Weekly Wednesday #1

This is a new and hopefully regular feature on the Outsider. I really want to get back into blogging more than twice a month so fingers crossed this will help! I'll mention books I'm reading or have read, new books that may have accidentally landed on my desk, and movies that I've been watching - both big and small screen. Let's start with the books!

Currently Reading

After devouring Now You See Her I was so excited to receive a copy of Come Back For Me in the post a couple of weeks ago. An unknown body buried in the garden and a small island community is making for some tense reading! It's not out until July 11th in hardback but it came out in e-book format on June 1st, and if you hurry you can pick it up for 99p as a limited time deal on Amazon during June. I'm taking part in the blog tour so look out for my review on publication day!

Now the twins are 9 (!!!) they're reading more, especially E, so I like to check out books I think she might like. The Middler is by Kirsty Applebaum and published by the wonderful Nosy Crow. It's about Maggie, the middle child, her older brother Jed and her younger brother Trig, forbidden friendship and betrayal. I'm only about 25 pages in but loving it so far.

Up Next

This is the first of my YALC 2019 reads and I cannot wait! I loved The Wren Hunt so much, it was one of my top 10 books of 2018. In fact, I'm contemplating doing a re-read before delving into The Wickerlight but trying to create a YALC reading schedule before I decide.

On The Big Screen

 I'm off to see Dark Phoenix tomorrow, and apart from the fact that Sophie Turner is playing Jean Grey, I've managed to avoid spoilers and reviews. Really hoping this one lives up to the hype!

I saw Godzilla: King Of The Monsters yesterday and loved it! I love monster movies and will quite happily watch them for days! There was a man sitting in front of me though who obviously didn't share my love of Mothra because he alternated between playing with his phone and falling asleep and snoring - loudly...

Can't Wait For...

Hurrah! A new Jackson Brodie from one of my favorites, Kate Atkinson. This novel has been a long time coming and I always just assumed that there would be no more new Jackson stories. Very happy to be proved wrong! Extra bonus - Jason Isaacs, who played Jackson in the television adaptation, is going to be at ComicCon 2019...

Book Haul #127, Or The One Where I'm Definitely Not Meant To Be Buying Books...

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

Three weeks today ComicCon will be all but over and hopefully I won't have run out of money! I've been saving since my vacation to France but a large chunk of that is for my hotel. I really don't want to go book buying mad this year but there are a couple of books I'm keeping my fingers crossed for and of course I'll be checking out the Funko Pops! I nearly got away with a book free week but had to buy the Collectors Edition of The BFG with never-seen-before illustrations from Quentin Blake and then I had to pick up a copy of the latest Wells & Wong Mystery by Robin Stevens. Review books wise I was good, just three titles...

Bought

Review

Book Haul #119, Or The One Where I Have A Birthday Giveaway...

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

Before we get down to the business of books, scroll down to the bottom and you'll see there's a giveaway! In honor of my birthday tomorrow and open internationally as long as the Book Depository ships to you (check here!) you may choose a book of your choice up to the value of $20. All you need to do is fill in the rafflecopter! The giveaway will close at midnight on January 31 so you have 8 days to enter.

Back to the books and it's been another good week in terms of books in, only two review books and one book bought... I know, I know! I said I wasn't buying any books but this one is different because it's my bestest book buddy's second novel and she's amazing and everyone needs to check it out :) Also amazing is the cover for Ali Shaw's new book, The Trees. I loved The Girl With Glass Feet so can't wait to get stuck into this one. In other news my replacement Kindle Fire still isn't here and Amazon are now saying end of February/beginning of March. Grrrr...

Bought

White Lies - Zoe Markham

For Review

The Trees - Ali Shaw

Masks And Shadows - Stephanie Burgis

Birthday Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Haul #100

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

My name is Fi and I'm a bookaholic, it's been thirty eight days since I last bought a book and I want need to buy books!!! Seriously though, I'm still on the straight and narrow when it comes to book buying. I think this may well be the longest I have ever gone without buying a book since I was too young to buy books myself, a very long time ago... I suspect that the amazing review books I've received this week have something to do with it all again. I've been so excited about review books that I've not had the inclination (much!) to buy books. Only thing is my last couple of requests were approved this week and one last-minute request on Netgalley/Edelweiss and I got great book mail so Operation Netgalley/Edelweiss Cold Turkey hasn't started yet. Definitely Monday though... 

