The Sunday Post Meme (25)

Hey everybody! I am participating in a book meme called the Sunday Post which is being hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer! The goal of this meme is to share news you have on various books and things you’ve read or received and also talk about what is coming up for your blog! Book hauls can include library books, yard sale finds, arcs and bought books and you can share these finds with other book bloggers!

Hey everyone!  It's me, Ronyell... I know it's been awhile since I've done a Sunday Post because of my new job and how it was caving in my private reading time, but now I'm trying to play catch up with my Sunday Posts and luckily I have been getting on to reading more books this time around, especially since my local library is hosting a Summer Reading Challenge!  This month, I had read many good books and now I want to share them with my fellow bloggers!

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas Review

Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe Review

• Check out Caffeinated Book Reviewer's Test It Tuesday Discussion on "What does my blog look  like to visitors?
• Check out Feminist Reflections' discussion on "Want vs Need: Differentiating between review copies and books you want to read."
• Check out Sparrow's Reading Corner at My Soul Called Life! 

Well, that’s the Sunday News for today and I will have more news for the various books I’ve read in the near future!

Posted on Sunday, June, 14, 2015.

[BOOK REVIEW] Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe

Title:  Rat Queens Volume 1:  Sass and Sorcery

Author:  Kurtis J. Wiebe

Artist:  Roc Upchurch

Genre:  Adventure / Friendship / Fantasy / Action

Year Published:  2014

Year Read: 6/13/2015

Series:  Rat Queens #1

Publisher:  Image Comics

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Gory Violence and Strong Language)

Introduction:

Move over “SAGA,” a new brand of witty and fun loving storytelling has arrived!

Well, I still love Brian K. Vaughan’s “Saga” series, but after reading this first volume of “Rat Queens Volume One: Sass and Sorcery” by Kurtis J. Wiebe along with artwork by Roc Upchurch, this series has moved up a slot on my most favorite comic book series of all time, with “Saga” still being at the top of the list!

What is this story about?

Meet the Rat Queens, a group of strong and high spirited young women who get involved in various battles whenever they are hired to do so.  The members of this crazy group are Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage who is the leader of the group, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter who is second in command, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief who is like the funniest member of the group.  This rambunctious group of female fighters will do battle with anyone, however they will soon find out that there is a conspiracy going on in their town that might change their lives forever once they discover the secrets of the conspiracy!

What I loved about this story:

Kurtis J. Wiebe’s writing: Wow…just wow… I never would have thought that I would read another comic book that was as exciting and creative as “Saga” was, but man did “Rat Queens” took me by surprise and in an extremely good way!  Kurtis J. Wiebe’s writing was truly witty and fantastic to read as I was literally laughing at all the sarcastic dialogue between the characters, especially between the Rat Queens and it really gave this volume a comical edge to the intense battle sequences.  I also loved the fact that Kurtis J. Wiebe made this series reminiscent to the “Dungeons and Dragons” series with the main characters using all kinds of sorcery and sword fighting to defeat their foes in battle, while also combing the sarcastic wit and female empowerment of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” into the story.  I also loved the fact that the Rat Queens are diverse characters as we have Dee who is a Black Human Cleric, Violet who is a White Dwarven Fighter and Betty who is a Homosexual Smidgen Thief and it really rounds out the characters extremely well and brings a lot of dimension to the story.  I also loved the fact that we have a comic book that has a group of strong female protagonists (even though this has been done a dozen times over in comic books like “X-Men” and “Birds of Prey”) and each character really bring out something interesting to the storyline, with my favorite character so far being Betty the Smidgen Thief as she is the comic relief of the group!

Roc Upchurch’s artwork:  Roc Upchurch’s artwork was amazing as the sorcery world that the Rat Queens live in is extremely creative and detailed and I really love the ancient technology that the girls use in this universe as it gives you a sort of Renaissance feel to the whole experience.  I also loved the way that Roc Upchurch drew each Rat Queen character as they all have outfits that distinguish them from each other like Dee is always wearing a purple flowing skirt and Betty is wearing an old thief’s outfit.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

For anyone who does not like gory violence and strong language, this volume does contain many scenes where characters are smash to death and you can see their blood and guts all over the ground.  Also, this volume contains strong language such as the use of the “s” word and the “f” word many times over.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Rat Queens Volume One: Sass and Sorcery” is definitely one comic book that you ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, and TRULY must seek out at all costs as it is filled with some awesome battle sequences and character interactions that you cannot miss!  Now, I am off to read the second volume of this fantastic series!

