I Heart Characters!

I Heart Characters! is a weekly meme hosted by Dani @ Perspective of a Writer to showcase our book blogger love for characters! Each week she’ll supply a topic and we’ll supply the character. Post on whatever day suits you, about characters from whatever media you love (books, movies, K-dramas, television, manga, anime, webtoons, whatever!) and link up on Thursday so we can all blog hop and share the character love.

This weeks topic is – A Creature You’d Want to Adopt (An animal or creature character you’d want as a companion.)

Amanda- I’m going to choose Bryaxis from the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. This is one of my absolute favorite series and there are so many different creatures. Bryaxis was one of my favorite creatures that I’ve read about in quite a while. So terrifying that Cassian won’t even describe what it looks like to anyone else, so old that the only thing it desires is someone to talk to and a window to see the stars. I would love to talk to Bryaxis and learn the things that it has seen through its life and get it to share some of its knowledge with me. I don’t know that I would want Bryaxis as a traveling companion or anything similar but I would love to be the person to spend time in the library fulfilling the agreement made with it for someone to talk to. I’m so intrigued to see where this part of the ACOTAR story goes once the next book/series comes out.

Antonia- For me, this will always and forever be Shalkan from The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. He’s a unicorn; you’re probably thinking pure, fluffy being of joy and goodness, right? Well you got the fluffy part right. Shalkan is sarcastic AF, stubborn, badass, and all-around not what you’d expect from a unicorn. I love him so much.

Thanks for reading bookworms! What creature would you choose for this week’s topic? Feel free to let us know in the comments!

Book Tag – Book Blogger Confessions

Yes bookworms, another book tag. We found this one posted by Sionna at Books in her Eyes, so go check out her answers to these fun questions.

The Rules – 

Answer the questions truthfully.

Tag five book bloggers to answer these questions next.

Which book did you most recently DNF?

Amanda- I make a point to not DNF books. So the closest I’ve come would be I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman which you can see my review here.

Antonia- Tequila and Tea Bags by Laura Barnard. I was really excited for this one but absolutely could not connect with the protagonist and couldn’t manage to get past about 30% because of it.

What book is your guilty pleasure?

Amanda- This has to be any of the Argeneau series by Lynsay Sands. They’re creative but filthy and I love it when the new ones come out. Who doesn’t love a sexy vampire romance?

Antonia- I probably would have chosen the same as Amanda but in an effort to be different I’ll pick The Dark-Hunters series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Sexy immortals and greek mythology? Yes please.

Which book do you love to hate?

Amanda- This is a tough one because I don’t have one that comes immediately to mind. After looking at my GoodReads list of books that I’ve read, The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (review here) is definitely a book that I dislike (I don’t really hate any books) but I liked the second one a bunch, so love to hate I guess?

Antonia- I always think this questions a little weird. Usually I just love it or hate it, there’s not much in between for me.

Which book would you throw into the sea? 

Amanda- What bookworm in their right mind would throw a perfectly good book (or even a perfectly terrible book) into the ocean?

Antonia- Yeah, I agree entirely with Amanda.

Which book have you read the most? 

Amanda- Looking for Alaska by John Green. My favorite book in the world. I’ve reread it so many times it’s ridiculous. Check out my review here.

Antonia- A lot. If I had to guess though, I’d say The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. I read it at least once a year and it’s been over ten years since I first picked it up.

Which book would you hate to receive as a present?

Amanda- Well, I wouldn’t hate to receive any books for free. But I much prefer when gift givers ask me specifically what books I need or want.

Antonia- Nothing specifically. I mostly agree with Amanda; I’d rather be able to pick out my own books with the exception of a few people who know my tastes well enough.

Which book could you not live without?

Amanda- All of them? Seriously, I’m supposed to pick just one book?

Harry Potter (all of them) by J.K. Rowling

Looking for Alaska by John Green

A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas

Antonia- The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Beastly by Alex Flinn

The Witness by Nora Roberts

The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist

And like 5,000 others.

