🌳 Second Sundays - June 2023 🌳

Happy Second Sunday!

Summer is definitely here. It be hot. It be gross. But it also be productive! I've got book reviews, I've got artwork, I've got Dragonstone updates, and I've got even more.

Thank you for joining me on this adventure. I hope you enjoy!

First, I need to gush about Phoenix Fan Fest! I've been going to this convention for over 10 years now 😱 and it never disappoints. It's one of two events I look forward to most all year. I get to meet authors, artists, and actors, wave that nerd flag high, and recharge the creative batteries. 🧙‍♂️

Here are my favorite highlights from this year!

Spotted my favorite Star Wars characters!

Indiana Jones exhibit with the real props and costumes from the movies!

Enjoyed listening to Paul Bettany's "A Knight's Tale" stories!

Got a book signed by the author!

Mermay became a bit of a struggle bus... I did manage to do one siren re-draw but just did not have the energy for anything else.

Sometimes that's how creativity works though, and I've found it's much better to roll with it than fight it. 🤗

So the trade-off of not finishing Mermay was that I found myself writing a bunch, and I reached a big plot milestone last week, so I decided to go back into the rough draft and make sure my word count and page count estimates were up to date. Turns out, I've written more words than I thought! I'm roughly doubling both my word and my page count from draft 1. This is my latest definitive current word count, and based on new estimates, this means draft 2 is about 8% done. 🤗

I've also got not one but TWO new chapters up on Wattpad, so go give those a read!

So... we'll just get this one out of the way first, because I want to end on a higher note, which this most definitely was not. At least not for me. I DNF'd it. 😬 This means that I deliberately and with prejudice quit this book full stop without finishing. Normally I try to give the book enough respect to at least finish, even if my opinion at the end is terrible, but this one I quit about 70 pages in (about 1/3 through) and even returned to the bookstore because I just could not get through it.

Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid, according to the synopsis on the back, is essentially a retelling of the Grimm fairytale The Juniper Tree. While some dark fairytale elements do appear in the book, such as monsters seeking sanctuary at the witches' home and the somewhat twisted powers of the witches themselves and their father, these elements are the book's only credit, and are unfortunately not at all the primary focus of the story as the synopsis would have you believe. Perhaps I would have been more amenable to this book had it not tried to cloak and dagger the violence, body dysmorphia and self-mutilation, eating disorder, sexual abuse and trauma, among other things. I have no issue reading about such difficult topics, but I do take issue when they are inserted into the narrative with no pretext and merely for shock and awe rather than a carefully written and explored part of character development and plot.

This book should have absolutely come with trigger warnings, and it should not have pretended to be a fairytale retelling when so few moments of the story actually focus on those details. It is a shame, because the author's prose is lovely and immersive and her world-building has so much potential. But that's all it stayed. A story with so much potential and a grating and distasteful lack of execution.

Now this pretty book was a whole other story. After a few days of only being able to read a page or two during work breaks, I finally had a chance to properly dive into the book and completely devoured it in one sitting. I was up until 5am, and I regret nothing.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is a dragon rider story told in the refreshing setting of a war college with refreshing conflicts. The main character is incredibly sympathetic and likable, and she's put in a life-or-death situation from chapter one and in essentially every chapter after, which makes the book fast-paced and basically all-consuming. The competition between students is like The Hunger Games with dragons, and I am totally here for it.

The dragons themselves and the way they communicate with one another as well as their humans have some pretty common threads to other stories, but the commentary of one dragon in particular is so grumpy and snarky I found myself actually laughing aloud multiple times. The only issue I have, which is a wonderful if somewhat vexing problem, is I had no idea this book was going to be the first in a series, so now I have to anxiously wait for the next one. 😅 If you haven't read a good dragon riding story in a while, do yourself a favor and grab this one.

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig is a historical fiction novel set in the seas around 19th-century China about a pirate fleet captain who must navigate the challenges and dangers of a life of piracy after her husband dies. It reads like a very well-written docudrama. The storyline is straightforward and evenly paced, with action that isn't nail-biting but neither did I find myself bored. The ending wasn't completely gratifying but neither was it disappointing; it was logical, much like the main character. I did enjoy the cultural world-building and the stories about the goddess Ma-Zou peppered throughout, as well as the serendipitous wealth of info about Chinese junks, which I'm referencing for my own novel.

Overall this was a simple, good story. Not devourable, but also not forgettable. I'd say if you like a good historical fiction novel akin to the stories by Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club) and Lisa See (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) with a dash of "Pirates of the Caribbean" without the humor, this book would be for you.