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At the crossroad of worlds' TBR list: 2023

Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover(I'm doing it for the sake of Booktok and seeing the controversy, pray for me.)

Caraval trilogy by Stephanie Garber

Wonder by R.J Palacio

All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr

Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

TBA...

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥ris' tbr lists #book tumblr #bookblr #books #tbr 2023

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I have about 4 more remaining chapters for the Hating game, thinking of finishing it up before New Years, as I'll make it my last read of the year. At the moment, I have mixed feelings about Josh and Lucy together because josh is kindaaaa a dick ngl--

In the chapter I'm reading, they're arguing about the whole Danny/Mindy situation and Josh is pouring his whole family drama to her, I can't help but wish she won't forgive him so easily. I think that because you've had a shitty background, it's no excuse to be a jerk to someone, hard or not.

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥restocking books! #❥ ris is reading!

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Next mission: Read the Percy Jackson series before watching the show adaptation of it.

The enjoyment was there when watching HDM, knowing what happens in the books. So watching how the world just builds and comes to life is..

Experiencing TAS through the screens, was incredible! I loved it so much, I wanna do it again.

And judging by the amount of time it takes me to do things, I should be starting now. because there's 5 books. but there's just one problem.

procrastination.

aaaaaaa come on, risa , do it for lin manuel miranda who's gonna be cast as Hermes, do it to see Lee Scoresby but god-form come onnnnn

I'll make it my read for 2023, bet.

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥restocking books! #dont mind me im still in my hdm era #ughhhh hyperfxations man /neu

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In contrast to Lucy and Josh's kiss scenes, Danny and hers was extremely light-hearted. It feels like walking on clouds when the skies are basking in daylight; it's so bright that the colours were pink and yellowish instead of blue. Meanwhile, when reading Josh and Lucy's scenes, it felt like you were burning in hell. It is so passionate, so descriptive, so animalistic. 

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥restocking books! #the hating game #bookblr #im on chapters 12-13 atm

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Wow, this blog has been deader than my favourite characters count. I am back for the meantime and have started The hating game just yesterday! I'm really liking it so far, and I always say yes to enemies to lovers.

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #the hating game #bookblr #❥ ris is reading!

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❥started: February 8th 2022

❥ended: February 25th 2022

❥title: Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong, 2021

❥ pages: 494

❥ genre: Fantasy/Historical fiction

❥ rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

❥ opinion: So originally, I wanted to read the second book in the duology the minute I finished the first book, however it took a month to actually do so because I couldn't find it at my local bookstore! So I had to resort to ordering it online first. But at the time, I was in the middle of reading other books and I didn't wanna double-book so Our violent ends had to wait.

I must say, this conclusion has astounded me in more ways than one. The author is responsible for expanding my horizons regarding the political parties(The communists, imperialists, nationalists etc.) and it did in fact, blow my head out due to all this information.

This book focuses much more on the economical/political struggle than the madness and the monsters — in which, I find, is a loss, because the madness was very intriguing to read about however, I still enjoyed the book nonetheless.

I loved reading about Roma and Juliette’s unwillingly cooperation with each other to eventual forgiveness to eventual marriage with each other. The pacing was done nicely, it wasn’t rushed at all, it was bitter, it was heartbreaking and because of all this, it made their characters — as the book says — go through a “violent end.”

Aside from those two, I loved Benmars’ coming together, about time! And then there was Alisa, who I bet will make a great communist spy in the future, especially if she’s gonna be trained by Celia of all people. (If Chloe ever decided to do a spin-off about Alisa, I’d wanna read it. Please I loved her character so much and she’s absolutely precious, protect her.)

I can’t help but feel curious on what Rosalind’s been up to after the end — I’ve guessed that she was traitorous from the very first book(you can read my live-reactions of OVE for more details.) and I wanted to know what happened to her. But I guess that’s what Foul Lady Fortune is for, right? I’m definitely going to be reading it when it comes out.

❥ quotes:

“She put her hand there now and imagined reaching in and tearing out whatever was weighing her down: the feeling of tenderness blossoming as physical flowers in her lungs, her relentless love curling in and out of her rib cage like climbing vines."

"Watch the carnage. Watch the destruction. Feel the slick of the blood as it paints the carpeting red, and remember what is at stake in this city, all because some foreign merchant wants to play greedy."

"Let the men jump. Let them be afraid of how she moved, like a hurricane intent on destruction."

"The Montagovs were twin reflections of the same picture — one ablaze as a study of contrasts and shadows, the other a faded, blond replicant."