Which book made you the angriest?

Amanda- The Young Elites series by Marie Lu (reviewed here.) The main character of this series is absolutely infuriating, but like I also totally loved her. She just made me mad like 90% of the time.

Antonia- I’ve talked about this one before but I have to choose Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima. She killed off one of my favorite characters from the previous series and I couldn’t handle it. To the point where I refused to finish it for the longest time.

Which book made you cry the most?

Amanda- I feel like I’ve mentioned this a million times at this point but, The Air Awakens series by Elise Kova made me cry for like an hour. My husband just hugged me and asked me if I was okay like a hundred times. He definitely thought I was never going to stop crying.

Antonia- All of them. Not literally of course but there’s a lot and almost always, if a book made me cry once, it’ll make me cry every time. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman has always been one of the worst. Most recently is probably Year One by Nora Roberts. A character dies suddenly which would be tragic enough but he has the same name as my husband so I found it harder to read than I might otherwise.

Which book cover do you hate the most?

Amanda- I just talked about this with someone the other day. I don’t have any specific book covers that I hate, but I don’t particularly love book covers with faces on them. The faces that their making are always so awkward and I just think they could have done better with something other than a random face.

Antonia- I also hate the awkward face covers. Especially when half the face is cut off. It just doesn’t look appealing to me in any way.

Tags – 

Danielle at YAAllegience 

Sara at Bookish Traveling Wife

Jess & Teagan at Fiction No Chaser

Ashley at Thrifty Bibliophile

Alana at The Bookish Chick

Feel free to complete this tag even if we didn’t tag you specifically and link back to our page! Thanks for reading bookworms.

Book Tag – Inside Out

Hi, friends! We’re back with another book tag! They’re just too much fun to stop playing. With so many different themes and ideas. I loved the movie Inside Out, so when I saw this one I knew Antonia and I just had to play. I found this tag done by Jenny @ Jenny in Neverland. We’re not going to tag anyone at the end to play, but feel free to do this book tag & tag us in it!

Joy – What book brings you the most joy?

Amanda- This answer isn’t going to surprise anyone unless you’re a new follower. I’m going to have to go with A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. There’s just so much development and love and happiness and wonderfulness by the end of the series. Check out my reviews here – ACOTAR, ACOMAF, ACOWAR, and ACOFAS.

Antonia- The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. This will always be my favorite. I’ve had to get new copies because I wore out the old ones and I read it at least once a year. For me, it’s just one of those books that feels like an old friend every time I open it.

Fear – The book that scared you more than anything?

Amanda- This is another easy one. I found this book on my Kindle through my book subscription. I was so spooked by this book that I ended up reading an entire book afterward because I needed something else on my mind before I tried to go to sleep. Secret of Mckinley Mansion by K.F. Breene was such an interesting read but had me turning on the lights so I wasn’t scared in the dark.

Antonia- This one’s easy for me because I avoid scary books and movies like the plague. When I was about fifteen though, I received the book The Devouring by Simon Holt as a gift and it scared the crap out of me.

Disgust – What book grossed you out the most?

Amanda- Hmm, I think for this one I’m going to go with Come Sundown by Nora Roberts. I’m answering this one with ‘grossed out’ being more disgusted by something. There was a kidnapping aspect of this story that lasted way too long and it was honestly just disgusting to read the things that this awful human put one of the characters through. Check out my review here.

Antonia- My high school boyfriend wasn’t much of a reader but when he did read, he’d usually try to get me to read it too and I’d say yes to try to encourage him to read more. Hellbent by Anthony McGowan was one of those books and I hated it so much that it actually made me like my boyfriend less for liking it. A teenage boy dies and goes to hell then proceeds to try to work the system in his favor; which might have been a cool storyline if it didn’t include disgusting humor that young boys tend to enjoy, i.e. fart jokes and way too much mention of bodily waste.

Sadness – Which book make you cry the hardest?

