WWW Wednesday – June 15, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

The Dictionary of Obscure SorrowsI’ve gotten a chapter further along in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig since last week. Progress is slow and steady, but I happy I’m making regular progress regardless. This week’s word from the book is the wends, “the frustration that you’re not enjoying an experience as much as you should, which prompts you to try plugging in various thought combinations to trigger anything more intense than roaring static, as if your heart had been inadvertently demagnetized by a surge of expectations.” I’ve definitely felt this, though usually with experiences I’ve had many times before.

Son of a TricksterI’ve made more progress in Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson as well, though perhaps not as much as I think I should have. I may have even been able to finish it over the weekend had I focused solely on it, but my attention was too divided between other things. Nevertheless, I’m happy some progress was still made and I’m continuing to enjoy this book, though it’s still feeling more like a slice-of-life story, with little in the way of a precise plot having emerged. There’s a new character that’s been introduced that I have mixed feelings about, though I appreciate that she too isn’t exactly a positive influence in Jared’s life, despite being very different from everybody else. I’m eager to see what it’s all building toward, as one incident of the possibly supernatural variety was rather creepy.


Recently Finished

Nothing this week either. I’m going through a bit of a bad spell it would seem, as I’m having trouble getting myself motivated to read comics more so than usual. Hopefully I get out of this funk sooner than later.


Reading Next

Stories of Jedi and SithI still have grand designs to start reading this or that, such as the first volume of Animosity by Marguerite Bennett et al. or Stories of Jedi and Sith by various, but I just haven’t gotten myself to crack them open just yet. I had a peak at the story I was most interested in checking out in the latter book, the story about Rey, and while it’s not quite what I was hoping it’d be, it does still sound interesting and it explores a relationship that is only touched upon in the films, so I’m still looking forward to checking it out. Maybe I’ll be able to start these by next week. Should probably finish one of my other books on the go too though.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

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WWW Wednesday – June 8, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

The Dictionary of Obscure SorrowsI’ve had a bit more reading time this past week, so I’ve made some decent progress on both of my current books. First is The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig, which has continued to be a nice leisurely read. Since it’s mainly definitions, I’ve decided to share a word or phrase that’s stuck out to me since the previous week. This week the word is proluctance, “the paradoxical urge to avoid doing something you’ve been looking forward to—opening a decisive letter, meeting up with a friend who’s finally back in town, reading a new book from your favorite author—perpetually waiting around for the right state of mind, stretching out the bliss of anticipation as long as you can.” If that ain’t me.

Son of a TricksterI’ve made especially good progress in Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson this past week; I’m now nearly 100 pages further than I was last week. So far the story feels like a slow burn, going through the ups and downs of Jared’s tumultuous, adolescent life. The magic elements are still only just creeping in so far, as mundane life has far too much going on for him to be seeking some sort of fantastical escape. This poor kid has to deal with so much, and I have a hard time imagining his mythical father will be a positive influence. The only thing about the writing I’ve found a little jarring is that on occasion it tries to use what sounds to me like “gamer speak” circa late 2012, and it felt just off enough that it came off as a little forced to me. Hopefully that’s more anomalous overall, as I’m enjoying the writing a lot otherwise.


Recently Finished

Nothing this week either. Shame!


Reading Next

Stories of Jedi and SithI’m still thinking about reading the first volume of Animosity by Marguerite Bennett et al. soon, I just need to set aside time for it. However, I’m also thinking about starting to read Stories of Jedi and Sith by various, which is currently waiting for me at the bookstore. It’s more of a Middle Grade book, which I don’t typically go for, but I’m interested in some lighter-reading short stories about the various characters included. I’m thinking I could slowly read through it at a story or two a week—a supplemental supplemental read. It’ll help justify buying this now too instead of just waiting for a paperback. We’ll see what I actually manage.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

Book Review – Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn

Thrawn Treason

Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn is the third novel in the author’s Thrawn trilogy, set in the new canon of Star Wars. Grand Admiral Thrawn has proven himself time and again to be a cunning and resourceful asset in service of the Empire, but the politics within the Imperial Navy mean that his tactical proficiency in war is not enough to curry favour. As such, the Grand Admiral’s TIE Defender program is at risk of being halted in favour of Director Krennic’s secret Death Star project. However, if he can solve a seemingly petty issue with the latter project’s supply chain, he can secure his own interests. With only limited time, what begins as a rather simple investigation into pest control unravels into a much deeper conspiracy of treason within the Empire and an incursion of enemy forces from the unknown regions of the galaxy.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – February 9, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

We Were LiarsLast night I finally started reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, and I got to the end of the first section of the book. Picking up this book was more of a whim than is normal for me, so I was afraid I might immediately dislike it, but fortunately I’m pretty into it so far. It hadn’t really occurred to me before (or I’d forgotten) that this is a YA novel, and the writing certainly has a YA way about it, though I don’t mean that negatively. The first section was a lot of establishment, so I’m really intrigued to see what the advertised mystery and suspense will entail. So far we have the lead character having suffered injury under unusual circumstances, but that hasn’t developed into a full mystery just yet. I’m intrigued to see where things go.