“Say it again. I didn't pine all those years to only hear it once."

“All this time, her parents had let her be Juliette — let her be wild, impulsive. Now they wanted the Unknown daughter again, but Juliette only knew how to be Juliette."

“I want you to think of Paris," Rosalind ordered. It was an attempt to keep Celia awake, to keep her focused even as her senses grew weak. "Think o the speakeasies, the lights in the distance. Think about seeing them once more, when the world is no longer so dark."

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥crossroad reviews #bookblr #book reviews #these violent delights #our violent ends #our violent ends spoilers #romajuliette #chloe gong #benmars

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Ris’ books read in February 2022:

❥The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth(Philip Pullman)

❥Our Violent Ends(Chloe Gong)

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥restocking books! #Risreads2022 #not a very strong month for me tbh #but I’m hoping to read more! #I just had two consecutive reading slumps right after the other #because these two books were just so good #february reads #bookblr #book tumblr

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I’ve finally finished reading Our violent ends!(I know, after 17 days — but blame academics for that one..) I’m gonna start up the next book I’ve wanted to read for awhile: To kill a kingdom!

(Final thoughts about OVE will be posted later today, I haven’t actually wrote it yet, but I’ll do it in my spare time tonight.)

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥restocking books! #our violent ends #these violent delights #to kill a kingdom #I heard it was a stand-alone too #so I’m pretty excited for that one!

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~ books read in 2022 ~

#2: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

In a valley shaded with rhododendrons, close to the snow line, where a stream milky with meltwater splashed and where doves and linnets flew among the immense pines, lay a cave, half-hidden by the crag above and the stiff heavy leaves that clustered below.

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aha sooo,, these violent delights anyone?

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roma: *knocks on juliette's window in the middle of the night*

me: OMFG THIS IS EXACTLY LIKE ROMEO AND JULIET THIS IS-

me: *remembers that this is a romeo and juliet retelling*

me: oh

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It is the middle of the night and I am sitting casually in the living room, having just finished internally screaming about Our violent ends chapter 14.

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥ris is reading! #our violent ends #juliette cai #roma montagov #romajuliette #I don’t wanna say it #... #okay fine I’ll say it #that was hot #god the tension between them

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Started reading our violent ends and I’m on chapter 3 at the moment! I must say, I have missed Juliette’s sass(especially when she disrespected that nationalist general before meeting with her father) and the fact that Alisa is an actual cinnamon roll that needs to be protected at all costs...

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥ ris is reading! #our violent ends #these violent delights #juliette cai #alisa montagova #absolute girl bosses #I’m still devastated that Benedikt doesn’t know about Marshall being alive #and the tension between Roma and Juliette is TEN TIMES STRONGER THAN BEFORE #like that encounter in the theatre DAMN

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I have just finished the secret commonwealth by Philip Pullman and I’m desperately crying for more, he can’t just leave us like that! That was such a cliffhanger!

#❥restocking books! #the secret commonwealth #the book of dust #his dark materials #listen I love Marcel Delamare #and I want Pan and Lyra to reconcile so bad #Malcolm you’re kinda creepy in this one #Oliver Bonneville made me laugh #he legit cursed so much

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❥started: January 28th 2022

❥ended: February 7th 2022

❥title: The Book of Dust: The secret commonwealth by Philip Pullman, 2019

❥ pages: 633

❥ genre: Fantasy fiction

❥ rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

❥ opinion: I’ve heard a lot of feedback about this novel. The majority, I have to say, have been negative — and I will say that I’m apart of the minority, who, actually really ended up liking this book. Of course, save for a few scenes that happened, in which I was not ready to read(talking about Malcolm’s thoughts about Lyra and the scene with Lyra and the soldiers).

There are some things (many things) that I’d like to talk about the secret commonwealth and the first thing is, I’m sure you’re all not surprised if you’ve been a long time fan for “His Dark Materials”: yup, I’m talking about the dæmons — and more specifically, separation.

Now, entering this book with the events of the Amber spyglass still fresh; we are absolutely convinced that human and dæmon separating is a tremendously painful processus, yes, but also very frightening and quite uncommon — well at least, that’s what we thought, having stayed in Lyra’s POV and Oxford in general. However, we haven’t seen the other regions of the world, more specifically, in Europe.

The secret commonwealth explores this phenomenon and shows us that: dæmon separation isn’t as uncommon as we all believed it to be, and not as shameful. We meet many people who have been just like Lyra, and we slowly learn to accept that dæmon separation isn’t as rare as we sought it out to be.