Amanda- This is either going to be Looking for Alaska by John Green because I reread this book once a year usually and it makes me cry every time or it’s the Air Awakens series by Elise Kova because I cried for a solid hour after certain events in these pages.

Antonia- Way too many. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman was probably one of the first. The Shack by William Paul Young was another that made me inconsolable. Maximum Ride Forever by James Patterson was really bad; I’d cry after the fact just talking about it.

Anger – Which book pissed you off?

Amanda- Triangles by Ellen Hopkins (reviewed here). This is one I read recently. The book itself didn’t piss me off. It was a really good book, but specific characters within the stories just made horrible choices that I don’t like or respect and it really pissed me off.

Antonia- Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima. I adore her books and I was so excited for this book to come out (it’s the first in a spin-off series from The Seven Realms series). I couldn’t wait to see older versions of all my favorite characters and then something terrible happens to one of them in the first chapter. I was so mad and upset about it that I immediately put the book down and refused to finish it for a really long time.

What books make you feel all the Inside Out emotions?

Book Tag – Halsey

Hi lovelies!

Back at it again with another book tag. I love Halsey so when I saw this book tag done on Downright Dystopian’s page I knew I had to play too! This tag is originally created by Paper Riot. Now, onto the book tag!

Amanda- Aelin Galathynius for sure. She’s from Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series. She’s kickass and doesn’t take anything from anyone. She even has the choice to not become queen and abandon her throne but steps up and shows the world that she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Antonia- Definitely Raisa ana’Marianna from The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima. I just loved watching her grow throughout this series.

Amanda- I’m going to say all of the scenes written by Lynsay Sands. Sexy vampires from Atlantis? Yes please.

Antonia- Hmm… this is a tough one because I read a TON of romance. I’ll say anything by Julia Quinn because her love stories are just the best.

Amanda- The Darkling, for sure. He’s from Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy. I don’t know what it is, but momma loves some Darkling.

Antonia- Queen Savilla from The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. She’s the queen of the endarkened (demons) and is simply evil. I just love that she has no redeeming qualities. She’s terrifying and awful and makes a fantastic villain.

Amanda- This was the hardest one for me out of all of these questions. I’ve decided to go with the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Our main character is forever trapped in a love triangle between the (mostly) marriage material  Joe Morelli and the sexiest man alive, Ranger. I wouldn’t say that there’s a lack of communication, more like a stalemate. They communicate but not enough for Stephanie to be able to actually make a decision between the two. (Though I don’t think I ever want her to actually make that final choice.)

Antonia- Kvothe and Denna from The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I really enjoy them together and wouldn’t mind seeing them actually get together in the future but they keep so many secrets and they’re both so mysterious that it gets in the way of them ever actually having a relationship.

Amanda- Tamlin and Feyre from A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I talk about this in my reviews for this series, linked here. Though I’m sure many people feel this way. This is the couple that popped into my head as soon as I read the question. I loved them so much in the first book and then Tamlin just, ugh.

Antonia- Ember and Riley from The Talon Series by Julie Kagawa. I wanted them to be together for the first couple books so bad then somehow I ended up loving Garret so much that I stopped wanting her to be with Riley. (I still love Riley though.) And me changing my mind about characters that drastically really doesn’t happen often.

Amanda- This may be biased because of my pregnancy hormones. But when I read the breakup scene in the Air Awakens series by Elise Kova I literally spent a solid hour crying. To the point where my husband wasn’t sure what to do with me and just hugged me while I cried for an hour. I’m pretty sure he thought I was never going to stop.

Antonia- For me, this will always be Lyra and Will’s breakup at the end of The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. I was around twelve when I first read it and cried for days. I still cry hysterically every time I reread it.

Amanda- Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira. Every once in a while I say to myself, “you know what was a good book, Love Letters to the Dead. I should read that again.” I have recently bought it on my Kindle (I got it from the library the first time.) and I’m planning to reread it soon.

