Over a week into the fantastical month of Wyrd & Wonder and I thought I’d give a quick update on my progress.

I’m also tracking my progress on my Wyrd and Wonder TBR page.

I started off with three “warm-up” reads. That’s right, the weekend before May 1, I read three books off my TBR.

That weekend also coincided nicely with a readathon on Litsy. And since I have been in a reading slump, particularly for fantasy books, I thought I’d ease into the fantastical waters with a few shorter novels.

Warm-Up Reads

1. A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
2. Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana
3. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

I wasn’t that taken with A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking or Lore of the Wilds. For Wizard’s Guide, I’ll preface this with the fact that I’m not the target demographic. Beyond that, I had issues with the pacing, the character development, and well, the plot in general. (To Mona’s repeated point, where the f&ck are all the adults? Why is the falling squarely on the shoulders of a 14 year old?)

See? I’m clearly not the demographic.

As for Lore, I found it suffered from the typical problems of a debut novel—uneven pacing, poor character development and world building, uneven writing, and plot holes. I was interested in the story at first but sadly, my interest quickly waned.

My favorite of the three warm-up reads by far was An Enchantment of Ravens. I started reading it and devoured it in one sitting. The prose has a dreamlike and fairytale like feel. I loved the contrasting atmosphere of the various fae lands and Whimsy with darker scenes and situations lurking underneath the fae glamour. While there were some plot issues, nothing so major, at least for me, that wasn’t overcome by the overarching story and the focus on art and immortality. 

Week 1 Reads

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human

I started out the month with That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human by Kimberly Lemming. I picked this book up on Independent Bookstore Day because it was signed and I thought the title was funny. My first book for Wyrd & Wonder was also the first book not on my Wyrd & Wonder TBR!

Unfortunately, this one was a fail for me. Maybe it might have helped had I read the first two books, if nothing else to understand some of the characters and dynamics. But I doubt it.

First, after reading it, the title bugged me. I get that it’s the third book and there’s a theme. Maybe I’m being pedantic, but but Dante didn’t get drunk—Cherry drugged him.

While it is a rather quick read, I thought it was disappointing as it just felt like lazy story writing.

Wild Is the Witch

Next up was Wild Is the Witch by Rachel Griffin. I had read her debut novel The Nature of Witches in 2022 and loved it. So I eagerly got this book and . . . absolutely adored it!

From the first page, I felt deeply connected to the characters. The story is both sad and hopeful, full of magic and wonder of nature. Yes, there is witch magic, but it’s so interconnected with the world. I found that simply beautiful. Having lived in the Pacific Northwest, I could feel myself in that old growth forest, which does have a magic. Turning fear and anxiety into hope and even joy—simply amazing.

Although I knew how the story would end, I loved seeing how things played out. And the ending gave me all the feels.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back

I then read The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young. I had several people recommend this book and the author to me. Sadly, this one fell flat for me.

I thought the world building was minimal, if non-existent. The plot was predictable and really lacked the tension needed in a fantasy to drive the story forward. The pacing felt choppy, particularly when the story went back and forth not only between Tova and Halvard but between past and present of both POVs. d

I also never really connected to the characters—there was just something missing. I thought they lacked any realness and depth. There was no real emotion. Here’s a girl who has spent a dozen years thinking her clan had thrown her out. Her “adopted” clan thinks she a pariah. And yet, I felt none of the anguish, none of the isolation, none of the grief she should have been feeling.

There are threads of an idea, an attempt explore the concept of “fate” but unfortunately, this one just completely fell flat for me.

Divine Rivals

My fourth book was Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. And OMG, my first reaction was “what did I just read?!”

Seriously, because my heart had been ripped out. Worse, I didn’t realize there was a sequel! So I didn’t have it and had to order it. (It’s supposed to arrive tomorrow and guess what I’ll be reading right after the mail arrives.)

Lesson learned universe, LESSON LEARNED!

I could not put this book down. I started it and as much as I wanted to take my time and savor all the delicious prose, I also wanted to know what happened next. Beautiful writing with such emotional depth. Two incredibly crafted main characters in a sublime, an enchanting, a divine story.

The pacing was perfect. The story flowed and kept me on the edge of my seat. The world-building exquisite. She doesn’t info dump but sprinkles pieces of the world. It’s a bit like WWI but with gods and monsters set in a fantasy world.

I absolutely loved this story. It might be my favorite of the year.

City of Bones

Martha Wells has gotten a lot of recent attention for her Murderbot Diaries. As well she should because the first Murderbot book, All Systems Red, at 147 pages, is a masterclass in writing. Simply brilliant.

