bookworm – Cosmic Lattes and Books

Book Review: The Fever King

Author: Victoria Lee
Genre: Fantasy/Scifi
Page Count: 369
Date Started: December 7th
Date Finished: December 15th
Spoilers? No.

A Brief Description

In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.

Caught between his purpose and his heart, Noam must decide who he can trust and how far he’s willing to go in pursuit of the greater good.

Goodreads || Amazon

A review

Wow was this book good.

This book takes place in 2122, in the former United States. The country has been ravaged by magical nuclear war, and is split up into different countries now. The two most prominently featured are Atlantia and Carolinia. The story mainly takes place in Durham, Carolinia. (The former Durham, North Carolina). Magic is a virus that kills most of those that if infects. Atlantia has been ravaged by magic and is basically an uninhabitable wasteland. This has caused many refugees to escape to Carolinia.

Carolinia is known for it’s very anti-refugee/immigrant laws and are known to deport many back to Atlantia which is basically a death sentence.

The premise of this book is something that really called out to me. The idea is that magic is a virus that infects people. Most of the people that are infected die, but those that survive are called Witchings.

This is what happens to our main character, Noam Alvaro. He is the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family. He gains the ability of a technopath, or basically the ability to control technology. This catches the eye of the military of Carolinia and he is thrust into a world unlike the one that he was raised in.

Noam, the son of undocumented immigrants, has spent his entire life fighting for immigrant and refugee rights. Knowing that Carolinia is ruthless with it’s deportations, he sees a chance to make a change.

Immigrant and refugee rights should be a no brainer, but the story deals with this in a way that is very poignant and true to the atmosphere that exists in the United States today. Immigrants are trapped in detention centers and refugee camps that make the spread of magical disease much more deadly. In addition, they are relegated to slums and cramped housing that also help the spread of magic.

As someone who was raised by immigrant parents and was surrounded by immigrant friends, I can say that this one especially hit close to home. Like Noam, I was lucky enough to be born in this country, a country that is, mostly, (only mostly) free of crisis that cause refugees to flee their countries of birth. This was an especially poignant read.

Also, this book has an LGBT romance. Noam is bi-sexual, as is the main love interest, who is a prickly on the outside, cinnamon roll on the inside, kind of character. (I love Dara) The romance was not instant and it was built up over time. It was believable and I loved them both.

This story also covers other topics such as sexual abuse, loss and grief. The story was emotional and I really enjoyed the writing.

The plot was engaging and I found myself rooting for most of the characters and I could not stop reading it.

I gave this a 4.5 because there were certain things in the plot that just seemed a little bit too convenient, but they did not deter from my enjoyment. I would highly recommend reading this! I can’t wait for the Electric Heir, which is the sequel) that is due out in 2020!

Have you read this? What did you think?

~Cam

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What am i currently reading?

I am LOVING this book. It’s probably going to be another favorite of the year. The premise of magic as an illness is such an interesting concept. To boot, this story has some activism regarding immigrants and the rights that they should have in nations that they live in. I’m truly loving it. I highly recommend it. It also has some LGBTQ rep that is healthy! Go read The Fever King by Victoria Lee!

What have I just finished reading?

Oh boy. Okay, so I finished reading this one a few days ago, and let me tell ya, I was somewhat disappointed. I gave this a 2.5 stars and you can see my more in depth thoughts on my review. I was disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this as much as I was expecting to. I’m also not really big on dystopian to begin with. There were some good messages in this story, I just thought that they were executed in a very strange manner. That being said, please feel free to read it, let me know your thoughts if you have/decide to read this.

What am i reading next?

I’ve been really craving a sci-fi lately, so I’m going to read this one. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure what this novel is about. I know it has a ship, and a girl whose brother leaves their family to fight a useless war. The thing that drew me to this book was the cover. I love the bright colors on it and am really excited to start it once I finish the book I am currently reading!

What is you WWW Wednesday? Link it in the comments below, or just let me know! I’m interested to discuss them.

Have a great day, and as always keep reading!

~Cam

Book Review: The Grace Year

Author: Kim Liggett
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Page Count: 404
Date Started: December 4th
Date Finished:
Spoilers?: Yes. Sort of?

A Brief Description

SURVIVE THE YEAR.

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.

Goodreads || Amazon

My Review

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett is pitched as a pinch of The Handmaid’s Tale, a bit of Hunger Games and a feminist Lord of the Flies. While I see all of these elements, I feel like it falls a little bit short of being “feminist”, at least for me.

I’m conflicted, because I really wanted to love this story, but parts of it fell flat for me.