Antonia- All of them. This is actually a huge problem for me because I continue to think about books long after I’ve read them; it actually keeps me up at night. It’s why I reread so many books over and over again.

Amanda- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. I’m super not sorry about this either. The whole series is being written and released from Christian’s perspective. I have the first two and am waiting for the third to be released. While I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed, I will absolutely be buying and reading the third so I have all six books.

Antonia- Dark Hunters by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I actually need to catch up on this one but since I first discovered these books I’ve been a little obsessed with them even though there’s now 29 books in the series and Kenyon’s still writing.

Amanda- If you read my posts on a regular basis you should already know the answer to this question. Looking for Alaska by John Green. If you haven’t read it read my review here.

Antonia- Beastly by Alex Flinn. This will forever be my favorite Beauty and the Beast adaptation. I reread it at least once a year and it always just gives me this light, happy feeling inside.

Amanda- Every and all of the couples we find in The Shade of Vampire series by Bella Forrest. This is a 50+ book series that spans over a ridiculous amount of years, several generations, and many worlds. Every couple we meet and read about has to go through some (usually life-threatening) struggle before they get their happy ending.

Antonia- Adrian and Sydney from The Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. One of my favorite book couples but they struggle so much to keep their relationship going when both vampires and humans judge them for it. At one point Sydney’s actually institutionalized by her family for it.

Amanda- I try not to use the same book over and over when I do these tags, but I can’t help it for this. I would LOVE to be part of the Night Court squad from A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas, reviewed here. It’s from the ACOTAR series, but we don’t get to meet them until the second book, so I’m using that one.

Antonia- The Demigods from The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. Awesome magical powers? Check. Funny and amazing and need to be my best friends? Double check.

Amanda- Hazel and Augustus from The Fault in our Stars by John Green. See my review here to get a more detailed post of my thoughts on this book. I love Hazel and Gus together because they’re both just kids that had to grow up too fast and spent too much time thinking about death. Then they found each other and had a bright spot in their lives, a reason to live if you will.

Antonia- Amanda and Chris from Beheld by Alex Flinn. I talked about them in my review (here) and I just loved them together so much I think I actually squealed while reading it.

Amanda- Chaol from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas is a good one for this I think. So many people hate him after certain events in the series. I understand why he did what he did and still love him even though it cost him his relationship with Celaena.

Antonia- Fire from Fire by Kristin Cashore. I’ve read quite a few reviews from people who didn’t like her which kind of astounds me because I adore her.

Amanda- Rose and Mason from the Rose Gardner Investigations by Denise Grover Swank. I wanted to put them for an OTP with obstacles, but honestly I don’t think they’ll end up together no matter how much I want them to be.

Antonia- None. Toxic relationships are pretty much an instant DNF for me. I’ve read about a lot of flawed relationships (e.g. Quentin and Margo from Paper Towns by John Green) but nothing that I would actually consider toxic. Even with examples like Quentin and Margo, I enjoyed reading about them but still didn’t ship them.

Amanda- Shadows of the Immortals by Marina Finlayson. This series is a super interesting twist on the Gods (from all different cultures) which is a topic I really like. I couldn’t put this series down once I started it.

Antonia- Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. This is a retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon and is still one of the most unique fairytale retellings I’ve read.

Amanda- This one is easy. Lyss and Hal from Cinda Williams Chima’s Shadowcaster (reviewed here) are both totally falling in love (if they’re not already in love) with one another. But neither will admit it.

Antonia- Hazel and Frank from Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan. They get together later on in the series but for pretty much this entire book, they both are secretly pining for the other. It was adorable.

Amanda- Adelina Amouteru from The Young Elites series by Marie Lu, reviewed here. I hate to even say this because I love her but I also really hate her. I guess I love to hate her. Okay, I lied. I don’t hate to say it. She’s totally my favorite destructive character.

Antonia- Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. He’s so focused on his revenge the entire time that he ignores the chance to make a better life for himself but at the same time, his revenge plot is absolutely insane and amazing at the same time.

