Week 3 of the fantastical month of Wyrd & Wonder. Okay, so I’m not strictly going by actual weeks because it’s been a bit more than a week since my last update. Stupid day job for interrupting all my book fun.

Anyway, here’s an update on my progress.

I’m also tracking my progress on my Wyrd and Wonder TBR page and I have a shelf of all my Wyrd & Wonder reads on Bookshop.

Also stop by my PangoBooks site as I have listed some of these (plus a whole bunch of others) for sale.

Mini Reviews

Among Thieves

Among Thieves is the debut novel from M.J. Kuhn. I learned about this book from the 2023 National Book Festival and met M.J. Kuhn, who also graciously signed my book.

This book centers on a group of thieves, who must work together. But each has their own motivations and secrets, and each plan to betray the others. An intriguing premise that sadly didn’t quite work for me.

Like many debut novels, this one suffered from minimal world-building. We are given a bit more detail about the magic system, but I found the magic system was fairly basic and was used more as a form of slavery and a way to rule than a true magic system.

For all that the world is rather basic, the plot was intriguing and the writing compelling. And yet, I couldn’t connect to the characters. This is a multiple POV story and each characters’ backstory comes out throughout, although some backstories are revealed more than others. More fleshing out of the characters might have helped bring a bit of depth that the story lacked and might have made up for the basic world-building. As for the heist, well, it too lack depth and really just became a breaking and entering more than an Ocean’s Eleven style heist.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Among Thieves and I’m not sure I liked this one enough to pick up book 2 Thick as Thieves (which was released last year) even though this one ended on a big ole cliffhanger.

Strike the Zither

I absolutely loved Joan He’s The Ones We’re Meant to Find, and so when immediately pre-ordered Strike the Zither when it was announced in 2022. And then I let it sit on my shelf for 18 months because I also learned it was a duology. Luckily, book 2 was released at the beginning of this month, and so I put this on my TBR.

This duology is He’s reimagining of the Chinese classic tale of the Three Kingdoms. And He can certainly write a page-turning story full of politics, found family, military/war, strategy, intrigue, and action.

But my struggle with this book was the pacing. The first half of the book is fast paced. I started reading chapter one and thought I had accidentally picked up book 2 because it drops you in the middle of the action. I hung on and the story evened out so that I understood the world and the action occurring. Also, the hardcover edition has character art and maps, which was helpful especially during the first few chapters when I was trying just to hang on.

But . . .

At the half-way point, there’s a plot twist and the story takes a sharp right turn. That twist slows down the pacing enormously. In fairness (and without giving anything away), it makes sense but that doesn’t lessen the jarring nature. And of course, because this is a duology, book 1 ends with not so much a cliff hanger as a different kind of twist.

Sound the Gong

Luckily, since I had Sound the Gong, I picked it up and continued on. Sadly, this book just didn’t work for me.

At about the one-third mark, I started losing interest. At the half-way mark, I started skimming. At about the two-thirds mark, I started seriously skimming (as in skipping entire pages). I felt the story got a bit convoluted and I just lost interest.

I won’t go into details here because I’d have to give away too much of the story. But if you have read it or don’t care about spoilers, then check out my review on Storyrgraph. Overall, I felt the characters and emotional pieces lacked and the story felt choppy. I just didn’t get in

So this wasn’t the bestest reading week.

Fantasy Puzzles

I did have a great puzzle week and completed 3 fantasy puzzles plus one mini bookish puzzle.

First up was The Fruichemist (pronounced FROO-kem-ist), 1000 pieces by Twisted Puzzles, part of their Gnometopia series.

I love the Gnometopia series! It’s whimsical & each one includes a little story about the image that relates to the overall Gnometopia lore. These pieces have a nice feel & good quality. It easily passes the pickup challenge.

The Fruichemist Mr. Longlake coaxes out the natural enchantments native to fruit & flora for herbal teas, magical powders, elixirs, medicines, and more.

Gnometopia Is a wondrous & enchanted realm home to a diverse community of gnomes & concealed from the human eye.

Next was The Ecstatic Kiss of Spring, art by Tina Rodriguez & Virgo Paraiso, 1000 pieces by Pomegranate (one of my favorite puzzle brands).

I had to have this puzzle from the minute I saw it on Pomegranate’s website. And it’s so much better in person. The details, the colors, the flowers, butterflies, & birds contrasted against the black background and skeleton figures—simply stunning. And as always, excellent quality. It easily passed the pick-up challenge.

Third was Wayhouse, 1000 pieces by Twisted Puzzles, another one of the Gnometopia series.

Wayhouses are on the edge of Gnometopia near the enchanted border. The border shrinks or expands depending on the festival calendar, cycles of fruit and nature, the annual harvest, and whether any unsavory critter has managed to stumble upon it.

Fourth was Kvothe in Tarbean, 500 pieces, art by Matt Rhodes & puzzle by WorldBuilders Inc. This puzzle was inspired by Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

While the quality was average (the pieces dislodged easily), it was still a fun puzzle. Kvothe is on a roof clutching his 4-stringed lute. The box has quotes from the Name of the Wind describing Tarbean. The pieces are slightly larger than average.

Last, I did the OwlCrate special puzzle from Micropuzzles. While not fantasy-specific, it’s all about bookish love with a cup of tea.

The Daily Prompts

If you follow me on Instagram, then you might have seen (algorithms be willing) my Wyrd and Wonder daily prompts posts. However, I realized when I started writing this that I’ve greatly fallen behind on those posts. So not all of these are on IG (yet).

When last I posted on my quest, I visited the immortals at The Fountain of Youth (Day 14).

Day 15: From there, I carefully navigated Here Be Monsters, where demons well up from the ground and are immune to mortal weapons and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. (The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett)

Day 16: Fleeing the monsters, I fled to Conflict Bay. There the forces battled for a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell. (Hell’s Library Trilogy by A.J. Hackwith)

Day 17: Escaping the conflict, I traveled on to Lover’s Crossing, where Hugh and Elana faced the question as to whether “It is better to marry than to burn.” (Iron & Magic by Ilona Andrews)

Day 18: Leaving the lovers, I trekked to the Sorcerer’s Tower and learned a power word. (Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews)

Day 19: Next stop on my quest was the Cosy Cottage where I stopped to read while I enjoyed a latte. (Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree)

Day 20: Feeling refreshed, I struck out for the Grimdark Forest where there’s a missing God, a library with the secrets to the universe and a woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away. (The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins)

Day 21: Then I hiked up Twin Peaks where I enjoyed a duology. (Skyhunter & Steelstriker by Marie Lu)

Day 22: After scaling the peaks, I climbed the Stack of Doom. (This is only part of my stack bookcase of unread books.)

Day 23: From the stack, I floundered through Slump Valley. Luckily, I can rely on my coyote walker to lead me through. (Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs)

Day 24: I finally traveled on the Road Less Traveled. (Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro)

Stay tuned for the end of my Wyrd & Wonder quest as well as my final wrap-up!

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