Fina's Commonplace Book

If there's anything that the publishing market is saturated with, it's fantasy. With so many stories available, how do you sort out the mediocre from the truly great? With patience. As a fantasy bookworm, I've had my share of badly written fantasies. But fortunately, there's always gems, and I've been lucky to find several excellent fantasy books (and series!) that I'm sure you all will appreciate. Photo by  Ricardo Cruz  on  Unsplash 1. Fawkes by Nadine Brandes A historical speculative fiction set during the reign of King James the First of England, Fawkes explores family, faith, and race in a thought provoking, honest, and sometimes emotional look at the Gunpowder Plot and those who took part in it.  Thomas Fawkes is dying. Soon, the Stone Plague in his eye will spread, and he will be nothing but a statue. Without his Color Mask, he's helpless, and so he travels to London to find his father, Guy Fawkes. Through him, Thomas is soon tangled ...

Summary After Calamity appeared in the sky, ordinary people started to develop superpowers. Now, ten years later, these people -- the Epics -- rule the remains of the world. For years, David has had a single goal -- to kill Steelheart, the overlord of Newcago. He wants revenge for his father's death, and regardless of what others say -- that Steelheart is unkillable -- he will stop at nothing to exact that revenge. He joins with a shadowy band of rebels known as the Reckoners, and together, they may be enough to take on Steelheart. Because David has seen something he shouldn't have -- he has seen Steelheart bleed. But the same thing that could give him the knowledge to defeat his greatest enemy could also get him killed. My Review Steelheart blew me away. After reading  Renegades by Marissa Meyer , I knew that I wanted to read more superhero fiction. This one seemed right up my alley, being a Brandon Sanderson novel; plus the idea of a supervillain dystopia really ap...

Summary Nova Artino wants vengeance against the Renegades -- a band of superheroes who are dedicated to preserving law and order after the chaos of the Age of Anarchy. Nova has reasons to hate the Renegades, and nothing will stop her in her mission to assassinate her prime target -- Captain Chromium, the head of the Renegade Council. Well, almost nothing. When she is inducted into the Renegades, she meets Adrian Everheart, and suddenly, everything gets more complicated. Adrian Everheart wants justice. As a member of the Renegades, he knows that obeying the code is vital to maintain order. But when he discovers the mysterious villain Nightmare may have something to do with his mother's murder, he is desperate for answers. Under the guise of the Sentinel, he searches for the answers to the questions that have plagued him for years. My Review I really liked this book. The whole idea of a superhero uprising -- and then superheroes trying to rebuild the world afterwards -- was s...

Science fiction is a fascinating genre. From outer space dramas like Star Wars to dystopians like The Hunger Games, it has become firmly entrenched in our popular culture. But, like any other genre of storytelling, some science fiction stories are better than others. Here, I've collected a list of my personal favorites. 1. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer An enchanting mixture of science fiction, dystopia, fairy tales, and romance, this series captured my interest almost from the first sentence. The protagonist, Cinder, is a likeable, strong character, and the host of other POV characters are well-developed with unique personalities that shine through the narrative.  Each of the four books is based on a popular fairy tale - Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White, so some of the plot is predictable, but it is made up for by the fun twists the author pulls on main story events - the pumpkin carriage is an orange car, for instance.  With ...