 

Antonia’s Top Ten Tuesday- Book Worlds

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish. This week’s topic is top ten bookish worlds I’d want to (or wouldn’t want to) live in. As usual, I agree with Amanda so I’m going to take her idea and do five book worlds I do want to live in and five I don’t.

 

Book Worlds I Would Want to Live In

1. The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory- Magic, dragons, elves, unicorns, and tons of other magical creatures? Yes please.
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- I’d like to live in this one only after the events from these books take place and the war is over. I’d hole up in the shire with books and food and gardening. It would just be perfect.
3. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling- Again, I would love to live here after the war was over. I just can’t imagine anything better than being a witch and going to Hogwarts.
4. Dragon Jousters by Mercedes Lackey- Have you guys figured out yet how much I love dragons? I seriously loved the way they were portrayed in this series. Almost like very large, slightly dangerous pets.
5. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis- These were the books that really got me into reading. I mean the staying up all night, crying over fictional characters kind of reading. I would LOVE to be able to go to Narnia.

2. Book Worlds I Wouldn’t Want to Live In

 

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- Were these books amazing? Yes. Would I ever so much as visit this world for even five seconds? No.
2. The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima- I loved this world. It had fantastic characters and the setting and cultures were extremely interesting, but there was just as much about this world that I didn’t like. It’s on the brink of an all out war, they only just got rid of a semi-corrupt government and for a country that only ever has female rulers, the treatment of women was sometimes annoying.
3. Year One by Nora Roberts- I love Nora Roberts and I love dystopians but I would never want to live in one of these post-apocalyptic worlds.
4. Graceling by Kristin Cashore- This one actually sits between the two categories for me. I loved so much about this world but it was also very flawed.
5. The Devouring by Simon Holt- I’d blocked this one out until I was looking through my booklist while making this list. This. Series. TERRIFIED ME. Demons called Vours that possess people. The whole thing was creepy and frightening and I want nothing to do with it.

Well these are my choices this week. I really loved this topic and want to see what everyone else came up with as well. Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading!

-Antonia

Antonia’s Top Ten Tuesday- Best Character Names

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish (feel free to put your own spin on it). This week is “Best Character Names (make this as narrow/broad as you’d like)”. Now since TTT is almost entirely based on opinion I don’t know that I would say these are the “best” names; however, they’re names I particularly liked.

1. Kvothe- The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss- Just try to pronounce that. The narrator actually tells you how at the beginning of the first book; “pronounced nearly the same as ‘quothe’. ” It might just be because I love the character and the book so much or because it’s so unique but this name definitely tops my list.

2. Pug- Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist- For a guy who becomes the most powerful magician in the world, his name is extremely underwhelming and I love that.

3. Raisa ana’Marianna- Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima- While I think Raisa is a very pretty name, that’s not why it’s on this list. I love the way the woman of the Gray Wolf Line are named. The princess’/queens’ first names are followed by “ana'(her mother’s name)”. So Raisa’s sister is Mellony ana’Marianna and their mother is Marianna ana’Lissa. I just though this was such a cool detail.

4. Maximum Ride- Maximum Ride by James Patterson- I’m sorry but how could anyone not love this name. She’s a girl named Max (I love when authors don’t gender stereotype names) and she and the rest of her flock named themselves. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel. I can totally see a bunch of kids naming themselves like this and I absolutely love it.

5. Ember- Talon series by Julie Kagawa- I don’t normal go for names that are really obvious (she’s a dragon named Ember), but I couldn’t help liking this one. It’s pretty and tough at the same time.

6. Aza- Turtles All The Way Down by John Green- I’m not sure why I love this one so much. It’s simple and unique and pretty.

7. Antonia- Year One by Nora Roberts- I just had to include this one. I NEVER find my name in books so I was ridiculously happy when I read this one.

8.Everyone- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- This HAD to be on this list. Every name Tolkien created is unique and amazing.