In Garner County, girls who turn 16 are thought to possess the magic to entice grown men and make older women jealous, so to combat this, they are sent to an isolated camp to release their magic into the wild for a year. Some will return, and when they do they are considered purified and ready for marriage.

The story follows Tierney James, a girl from Garner County during her grace year. Tierney is known as “Tierney the Terrible” in her group of grace girls. She has never really fit in, and in Garner County this can be incredibly dangerous. Women are only seen as possessions, property to their husbands. Right before being sent off for their grace years, many of the young girls are married off to other men in the community. Many times, these men are significantly older than the young girls they are marrying. The girls also have no say in -who- they marry. All is chosen by the men in the county and their fathers. Not only that, but being “veiled” is seen as the upmost priority. If you are not veiled you will return to the county and work in indentured servitude in other areas of the county, which is seen as ‘less-than’ when compared to being a wife.

So we have a very oppressive government, filled with men who seem to believe that they own the women around them. Women are not allowed to do anything without the permission of their husbands. Husbands are allowed to accuse their wives of indecencies, use of magic, of anything really, and condemn them to death if they see fit. All of this done in the name of religion. Women in the county must be pure and subservient above all else.

You get the picture.

Tierney, not really liked by the girls in the county has one male friend named Michael. On her “veiling day” she does not expect to get a veil, but does, from Michael, who of course has always loved her. She takes offense to this, as it is not what she wants. She even -told- Michael that she did not to be a wife and had resigned herself to never getting married. Tierney was a little bit bone-headed and didn’t really think of things before she did them. She would think “maybe I shouldn’t do this thing” and then she would do the thing, and wonder why it blew up in her face.

To add to this, it throws a gasoline on to the fire due to Michael having promised to marry one of the other girls who is a grace girl with Tierney. Her name is Kiersten, and she almost seemed like a caricature mean girl. I don’t understand why she hated Tierney, and all the other girls for that matter as much as she did. She was mean, petty and caused the death of multiple other girls, just for funsies. Kiersten was just a villain to be a villain. While Tierney was attempting to help the group of girls survive, Kiersten attempts to sabotage every single one of those attempts which just led to chaos. I just can’t fathom why this girl would destroy buckets that Tierney made for the purpose of collecting rain water. I just…

Whew.

Okay…. so the story itself, the world, nothing was really explained… at all. You were thrown in and were told nothing about what time period the story takes place in, why they think women have magic, why poachers chase the young girls -yep-, or why the poachers take women apart, piece by piece, to be used as “fountain of youths” by the others in the county. I think the author was trying to add an air of mystique or mystery, but it just ended up seeming like it wasn’t fleshed out enough or like the plot itself was hazy.

The plot makes it seem like you’ll have girls rising up against this oppressive county that has been keeping them down for so long, like you’ll have women finally rising up, and like -some- revolution should be taking place. That happens, at the very end of the story, and it happened in such a way that it was entirely unexpected, but in a good way. I tacked on that extra .5 stars because of the ending if I am being completely honest. The ending was executed in a way that it all came together just right. But…here’s the thing though, the rescues that took place in the book were all by men, one man in particular.

A poacher named Ryker, who Tierney ends up in an insta-love relationship with. Half of the time that Tierney and Ryker spend together are after Ryker rescues her and nurses her back to health on a promise that he made her father a year earlier. The moment she knows she wants to “be with him” are after he sees his face. Not to mention that Ryker is a man who was literally HUNTING her and the other girls with her. He refers to her as -prey- for 100 pages of a 400 page book. And it was insta-love and had absolutely no build-up at all. It just didn’t feel like the love was ratcheted up correctly. It felt rather hazy and almost like the romance was just tacked on after the rest of the book had been written.

This book had so much potential, but it just fell flat for me unfortunately.

Have you read this? Did you like it? What were your thoughts? Let’s discuss below!

~Cam

Book Review: Fountains of Silence

Author: Ruta Sepetys
Genre: Historical Fiction
Page Count: 475
Date Started: December 1st
Date Finished: December 4th

A Brief Description

A portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship.

Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother’s birth through the lens of his camera. Photography–and fate–introduce him to Ana, whose family’s interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War–as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear. Daniel’s photographs leave him with uncomfortable questions amidst shadows of danger. He is backed into a corner of difficult decisions to protect those he loves. Lives and hearts collide, revealing an incredibly dark side to the sunny Spanish city.

Includes vintage media reports, oral history commentary, photos, and more.

