Grey Sister Review

Author: Mark Lawrence
Series: Second Book Of The Ancestor
Publisher: Ace
Publication Date:  April 3, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

I love this series! That’s probably an understatement but it’s easily become one of my new favorite series in fantasy fiction. There’s just something about it whether it’s the story, the compelling baddass nun characters, or Mark Lawrence’s writing. I stayed up late to finish Grey Sister and I’m still not sure I’ve digested it all but I’m giving it a go.

Beware, as this is the second book in a series there are bound to be minor inevitable spoilers in this review if you haven’t read book one. If you haven’t read my review of Red Sister you can find it here. For this review I’m going generally follow the same format I did for Red Sister with some technical stuff first then overall comments at the end.

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2019 Reading And Blogging Goals V

At the beginning of the year I posted about my 2019 Reading And Blogging Goals. I listed ten things I wanted to do this year. Wow ten. I didn’t realize it was that many until I counted it. Huh. Anyway, I listed ten things I hope to accomplish this year:

• Get caught up on my reviews
• Open the blog to review requests again
• Read more Self-pub/Indie Books
• Another Self-pub Fantasy Month?
• Finish up series I’ve started
• Dragonlance
• Warhammer 40K
• Star Wars
• Clean up the blog
• Reduce the size of my TBR

Because this isn’t simply a book review blog (I mean mostly yeah but not completely), it’s also my thoughts on books and reading and the blog in general, I’ve decided to take some time to address each one in more detail because I know you’re all riveted by it. OK, truth be told this is really to help me keep on task. Anyway, here’s the fifth deeper dive into my goals.

Astute readers will notice I didn’t post anything with a title of Reading And Blogging Goals IV. This is because the goal of opening up the blog to review requests again I accomplished before getting around to writing about it as a goal. So it didn’t happen with the title format of the rest of these posts.

And I’m still going out of order…

Something Different: Comics

A few years back when my kids started getting into The Avengers and Guardians Of The Galaxy and all things MCU, I started collecting comics with my eldest son. I didn’t know a whole lot about comics and didn’t know where to start but it seemed like something fun to do as a way to spend time together. You know father/son bonding time.

The Winter Road Review

Author: Adrian Selby
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date:  November 13, 2018
Format: Paperback
Pages: 496
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

The Circle – a thousand miles of perilous forests and warring clans. No one has ever tamed such treacherous territory before, but ex-soldier Teyr Amondsen, veteran of a hundred battles, is determined to try.

With a merchant caravan protected by a crew of skilled mercenaries, Amondsen embarks on a dangerous mission to forge a road across the untamed wilderness that was once her home. But a warlord rises in the wilds of the Circle, uniting its clans and terrorizing its people. Teyr’s battles are far from over . . .”

I finished The Winter Road last night, set the book down, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. I had to collect myself a moment – had to pause and digest it. The Winter Road is a story of the pain and heartbreak that underlies human achievement. It’s the kind of book I haven’t read in a while, like you’re drawing back the curtain on some grand event in history where everyone knows the glorious result, only to discover the grim truth about how it came to be. One where the reader is pulled through the wringer along with the characters…you may be new on the other side, but the pain and disfigurement of the experience lingers, some parts of you are left in the bucket, and you’ll never go back to the way things were before.

Monthly Reading Goals: March 2019

Nicole over at Thoughts Stained With Ink talked me into trying out this post topic back in January and after running with it a couple of months I’ve decided to keep it going. For now at least.

This isn’t something I usually do because I hate locking myself into a specific reading list. It just never works out for me. As my previous Month In Review posts reveal, I rarely stick to what I set out to read. I might read more, less, or switch books out for others. Rarely to I finish the month as I intended.

So my ongoing rule for this topic will be…

Month In Review: February 2019

Well February is pretty much in the books, time for another month in review post. If I’m being honest with myself I’m a little disappointed in my output this month. I’d hoped to have at least one more if not two more reviews posted but that just didn’t happen. For some reason my reading pace slowed down this month so I didn’t read everything I’d planned, and I kinda blew off one whole weekend when I’d normally have finished a review. I think in part I was just tired, and in part I wanted to do some family stuff. There was also that week where 3 of the 5 staff in my department at work had the flu which meant I was really worn out that week. I did however do some maintenance on the blog which wasn’t something I’d planned…so maybe I’ll call it a draw. Anyway, here’s what happened this month on Off The TBR.

Review Requests Open Again

The review request window on Off The TBR is open once again! I’m referring to it as a window because I could shut it again at any time. If I do it will probably be for one of two reasons:

• I’ve received too many requests and need to pause in order to get caught-up
• Life has gotten too busy outside the blog and I can’t keep up with reading and reviews

Both circumstances should (hopefully) only bring a temporary window close.

I’ll be taking most of this post and copying it directly to my Review Request & Contact Info page as well as my Rating System page. So really this is an announcement and a copy of what you’ll see on those pages. Both will be updated prior to this post going live.

The Bear And The Nightingale Review

Author: Katherine Arden
Series: Winternight Trilogy Book One
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date:  January 10, 2017 (Hardcover)
Format: Paperback (June 27, 2017)
Pages: 333

“Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.

Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.

But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and o groom her rebellious stepdaugher for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has concealed – to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.”

Oh man…this book. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know if I was going to like it when I set out to read it. Yeah I’d seen a lot of reviews rating it highly but I still wasn’t sure it was for me. Boy was I wrong…this was so me.

Arden weaves a modern story that feels like a fairy tale set in medieval northern Rus. It is atmospheric and bewitching, with captivating prose and compelling characters that will transport you to another time and place. A place so richly described you can smell the earth, feel the cold, and sense the spirit world around you.

2019 Reading And Blogging Goals III

At the beginning of the year I posted about my 2019 Reading And Blogging Goals. I listed ten things I wanted to do this year. Wow ten. I didn’t realize it was that many until I just counted it. Huh. Anyway, I listed ten things I hope to accomplish this year:

• Get caught up on my reviews
• Open the blog to review requests again
• Read more Self-pub/Indie Books
• Another Self-pub Fantasy Month?
• Finish up series I’ve started
• Dragonlance
• Warhammer 40K
• Star Wars
• Clean up the blog
• Reduce the size of my TBR

Because this isn’t simply a book review blog (I mean mostly yeah but not completely), it’s also my thoughts on books and reading and the blog in general, I’ve decided to take some time to address each one in more detail because I know you’re all riveted by it. OK, truth be told this is really to help me keep on task. Anyway, here’s the second deeper dive into my goals…and for this I’m going out of order…

2019 Reading And Blogging Goals II

At the beginning of the year I posted about my 2019 Reading And Blogging Goals. I listed ten things I wanted to do this year. Wow ten. I didn’t realize it was that many until I just counted it. Huh. Anyway, I listed ten things I hope to accomplish this year:

• Get caught up on my reviews
• Open the blog to review requests again
• Read more Self-pub/Indie Books
• Another Self-pub Fantasy Month?
• Finish up series I’ve started
• Dragonlance
• Warhammer 40K
• Star Wars
• Clean up the blog
• Reduce the size of my TBR

Because this isn’t simply a book review blog (I mean mostly yeah but not completely), it’s also my thoughts on books and reading and the blog in general, I’ve decided to take some time to address each one in more detail because I know you’re all riveted by it. OK, truth be told this is really to help me keep on task. Anyway, here’s the first deeper dive into my goals…