(I’ll be honest. When I was at the very beginning of the book, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes each time someone claims to have experienced dæmon separation. “Oh wow, what happened to it being highly immoral and disgraceful? Practically everyone does it at this point!”)

The second thing I’d like to talk about is Pan and Lyra’s relationship(or rather quarrel) throughout the whole story; it was heartbreaking to read, really. It’s because, from the HDM trilogy, they’ve been together since the very start, grew up together, were each other’s other half — and to see them detesting each other and say all those mean things to each other? (Lyra even used ‘fucking stranger’ to describe him!)

I really hope that we see them reconcile by the end of the third book, they show to really care for one another too, despite every argument. (Though with how things ended in this one, and how Nur Huda seemed to be alone, I think Pan might’ve ran off...)

An honourable mention goes to the fact that Malcolm’s thoughts about Lyra were just,, wrong and uncomfortable to read. I know that they’re both adults but...man’s literally taken care of her since she was a baby. I hope they don’t end up together, Pullman, it’ll just be...so weird... he seems more like an older brother to her...

The last thing I’d like to talk about is, Marcel fucking Delamare, yes I said it! Absolutely loved his character(and perhaps I may be a tinyyyyy bias because he’s Marisa’s baby brother). But he’s just really interesting and calmly calculated at all times! He makes a way better antagonist than Gerard Bonneville for sure and I was in literal hysterics when I read him face-off against Maman Delamare in ch. 16 (btw, I read it at 2AM, imagine my pain.)

He’s like this calm and passive version of his older sister, and I think it’s great how the siblings resemble each other so much without actually having the same intentions — I’d love to see the Delamare family’s reaction to him becoming the boss of the fucking Magisterium of all things, seriously! That was such a godly moment on his part!

I like that the secret commonwealth was more of an adult’s novel than one suitable for children. It really brings a change and highlights the whole “His Darker Materials” aspect into this new trilogy. While the matters(like the sexual assault for example) can be troubling and discomforting for some, there were other great moments in the story, it makes us truly question this one thing: Imagination vs science?

It seems to be the ongoing theme in the story where Lyra slowly begins to lose her imagination and Pan, desperately going out to look for it and bring it back. But as Lyra travels all over the world, she begins to question whether she’ll ever get it back — and it’s just this amazing moment of reflection from the child!Lyra, that we all knew who was stubborn and creative back in the world of His Dark Materials, to now an adult!Lyra who’s burdened with the loss of her dæmon.

❥ quotes:

“I don’t know if pretending’s a good way to live.”

“There was a memory of a night when someone was walking up and down in a moonlit garden, whispering as he held her close, with a great quiet leopard walking alongside.”

“And so did you, for a bit. You just couldn’t keep going. You’re not really interested. What are we going to do? We can’t go on like this. Why do you hate me so much? Why do I hate you? Why can’t we stand being with each other?”

“Truth-tellers needed to know what the truth was, so as to tell it. Liars needed to know what the truth was so they could change it or avoid it. Then there were bullshitters, who didn’t care about the truth at all. They weren’t interested. What they spoke wasn’t the truth now was it lies; it was bullshit. All they were interested in was their own performance.”

“So, we’re gonna see a death bed wedding, are we?”

“As he signed the order, Marcel Delamare thought of the sister he had admired so much. He thought of his mother too, and looked forward to seeing her again.”

“Don’t call me madam. You can call me Miss Silvertongue.”

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥crossroad reviews #bookblr #book reviews #his dark materials #the book of dust #the secret commonwealth #the secret commonwealth spoilers #philip pullman

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“Why does tragedy exist? Because you are full of rage. Why are you full of rage? Because you are full of grief.”

— Anne Carson, from “Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides”

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Ris’ books read in January 2022:

❥ His Dark Materials: The Collectors(Philip Pullman)

❥ These violent delights(Chloe Gong)

❥ Warrior cats: Forest of Secrets(Prophecies begin)(Erin Hunter)

❥ We were liars(E. Lockhart)

❥ My mixed-up berry blue summer(Jennifer Gennari)

❥ His Dark Materials: Lyra’s Oxford(Philip Pullman)

❥ His Dark Materials: Once upon a time in the North(Philip Pullman)

❥ Warrior cats: Rising storm(Prophecies begin)(Erin Hunter)

#❥library at the crossroad of worlds #❥restocking books! #Risreads2022 #my goal for this year was to read 20 books #and 8 books in January is already a strong start ngl #I’m proud of myself! >:3 #january reads #bookblr #book tumblr