Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: July 2023

Hey, everyone! Here we go again for month #5 of the Monthly Reading Wrap-Up. Here’s some of the cool things we read this month. Be sure to tell us if you see any of your favorite reads, something on the never-ending To-Be-Read list, or if you know of a comparable title we might enjoy. Thanks again for reading! Write on.

Kristin:

This month, I went a little crazy with the reading. When I really enjoy a book, I read it fast. I’m talking within the same day kind of fast (which is saying something with toddler-life). Last month, I spoke about volume one of Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu and said that I was excited to read the rest of the books in the series (that are currently available)…well, I did that. I had surgery at the start of the month and definitely enjoyed being about to read and relax while recovering. Plus, the series is simply so good that I couldn’t help but binge read all of them. Even Kamryn commented how I was finishing a 300-400 page novel within the span of hours.

So, rather than simply talk about the plot of the novels, I’m going to talk about the aspects that I enjoyed of the series as both a reader and a writer. First, the character arcs are phenomenal. The main character Xie Lian (XL) is such a well-written, complex character. I found his arc so refreshing (and tragic) to see his story unfold with each novel of how he became the person he was at volume one.

He started as the heroic protagonist who wanted to do good and how even with the best intentions, sometimes things still go horribly wrong. We see him go from the highest highs to the lowest lows, losing everyone around him. We see him go from an honored prince to a filthy beggar in the streets, forced to steal food to survive, then finding his way back on his feet but no longer the blind optimist. This goes the same for all the side characters and love interest, but I could write pages and pages about this.

Next, the relationship. I was promised a slow-burn and it was delivered. The pacing of the relationship was slow, tentative, but always respectful. I was always happy with the little moments as the two were growing closer as companions before their big moments in the later books. It felt natural and fun. Another thing that I really enjoy was that typically when you have the opposites-attract, dark/light couple, sometimes the relationship can feel a bit imbalance or worse, a bit toxic. This is so not the case here. While the love interest is known to cause mischief (and is kind of one of the biggest enemies to the Heaven Officials as one of the three Ghost Kings) the way they treat XL is nothing but the utmost kindness and respect.

XL at this point has suffered immeasurable loss and loneliness and his love interest is able to be a calming presence he so desperately needs. We see him start to laugh and smile and have a bit of confidence that he’d lost. Both sides are equally as devoted to the other, in their own way. I could also go on for days about this but I would be revealing spoilers.

Finally, since I’m trying to be concise, the humor. I was not expecting a Chinese fantasy series to be so hilarious. I have probably laughed out loud more often during that series than anything else I’ve ever read. There’s banter, they tease each other, the characters shout ridiculous things, the trials are hilarious. In particular, volumes 3-4 (don’t worry, no spoilers) they use the fantasy-equivalent of modern tropes that are just so fun and hilarious to read. And then there’s Qi Rong who I could always tell was going to speak by the use of caps lock. He wasn’t a particularly good person, but his dialogue was hilarious. “ONLY I CAN LOOK DOWN ON PEOPLE.”

I could go into so much more (volume 7 comes out in September, and the finale in late November—I have pre-ordered both of them) and likely will go back to these, but for next month, I have several books to take with me on vacation to read so there will likely be some good ones to talk about.

Kamryn:

Unlike Kristin, I did not explode the reading this month. Going along with my previous reading, I went onto the spin-off series for Beautiful Creatures, finishing the books Dangerous Creatures and Dangerous Deception (also written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl).

I had previously tried to read Dangerous Creatures when the book originally came out when I was in high school, but I got stalled on it for some reason and didn’t finish. Since I had the original series fresh in my mind, I wanted to try to go back to it to see how the story continued. Truthfully, I enjoyed the first series more than the spin-off, though some of that might have been because the spin-off was headlined by different main characters than the original and branched out from Gatlin, setting-wise. Not that that’s a bad thing, it just gave the story a very different vibe than the first series- which to be fair, you’re probably looking for in a spin-off.

Switching from beloved main characters is always a bold move, even if the newer narrators have been there the vast majority of the time. That being said, I thought Dangerous Creatures actually gave you a lot of insight you didn’t have before into Ridley and why she behaves the way she does. I really liked getting to see flashbacks of the time period where Ridley and Lena were together when they were little because you can see how they ended up becoming what they were in the original series. The two have always had a complex relationship and I liked that the authors expanded on that. Ridley, good and bad, is always a character that’s interesting to learn new things about and try to figure out how she works.

I also thought the spin-off went into some interesting territory as it delved into topics the first series did not. You get to learn some about Silas Ravenwood, who was mentioned but notably absent from the first series, so I liked that there was a natural villain to fill the void left by Abraham. This series actually went a little sci-fi in the sense of how powers could be used and took place in a much darker scene than the first part of the story got into, which with a character like Ridley at the helm, makes a whole lot of sense. It seemed as if Dangerous Deception was left open for the story to continue, but as far as I can tell, there aren’t any more books following Link and Ridley. True to form though, there were parts of these books that I found very funny and I was curious to see where it was all going as the story expanded.