Book Review: A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir (Spoilers for An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing another book review, this one for A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir, the third book in the An Ember in the Ashes quartet. 

Since this is the third book in a series, there will be spoilers for the first two books. This review for A Reaper at the Gates is spoiler-free, however, there will be spoilers for both An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night (both of which I've reviewed). 

If you haven't read this series and are interested, I wouldn't recommend reading this review. 

Disclaimer: Major spoilers for A Torch Against the Night follow! You have been warned! 

With that disclaimer aside, let's get into the review!

A Reaper at the Gates was an interesting read. The cliffhanger at the end of A Torch Against the Night is even larger than the one for An Ember in the Ashes. 

The third installment picks up not long after the previous one, so let's recap! Elias has been cured of poison, but he's now the Soul Catcher. Darin has been rescued from Kauf Prison, courtesy of Elias, Tas, and the previous Soul Catcher, Shaeva. Helene has accepted her role as Blood Shrike, making it known that she is no longer Helene Aquilla. At the very end of the novel, Darin has woken from his coma.

When I initially started reading this series, I was under the impression that it was a trilogy. I was convinced that this was the last book, but about 5-7  months before the fourth book was released, I found out that it was meant to be a quartet. I was both excited and disappointed. I was excited because I wasn't ready for the series to end, but I was disappointed because I thought I was really close to finishing the series.

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It seems as if the writing for these books just gets better and better (which doesn't always happen). The characters also get more and more interesting. The chapter format in this novel follows the same people as in A Torch Against the Night (Laia, Elias, and Helene), but the main difference is that Helene's chapters are named differently. What I mean by that is Helene's chapters aren't titled Helene anymore. They are now titled "The Blood Shrike," symbolizing the transformation she had at the end of the previous installment in this series. 

To be honest, I think my favorite POV is probably Elias', though I love Laia's as well. It really just depends on who I like more the day I was reading or whose chapter was more interesting at that moment in time. There were times where I wanted to read the next chapter in Helene's POV, but it didn't happen often. 

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In my review for A Torch Against the Night (linked here: Book Review: A Torch Against the Night (opens in new window)), I talked about how I don't connect with Helene as much as Laia and Elias. This is still true, but I did like Helene a bit more in this installment. She still isn't my favorite, but I found her more likeable and tolerable in this one than the first two.

I really liked reading Darin and Laia's interactions and being able to experience their relationship more. It made the novel and series more enjoyable. It was also incredibly enjoyable to read more about Elias and Laia's relationship. Their relationship isn't the same as it was before due to Elias having more responsibilities as the Soul Catcher. 

It was fascinating to read about the struggles Elias had adjusting and shifting from his old life to his new one. It seemed very realistic. It goes back to a sense of identity and who someone is as a person, and it was interesting.

Helene's POV was also interesting. She still isn't the most likeable character in this series, but she's definitely grown from the first book. Her arc is obviously not completed during this book, but I really enjoyed the arc she had in this third book.

I think the main thing that gets me about Helene is her seemingly unending loyalty to the Martial Empire. The Martial Empire is corrupt and bloodthirsty. They're power hungry and the punishment for defiance is death, so I've never understood how almost blindingly loyal Helene could be to them. 

She's an interesting character to read about, but I don't understand her personality or motives. They make sense for her character and in the context of the story, but they don't make sense to me from a logical standpoint. 

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Overall, I gave A Reaper at the Gates a five star rating on Goodreads. This is still on my list of favorite books. While this is a five star book, I think this may be my least favorite of the four books in the quartet. I still enjoyed it (obviously), but I like the other three more.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it! 

See you Thursday,

 

Lexi K🖌

Favorite Female Characters in Books

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I decided to do another easy post. I did one almost exactly like this one last week that I posted on my 18th birthday (linked here: Favorite Male Characters in Books (opens in new window)). 

I mentioned that I had initially written with both male and female characters but had divided it in half when I thought the word count became too long. 

So for this post, I'm going to be listing my favorite literary female characters (in no particular order after the first one) and why I like them so much.

King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021.