[BOOK REVIEW] The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

Title:  The Assassin's Blade



Author:  Sarah J. Maas



Genre: Paranormal Romance / Fantasy



Year Published: 2014

Number of Pages: 448 pages

Date Read: 6/14/2015

Publisher:  Bloomsbury

Series: Throne of Glass #0.1 - 0.5



Source:  Library



Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Language)

Alright, so most of my book friends have been begging me for years to check out Sarah J. Maas’ fantastic “Throne of Glass” series and I finally got the chance to check out the prequel to the “Throne of Glass” series, “The Assassin’s Blade” and man was it worth checking out!

This book is basically a collection of stories that detail Celaena Sardothien’s adventures before the “Throne of Glass” series and the stories included in this book are:

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

The Assassin and the Healer

The Assassin and the Desert

The Assassin and the Underworld

The Assassin and the Empire

This book basically details Celaena Sardothien’s adventures as a world renowned assassin under the roof of Arobynn Hamel, the leader of the ruthless Assassins’ Guild.  Celaena believed that her life was perfect as she was known as the best assassin in Arobynn’s Assassin’s Guild, until one day, she decided to defy her master Arobynn when she released the slaves from Skull’s Bay and ends up paying a heavy price.  So, Celaena ends up spending some time in the desert to retrain herself in the art of assassination and those months at the desert had ended up changing her life forever as Celaena will soon learn about the true meaning of love, trust and betrayal.

Wow! How could I wait this long to actually check this series out?  After I heard so many good things about Sarah J. Maas’ “Throne of Glass” series, I just had to check this prequel out and I sure was glad that I did check this book out as I got to know more about Celaena as a character and what her life was like before the events of the first “Throne of Glass” book.  I loved the way that Sarah J. Maas wrote the characters and the action sequences in this book as they complement each other extremely well and I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat trying to see if Celaena will get out of the dangerous situations that she is often thrown in.  Probably the best things about this book were the characters themselves as they were truly enjoyable to read and I often found myself sympathizing with their reactions in certain situations, especially Celaena.  Celaena Sardothien is a truly amazing heroine as she is tough and charismatic about her assassin abilities and I loved the scenes where Celaena shows her deadly assassin abilities by taking down all of her opponents without breaking a sweat!  I also loved Celaena’s relationship with Sam as they started out as rivals to each other and then as the story goes on, their relationship starts to develop in ways that were beautiful and hilarious and I was rooting for these two to get together throughout the whole book!

For anyone who does not like strong language, this book does have a surprising amount of strong languages littered throughout including the “s” word and the “f” word.

Overall, “The Assassin’s Blade” is a fantastic book for anyone who loves reading about strong female protagonists and I will definitely check out the rest of the “Throne of Glass” series soon!

[BOOK REVIEW] The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter

Title: The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

Author: Beatrix Potter

Genre: Animals / Classic / Mischief

Year Published: 1904

Year Read:  1994

Publisher: Warne

Source: Library

Content Rating:  Ages 3+ (One intense situation, but nothing too scary for small children)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

“The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” is the fourth book made in Beatrix Potter’s “Peter Rabbit” books and it is about how Peter’s cousin Benjamin convinces Peter to come to Mr. McGregor’s garden to get Peter’s clothes back.  “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” is a truly memorable follow up to the classic tale “Peter Rabbit.”

The book starts off with Benjamin Bunny watching Mr. and Mrs. McGregor going out for the day and he decided to get his cousin Peter to come along with him to Mr. McGregor’s garden to get Peter’s clothes back.