For Review

Cleo | The Girl At Midnight | Sisters of Blood & Spirit

A Court of Thorns & Roses | A Darker Shade of Magic | Finn Fancy Necromancy

Disclaimer | The Mechanical | Pacific Fire

The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon

ISBN - 9781408836422 (Hardcover) 

            9781408836453 (Paperback)

Publisher - Bloomsbury

Release date - Out now

Find - Book Depository | Goodreads

'It is the year 2059. Several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, the voyants commit treason simply by breathing.

But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city - Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants highly - as soldiers in their army.

Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives.'

The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine - a young woman learning to harness her powers in a world where everything has been taken from her. It also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut. - Goodreads

I read The Bone Season shortly after it came out. I went to an event where Samantha was talking about the book along with its planned (six!) sequels and I knew I had to read it. I went home that night, started the book, finished it about 24 hours later but even though I completely fell in love with Paige, Nick, Warden, London, Oxford and Samantha's writing I just couldn't write a review. A draft sat in my dashboard for months until I deleted it earlier this year. I cheekily decided to request The Mime Order and somehow (despite my appalling percentage on there!) I was approved, promptly started reading The Bone Season again and this time had a completely different reading experience. And the same reviewing experience, this has been sitting for nearly two months now..

So what makes The Bone Season so difficult for me to review? I honestly have no idea. I love Samantha's writing, it doesn't feel like first book writing if that makes any sense? And her characters? Are fantastically written and alive, to me anyway. I wanted to get to know all of them, even the bad ones. The Bone Season has been marketed as an adult novel but I can certainly see why there is so much YA appeal. There is stunning, meticulous world-building, slang and vocabulary you won't have heard of anywhere else and a raft of ideas that I've not really seen woven together anywhere else.

I love that Paige's world is our world essentially, what our world could be, what our world might be if you consider the possibilities of the alternate timeline. I spent my late teens and most of my twenties living in London and Oxford so it was fun to read these alternative pictures of them and imagine what it would have been like with Voyants, the Scion Guard and the threat of death or being locked up hanging over your head if you even show a tiny bit of talent.

Paige is probably one of my favorite characters, just as well really, living and working in London for one of the Mime Lords (Jax, not one of my favorites) whilst still finding time to visit her father. It's on one such visit that she is captured and delivered to the Rephaim, prized because of her (so far) unique talent and handed over to Warden, one of the Rephaite Keepers. From the start though, her relationship with Warden is not what she expects or what we expect from the story and although he is at times cruel you can see the bond between them growing. Paige is headstrong, stubborn and independent and of course not going to settle for being locked up in Oxford with her life being threatened every day, either by other voyants or the humans living & working as Rephaite slaves. She is determined to get out of there, soon, and take as many people possible with her. First though she has to deal with a bigger threat than the Rephaim, a race called the Emim. This is why the Rephaim use the voyants and why the Scion government is only too happy to keep sending them so that the Emim don't become more of a threat.

The action starts on page one and really doesn't let off until the last page, an awful lot happens, people die (or go missing) so don't get particularly attached to anyone because you just never know! By the end of The Bone Season some of the most beloved characters are nowhere to be found, with no-one knowing if they're dead or alive. Definitely worth a read for an amazing futuristic fantasy but also completely understandable why people either seem to love it or hate it, it's a long book for some at 466 pages and there is an awful lot to take in - between the history, the different voyants, the language, you're always learning something new especially in the first half of the book but that was part of the appeal for me. If someone was writing my perfect book, tailored to what I love? I suspect it would look an awful like The Bone Season. And on that note, I'll finish. I get the feeling this is going to be the most rambling of my reviews... Coming soon, The Mime Order!

Book Haul #88 - Model of Restraint!

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

So... I haven't done a book haul post for five weeks! I haven't been well, my attention is shot to pieces and I ended up in hospital again. The only good thing about feeling awful is that I've barely requested any review copies, not really bought a few books and requested three, yes that's three, titles from the library. This may all change today though as I'm at BristolCon with lots of amazing authors and great people. Providing I don't pass out or embarrass myself in any way there could well be pictures!

Waiting On Wednesday #72 - The Mime Order

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is -

The Mime Order  (Bone Season #2) - Samantha Shannon
ISBN - 9781408857397 (UK) 9781620408933 (US)
Publisher - Bloomsbury (UK/US)
Expected release date - October 21st 2014
Find - Goodreads/Book Depository

Approach With Caution - Spoilers Ahead!!!






'Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal penal colony of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the fugitives are still missing and she is the most wanted person in London.