Goodreads || Amazon

The Review

Okay. The atmosphere in this book was pretty great. You could feel the cold hand of Franco’s reign wrapping tighter around the characters as you read this.

The story of Ana, Puri, Daniel and Rafa really sticks with you.

Daniel Matheson, son of an American oil tycoon and a Spanish immigrant is an aspiring photographer who is visiting Spain with his parents. He comes with these ideas of what Spain is, mainly what the Francisco regime has told Americans and the world what Spain is, but finds a very different Spain exists for its inhabitants. One of the inhabitants of Spain is a young girl, a maid in the hotel he is staying in, named Ana.

Ana, a girl with secrets, works at the Castellana Hilton hotel, meets Daniel when she is assigned to his family.

Rafa, Ana’s older brother seemed almost… like a caricature? He has an interesting past, and has a friend who wants nothing more than to be a torero, a matador… but again, I feel like his character was very much a caricature.

Puri, Ana and Rafa’s cousin, is a nun who works at an orphanage, who begins to uncover some very unflattering things that are being done by the Franco regime involving children.

While all the characters were given colorful histories, I felt almost as if the surrounding areas were put on the back burner. The author captured Francoist Spain very well. The juxtaposition between the “American quarter”, or what I would describe as the “tourist area” of Spain and the area where tourists visited versus the areas where Spaniards actually lived very well. The tourist areas were described very richly, and had vibrancy, while the areas where natives lived were rundown and very crowded.

The author used snippets and clips of propoganda that was used in Francoist Spain to subjugate the people. For example, the Sección Femenina, which is the Women’s Section, told women that they were inferior to men and that they belonged in the home and in the role of being a mother. This is based mainly on extremist religious and Catholic beliefs, but this is what guided Franco. No other religions were allowed to be practiced in the open. This included weddings and funerals. Any Republican (those that were aligned against Franco and his government) were tortured, imprisoned, killed, or all three.

That being said, where was the flamenco? Where was the music? Where was the bright Spain that I grew up hearing about from my mom? (Who also grew up in Franco’s Spain).

In addition, this story was slow. It took a while for the characters to get to where they needed to go and the story almost seemed to end abruptly and it left me hanging with quite a few story strands.

All of this being said, I enjoyed this story and would recommend reading this if you have any interest in Francoist Spain, or even if you just enjoy historical fiction!

Have you read this? What did you think?

~Cam

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What am I currently reading?

I just started reading this, so I don’t have many thoughts on this one quite yet. Have you read it yet? What did you think?

What have I just finished reading?

I enjoyed this one, but it left some things lacking. I’m going to go more into this when I review it. Look out for my review soon!

What am I going to read next?

I’ve heard so many good things about this book, and I am beyond excited to start it. I’ve had it on my shelf for a while, and the cover is amazing!

What books did you just finish, start, or are in the middle of currently reading! Did you participate in WWW? If you did, please link yours in the comments!

Much love, have a great day, and as always, keep reading.

~Cam

Tropes I Dislike

I’ve posted on my blog previous about tropes I love so I figured it was time to talk about some of the ones I dislike. I should add a disclaimer here and say that just because I dislike these does not mean that you can’t love them. I just want to be clear that these are tropes that *I* don’t like to read. If you have any recommendations for books that might change my mind, please recommend them! ❤

The Love Triangle

I realize that this is a very popular, I just don’t enjoy the drama of it. I want to read a story that has romance as a part of it, not necessarily follow the dramas of a “him/her, but no him/her too?” romance? Does that make any sense?

The “Abusive” Romanticized Boyfriend/Girlfriend

Do I need to explain why I don’t like this one? This is the trope where the romantic partner, usually a boyfriend, is very controlling, rude, yells, and is generally and abusive ass-hat, but it is seen as romantic. He is seen instead as caring and protective, and passionate. I particularly don’t appreciate the fact that there is a large portion of young-adult and new-adult romances that feature this trope.

Soft Magic Systems

This is magic systems that doesn’t have hard rules. The magic is just willy nilly. Someone uses some magic that you never knew they had, that they just used for the first time, right in the nick of time, and they succeed? Soft magic system. Someone has unlimited power, with no checks, and no practice? Soft magic system. I like magic systems that have rules and that sticks by those rules, even if it makes life hard for the characters. I feel like this also makes it so that the character has to really think outside of the box on how to overcome their obstacle.

