Credits: Flaming phoenix by Sujono Sujono | Decorative phoenix by Tanantachai Sirival
May was a fantastic month! I participated in Wyrd and Wonder for the first time and I had a blast. 😀 It reminded me how much I love fantasy, a genre that I’ve been neglecting a lot in the last few years.
I want to thank the wonderful W&W hosts: imyril, Lisa and Jorie that did a fantastic job at hosting the event. You did a fantastic job! 😀 Also, I’m once again in awe of the amazing SFF blogging community that always manage to write very interesting reviews, discussion posts and tags. You are all wonderful and while I couldn’t check out all the posts, I had a great time perusing as much as I could and I discovered new fantastic blogs!
May was also very busy because I traveled quite a bit in South Korea. I visited Busan, Jeonju, Gwanju and Boseong with a couple of friends. It was a breath of fresh air to leave Seoul for a while. I love Seoul but the current atmosphere is very tense and people tend to be a bit passive aggressive toward foreigners. It was very refreshing to visit other areas and to feel welcome for once! Here are a couple pictures of the wonderful Korean landscapes:
Anyway, I was very happy with the month of May and I hope June is going to be as good reading, blogging and travel-wise. I’m planning on visiting Jeju island and a couple of other cities in the countryside. My exchange is slowly coming to an end: I will come back to France in mid-July so I want to make the most of my remaining time in this country.
Books Read
- In The Vanishers’ Palace by Aliette de Bodard ★★★
- Meeting Me in The Future by Kameron Hurley ★★★★
- David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa ★★★
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow ★★★★★
- The Descent of Monsters by JY Yang ★★★★
- Clarkesworld #157 edited by Neil Clarke ★★★★
- Driftwood by Marie Brennan ★★★★ 1/2
Favorite Reads
I have been fangirling quite a bit over Alix E. Harrow’s The Ten Thousand Doors of January in a couple of recent posts but I adored this book. It’s about a girl who can shape the world (or more accurately worlds) with her words. The writing style is superb and I was completely immersed in the story. It was my first 5 stars read of the year (not counting re-reads)!
Another surprising new favorite book was Marie Brennan’s Driftwood. I wasn’t aware of this book until I received an impromptu eARC on my Kindle, courtesy of the wonderful folks at Tachyon. This book is not coming out until August so I’ll have a review published closer to its release but I loved it! It’s about fragmented worlds drifting out toward their inevitable end in a mysterious place called Driftwood. I read this book in less than 24h while I was travelling and I couldn’t put it down!
Posts Recap
I’ve posted nine posts (including this one) this month! While it might not seem like a lot compared to my fellow bloggers who have superpowers and manage to write a lot of interesting reviews and discussions post (I don’t know how you do it!), for me, it’s a lot more than usual so I’m very happy! I hope I can keep up this pace in the next few months. 🙂
- TBR and Wrap-Up Posts
- Wyrd & Wonder TBR
- May Wrap-Up and June Reading Plans
- Book Reviews
- The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang (Tensorate #1)
- The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang (Tensorate #2)
- The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (The Masquerade #2)
- Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett
- In the Vanishers’ Palace by Aliette de Bodard
- Miscellaneous
June Reading Plans
In June, I would like to participate in #MakeYourMythTaker Readathon hosted by A Frolic Through Fiction and Charlotte since it sounds like a lot of fun! I will make a separate post in a few days explaining the different challenges and the books I would like to read to complete them. 🙂
However, I would also like to read a couple of other things that don’t fit any of the challenges. My tentative TBR is as follow:
I also bought a lot of books recently so I might shuffle this tentative TBR to include some of them. 🙂
I know a lot of you participated in Wyrd & Wonder, did you manage to read a lot of fantasy books this month? If so, what was your favorite W&W read? 😀
I also have a copy of Driftwood, and I’m really excited to start it now! My favorite W&W book was The Bone Ships😁
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It completely took me by surprise, since I didn’t know anything about the book, I had no expectations going in. After only a couple of pages, I knew I was probably going to love it and I did. 😀 I hope you enjoy it as well!
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What beautiful, serene landscapes! They must truly have been a balm for eyes and soul in these difficult times… 🙂
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South Korea is wonderful, it has so many different landscapes, I feel like I’m always discovering some new beautiful views! 😀 I cannot wait to travel more this month while the weather is not too too hot. 🙂
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I had a blast with W&W too. I got a chance to read some epic fantasy again, which was a subgenre I’ve been neglecting. Glad May was a good month for you too, those are gorgeous photos!
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I’m glad it allowed you to give more love to epic fantasy! I wasn’t brave enough myself to read a huge epic tome for this round of W&W, maybe I will read some when I have a bit more time this summer. I would like to give another shot to The Ways of Kings! 🙂
Thank you! 😀
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Wonderful landscapes! Hope you’re enjoying your stay in South Korea – sounds fascinating!
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I’m loving South Korea, the landscapes are wonderful, the food is too die for and the people (for the most part at least!) are very nice! 😀
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Looks like an amazing month. I looooove your pictures from South Korea!
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It really was! 😀
Oh thank you! I will add some more in my next wrap-up then. 🙂
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