Annabeth Chase

First up on my list (and the only one that's 100% ranked) is Annabeth Chase from the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles in the Riordanverse books. Annabeth is first on my list for multiple reasons. For one, I love her as a character. I admire her bravery and level-headedness, along with her cleverness and love of architecture (which actually made me enjoy architecture more, especially the ancient Greek kind). For another, I've read a lot of books in the last decade. I've read a lot of Children's, Middle Grade, and a decent amount of YA novels, and for me it's very hard to come across girls I actually like, especially ones who are written by male authors. 

Most of the time, females written by male authors are either flat and two-dimensional or just aren't very interesting. In other cases where female characters are written by women, I just can't connect with a lot of the females in them. My list of favorite female characters is much shorter than my list of favorite male characters.

This is one of the main reasons why Annabeth is my favorite female book character. She's got so many layers, she feels human, and she was written by a male author. I can't count how many books I've read by male authors with female characters who aren't great. To be honest, most are either forgettable or boring (I love Newt from The Maze Runner series, but I can't think of many personality traits for Teresa, Brenda, or Trina; when I envision them in my mind, almost everything about them comes up blank). In my opinion, Annabeth is one of the most well-written female characters in Middle Grade/YA. 

To be honest, my list of female characters is actually pretty big, but 95% of my favorite female characters are from Rick Riordan's books. The main reason why I didn't include all of my favorite female characters is because I didn't want this post to have too many Riordanverse characters. Even though I won't go into detail, I will list some of my favorite Riordanverse characters I don't include on this list (Thalia Grace, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, Hazel Levesque, Calypso, Silena Beauregard, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare).

Sadie Kane

Sadie is one of my favorite characters in The Kane Chronicles. She's either tied on my list with Carter or just slightly below Carter (I have a hard time deciding, so I just like to say that I love them both equally). Sadie reminds me of myself (though Sadie's a bit more extreme than I am). She's stubborn and has a bit of a mischievous and rebellious side. 

It was enjoyable to read about her and Carter's relationship over the three books, and intriguing to read about how their relationship grew over time. It was also fascinating to read about her partial British side (she was born in Los Angeles, but after her mother died, she grew up in London with her grandparents).

Inej Ghafa

Inej is the most recent addition on this list. Inej is one of the six main characters of the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. She isn't my favorite character in those books (that would be Kaz, as I mentioned in two other posts), but she's definitely well-written. I find that she and I are very similar, which isn't an incredibly common thing for me to come across in books. 

As I mentioned with Annabeth, most girls I read about are boring or flat. Inej was fascinating and I was excited to read about her. I wanted to read more about Kaz, but Inej is easily my second favorite.

Laia of Serra

Laia from An Ember in the Ashes is another one of my favorites. I love how loyal she is to her family and friends. She's compassionate and determined, which is something that immediately made me more interested in her story. I love the relationship she has with her brother and grandparents, and I love how she's determined without being too arrogant or dramatic. She's a genuinely strong female character that I loved reading about.

Hermione Granger

Hermione used to be my favorite female character. She was the first Middle Grade/YA female character I loved. Up until I read the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, Hermione was at the top of my list. I love Hermione's personality. I love how curious and intelligent she is. She can be very blunt, to the point of being brutally honest (which is something I relate greatly to). 

Katniss Everdeen

Katniss from The Hunger Games is another one of my favorite book characters. I love the relationship between her and Prim. As I've mentioned in many other posts, I love reading books that have characters who are siblings. I find them interesting and usually relatable. The love Katniss has for Prim was a fascinating and intriguing thing to read about. Generically speaking, we don't see them together very much, but it was written so well that I scarcely even noticed how infrequently they interacted. Overall, Katniss is a very interesting character who made me--like a lot of teens--more interested in archery.

Alice Cullen

Alice is a newer addition to my list. When I read the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, I honestly didn't expect much of it. I didn't expect to love it, but I didn't expect to hate it. I had already heard all the backlash and hate for the series, and I was curious to see what all the hype was about. Alice surprised me. She was my favorite female character in the entire series (though Esme is a close second). She reminds me a lot of Thalia Grace from the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. 

I love how caring Alice is regarding her family and friends. She's very optimistic, which is usually a trait in characters that tires and bores me (usually the characters are overly optimistic, almost like caricatures, which frustrates me). Alice is a character I wasn't initially expecting to have on this list, but I really like her. She's definitely not super high on my list, but she's definitely on it.

