Middle Grade Madness! discussion

Please note: the following discussion contains unhidden spoilers for The Trials of Morrigan Crow but all spoilers for Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow are hidden within spoiler tags

Yes!! I'm so ready to read this sequel! I absolutely loved the first book (check out my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )

I have really no idea where this book will take Morrigan and the rest of the characters because book 1 tied itself up very nicely but I'm really intrigued to see!

OMG I won't be joining but this is my favorite out of the three!!! It's so good!! Have fun y'all!

Yes! Excited! I think it will be about the Wundersmith haha.

@Spencer you can still join in the discussion if you like😊 Did you know the author said she's planning for this to be a 9 BOOK SERIES?! Like it's good, but 9 books worth of good? And all the books already are long. Major Keeper of the Lost Cities vibe😂 Write it to death as authors often do. Still, if she has enough to write about then I suppose why not!

@Robin I have no idea where you got that idea from. No idea at all...😂
Excited to see my main man Ezra Squall again😂 When he told Morrigan that he was the only one who could teach her about Wunder and that she would be back to ask him for lessons I couldn't help but go oooh and I have a feeling that might happen at some point during this book!

Also I've decided spoilers for book 1 are fine but spoilers for book 2 should be hidden in spoiler tags like (view spoiler)[ this (hide spoiler)].

Right? Very original idea ;)

Good idea to do the spoilers like that I think

@Kadi yeah so I think it's split into 3 story arcs. The first "trilogy" is kinda Morrigan learning about Nevermoor, herself, and her knack. The second one I think has to deal with her learning more about her past which I am excited for!!

Hi Yasmijn! Glad you joined :). I'm indeed also very excited!

@Yasmijn welcome to the group!🎉 So glad to have you on board for this buddy read! The more, the merrier😊
I too loved the whimsical elements but I actually loved even more how they were balanced out with sad moments like when her father said her name was dead right in front of her. I was like oooouch that was a hard-hitting moment.

It's going to be interesting to see Morrigan take part in classes at the Wundrous Society now. We already know 2 of her classmates: Hawthorne and Cadence. I'm surprised Noelle didn't actually get into the school, I expected her to be like the bully figure in book 2 but there'll probably be someone else to replace that role now.

@Spencer OH! That actually sounds like a fantastic idea from the author then! I have quite a few questions about Morrigan's past, especially about her mum. Like how did her mum die? That's... ok that's my only question. So far. I'm sure I'll come up with more after reading book 2😂

Oh, I’ve just read this AMAZING book, so sorry I won’t be able to buddy read this

@Little Miss Booked it's alright! It's a pretty popular series so it's not surprising to see you've already read this! I have a feeling it's going to be great so I can't wait to read it in Feb!

@Yasmijn😂 I was thinking we read this in like the second week of Feb so maybe starting on the 8th or something because I'm buddy reading another book on the 1st and I can't anticipate how quickly or slowly I might finish it. Is that going to be annoying for you if you can't focus on any other book till then?

I'm reading Keeper of the Lost Cities right now for our series readathon and I can't stop comparing it to The Trials of Morrigan Crow. They're different but also really really similar and I can't stop myself from thinking whilst I'm reading it that most of what KotLC is doing, Nevermoor did better😬

@Yasmijn you and me both. I'm so ready to see Jupiter North again, that man is a light in my life😂😂

You guys I'm like WAY hyped to hear your thoughts on Wundersmith!!! It's my favorite book in the series so far (although Hollowpox is absolutely phenomenal too). If I didn't have a massive TBR pile and multiple readalongs, I'd be rereading it with y'all!

@Kadi By the end of Wundersmith, my love for not just Jupiter but really the entire cast (Squall included, love that nasty villain) grew a TON. I'm also highkey excited to hear everyone's reactions by the end of book 3. cue the evil laugh Also, yes, Nevermoor is much better than KotLC by leaps and bounds.

