Book Review || The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Publication Date: June 16th, 2015

Publisher: Broadway Books

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Source: Library

Summary

A missing God.
A library with the secrets to the universe. 
A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.

Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts. After all, she was a normal American herself once. That was a long time ago, of course. Before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father. 

In the years since then, Carolyn hasn't had a chance to get out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father's ancient customs. They've studied the books in his Library and learned some of the secrets of his power. And sometimes, they've wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God.  

Now, Father is missing—perhaps even dead—and the Library that holds his secrets stands unguarded. And with it, control over all of creation. 

As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her, all of them with powers that far exceed her own. But Carolyn has accounted for this. And Carolyn has a plan. The only trouble is that in the war to make a new God, she's forgotten to protect the things that make her human.

Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and propelled by a plot that will shock you again and again, The Library at Mount Char is at once horrifying and hilarious, mind-blowingly alien and heartbreakingly human, sweepingly visionary and nail-bitingly thrilling—and signals the arrival of a major new voice in fantasy.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

My Review

I'm going to start off this review by saying I don't think anything I say can possibly do this book justice. I honestly don't even think the publishers summary on Goodreads does a good job of telling you what this book is about. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is one of the strangest, and yet most beautiful stories I've read in a long time. It explores the depths of the human condition without being pretentious (just writing the phrase "the human condition" made me feel pretentious, please don't let that turn you off). I hope this somewhat short review can at least convince you to pick it up, because I don't think you'll regret it.

Book Review || The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs

The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs

Publication Date: August 2nd, 2016

Publisher: Arcade Publishing

Genre: Adult Historical Fiction

Source: Purchased

Summary

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Revolution, and featuring a cast of iconic characters such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette, The Hamilton Affair tells the sweeping, tumultuous, true love story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler, from tremulous beginning to bittersweet ending—his at a dueling ground on the shores of the Hudson River, hers more than half a century later after a brave, successful life.

Hamilton was a bastard son, raised on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. He went to America to pursue his education. Along the way he became one of the American Revolution’s most dashing—and unlikely—heroes. Adored by Washington, hated by Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the American Revolution.

She was the well-to-do daughter of one of New York’s most exalted families—feisty, adventurous, and loyal to a fault. When she met Alexander, she fell head over heels. She pursued him despite his illegitimacy, and loved him despite his infidelity. In 1816 (two centuries ago), she shamed Congress into supporting his seven orphaned children. Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton started New York’s first orphanage. The only “founding mother” to truly embrace public service, she raised 160 children in addition to her own.

With its flawless writing, brilliantly drawn characters, and epic scope, The Hamilton Affair will take its place among the greatest novels of American history.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

My Review

If there's one thing you need to know about me is that I tend to have an obsessive personality. So when I discovered Hamilton back in 2016 and fell in love, it's safe to say that I pretty much latched onto anything Hamilton-related. That obsession hasn't really died down in those two years since and I'm actually listening to the Hamilton soundtrack while writing this review. The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs was exactly what I was looking for in a historical fiction based on the life of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton. I had read others, but they didn't quite reach my expectations. Cobb's blew me away with her narrative, spanning both Alexander and Eliza's life from when they were young up until their deaths.

[Book Review] The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1) by Samantha Shannon

Publication Date: August 20th, 2013

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Source: Personal purchase

Summary

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.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

My Review

What a fantastic book! I've had The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon on my shelf for over a year now and I can't believe it took me this long to finally read it. I think I’d been putting it off for so long because of all the hype surrounding the book. Let me just say that it definitely deserves that hype. Shannon has created this whole alternate history of the world in The Bone Season and done it nearly flawlessly.

Book Review: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Publisher: Tor
Source: Library

Summary

A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and superpowers, set in a near-future world.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

My Review

I don't even know where to begin with Vicious by V.E. Schwab. Words cannot describe the many great things I feel toward this book. I don't think I've ever read anything like it before. Everything, from the plot to the characters to they storytelling, was mind-blowing fantastic. I was hooked from page one and couldn't put it down. I finished it in under 24 hours and when I finished all I wanted to do was pick it up and start reading it all over again. I'm sure it is one of those books where you get so much more out of it the second time around. Vicious is a book that I will be rereading again and again.