really seem... I don't
know, it just felt a little bit forced. And
it seemed like the only reason he was
really doing these heists was to prove
that he was smarter than other people
and I'm just not really a fan of people
that think they're better because they're
smarter. Still, I do think there's a lot of
potential in this world. There was some
magic introduced - not much! Just a touch.
But what there was, was really
interesting. Also throughout the story we
get mentions of the love of Locke's life
but we never get to meet her. But I've
heard we do it in future books so I will
definitely be continuing the series but
so far not exactly a favorite. Still, if
I'm putting it up against the Yellow
Wallpaper... it's not really fair to
compare like a 500 page fantasy against
like a 10 page, 20 page (?) I don't know the
Yellow Wallpaper was very short! So a
big fantasy against a small little short
story? The big fantasy wins! So I'll put
the Lies of Locke Lamora through to the
next round. Then we have Little Fires
Everywhere by Celeste Ng up against the
Guest List. Little Fires Everywhere was
the group book for the Asian read-a-thon
and in the first half of the month I
read Everything I Never Told You by
Celeste Ng, which I really loved and so
again I went into Little Fire's Everywhere
with fairly high expectations. So the
story starts with this family home on
fire and all the kids are saying that it
was done by the youngest kid in the
family and that is kind of typical
behavior for her. So throughout the
whole story I'm waiting to really
understand why she lit the house on fire
and I'm expecting it to have a pretty
good explanation. But in the end I was
really disappointed. I didn't really
think it was justified at all and I'd
really worry that some people would read
this book and think that lighting your
family home on fire is a good idea -
terrible! So what I did think that this
book did really well is look into the
themes of motherhood and adoption and
abortion and investigated that from lots
of different perspectives and I thought
it was a really good way to look at some
of these stories. Unfortunately, by the
end of the book I didn't feel like any
of the plot threads were satisfactorily
resolved so it was fairly unsatisfactory
from their point of view. Also throughout
the book we focus on a lot of the
backstories of different characters and
a lot of those backstories we're just kind
of boring. There's also a lot of focus on
the children from this family and
they're just rich and privileged and
again, not that interesting. There was
most definitely a part at the end of the
story which is kind of about really
knowing someone and if it did make me
cry. So yeah, there's definitely a lot of
merit to Little Fires Everywhere but
just in the end I felt really
unsatisfied. So it won't be a surprise
when I put the Guest List through to the
next round. Okay, so now we're up to the
semi-finals. So firstly, we've got
Shadowblack by Sebastien de Castell
up against The Vampires Assistant by
Darren Shan. Both of these were just a
lot of fun but as I said, The Vampire's
Assistant was just so short that I think
I would have to put Shadowblack through
to the next round just because there was
a lot more to it. But I did enjoy both of
them. Then we have the Lies of Locke
Lamora
up against the Guest List and this is
one of these ones that actually really
hard because they were both really
good. But I did have a lot more
criticisms for the Lies of Locke Lamora
so I think even though I tend to like
fantasy better, I think I'm gonna put the
Guest List through to the finals because
I just had a much better reading
experience. It flowed so much better than
the Lies of Locke Lamora
and even though the characters were
really flawed, they felt so much more
realistic. Maybe it's not fair to expect
a fantasy to be realistic, but I do still
expect my fantasy characters to feel
like real people.
So here we are at the finals!
And the way I kind of arranged this
tournament was mostly like YA and
middle grade on one side and adult on
the other side, so I feel like the finals
aren't necessarily very fair because we've
got Shadowblack by Sebastien
de Castell up against the Guest List
by Lucy Foley. Which one am I going to
choose? I'm sure that it's not a surprise
I'm gonna choose the Guest List. I just
loved it so much and I don't often like
thrillers, but this is definitely one
that's gonna go on the list of some of
my most favorite thrillers. But now we
get to the decision that's actually
gonna be really hard and that is putting
up the champion for the end of the month
up against the champion for the first
half of the month. So we've got the Guest
Llist up against Fool's Errand. I really
liked both of these books. If you haven't
watched my wrap-up from the first half
of the month, Fool's Errand is an epic
fantasy that's part of Robin Hobb's Realm
of the Elderlings.
It deals with different kinds of
telepathy. So telephathy with humans and
telepathy with animals. Also it has really
strong themes of prejudice and
overcoming that. I think that even though
I really love the Guest List, I am
definitely a fantasy reader first so I
would have to say that I love Fool's
Errand
even more than I love the Guest List. But
I love them both. I really love them both.
So that's all the books that I read in
May. Definitely a much better reading
month than June is turning out to be, but
we'll see, we're only just at the
beginning of June. As always, do let me
know if you've read any of the books
that I talked about today because I
would love to talk with you more about
them down in the comments. Otherwise, I
hope that you're keeping safe and doing
well and I will see you next time :)