“I’m Not Like Other Girls”

This trope is one I dislike because it feels like a “pick-me.” It feels like a girl saying “Oh, I don’t like dresses” or “I don’t like pink” or “I don’t wear makeup” or whatever other things the author thinks are, first of all, only something women can enjoy, second of all, are something that makes someone less-than due to that enjoyment. You like pink? Cool, you can still be an interesting character. You like makeup? Cool, you can still be an interesting character. You like fashion? Cool! You can still be an interesting character. Same goes for you as a person by the way.

These are just some of the tropes that I dislike. What are some tropes that you dislike, and why? Do we share any of those?

I want to reiterate: Just because I don’t like these does not mean that you can’t. We can love and dislike different things.

Have a wonderful day and as always keep reading ❤

~Cam

Things I’m Loving: Caravan Clubs

I have been MIA recently. I’m sorry. I’ve been rather busy with work and school, and to be honest, my mental health took a nose dive for a bit. I needed some time to myself and I think I’m ready to come back to posting content. I wanted to start with something positive and talk about something that I have been loving lately. It’s called
“Caravan Clubs”

Have you guys heard of Caravan? Caravan is an online browser app that works in tandem with Discord (which is an online community that allows you to host group chats etc). On Caravan’s website, you can sign up to be a group chat with others who are also reading that book. This lets you have online book clubs with friends or with new people!

There are many different groups going on at a time. It’s something that I highly recommend looking in to if you have every wanted to be a part of a book club.

Website: https://caravanapp.ca/clubs

Use my referral link by clicking -> here.

Let me know if you want to read a book together! I would love to get more involved in the community! Have a wonderful day/night, wherever you are, and as always, keep reading. ❤

~Cam

September: Wrap-Up

Here are the books that I read in the month of September along with some reviews linked. I read… less than I wanted, but with school, a bout of food poisoning and work I didn’t have much time. Hopefully I’ll be able to read more come October. What did you read this month? Did you enjoy them?

Find my review here.

Find my review here.

Find my review here.

Review to come soon!

The Greatest Show on Earth- Richard Dawkins

Currently Reading

Currently Reading

Currently Reading

August Wrap-Up

Here are the books that I read in the month of August along with some reviews linked. What did you read this month? Did you enjoy them?

Find my review here.

Find my review here.

Find my review here.

Find my review here.

I only started this at the very end of the month, so I have not finished it.

Top 10 Tuesday: Favorite Tropes

***Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018, where Jana posts topics in advance for other bloggers to make posts about. ***

Heists

Heists, thieves and sneaking around? Come on, what’s not to love? Six of Crows and The Lies of Locke Lamora have to be two of my faves fantasies out there, so it comes as no surprise that this is on my list.

Hard Exterior/Gooey Interior

I love a character who exhibits the rough around the edges, “tough boy/girl” exterior while inside they truly do care about others strongly and deeply. I always love a character who tries to project that they don’t care, but fails due to how they empathize /sympathize with those around them.

Strong Female Character

Do I really need to elaborate on why I need this trope in my life?

Non Linear Timeline

Alright alright, hear me out: I love non linear timelines. I love to see the juxtaposition between past and present, present and future etc. I love to see the how things were and how they are now. I love to theorize how they got that way, or why. My favorite example of this is The Handmaid’s Tale . It leaves a lot of room for theories and twists.

Hidden Royalty

I love a “you’re actually a queen/princess/prince/king story” I love to see how the person changes after they find out they’re a royal. To be honest, I love stories that include royalty in general.

Found Family

I love found family. As someone who doesn’t have a “traditional family” I feel found family in a very profound way. There’s nothing more heartwarming than finding unconditionally supportive friends who are closer than family, especially in books.

SPACE

If you couldn’t tell by my theme, and my blog’s name, I love anything space. I find the topic of space so fascinating and so brilliant that I am always drawn to science fiction and books set in other galaxies, planets, worlds etc.

Quests

I love a well built world, I love the mystery and intrigue of trying to figure out how to solve a world shattering problem. Quests allow me to explore a world, while also having some major problem solving take place.

Intrigue/Politics

I love a world that has intrigue, politics, backstabbing, oh the drama! I love a character who feels like a fish out of water navigating the courts of some far off kingdom as they try to hide their identity and fit in. I love it all. It’s just very entertaining to read, and I love to read about the politcal strife that kingdoms/countries undergo and how our characters react to it.

Hard Magic Systems

I love a magic system that has rules. I love a magic system that limits our character to a certain extent so they have to use their problem solving skills to come up with a solution to defeat whatever villain they are up against.

What about you? What some of your #TopTenTuesday tropes? Do you share any of mine? Do you dislike any of mine? Let’s discuss below! I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to keep reading. 🙂

~Cam