Elizabeth Bennet

Since I had Mr. Darcy on my list of favorite male characters, I feel like I had to include Lizzy on this list. I loved how independent and headstrong Elizabeth was. She wasn't arrogant, but she was self-assured and enjoyable to read. I enjoyed reading about how her opinion of Mr. Darcy changed the more she was around him. Lizzy was a fascinating character, and she's definitely one of my favorite female characters. 

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌

Book Review: A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir (Spoilers for An Ember in the Ashes)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today is going to be another book review, this one for A Torch Against the Night, the sequel to An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

Because this is a sequel, there will be spoilers present in this review for An Ember in the Ashes, so if you haven't read that book and wish to, I'd recommend leaving. On the other hand, this review for A Torch Against the Night is spoiler-free.

For the people who have either read the book, have no interest in reading this, or don't care about spoilers, enjoy the review!

This novel picks up almost exactly where An Ember in the Ashes ends. Elias has physically broken free of Blackcliff Academy, along with his mother, the commandant of Blackcliff. Laia is no longer the Commandant's slave. She's finally found out where her brother, Darin, is being held and is still on her original quest to find and liberate him. Helene Aquilla, one of the main side characters of An Ember in the Ashes (and the only female recruit in her class) is the Blood Shrike to the Emperor. 

The chapters in this book aren't as even and straight-forward as in An Ember in the Ashes. Helene has a point-of-view in this novel, and the chapters between characters don't really follow a pattern. They're more scattered. 

The chapter pattern (or lack thereof) was something that partially annoyed me, but that's a personal issue and not one that has anything to do with the story itself. I prefer knowing how many chapters I have to read to get to a POV I really wanted to read about at that time (usually due to an end-of-chapter cliffhanger), and I like chapters to be consistent, but that's a minor detail which doesn't affect my actual rating since I've read a lot of books that do this.

The writing in this novel is as good as the writing in the previous one, if not better. I love Sabaa Tahir's writing style, and I always find myself reading quotes from this series because I love the writing and characters so much. 

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As far as the characters go, I really loved reading about Laia and Elias again. They are still some of my favorite YA characters. I enjoyed reading Helene's perspective as well, but the main chapters I was looking forward to reading were Laia and Elias'. 

Helene is a complicated character whom I don't connect with. She's a very strong character and well-written, but I can't really connect with her on an emotional level. I read her perspectives and I was interested in her story, but there was something lacking on it, and I think it's just that her personality and mine don't really overlap. There are very little similarities between me and Helene and most of the time, I only half understood some of her choices. 

I really enjoyed Tas. He was so innocent and pure. He's a sweet, kind boy whom I want to read more about.

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One thing I really love about Sabaa Tahir's characters are the siblings. I really loved the relationship Helene had with Livia (I kind of ignore Hannah, and I honestly sometimes forget she even exists), along with the relationship between Laia and Darin. I also thought it was interesting how she handled Marcus and Zacharias. I hate Marcus as a character, however his relationship with Zak made for an interesting layer that I wasn't expecting.

As far as Laia goes, I really like her mentality. Instead of being the kind of girl who runs off with the guy because he's attractive, she runs off with the guy (in this case Elias) because it's practical and she wants/needs his help to save her brother. The sibling dynamic itself is really enjoyable, which is surprising, since Laia and Darin aren't really in the same room more than twice in these first two books. 

I love how Sabaa Tahir was able to show the relationship Laia and Darin had without needing to have them in close proximity together. As a reader, it would definitely be more ideal to have them interact, but in this book, that isn't 100% possible. Because Laia cared about Darin, I cared about Darin, which is something books can't always accomplish for me. Sometimes a character cares about another character and I don't really care (as heartless as that may seem).

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I thought I would enjoy this book (I normally enjoy the first sequel that's released in a series), but I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did. It was incredibly enjoyable and made for a really fun time. I wanted to pick up A Reaper at the Gates immediately after I finished it (though I ended up reading it a few days before I was able to check out the e-book for A Sky Beyond the Storm this previous December). 

I ended up rating this book a 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I was really engaged and invested in the story and the characters. The ending was very shocking. It left so many things open for seemingly endless doors to possibilities and outcomes. The cliffhanger itself was really well done. 

