Wednesday Reading Meme
What I Just Finished Reading: Since last week I read four books: Blightborn by Chuck Wendig, Canada by Mike Myers, Soul Eater by Lily Mayne, and Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. Reviews below.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I just started Still Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: I have four books out from the library, so I put them + one that I own up on the Give Me 5 challenge and I'm letting someone else pick.
76. Blightborn by Chuck Wendig
Loved the second book of the Heartland trilogy, which picks up right where the first left off: Gwennie and Merelda are on a flotilla, and both have discovered that life in the clouds is not what they expected, and Cael and his friends are on the run and seeking a way up top themselves. The action is pretty evenly split between the ground and the sky, and I enjoyed learning more of the backstory of both the characters and the corn. We also get some land pirates, some rebels, and a bunch of interesting world building. I also really enjoyed the introduction of a few of the new characters (Balastair and Davies, I’m looking at you… and Erasmus, *my heart*) and also seeing some of the older ones grow and become sympathetic (Agrasanto, who’d’ve thought?) My only complaint would be that there were so many different POVs that the switches between them felt too frequent. I would have liked to stay with each group of characters longer, but then we might have a 1000 page King-ish tome!
Dates Read: June 27 to 30, 2023
Page Count: 528
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 18 - read 18 books with a red, white or blue cover (09/18)
Challenge Factory Give Me Five pick
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 25 - character with a vendetta (25/52)
77. Canada by Mike Myers
It was very fitting that I read this on Canada Day. :)
Comedian Mike Myers uses the theme of this book to attempt to tackle questions about what it means to be Canadian, but really it’s just a vehicle for his amusing memoir. It made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion, and since Myers and I are only 4 years apart in age and 45 minutes apart in where we geographically grew up, it brought back a LOT of memories of things I’d practically forgotten (omg, Irv Weinstein and all the fires in Cheektowaga). I feel like this is definitely a book for Canadians though - and maybe even for Ontarians particularly - and I’m not sure if it would bring so much delight to someone who didn’t get that little frisson of recognition from Mike’s tales. Loved all the photos as well that brought so many things to life.
Date Read: July 01, 2023
Page Count: 281
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 18 - read 18 books with a red, white or blue cover (10/18)
Challenge Factory Genre Roulette - Tier 4 - read 4 books tagged humour (03/04) (14/15 total)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 49 - someone who loses spouse (26/52)
78. Soul Eater by Lily Mayne
20 years ago, a rift between worlds opened and “monsters” came to our world. Needless to say, many people died and the population shifted to the coasts (something about how there are no rifts in water, but that wouldn’t stop land-based monsters from traveling to the coasts from inland, but whatever), where the world is miserable, and poverty and crowding is rampant. Monsters and raiders roam the rest of North America, in an area called the Wastes.
Into this landscape comes Danny, a sheltered 23-year-old who enlisted to escape poverty. He discovers the military are not exactly the good guys here. They capture and torture the monsters for ‘information’. Except one monster, Wyn, has got googly eyes for Danny. They end up traveling together, Danny discovers that Wyn may not be such a bad guy, and do I need to tell you that they fall in love? I don’t think I do.
Yes, it’s all kind of ridiculous, yet I super enjoyed it. There are a multitude of sex scenes (which I have to admit, I mainly skimmed… I’m sort of at the ‘read one, read ‘em all’ point) but happily they don’t start until about the 40% mark, giving these two fellas time to grow to like each other. I liked the world building and Edin, a support character who’s the star of the next book, was adorable.
Dates Read: July 01 to 02, 2023
Page Count: 329
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 17 - read 17 books with an E in the title (14/17)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 19 - MC in military (27/52)
79. Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
I’d been avoiding this series despite my love of Maberry because I feared a YA take on zombies would neuter the creepiness, but I needn’t have worried. There’s still quite a few scenes of zombie action, but this is mainly a coming of age tale. Benny is 15 years old, living in the relative safety of a small town that fences itself off and then does its best to never talk about the horror outside the gates. He’s thrust into adulthood and a relationship with his much older brother, and it’s that growing friendship and love that anchors the story. There’s also some references that anchor this timeline in the Night of the Living Dead universe, which I LOVE to see. (And possibly a reference to Joe McKinney’s universe as well?) Maberry is a master at this genre.