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on Paige, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city’s gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take center stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner.

Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided. Will Paige know who to trust? The hunt for the dreamwalker is on.' - Goodreads

After what feels like a long wait the second book in the Bone Season series is finally on its way. By the time it's published in October it will have been fourteen months since the first book was released. Rather disgracefully I read Bone Season, or rather, devoured it and absolutely adored it but never wrote a review! I will change this as I'm definitely going to re-read before The Mime Order comes out.

Book Haul #49

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews and Letterbox Love is a UK edition hosted by Narratively Speaking. Here we can share what new books we've picked up this past week. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

Good thing this post was already scheduled, I'm using my Kindle to fill in some bits as we've been without phone/internet for most of the week! No idea why but hopefully, as you're reading this, it's fixed. I'm at my sister's again this week, lots of things happening including more babysitting, cake club and probably the most exciting signing I've been to this year. I promise to try and get photos but I have a feeling this is one event that's going to be very crowded! Anyway, here's this week's haul. Another quiet-ish week for me, especially as I was at BristolCon where I managed to buy just one book!

Bought

Unnatural Creatures - Neil Gaiman

The Iron Traitor - Julie Kagawa

From BristolCon

Looking Landwards - Adrian Tchaikovsky et al

From Quirk

Princesses Behaving Badly - Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

Edelweiss

Servants of the Storm - Delilah S Dawson

What did you get this week?

Review: The Key - Marianne Curley

The Key - Marianne Curley (Guardians Of Time #3)
ISBN - 9780747573340
Published - Bloomsbury, February 7 2005 

If you haven't read this or, the first two titles and want to, then read no further as I can't guarantee there will be no spoilers!

'In the thrilling, final instalment of the Guardians of Time trilogy, tentative guard members Matt and Rochelle have emerged as crucial players in fulfilling the prophecy of the Named. Matt has learned that he is the son of an immortal, while Rochelle is struggling with her newfound powers and her fear that the group doesn't trust her. In fact, their leader is certain that someone in the close-knit circle is a traitor - but who? As suspicions mount, friction threatens to tear apart the Guard. Will the members of the Named be able to overcome their fears and unite the Guardians of Time in their last stand against evil and chaos?' - Goodreads

I read The Named and The Dark when they first came out in 2002 and 2003 respectively but when The Key came out in 2005 it passed me by. It has been on my wishlist ever since so was the natural first choice for my wishlist challenge. Luckily the library because, as we all know how well that ban's going, I'm trying not to buy books this year. 

I probably could have reread the first two books but the library didn't have them and my copies were lost in the Great Moving Debacle of 2008 so I just leapt in and after a couple of chapters I remembered most of what happened in the two previous books. The Key turned out to be a 'love it and hate it' book for me - there were some parts I loved and others I hated.

Loved -

• Matt and Neriah's developing relationship
• Arkarian and Isabel's developing relationship
• The gradual acceptance of Rochelle, especially towards the end
• Ethan and Rochelle's 'friendship', for want of a better word, as they discovered that they were meant to be together too late
• Matt discovering who his true father was

Hated -

• Dillon, whiny self-centred boy whose fixation on Neriah could probably have been seen as creepy
• No viewpoint from Ethan, Arkarian or Isabel - although I loved Rochelle's viewpoint and it was good to see her try to come to terms with not being readily accepted by the rest of the Guardians I missed hearing the story from especially Ethan's point of view
• The ending!
• Ethan being left alone after realising that Rochelle was his 'other half'
• The unveiling of the traitor - looking back now it's so obvious who it had to be because of Ethan's gut feeling and all the other little pointers
• That the so-called Immortals were killed so easily, Lorian died just a little too easily for me, same with Lathenia but she was the bad guy after all!
• Matt's sudden dislike of his sister's relationship with Arkarian, it seemed out of place given that he was alright with it previously 
• Matt's sudden elevation from boy with no powers to being the leader with superpowers

Hmm, the dislike list ended up being significantly longer than I thought it would be! I did enjoy the book, I'm glad I've finished the trilogy but it just feels like there was something missing at the end and I wish we could have had a 'a few months later' chapter so we could see how Ethan was coming to terms with everything and how Isabel & Arkarian's realtionship was growing alongside Matt dealing with whatever problem he had with their relationship being resolved. Mostly though I'd like to know more about Dillon, given that he was originally a traitor along with Rochelle and how he grew after the final battle, finding his place in the Guardians and overcoming his obsession with Neriah.