Best Books, Disappointments, Great Characters, and More 🗒️ Midyear Book Tag

I think Agnes Al's Mystical Cat Shelter surprised me because it was so similar to House Moving Castle, and I was not expecting that. And I am not surprised in a pleasant way. I thought the story was still cute, but I think it could have done more to differentiate itself from what I took to be its very clear inspirations.

As for some just traditional fantasy books, we have Daughter of the Forest. I thought this was amazing. Definitely has some mature content in it though.

But the first book, Dragon Mage, was fantastic. If you haven't checked it out, it's amazing. It also is great when it comes to the friendship dynamics, and I really, really like the individual characters as well, and the world is really interesting.

I did like Withering Heights and Frankenstein quite a lot.

We have Half American. This is non-fiction. It was very, very good.

We have the heart of the Naga. I really, really liked that one.

So, I think a land so wide because I have enjoyed everything else by this author and this one just really didn't quite work for me. Felt a little chaotic. Some plot lines felt like they got lost or we forgot about them.

And once you start to get all of the information as to what happened, it is very heartbreaking. So, that one was also really, really difficult. That one is fiction, not non-fiction, but it's still highlighting how people can slip through the cracks oftentimes when it comes to investigations into missing persons.

the Everlasting, the writing in this I just thought was absolutely exquisite.

The Poet Empress I thought was a great debut. I can't believe it's a debut. It was a really, really great first book for this author and I really look forward to what they put out after this.

Speaking of exquisite, The River Has Roots also had absolutely beautiful, beautiful writing.

Just listing off in no particular order some books that I thought were amazing. We have The Vanishing Half.

I still enjoyed this book overall, but I think this is one of the absolute biggest examples of middlebook syndrome I've come across in a long time, and that would be To Ride a Rising Storm.

I loved To Shape a Dragon's Breath. It was one of my favorite books I picked up last year. I thought it was incredible in basically every way.

I've been a fan of Vicious pretty much since it came out, back when it had its original cover of the character kind of looking out over this distorted cityscape. I have really liked it since then, and it's been great to see so many people fall in love with this series

It's very wholesome and silly. But these two characters, not only do I love them from the original series, but in this spin-off where they're just like being cute and making food for each other and for the apprentices that they teach and stuff. It's like it's just the most precious thing.

I think it's fair to say which hatchilier is my favorite ongoing series. When I think about it, I'm like, is there a series? Is there a fantasy series that I like that's ongoing more than this one? I think the answer is no.

I did like Withering Heights and Frankenstein quite a lot.