Oh my goodness!  Beatrix Potter has certainly outdone herself in this classic follow up to the ever popular children’s book “The Tale of Peter Rabbit.” Beatrix Potter’s writing is extremely cute and interesting as it details Peter and Benjamin’s adventures in Mr. McGregor’s garden.  I loved how the role of “mischievous little troublemaker” is switched to Benjamin Bunny instead of Peter Rabbit as Peter is constantly shown as being afraid in ever image.  Since I have read “ The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” I cannot really blame Peter for being so jumpy after the scare he had when he went to Mr. McGregor’s garden and I personally would have been scared too if I went back to a place that scared the daylights out of me.  It was interesting seeing another character who was as naughty as Peter was and what made Benjamin into such an endearing character was that he remained optimistic about the situation.  Beatrix Potter's illustrations are extremely cute as most of the main characters are animals.  My favorite illustrations were of the mice cracking cherry stones as they look extremely realistic yet cute at the same time as they huddled up next to each other and looked so adorable eating the cherry stones.

Overall, “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” is a truly cute and wonderful classic tale from Beatrix Potter about the consequences of being naughty!  I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

May Monthly Wrap Up!

Hey everybody! I'm going to go through everything that I had done for May which includes how many books I've read during this month!

Books Read this Month:

1. Rin-Ne Volume 4 by Rumiko Takahashi: Completed: 5/19/2015

2. Rin-Ne Volume 5 by Rumiko Takahashi: Completed: 5/19/2015

[BOOK REVIEW] Rin-ne Volume 5 by Rumiko Takahashi

Title:  Rin-ne Volume 5


Author:  Rumiko Takahashi


Genre: Horror / Adventure / Comedy / School


Year Published: 2009


Year Read: 2015


Series: Rin-ne #5


Publisher: VIZ Media


Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 10+  (Some Language)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 

After reading the fourth volume of Rumiko Takahashi’s new series “Rin-Ne” and being introduced to Rinne’s deadbeat father Sabato Rokudo, I was truly interested in learning more about Sabato and his turbulent relationship with Rinne.  Now, we have a new love interest in this volume named Ageha, who also happens to be a Shinigami girl who might give Rinne a run for his money in terms of competing with him in taking the souls back to the afterlife!

After defeating his father in the last volume, Rinne then meets up with a mysterious Shinigami girl named Ageha, who is out for vengeance against the president of the Damashigami Company, who she claims had kidnapped her sister years ago.  Little does Ageha know, Rinne happens to be the son of the president of the Damashigami Company and Rinne decides to withhold this secret from Ageha.  Not only that, but it turns out that Ageha has feelings for Rinne, but Rinne is still trying to sort out his feelings for Sakura Mamiya.

Will Rinne choose either Ageha or Sakura and will Ageha find out about Rinne’s terrible secret regarding his father?

Read this volume to find out!

 

Now, the moment that a new love interest was introduced in this volume, I knew that Rumiko Takahashi’s signature style in having many suitors for the main characters was going to show up in this series!  I loved the fact that we are introduced to a female Shinigami in this volume as it makes things even more interesting for Rinne and Sakura.  It was great seeing another Shinigami in this universe besides Rinne and now it seems that we are about to have a major story arc unfold in this universe that involves the evil Damashigami Company and everyone’s efforts to bring the company down.  I also loved the way that Rumiko Takahashi focused more on Rinne and Sakura’s relationship in this volume as their relationship with each other seems a bit different than what we normally seen in Rumiko Takahashi’s works as they are not constantly at each other’s throats as we usually see them trying to sort out their feelings for each other and trying to see how their relationship will go in the future (in other words, as far as I could see, this is probably the most mature relationship shown in Rumiko Takahashi’s works so far).   Rumiko Takahashi’s artwork is just as impressive as in the previous volumes as the characters look both cute and impressive and I really enjoy the fight scenes between Rinne and the citizens of the afterlife as they are truly stylized and exciting to see!

For anyone who does not like language in a manga, there is some language in this volume such as the use of the “d” word, although it is not as bad as some of the more mature manga.

Overall, “Rin-Ne Volume Five” is a fantastic volume for anyone who is interested in Rumiko Takahashi’s “Rin-Ne” series and I definitely cannot wait to check out the rest of this series in the near future!