9. Everyone- The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory- My reasons for this one are very similar to why I included Tolkien; all the names (especially the Elven ones) are unique. I could barely pronounce half of them and that just made me love them more. I’m weird like that.

10. Everyone- The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer- Particularly the women each of the books are named for, i.e. Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter. I really love the little twists they have on the original fairytales.

These are my choices for this week. I’d love to hear your own opinions and as always, thanks for visiting our blog.
-Antonia

Amanda’s Top Ten Tuesday – Rewind

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week we post our Top Ten for the weeks topic. This week’s is a rewind so we get to pick a topic we missed or wanted to revisit. I chose to do my top ten book I wish I could read again for the first time. Antonia chose a different topic, but also liked this one so her top ten is here along with mine. We hope you enjoy!

Amanda’s Top Ten:

1)Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling– I’d like to be able to re read this whole series for the first time because well, it’s Harry Potter and I love them.

2)Looking for Alaska by John Green– This is my all time favorite book ever. I would love to be able to read this for the first time again. It was an amazing book and I’m going to try to put it on as many Top Ten’s as I can.

3)Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn– I read this book when my older brother was in school and he had to read it for one of his classes. I’m really glad I got to read this book and it’s one that I’ll keep rereading forever.

4)Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich– I would like to read this book for the first time again for purely x rated reasons. This is one of my favorite books in the now twenty book series.

5)Exit Here by Jason Myers– This is another book that has made it to my favorites list. I’d love to read this again for the first time so that I can fall in love with the story all over again.

6)Burned by Ellen Hopkins– Ellen Hopkins needs to be on this list somewhere. Burned is my favorite of her books.

7)The Book Thief by Markus Zusak– This book was amazing. I did just recently read The Book Thief, but I’d love to read it again and again.

8)Twilight by Stephenie Meyer– I know, haha. I put Twilight on this list because this saga was a huge part of my younger years and I read it so many times I could almost recite it to you. If I could read these books over for the first time, I wonder how I would feel about them.

9)Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith– I put this on this list mainly because I would love to be able to sit down with all of the books and just go crazy reading the whole series for the first time.

10)The House of Night Series by P.C. and Kristin Cast– This is also on the list because now that the whole series is out I would love to be able to have all of them and read them all for the first time. I think I lost interest in this series because I couldn’t keep waiting for the next one to come out.

Antonia’s Top Ten:

1)The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory– This is a given for me. It’s my favorite series of all time and I wish I could meet the characters all over again.

2)The Seven Realms Series by Cinda Williams Chima– These books made me feel so many different emotions. I wish I could experience that all over again.

3)Twilight by Stephenie Meyer– I wish I could love this series like I did when I was fifteen before the movie and all the twihards ruined it for me.

4)The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis– I wish I could feel all the feelings these books made me feel before they ruined my childhood by ending.

5)The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks– It’s one of my favorite love stories ever. I wish I could read it again without knowing how it ends.

6)Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead– I wish I could fall in love with Dimitri again without knowing what happens to him.

7)The Shack by William Paul Young– This book literally ripped my heart out, stomped on it with steel toe boots and shoved it back into my body. As masochistic as it sounds, I wish that could happen again.

8)The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling– I shouldn’t have to explain this one to anyone.

9)The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini– I wish I could read all four of these books consecutively for the first time. So much time passed between the release dates that I ended up forgetting too many details between reading them.

10)The Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout– I only wish I could read all of these consecutively for the first time, after the last book comes out this summer. I had so many feelings for all of these books.

These are our top ten books we’d love to read again for the first time. What are yours?

