Behind the Name Book Club discussion

I thought about keeping all the discussion in one thread but I then I thought about possible spoilers and decided it'd be best to make a separate thread!

So -- reader beware -- there may be spoilers ahead!

;)

OK, so I am still totally planning on reading Fortune's Pawn but somehow I just read the entirety of Soulless lol You can see my full review of it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Overall I loved the book, even with it's problems. I will say I was reading Gail Carriger's choice of voice as a satire of tropes and genres but other reviewers took it more seriously. I think it's a lot more enjoyable (and less problematic) when read as a satire. It's really a pretty funny book and the writing is what makes it so charming.

After finishing it though I don't know that it really fits the theme like I had thought it would. Alexia is definitely a heroine and I suppose she sort-of didn't need rescuing and sort-of rescued the hero but, then, she also sort-of didn't do either of those things. lol. It's such a weird thing to explain! I suppose you could just say in the end the effort required both of them, but it is set in Victorian times and part of Carriger's humor lies in the fact that regardless of supernatural creatures and weird science the world is as it was, social norms and all so I guess that's not such a bad outcome considering all that.

I did manage to spoil myself on the plots of the sequels when reading reviews for them and from what I read I don't know that the series gets better :/ I am loving Alexia and Conall though so I'm giving Changeless a shot once I've finished the book I actually intended to read for the challenge lol!

omg omg omg

Just finished Fortune's Pawn, wrote my review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and now I'm here... I loved this even more than Soulless, honestly, and it fit the theme much better too! I'm just so happy I made a good read (ha!) decision for this theme!

Deviana is a skilled warrior who rises through the ranks of her soldier outfit through sheer dedication and strength-of-will, putting anything that could distract her on the back-burner. She struggles in a male-dominated profession but doesn't let her peers or supervisors know, and takes great pride in the work she does and the effort she puts in, knowing she has to do more than her male colleagues. Her end goal is to join the best-of-the-best, the Devastators, but she's too impatient to put in the time like a normal soldier and decides to sign up for a year as a guard on a cargo ship called The Glorious Fool, which has a reputation so scary and intense that one year service on it is equal to 10 years as a normal soldier.

The book only covers a couple of months (a month?) of her term and in that time she kicks major alien pirate ass and does much protecting and is generally awesome, if impulsive and impatient. The action scenes in the book btw are phenomenal. Like a pulse-racing good time. The sci-fi-ness of the story, even with it taking place in the future, isn't hard to read either (definitely a soft, rather than hard, sci-fi).

There is romance, of course, and it does fuel much of the plot of the second-half of the book but not quite in the way you would expect. I don't know how to go about explaining this without spoiling it... suffice to say there's the typical back-and-forth, a surprising sex scene that, well, surprised me, and some confusing feelings and then the end just pissed me off. In a good way! I'm so super eager to read the sequel I'm legit off to get it now once I post this.

I seriously can't recommend this book enough if you're into sci-fi, action, and badass ladies.

I have just completed The Golden Compass for the February theme. My UK edition was called Northern Lights.

Although I chose this from the list of suggested books for this theme, it was not really what I would call an exact fit. However, the central character Lyra does many brave and heroic things, so I guess it is close enough!

I have wanted to read this for quite sometime and I was not disappointed. Pullman's world building is excellent and I was very quickly invested in Lyra's journey.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys steampunk and fantasy. I will be adding the other two books in this series to my to-read list.

@Sadie-Jane

So that was the first time you've read His Dark Materials? Oh, wow! I'm sure you'll love the other two books just as much, the whole series is great.

You're actually starting it at the perfect time too because Pullman is releasing a new sequel soon: The Book of Dust

I'm so ridiculously excited for it lol That series is one of my absolute favorites, I love Lyra, and the world, it's just so, so awesome. And definitely why I love the name Lyra hahaha

@ Tabitha

I've wanted to read His Dark Materials for years, so it being on the theme list was the perfect excuse to finally do it! So many books so little time.

I heard about the new sequel the other day and couldn't believe my fortunate timing! I also read that the BBC is filming a tv adaption of the series, so I need to make sure that I read the other two books before that airs.

Lyra Genevieve used to be a favourite combo of mine :)

@Sadie-Janae

That one of the things that's so great about themed challenges :D

(also, Lyra Genevieve is gorgeous and was also on my list of combos lol)