I’m still in the middle of the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley too, and as this reread continues I feel like I have less to say about it. I’m much better appreciating how this story navigates the ups and downs and complications of relationships than I did the first time around, though.


Recently Finished

Thrawn TreasonOver the weekend I managed to finish up reading Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, finally capping off this trilogy among the new canon Star Wars books. I think I like this book about as much as the second book overall, but for different reasons. The story was a lot more solid all around, but it was also less interesting than some of the directions the previous book went in. I did really like the greater emphasis on strategy and engagements between capital ships, with a lot of focus on the command bridge, but it was a little stale at times too. It really is a shame that the Rebels TV show stops this story from going any further, because there are a lot of threads I’m really interested in seeing continued. Thrawn was so much more interesting as an anomaly within the Empire. Who knows, maybe things will continue in some form. I’ll try to have a full review up soon.


Reading Next

The Last ContinentI don’t know why I feel compelled to choose my next novel as soon as I’ve started a new one, but here we are. Since it’s technically a leftover from last year, grandfathered into one of this year’s lists, I’ve decided I will read The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett next, which continues the story of Rincewind after being accidentally transported to the Discworld’s version of Australia. It’s been a little while since I read Interesting Times, the previous book in this sub-series, and though Rincewind isn’t my favourite character, I am looking forward to seeing what he gets up to next.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – February 2, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

Thrawn TreasonI’m still slowly making my way through Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn; I’m about 70% of the way through now, so hopefully I can get it finished by next week. As I was reading it last night, the thought occurred to me that this novel, perhaps this trilogy as well, is the most that Star Wars has felt like Star Trek for me, with a darker twist considering the nature of the Empire. It considers a lot of the crew dynamics on their Star Destroyer with their admiral, Thrawn, at the top, who inspires a lot of loyalty and is great at solving military problems. The focus is much more on the perspective of the command bridge as well and their solving of strategic dilemmas. I’m still waiting for one of these to really hook me though, as I’ve still not really felt like what they’re coming up against is truly a threat, even contained within these little skirmishes. I can’t deny that I’m enjoying it all the same, though.

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Digital OmnibusI’m also still slowly making my way through the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley. I haven’t really got much more to say about it at the moment, except that I continue to be a little in awe of how much more in-depth the story is here vs. the film, the latter being what I honestly remember more than the first time I read the comics. The amount of time spent dwelling on Envy Adams, Scott’s ex, for example, was really surprising during my readings this past week. The book itself even breaks the forth wall about how much time it spends just at her concert. Scott continues to have many more redeeming qualities here compared to the film, where he honestly comes off a bit sociopathic rather than selfish and absentminded.


Recently Finished

When I Arrived at the CastleI decided that each of these weeks was starting to look far too much alike for my liking, so I decided to pick up a rather short graphic novel for a quick read last night. That book was When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll. The story is about an anthropomorphic cat-woman arriving at the castle of a deadly vampiric countess with the intention of killing her. The story is very folkloric rather than plot-heavy, leaving things a little more up to interpretation than I would prefer, but the gothic visual style and unsettling body horror are fantastically realized, blending violence and eroticism between the two central figures into something really compelling.


Reading Next

I still plan to start We Were Liars by E. Lockhart soon, and with any luck I will have started by next week. Since I’m getting this up so late today, I won’t agonize over what I might read next any further.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – January 26, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

Thrawn TreasonI’m still in the middle of Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn,  just over halfway through in fact. I haven’t gotten any great amounts of reading time in the last week, but I have managed to chip away at it a little anyway. I’m finding that I’m enjoying it a lot as a comfort read, but at the moment I’m still really not sure what the core conflict of this book is. Their little skirmish with the Grysks is interesting, but they feel more like an obstacle than something the characters are sincerely struggle against. I suppose questions of treason will have to come into things, I’m just not entirely certain what that will be yet. Knowing Thrawn’s ultimate fate, I wonder what sort of balancing act that might entail or if he will betray his own people for the Empire. At any rate, I am enjoying this book for the writing and its characters, at least, but I hope it doesn’t disappoint.

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Digital OmnibusI’m slowly making my way through the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley, which continues to be a fun nostalgic romp. Although I knew how much longer the comics are than the movie, revisiting it is really highlighting just how truncated the film is. It works, but it really isn’t the ideal way to experience this story. I’m loving the slower moments and how they contrast with the over-the-top action and cartoony elements. I’m especially wondering this time around just how literal we’re meant to take the more absurd elements of the story too, though I’m sure I’m thinking about it too much. One shouldn’t always search for perfect sense, it can spoil the fun.