Crown of Vengeance by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Summary: Many legends begin as history, and much history begins with a single person caught up in an extraordinary time. So it is with the great Elven Queen Vieliessar of Farcarinon, who was the first to lead the forces of Light against the Endarkened. Perhaps the greatest Elven Mage of all time, Vieliessar was the first person to ever bond with a dragon. On behalf of her people and to save the world, Vieliessar worked astonishing magics…and paid a heartrending price.
But long before those days, Vieliessar was Varuthir, a young orphan who dreamed of becoming a knight. Varuthir’s dream was cruelly ripped from her when she was abruptly banished to the Sanctuary of the Star, to spend her life in service to the greatest Mages of the Fortunate Lands.
The Sanctuary was Varuthir’s prison- and Vieliessar’s birthplace. For ti was there that she learned that she was not just the last heir of the vanished kingdom of Farcarinon but also the Child of the Prophecy, whose coming heralded the destruction of the hundred kingdoms. More, Vieliessar discovered she was a Mage of undreamed-of power.
But magecraft alone will not make Vieliessar High King over the Hundred Houses. Her campaign to seize the Unicorn Throne is a tale of loyalty and betrayal, of love and loss, and of sacrifice and salvation. Of moments of humanity in the midst of war. And of the greatest battle of all, between Light and Dark.

This book is the third trilogy Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory have collaborated on. The first was the Obsidian Mountain Trilogy (possibly my favorite series ever) and the second was the Enduring Flame trilogy which takes place about a thousand years after the events of the first. They’ve just published the first in the Dragon Prophecy trilogy, which explains the history of events and people from the Obsidian Mountain Trilogy. I’m not sure what the timeline is for this one. I want to say it’s two thousand years or so before OMT, but I’m not sure so don’t quote me on it.
I’m so happy I finally read this book. At the same time, I’m really upset I finally read this book. This is only because I have no idea when the next one’s going to come out but probably not for at least a year. A fact that makes me want to cry.
I loved this book. In my personal opinion, Lackey and Mallory can do no wrong. I’ve read many other books by Lackey and liked all of them. I haven’t read any by Mallory yet but I’m sure I will at some point. I’ve loved both series they’ve written previously. They’ve created such an extraordinary world with amazing characters.
I was worried that I’d be disappointed by this book because I’d had my hopes up for so long. I wasn’t disappointed at all. I loved this story. I only wish I didn’t have to wait for the rest of it.
The characters are elves that live for about a thousand years, give or take a few centuries. This makes it so they’re still considered “young” long after what it means in our world. This meant I got to watch Vieliessar grow up through several decades. And no, it felt neither rushed nor drawn out. Vieliessar is a great, strong, female lead. At first it seems everyone and everything is working against her, but she doesn’t let it stop her. She fights against the prophecy set on her from birth, but when she realizes it’s something she’s meant to do to save the Hundred Houses, she sets everything else aside and whole-heartedly throws herself into the task, despite everyone telling her she’s crazy. I love her and I can’t wait to see what she’ll do next.
Runacarendalur is basically the equivalent to the male lead. I didn’t really like him much at the beginning. He seemed like all the other ambitious, arrogant War Princes. Eventually, I realized he’s not and now, I love him. Also, SPOILERS, they’re bonded! (It’s the equivalent of soul mates, just more magical. If one of them dies, the other does also.) It makes me so happy even though they think they hate each other. They don’t. They’re going to love each other. How do I know this? Well, because it has to happen or I’m going to cry. Also, I CAN’T BELIVE HE FUCKING LEFT! And then the book fucking ended! I am so not happy about this. But it’s okay. Because he’s going to come back and love Vieliessar for forever. …Because I said so. END SPOILERS.
If you like fantasy books I would absolutely recommend these books. If you haven’t read the other two series, I would advise you start with the Obsidian Mountain trilogy, partly because it’s my favorite and partly because it’s the first one they published. I would advise reading the Enduring Flame trilogy after Obsidian because it gives away some very important details. If you’d rather read them all chronologically (which I know some people prefer), that might be a little difficult considering only the first book in the Dragon Prophecy trilogy is out.
However you decide to read them, you absolutely, 100%, without hesitating, should run to your bookstore or library and read them. Right now.
I don’t get the chance to talk to many people who’ve read these series, so if you have, I would love to hear your opinion on it.
-Antonia

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