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I’m always surprised how many of the booktubers post reviews of books they essentially gave 1 or 2 stars in their rating scale. I don’t finish books that I would rate that low. Life is too short to make yourself keep reading books you don’t enjoy. I do books from multiple libraries so I’m very comfortable letting a book go if it is not grabbing me. I can, and do, go back to some of them later when I’m more in the mood. Not buying books gives me that freedom.

I read Lady Tan's Circle of Women not too long ago and enjoyed Lisa See's writing so much that I bought 3 of her earlier books including The Island of Sea Women and The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. I'm glad you enjoyed them so much. I'm looking forward to reading them!

I was getting sick of the interviews of Erikson on the A Critical Dragon channel, AP is just a hopeless interviewer! I wasn't expecting much when I searched out this and started it but _this_ is what a good interview of Erikson is like. Great work Tori.

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I also find shape shifters an interesting concept in fantasy. :)

So excited for Cold Silver for Souls! Have you read Pachinko by Min Jin Lee? If you love Lisa See you should totally check out Pachinko.

I think I read about 100 pages of Wind and Truth this month. I just can’t seem to focus enough to read. Hopefully life and the world can stabilize a bit and I can get back to reading more again!

For this month I have read The Farseer Trilogy and am currently doing a slow reread through the Complete poems of Charlotte Smith, an 18th century author whose poems often hit much the same that Robin Hobb’s Farseer books do. There is no hope, all is lost, resentment reigns. I am also reading a translation of a Middle English long form poem called The Romance of William and the Werewolf. I finally got this book early last month after having contributed to a crowd funding campaign for it 2-4 years ago.

*judges you for annotating your books*

Fantastic news, Tori!! 🎉❤📚 this is amazing!! Can’t wait for it to come out.✨🫶🏼

January was a great reading month full of 5 star reads. Best book of January was The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis. Other great books I read during the month were: The Wickwire Watch, Foundryside, The Folding Knife, and books 1 - 3 of the Spellslinger series. My most anticipated new release is now Bloodstones #2, I loved the first book and can't wait to see what happens next.

I’m decently excited, but I despise the cover. 😅 -T

Excited to get to the books of Mrs. Odom (I forgot her military rank, apologies! 😅), hopefully already in the later half of this year! 🙌 In January I finished (a rather short list due to (thankfully almost fully receded) pneumonia🤒🤧😅): «Cort Adeler» by Ole Henrik Gjeruldsen (Historical Biography about the 17th Century Norwegian Sailor & Mercenary turned Highly Decorated & Respected Admiral for the Venetian, Dutch & Danish-Norwegian Navies: For his achievements of multiple acts of courage in combat (including several victories and escapes against superior Turkish Fleets, his skill as a first-rate & hands on cannon commander even after becoming a Fleet Commander, and personally defeating a Ottoman Admiral in hand to hand combat, all verified by multiple sources!) he was made a Venetian Knight of the Order of St. Mark and received a pension (for three generations after him!) rivaling his Venetian Commander in Chief, before returning home to completely reinvent an almost depleted Danish-Norwegian fleet and earning a Noble Title! 😲Clearly, way too over-powered Main Character! 😆) «Anitra» by Hilde Susan Jægtnes (History Fiction, about an imagined granddaughter of the World Famous Composer Edvard Grieg («In the Hall of the Mountain King», «Morning Mood», «Spring» & «Anitra’s Dance»: IRL his only daughter died in childhood), living in Pre-WW2 Fascist Rome, torn between her creative dreams of creating a Mythological Grand Opera with the support of the totalitarian regime and her love for a female Jewish musician…) «Hengist» by Sean Poage (Historical Fiction Novella, set during the Anglo-Saxon Invasion of Britain: Poage is about to become one of my favorite Indie Authors who I automatically buy!) «All the Horses on Iceland» by Sarah Tolmie (Historical Fiction/Fantasy Novella about an Medieval Icelander’s Fantastical Journey to Central Asia) Cheers Tori!

Gah! So excited for Cold Silver. However, I don’t appreciate how you keep adding new books to my TBR. 🙄 It’s long enough as it is. -T

By Blood, By Salt was my #2 book for 2024 as well! So glad to hear your thoughts on A Haunt for Jackals!

another 5 star video - and That's a Fact!

This was a really fun, uplifting video to watch thanks to your enthusiasm! Bilbo defending the Elvenking makes sense, in my opinion - he arrested the Dwarves, but from his perspective they were foreign intruders that disrupted his feasts. And he only wanted to hold them prisoner until they told him what they were up to; they would have eventually given in if not for Bilbo, and they would have been free. After that, the Elvenking does only heroic things - he goes to Laketown instead of Erebor to lend aid and saves many lives that way, and he never demands any part of the treasure from anyone. The Elvenking is a leader who is uncomfortable with the idea of fighting for gold, unlike Bard and Dain and Thorin. And when Bilbo delivers the Arkenstone, he and the Elvenking get on well. Bilbo's love for Elves in general may also have played a role. They're beautiful and wondrous, and "good people" as the narrator says.