Recently Finished

Nothing, again! 💀


Reading Next

We Were LiarsI still plan to read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart next, but think that is still a way’s off since I’m only a little over halfway through Treason. In the meantime, I really ought to pick another graphic novel or something to stay on top of my reading challenge; I’m two books behind schedule already. I know that’s not the end of the world, but it feels like an inauspicious start to the year.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – January 19, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

Thrawn TreasonSince last week I’ve gotten nearly another 100 pages into Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, and I continue to enjoy the book quite a bit. This trilogy has been great for presenting a more nuanced look at the Empire and its politics, especially the shades of grey that exist in this otherwise oppressive regime. The Grysks from the previous book are making a return as a threat to the Empire, and I’m really enjoying this look at other worlds and alien species being a more sizable external threat, rather than having the Empire grapple with rebels or outlaws, as they typically do. It’s almost a shame, knowing how Thrawn’s story ends (for the time being) on the Rebels TV series, because I would really like to see more of him thanks specifically to how he is depicted in these books.

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Digital OmnibusI also finally started reading the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley, and goodness it is making me a little nostalgic for the 2000s. It’s also making me a little homesick, as I grew up in Toronto and haven’t been able to properly visit the downtown core since the pandemic started. Another surreal element is that Amazon is referred to as “that online bookstore.” That didn’t take long to drastically change, eh? When I first read this book I was younger than Scott, so reading it as a 30-year-old certainly colours things differently, though I like that it does do the work to make him sympathetic too. I’m really glad I finally started this, I’m really looking forward to continuing through it.


Recently Finished

Nothing! 💀


Reading Next

We Were LiarsI’ve finally cemented my reading challenges for the year, as outlined in my post from yesterday, so I’m now more confident thinking about what I want to be reading next. In that respect, I’ve decided to pull from my scrappy to-read list and read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart next. The only reason I picked this book up was some slight buzz I heard that there’s something messed up about the story. I expect I won’t be as phased as other people about it, but I’m open to being surprised. I won’t start it until I finish with Treason, but I expect I’ll be starting it relatively soon.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – January 12, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

Thrawn TreasonSince last week I’ve had an unexpected amount of free time again, and I used some of that time to get a start on Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, the third book in his trilogy of Star Wars novels focused on the titular character. I’m only about 86 pages in, so I haven’t exactly powered through it or anything. I haven’t had a lot of motivation to do so, as it seems is often the case this time of year. I am enjoying the book just fine so far, at any rate, though it’s not clear where the story is heading as of yet. I really like Thrawn as an anti-villain, which is unique to these books compared to his depiction in the Rebels TV show, so with hints to his continued use in the franchise from some other media I have to wonder whether he will be given a more villainous twist if he appears again.


Recently Finished

The Legends of Luke Skywalker The MangaOver the weekend I read through The Legends of Luke Skywalker: The Manga by various. This was meant to be the last book I read in 2021, but I didn’t end up having enough time. In any case, I actually liked this book a lot more than I was expecting. I’m not sure how canon it is meant to be, especially with my least favourite story playfully retconning some circumstance behind the events at Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi, but most of them were nevertheless a lot of fun and allowed themselves to be more experimental than I was expecting. I especially liked that a few of them seemed to conspicuously take place after the events of the original trilogy, really capturing the idea that these are the further adventures of Luke.


Reading Next

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Digital OmnibusI still don’t quite know what I’m going to be reading next in a broad sense. I’ve almost got a list together for my challenges in 2022, but I haven’t fully cemented it yet. There should be a post up detailing everything soon, though. In the meantime, perhaps I will finally start reading the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley, which I’ve been meaning to start for months. That doesn’t necessarily mean I will start it soon, but I can try to try, can’t I?

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

Top 5 Books I Read in 2021

This is hardly an original thought, but it feels especially surreal to me that 2021 has already passed us by. I’m not sure I like how much recent events have me being hyper-conscious of the passage of each year. It’s certainly been an eventful year personally, however, with some significant life changes. My second job, which has me doing a fair amount of freelance editing on a regular basis, is giving me a lot of valuable experience, but reading lagged behind as a result too.

Nevertheless, I can still look back at the year and consider, as I do every year, my top five books among all that I read. This is not ranked in any particular order, these are just my five favourite reads from 2021.Read More »

Book Review – The High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray

Into the Dark

The High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray is the first YA novel in the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia series, which is set 200 years before Star Wars Episode I. Jedi Padawan Reath Silas may not be as Force-sensitive as his peers, but the young apprentice works hard to earn his mettle within the Jedi Order, determined to become one of its great scholars. His ideal routine of plunging into the Archives of the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant is stripped away, however, when his Master, Jora Malli, becomes the Jedi commander of Starlight Beacon, a space station on the Republic frontier in the Outer Rim territories of the galaxy.

Reath isn’t the adventurous type, but where his Master goes he must follow. Travelling to Starlight separately from her,  with Jedi Masters Orla Jareni and Cohmac Vitus, and Jedi Knight Dez Rydan, he is struck with trouble sooner than expected. A disaster in Hyperspace forces their transport ship to seek refuge on a derelict space station, along with a number of other refugee spacecrafts. While the reason for the catastrophe eludes them, the station itself holds a dark secret: an overbearing presence of the Dark side of the Force that Reath and his fellow Jedi struggle to understand. If they’re not careful, a nightmarish scourge that has been dormant for eons could be released upon the galaxy.Read More »