It's Been A While

Welp, I failed in all endeavors to update this blog while I was away at college. There were many times I felt the need to post something, but these actually take a lot of time and thought from me, and in the grind of school, those things aren't expendable, not like they were in high school and over break.

Now that I'm on winter break and don't have to think about school for a whole month, I figured I'd start these reviews (more like rants) again.

Being an English major and taking all humanities courses this past semester I had to do A LOT of reading. But here I will be focusing on my leisurely reading done over college, which wasn't a lot. I may eventually do a review on the Iliad or other words I thoroughly enjoyed during this semester, but the focus is on the three books I read during the past four months for nothing more than pure enjoyment:

1. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
2. A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab
3. A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab

(I actually just finished another one of Schwab's works, Vicious, but that was finished over break so it doesn't count here; review to come independently later)

I've been on the hunt for Song of Achilles since this summer but was only able to obtain the book just before I left for college. I brought it with me on my cross-country journey to a new state and new school but didn't start it until I got into the groove of college-level education, which was around mid-September, also coincidentally around the same time I finished the Iliad for my Greek and Roman Mythology class. 

The Song of Achilles was a beautifully written novel, unique despite its classic basis. I was actually able to write about the novel in my final paper for the course since the topic was on a modern retelling of myth. Here's a little excerpt: "While the entire plot of the Iliad can be traced back to the theme of its opening line, Achilles’s rage, the true meaning of Homer’s song is debated in modern times by Madeline Miller, author of Orange Prize-winning 2012 novel, The Song of Achilles. With the title itself being a clear parallel to the Iliad’s opening lines, it may come as a surprise that the novel is, first and foremost, a love story" 

And a love story it is--a tragic one. Even if a reader does know the outcome of Achilles and Patroclus (like me), the book is still an emotional rollercoaster, following events even after main characters' deaths. I was sobbing in my dorm through the last 60 pages, and then had to leave for a date party like 30 minutes later. I was a mess, and this book gave me the biggest book hangover I've felt probably since All for the Game trilogy from summer break. The love between Achilles and Patroclus was so raw yet soft and endearing, and its ultimate doom was a tragic arc to follow but mesmerizing all the same. I'm a masochist and would often pick the book off my shelf just to read through the scene of Achilles's reaction to Patroclus's death, a horrible event in both the Iliad and The Song of Achilles. Of course, I had some issues over how some heroes of the Trojan War were portrayed, but each retelling of mythology is entitled to its unique interpretation, and overall, I appreciated Miller's. 5/5

The next book I read for leisure didn't come until November. Until then, I'd spent my reading time on An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, an author I wholly appreciate as a person and as an activist in many issues, but for some reason, I could not for the life of me get into her acclaimed novel. Perhaps I'll try again later, but as of now I'm stuck at 60% and feel little inclination to finish the last 40.

Anyway, I finally finished another fun book in November, and that book was A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab. This book was absolute magic. I can find no better word to embody this novel. I'd had on my Kindle since the first book went on sale for ~$2 on Amazon. I've been eyeing this book for a while, but I only started reading for the sake to get away from An Ember in the Ashes, which I was also reading on my Kindle. Soon, I found that this was the book I'd been looking for all semester, something wonderful and imaginative and magical. The characters are vivid and enjoyable and really come off the page, but I am personally partial to Lila Bard, the female lead of the series. Her quotes, such as "I'd rather die on an adventure than live standing still", stuck with me, and I adored her as a person. I mean, it's pretty hard for me to not fall in love with a cross-dressing thief-pirate with a knack for making the worst decision and pulling them off. Also her thing for knives and magic is pleasant. I could go on forever and ever about Lila Bard and Kell and Rhy and the rest of this book with its beautiful and diverse worldbuilding, but I will keep this short and say that this was one of my favorite books of 2016, as was its sequel, A Gathering of Shadows. There is one scene in this that I pretty much have memorized, along with other scenes that were equally wonderful.I hungrily anticipate the third and final book, A Conjuring of Light!

5/5: A Darker Shade of Magic

5/5: A Gathering of Shadows