But before Martha delved into the scifi realm, she wrote some epic fantasy. City of Bones was originally released in 1995. Last year, Tor Books released an updated and revised edition (the author’s preferred text).

This book is fantasy at its best.

Set in a world struggling to come to terms with a geological disaster of epic proportions, Martha has created an intricate and complex world both in texture and characters. But while this book could be labeled as dystopian fantasy, that label would sell this book short.

Khat, our humanoid-like main character, is neither a lofty, idealistic hero nor a malformed antihero, but maybe a beautiful mixture of both. All the main characters feel so real because none of them are entirely heroes or villains. All live in the beautiful in-between of flaws and scars and everything that make humans human.

If complex world building and intriguing characters weren’t enough, the incredible twisting plot is full of power plays, mystery, and intrigue. Add to all of this a bit of paranormal with a side of steampunk ambiance, and you have one amazing story.

I will warn you, however, this is not a fast read like Murderbot. This is a book that deserves and takes concentration. While the pace initially seems slow, it’s because she won’t hold your hand later when the plotting escalates.

I still still have a book hangover. 

What magic does is to open the mind to the world, and sometimes the world isn’t what we think it is.

Tress of the Emerald Sea

Today I finished Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. Another book not on my original TBR, I picked this one up at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver, where I took a mini vacation this weekend.

Side note: If you get a chance, I highly recommend stopping by the Tattered Cover, as well as the Bookstore on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. I had a great time perusing both stores this past weekend.

I’ve had several people recommend Sanderson to me. I decided to give this one a go because (1) it’s not over 500 pages and (2) it’s a stand alone (even though it’s set in his Cosmere universe). Plus, the cover is really pretty.

Honestly, I almost DNF’d it because I got a little bored reading it and kept putting it down. I finally just started skimming it just to see how it resolved. I get that Sanderson was attempting to be like Pratchett or Adams with the narration and witty dialogue. But I found much of Hoid’s narration to be extraneous even though Hoid provides most of the world-building. I found most of the narration attempts to be funny (a la Pratchett or Adams) but Sanderson lacks Pratchett’s or Adams’s flair. It just became overly much, not that funny, and at times, cringy. And it was clunky to have a first person POV when the narrator is not the MC.

I liked the premise but the book just failed in execution. Inconsistent pacing with short chapters made the story feel choppy. The plot dragged at times and felt as if Sanderson was just putting in filler to make the book a novel instead of a novella.

I realize I’m not the target demographic for this book, and maybe that’s the issue. Overall, it was just okay, but it doesn’t make me want to pick up any of his other books.

The Daily Prompts

If you follow me on Instagram, then you might have seen (algorithms be willing) my Wyrd and Wonder daily prompts post (although I missed a few days when traveling, so days 5-8 are in one post).

I’ve struck out on my own adventure (i.e., I’m not following the list as laid out by Wyrd & Wonder). Here’s my adventure so far:

Day 1: I started my adventure at Mount TBR. Preparedness is the key to any adventuring, but like any good adventurer, I’m prepared for the unexpected (reading off the TBR!).

Day 2:  I journeyed to the Woven City. (The Girl The Sea Gave Back weaves together Tova & Halvard’s stories moving between now and the past)

Day 3: From the city, I traveled onto Dragon’s Pass (That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human features Dante the dragon)

Day 4: I got out of Dragon’s Pass without getting scorched and made it to The Crossroads (in Divine Rivals, oh my, do they face a crossroads!)

Day 5: I struck out from the Crossroads & snuck down to Pirate Cove where I met the Dread Pirate Roberts. Luckily, I was not forced into a battle of wits with iocane powder (The Princess Bride by William Goldman if you didn’t get it from the Dread Pirate Roberts)

Day 6: From Pirate Cove, I caught a ship and sailed to Standalone Isle. There I visited the city of Charisat and learned about the Ancients’ arcane engines from Khat, Sagai, and Elen (City of Bones by Martha Wells)

Day 7: With my new knowledge, I sailed back to the mainland to The Epic Shores where I struck out on an epic adventure with Fitz and studied the art of the assassin (The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb)

Day 8: I then landed in Hero’s Journey where I listened to Mister Wolf tell the story of how King Belgarion came to be on the throne at Riva (The Belgariad by David Eddings)

Day 9: Leaving the Hero’s Journey, I made my way to Storyhenge where I delighted in finding some of a master storyteller’s lost stories. (A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett)

Stay tuned to see where my journey takes me next!

Wyrd & Wonder map by Ariana (IG: @booknookreview) with my journey added in red
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