Wide-Eyed Reader

That's right, yet another adventure in space brought to you by Andy Weir! This one has some interesting things going for it - a female protagonist and great diversity being among them - but there were some things I take issue with. CHARACTERS So, our main character, who also narrates the novel in first person, is Jazz Bashara, a twenty-something Saudi Arabian woman who lives on the moon. She is of the first generation of people to be raised on the moon, and hardly remembers anything about Earth. She works as a porter, delivering packages to others in the city of Artemis, the only city on the moon. She also is a smuggler on the side. Now Jazz is pretty cool, as a character, but there's some things that rubbed me the wrong way. Namely, about how good  she is at everything. It's made very clear throughout the novel that Jazz is practically a genius and could do basically anything - welding, chemical engineering, anything  - if she put her mind to it. But no. She's ...

I know I'm super behind the hype on this one, but I've wanted to read it since high school, I promise! And I'm so glad I was finally able to, because I think it totally lives up to the hype! CHARACTERS This book has so many characters, it was a little difficult to keep track of them. But the ones we need to really concern ourselves with are: Celia, her father, Marco, Mr. A. H---, Isobel, Chandresh, Tara, the clockmaker whose name I have difficulty spelling, Tsukiko, Bailey, and the twins Poppet and Widget. Now, even that's a lot, but Chandresh, Tara, the clockmaker, and Tsukiko are more minor - they just happen to have huge hands in the plot! And that's one thing I like about this novel - each character does something. They are not just set pieces for the plot to happen to, they move the plot forward. Some more than others, of course, but in general each character has something to do with the plot as a whole. Personally, my favorite character in The Night Ci...

This was the first book I read for  The Reading Frenzy's  "Run Away With the Circus" July challenge, fulfilling the "Menagerie" prompt. You can read about the challenge in my last post! I really loved this book - it was an absolute delight to read, and I find myself already craving more! I have plans to order the next book in the series very soon. CHARACTERS Each of the characters in this novel gets their chance to shine and share their perspective, but the main character is Vasilisa - Vasya for short - the youngest child of her parents and a rather odd girl, who is referred to as anything from a witch to a wood spirit. She is a bit of a wild girl in her connection to the nature surrounding her home, but it is quite clear that she loves her family and the villagers, and wants to protect them in any way she can - that just happens to be by talking to the house spirits and those of the woods. I love her so much, and would gladly read much more about her. ...

For the month of July, a Goodreads group I'm a part of ( The Reading Frenzy ) is doing a TBR challenge! The theme is "Run Away With the Circus". The above are my choices, designed to match the categories as follows: Menagerie: Read a book with an animal in the title - The Bear and the Nightingale  by Katherine Arden, which I've already started and am enjoying so far! Big Top: Read a book with red and white on the cover - The Night Circus  by Erin Morgenstern. I've not yet read this novel, despite a desire to for years, so I'm very excited to get started on it! Cotton Candy: Read a light and fluffy book - Grimm's Fairy Tales . I don't have many "fluffy" books, so I thought fairy tales were a good substitute! Flyers: Read a book about/set in space - Artemis  by Andy Weir. I love Weir's first novel, The Martian , so of course I bought this one when it came out. I hope it's just as good! Grandstand: Read a hyped b...