Sounds like a great month of reading Tori! I really need to get to By Blood By Salt soon. Thanks for keeping the hype up! Is Cold Silver likely to be late this year or next year? (Or should I wait patiently for another update? 😅😅)

Wow Tori, What an amazing achievement, I can't wait to hear more about the book and story! Also, now that you've hyped up Odom so much, I'll have to promote book 1 on my tbr, but no pressure or anything...

First: SO EXCITED for Cold Silver for Souls!!! Second: Really want to read a Lisa See book, that sounds amazing. Third: THANK YOU, I am so honored by your read and review.

You get me really wanting to read Odoms work

I’ve seen the +ve commentary for the Odom series and you are adding to the hypewagon here - in a good way I hasten to add 😆 I did note your reference to military fantasy, which I know from Zucker’s “Nomads of the Sea” is a fave of yours, but *character driven* is what hooks me in here.

I’m thinking “The Isle of the Sea Women “ might be a good pick for our book club too, what kind of content warnings are in it? I don’t think our club would like detailed depictions of rape but other stuff would probably be fine

It's so sweet how you read with your husband. Very intentional marriage building and I appreciate it. Your excitement makes me excited 😆 I'm waiting until Land of Exile is completed before reading, but you are making it harder for me to resist! Lol Congratulations on your writing as well! 🎉 I'm looking forward to the read!

Tori, I agree with Tori, The Martian didn't click with me either but like you I love Terry Pratchett so maybe Tori would too. Thank you, Tori x2!

Evie is amazing. Thanks, Tori.

Started Gene Wolfe's Latro in the Mist books, and read Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Both probably four stars.

Tori, I love how much you're hyping up By Blood, By Salt. I'm super keen to read the series now thanks to you! And a huge congrats on finishing the draft for Cold Silver. I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with!

Congratulations on completing your first draft. I'm still stuck in the editing phase. Stay safe and happy reading.

BRAND NEW BOOK BRAND NEW BOOK BRAND NEW BOOK

A Haunt For Jackals being a banger makes me even more excited, I'm doing a group read of By Blood, By Salt end of February! Made 7 dudes buy the book because.....I could. xD

I have never fantasized as much about living on an airship than after I read Arm of the Sphinx.

Here's what I read Under your spell by Laura wood A fire Endless by rebecca ross My name my is Barbra by Barbra Streisand memoir A winter in new York by josie silver The teacher by frida McFadden You like it darker by Stephen king Things we left behind by Lucy score Bride by ali hazlewood

Will you do an updated Top fav series after you finish the "By Blood, By Salt" trilogy?

Main issue with everything related to books and internet is that people think the amount of books is somehow better than quality of books. I mean its cool to say that you’ve read 150 books with 50-pages each, compared to someone else who read few 1000-pages Dostoevsky novels

Never actually read a hunger games book but my wife will be looking forward to this one. I am sure I will read them at some point in the future but my TBR is ridiculous 😅

I just got goosebumps listening to this! I didn’t realize all of this was happening until I watched this video!

What up, Tori’s hub?! Great job

I get what you say about not holding in what you have read. I would get into a rush and zoom through and hold onto very little. I dropped Good Reads to 50 books and never go past that number. Take a week off a book before getting back into the book. Reading has become more enjoyable.

Ballad of songbirds and snakes did not make me feel bad for snow. If anything it made me hate him more. So rest assured, Suzanne is not trying to make you pity him.

Yep, enjoyed the series and like you, don’t read a lot of new stuff, but I’ll be up for reading this one!

I am greatly looking forward to this book. It has been strongly hinted that we will discover that a lot of things we thought we knew about the Second Quarter Quell are actually not accurate... Btw, I love your little yoshi plushie!!!

Absolutely stunning, Tori. I couldn't possibly love your reading journal more! Great work! 💜

Maybe it's because I am just chronically online, but I definitely knew about this book and I am trying to not get too hyped but I had the exact same reaction as you... PLEASEEE do his story justice, please 😅😍

Not a dragon fan either

I am so excited!!! I love The Hunger Games and I really enjoyed Snow’s story, too. Is it weird after Haymitch I want Mags’ story as well? That would be awesome to me.

I'm glad you're excited 🤩 I shall keep an eye out next month for your review! I read the trilogy after seeing the first movie in theatres and enjoyed it 👍 Read the newest book and it was not a good time for me. I hope young Haymitch makes sense, winding back adult Haymitch. His story was so sad when we originally met him that i'm concerned for the ending of this new book. We already know it's not going to be a happy ending 😅

This was good motivation for me to get to work on my own reading journal. I’ve just been working on sit a little at a time. Love the way you’ve set this up so far. I love the purple.

Your journal turned out so pretty 😍

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