Dates Read: July 03 to 04, 2023
Page Count: 468
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 16 - read 16 books from your favourite genre (08/16)
Challenge Factory Give Me 5 pick
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 01 - published in 2010
.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I just started Still Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: I have four books out from the library, so I put them + one that I own up on the Give Me 5 challenge and I'm letting someone else pick.
76. Blightborn by Chuck Wendig
Loved the second book of the Heartland trilogy, which picks up right where the first left off: Gwennie and Merelda are on a flotilla, and both have discovered that life in the clouds is not what they expected, and Cael and his friends are on the run and seeking a way up top themselves. The action is pretty evenly split between the ground and the sky, and I enjoyed learning more of the backstory of both the characters and the corn. We also get some land pirates, some rebels, and a bunch of interesting world building. I also really enjoyed the introduction of a few of the new characters (Balastair and Davies, I’m looking at you… and Erasmus, *my heart*) and also seeing some of the older ones grow and become sympathetic (Agrasanto, who’d’ve thought?) My only complaint would be that there were so many different POVs that the switches between them felt too frequent. I would have liked to stay with each group of characters longer, but then we might have a 1000 page King-ish tome!
Dates Read: June 27 to 30, 2023
Page Count: 528
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 18 - read 18 books with a red, white or blue cover (09/18)
Challenge Factory Give Me Five pick
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 25 - character with a vendetta (25/52)
77. Canada by Mike Myers
It was very fitting that I read this on Canada Day. :)
Comedian Mike Myers uses the theme of this book to attempt to tackle questions about what it means to be Canadian, but really it’s just a vehicle for his amusing memoir. It made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion, and since Myers and I are only 4 years apart in age and 45 minutes apart in where we geographically grew up, it brought back a LOT of memories of things I’d practically forgotten (omg, Irv Weinstein and all the fires in Cheektowaga). I feel like this is definitely a book for Canadians though - and maybe even for Ontarians particularly - and I’m not sure if it would bring so much delight to someone who didn’t get that little frisson of recognition from Mike’s tales. Loved all the photos as well that brought so many things to life.
Date Read: July 01, 2023
Page Count: 281
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 18 - read 18 books with a red, white or blue cover (10/18)
Challenge Factory Genre Roulette - Tier 4 - read 4 books tagged humour (03/04) (14/15 total)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 49 - someone who loses spouse (26/52)
78. Soul Eater by Lily Mayne
20 years ago, a rift between worlds opened and “monsters” came to our world. Needless to say, many people died and the population shifted to the coasts (something about how there are no rifts in water, but that wouldn’t stop land-based monsters from traveling to the coasts from inland, but whatever), where the world is miserable, and poverty and crowding is rampant. Monsters and raiders roam the rest of North America, in an area called the Wastes.
Into this landscape comes Danny, a sheltered 23-year-old who enlisted to escape poverty. He discovers the military are not exactly the good guys here. They capture and torture the monsters for ‘information’. Except one monster, Wyn, has got googly eyes for Danny. They end up traveling together, Danny discovers that Wyn may not be such a bad guy, and do I need to tell you that they fall in love? I don’t think I do.
Yes, it’s all kind of ridiculous, yet I super enjoyed it. There are a multitude of sex scenes (which I have to admit, I mainly skimmed… I’m sort of at the ‘read one, read ‘em all’ point) but happily they don’t start until about the 40% mark, giving these two fellas time to grow to like each other. I liked the world building and Edin, a support character who’s the star of the next book, was adorable.
Dates Read: July 01 to 02, 2023
Page Count: 329
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 17 - read 17 books with an E in the title (14/17)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 19 - MC in military (27/52)
79. Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
I’d been avoiding this series despite my love of Maberry because I feared a YA take on zombies would neuter the creepiness, but I needn’t have worried. There’s still quite a few scenes of zombie action, but this is mainly a coming of age tale. Benny is 15 years old, living in the relative safety of a small town that fences itself off and then does its best to never talk about the horror outside the gates. He’s thrust into adulthood and a relationship with his much older brother, and it’s that growing friendship and love that anchors the story. There’s also some references that anchor this timeline in the Night of the Living Dead universe, which I LOVE to see. (And possibly a reference to Joe McKinney’s universe as well?) Maberry is a master at this genre.
Dates Read: July 03 to 04, 2023
Page Count: 468
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 16 - read 16 books from your favourite genre (08/16)
Challenge Factory Give Me 5 pick
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 01 - published in 2010
.