This month I managed to read 12 books!! 4867 pages!! I have no idea how that happened. Probably me trying to procrastinate on work or something haha. Did you know that Goodreads has a stats tracking feature where you can see how many books you read over time? It turns out April of last year was also a huge month for me! Maybe there’s just something about April that makes me read more – not sure what that would be though. Let me know if you have theories haha.

How far would you go to change humanity's fate?

Jared Cartwright has spent the last two years delving into the twisted, scarred wastelands of an earth ravaged by nuclear war. The rich and powerful have taken to the oceans and skies on floating utopias, escaping destruction and leaving the rest of humanity to fend off the mutated creatures that roam the earth.

To face his new reality, Jared must become an apex predator if he hopes to survive. He must evolve beyond human limitations to confront those that left mankind to die.

Jared's quest takes a new turn when he discovers dragons are real.

Thank you so much to Richard Hummel and Kelsey at Book Publicity Services for sending me a signed copy of this book to review!

The style of this book was so different than everything I’ve ever read. It’s described as LitRPG, which I didn’t even know was a subgenre until this book! It makes total sense though when reading it. It reads very much like a video game – where you can “loot” things so to speak, upgrade your character, defeat bosses, etc. I feel like it generally melds well with a novel style, since it’s obviously basically like any character that goes on an adventure. The style was super interesting, but ultimately one of the things I struggled with. I know many people will enjoy it, but I still haven’t decided if it’s for me.

Our two main characters are Jared (a human) and Scarlet (the dragon he becomes bonded with). I found Scarlet way more compelling, and I think it was mainly because she had the knowledge of her forebears passed down, and the fact that she was alive for hundreds of years before she hatched. Which is a pretty cool concept, that she was alive and conscious within her egg. Jared is fine, but I just didn’t feel a very strong attachment to him. I liked that he was very caring and driven to help others, but other than that I felt like something was lacking.

The world setting was super interesting! That was probably my favorite thing. Things have basically gone wack on Earth’s surface, and there are strange creatures everywhere. Just plain monstrous things, and also things like giant rats and bunnies that are not at all cute and cuddly but pretty vicious. I won’t go in to detail but the scene with the lake and underground bunker/base thing had a VERY interesting “monster”. That was probably my favorite umm not like subplot but it was my favorite part of the story, definitely. There are also floating cities for the rich that float above earth, and I wish we had gotten to see more of that because it sounds cool. I’m sure that will be a thing explored in the future though.

I think the pacing was overall pretty good, but it did feel a bit draggy in some points, where Jared and Scarlet are gaining skills (aka kinda like “leveling up”).

To summarize, I think the world was super interesting, and for the most part the plot was also pretty compelling. I think my main issue was the style (LitRPG). It made it difficult for me to connect with the characters and the story. However I think that’s a very personal thing, and many people will probably enjoy it immensely!

Once again, thank you so much Richard and Kelsey for sending me a copy to review!

I remember a few years ago, everyone was into the whole Six Degrees of Separation thing. It’s basically the idea that everyone is connected to any other person by six connections or fewer. I haven’t heard people talk about it in a while but I recently found the book version of it! Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith created #6DEGREES, where book bloggers share links between books in six moves. Here are the rules if you want to join in! Basically they choose a starting book and then you make your own chain however you want.

Today’s starting point is……How to be both by Ali Smith! (You’ll have to read all the way to the end to see where I end up 😉)

Furious and fun, the first book in this bold, new science fiction adventure series follows a ragtag group of adventurers as they try to find a legendary ship that just might be the key to clearing their name and saving the universe.
Boots Elsworth was a famous treasure hunter in another life, but now she's washed up. She makes her meager living faking salvage legends and selling them to the highest bidder, but this time she got something real--the story of the Harrow, a famous warship, capable of untold destruction. Nilah Brio is the top driver in the Pan Galactic Racing Federation and the darling of the racing world--until she witnesses Mother murder a fellow racer. Framed for the murder and on the hunt to clear her name, Nilah has only one lead: the killer also hunts Boots.On the wrong side of the law, the two women board a smuggler's ship that will take them on a quest for fame, for riches, and for justice.

I read this as a buddy read and I sat down on Sunday meaning to just read the next chunk and not finish the book but uhhhhh I GOT HOOKED AND THEN PROCEEDED TO FINISH THE REST OF THE BOOK. Oops. But listen. If you’re looking for great scifi, this is IT. There is MAGIC. There are SPACESHIPS. There are creepy terrifying villains. There’s a great ragtag crew of people. There is DIVERSITY. And let me just make this point again – there’s MAGIC in SPACE. It’s like my two favorite things basically.

This book starts off as a “simple” treasure hunt – searching for a long lost ship of legend, the Harrow. Which like, who doesn’t love a treasure hunt? But the story unfolds and gets a bit more complex, and then everything comes together and I was like WHOA.

The best part for me was the scifi aspects and the magic. So the world building. At the beginning it’s a bit confusing how everything works, but as you read more it becomes clearer. I love reading about the space battles (and one-on-one battles/fights on the ground), the different kinds of ships, the technology, and the types of magic that people can have. ALSO!! There’s a part where they talk about tidal locking of a planet and can I just say!!! As an astrophysicist it was SO COOL to read about something that is actually REAL and I am so impressed that Alex White incorporated this in the story, and did it correctly! I live for these things.

The cast of characters was amazing!! I’m not like, head over heels but I do love all of them equally. We got to see the most of Nilah and Boots, and they’re both amazing. Nilah is very young and I love the contrast between her and Boots, who is in her 40s and is much more experienced. Nilah definitely grows a lot during the book, and at the beginning I found her a little annoying (which I think is natural since she’s supposed to be a bit arrogant and spoiled) but man she really grew on me! I’m hoping we get to know Cordell and Aisha and Malik etc etc etc in the later books, because they’re all very interesting. I also love their interactions, because you get to see what they’re like with a newcomer (Nilah) and someone who served on the ship previously, so knows some of them (Boots).

Yeah so all in all a NEW FAV and you all gotta read it and I need to get the sequel like right now.

Sometimes I feel like I’m going to be CRUSHED by the sheer number of books I have on my TBR. I don’t know if you remember but one of my goals for the year was to read all the books I own that I haven’t read yet, and I’ve been slowly working on that. So these Spring 2019 TBR books are all ones that I already own that I want to get to soon!

And thank you to Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting/organizing Top Ten Tuesday!