Overall, I enjoyed A Torch Against the Night almost as much as An Ember in the Ashes. I definitely didn't like it more than the first book, but I think it's either just below it or on the same level. Writing this post just makes me want to re-read this series, but I'm insanely busy right now. That'll be something for me to look forward to in the future.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌

My 18th Birthday: A 2nd Quarantine Birthday

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today is going a be a special birthday post. If you didn't know (and chances are you didn't if you didn't read my post from Tuesday), my 18th birthday was two days ago (June 1st).

 

I'm officially an adult! Though I don't fully consider myself an adult until I'm 21 (I can legally drink or gamble then; for now I'd rather stay a teenager/young adult). 

What is this post about exactly? 

I'm going to be sharing what I did on my birthday. Just like the title reads, this is my second year in a row having a quarantine birthday. I spent my entire seventeenth year inside playing video games, watching hockey, reading, and spending time with my family.

Let's get into the post!

King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021.

So, I feel as if this post is going to be fairly mundane. I like to think that I'm good at introductions, but I don't even know how to begin this one, so I'm just going to get right into my day and try not to bore you too much.

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For the past couple weeks or so, I've been waking up at six in the morning. My mother typically comes into my room to wake me up. When I went to bed the night before my birthday, I expected to wake up at six the next morning, but I didn't. My mom let me sleep in because she didn't want me to be tired on my birthday, so I woke up at eight. 

The morning's events aren't really that special on my end. I spent a couple hours just trying to paint my nails, while my parents and sister were downstairs decorating. I spent my first couple hours preparing for my day, while my dad was already making me a birthday breakfast. 

I'm going to skip the next few hours because honestly, not much happens. It's now about two or three in the afternoon, and I have finally finished getting ready for my day (I take hours to get ready; sometimes it's annoying). 

Since my sister wasn't that busy, I asked her to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Mariokart 8 Deluxe with me on our switch, so that's what we did. We started with Super Smash. Super Smash has been one of my favorite games to play since I first played it as a child on my sister's GameCube. The two of us would go up against each other and my sister would beat me every time. I won a couple times, though I don't know if I genuinely won or if my sister threw a game. 

For the past few months, I have been playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate online. I've earned a bunch of online play milestones, and I've logged many hours. I've won many matches. On my birthday, my sister and I played three or four matches, and I won them all. My sister didn't like it, so I suggested we play a match online as a team. She agreed, and we played online. We played two matches. We won the first and lost the second (though we were fairly close to winning). 

My sister wanted to play Mariokart (it's a game she typically beats me at as well, though it's more even right now than Super Smash), so we switched games. She won a set of four races, and I won a set of four races. After that, we decided to go to the Battle option to play Balloon Battle, Shine Thief, and Renegade Roundup (I won Shine Thief and my sister won the other two). 

While my sister and I were playing games, my parents were frosting my cake. Not long before, I had mixed the colors for the frosting (the body of the cake was pink and the decorative shells were purple; I had initially wanted red instead of purple, but the red was acting up). The official party didn't start until after six in the evening. We decided to have cake first instead of dinner because why not. After this, we took photos and I opened gifts. 

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I had stated that I wanted to play some games on my birthday, so after I was done opening gifts, we played a round of Clue (which my father won, beating me, my mom, and my sister by a mile) and two  rounds of Uno. In the first round, my mother won, followed by my father, then my sister, and finally me. The second round, my sister won, followed by me, my mom, and then my dad (it was incredibly entertaining to watch my mother and father play; I don't how how many cards they had to draw). 

We didn't end up having dinner until 1:30 in the morning, but I wasn't any worse for the wear the next day (I woke up at 7 in the morning). Dinner had already been made, but we just hadn't eaten. It was a long night, but it was fun. We had tacos (the authentic homemade corn tortilla kind), because that's what I wanted, along with rice, beans, and vegetables. It was very delicious. I was up later than normal on my birthday, but it was worth it and fun. 

I had wanted to play New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe with all 4 of us on our Switch, but it ended up being too late. My sister told me that we should play a round of Mario Party at a future time (which I agree with), and, according to my sister, she wants to throw me an Animal Crossing New Horizons party, which I'm looking forward to.

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Overall, it was a very fun and long day. I had a great time. I enjoyed my 18th birthday more than my 17th birthday. They were both good, but the lead-up to this one was 10x better. Hopefully, my 19th birthday is just as fun. All I know is that I am no longer a child, and it feels bizarre.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time,

Lexi K🖌