@Spencer STOOOP YOU'RE MAKING ME TOO EXCITED!!! Let me tell you I was reading KotLC last night and comparing it to Nevermoor (as you must, like how can you not?) and all I could think about was Ezra Squall. That's the one thing Nevermoor did that KotLC is yet to do, it peppered in appearances of Squall without you even realising that was Squall. And by the time you find out it was Squall you were SCREAMING. So good😩

Also can I just say, the way Squall creepily whistles in places where he goes REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF THE BEAST IN THE SHOW THE MAGICIANS and that show is my love and it both creeps me out how these two evil villains whistle/sing like that and also excites me so so much.

What I want from book 2 is a Jupiter North and Ezra Squall face off. I want these two fighting and Morrigan in the back like
👁️👄👁️
If you say that doesn't happen I won't listen, don't tell me. This is what I want!

Your evil laugh, man you're so evil. You're messing with us all. I cannot waaaaait! Ezra Squall has swayed you to join his dark side and be evil with him😂

You know there are also some similarities between Nevermoor and the Magisterium series (The Iron Trial). There are more differences between Nevermoor and Magisterium than there are between Nevermoor and KotLC though. It's that middle grade fantasy trope of protagonist finds out they're special and from another world, then they get into a magical school and must learn things before bad guy ruins the world. They usually lose their family or don't have one at all. This trope also sometimes includes the protagonist finding out they are also the bad guy somehow.
One other series I can think of that belongs in this category is the Jack Blank series (The Accidental Hero) which is a really great series. Harry Potter and Percy Jackson also belong in this category.
I think I've cracked the formula to making a popular middle grade fantasy series. BRB imma go write a book and get famoose (like famous but fanceh)😂

Omg I've wanted to read the Magisterium series too, I feel like it's right up my alley.

@Spencer it’s a good series and honestly not what you expect. Of course when you put the powerhouse that is Holly Black with the fantasy queen that is Cassandra Clare you get a middle grade series of fairly epic proportions (wow that’s a great sentence I should use that in a review for one of the books😂). Unfortunately I got to book 3 and then had to wait for book 4 to come out so in that time I forgot all about the plot because I’d read so many other books. So long story short I never finished the series and I’d like to but don’t want to bother rereading the first 3 books I read😩 it’s a dilemma I don’t know how to solve!
I think the same will happen with Nevermoor to be honest, once I read book 3 I’ll have to wait for book 4 and I’ll probably forget the plot by then so won’t be able to continue the series.

Kadi wrote: "@Spencer it’s a good series and honestly not what you expect. Of course when you put the powerhouse that is Holly Black with the fantasy queen that is Cassandra Clare you get a middle grade series ..."

I had the same problem with the Magisterium series also. I have all of the books from the series, but I can't remember some of what happened earlier. My classes read together, so I made a rather extensive classroom unit on it, and I've had a request to make another unit over , so I would be very willing to read it again, but as far as a readathon - I'm not sure how many people would be interested in it. There seems to be much more interest in Nevermoor and KotLC.

@Lynn I've decided for the series readathon we can read another series from March to June so a 3 or 4 book series if enough people are interested in it. Seeing as the Magisterium series is 5 books it's too long to fit in the time frame.

However, it would be good to make a note of it as a potential series readathon in the future because I imagine if a lot of people are liking Nevermoor and KotLC then Magisterium would be right up their street!
Of course, some of you can buddy read it if you want, I can set that up for you, but I personally am not interested in rereading the first 3 books in the series because I don't remember stuff but I do remember some stuff. And I usually just don't enjoy rereads!

Kadi wrote: "@Lynn I've decided for the series readathon we can read another series from March to June so a 3 or 4 book series if enough people are interested in it. Seeing as the Magisterium series is 5 books ..."

I understand completely. Just a thought. :-)

@Lynn definitely a good one👏🏻 I always like to hear your thoughts. If anyone else is interested in reading the Magisterium let me know! I can set up a buddy read for everyone who is interested!

@Kadi Yeah, same here. Loved Nevermoor way more

@Robin if you're going to compare then there's no contest right?😂 Poor KotLC!

@Kadi Yes and I still haven't continued KotLC, so yeah, my motivation is going lower and lower

@Robin aah that's a shame but there's nothing wrong with DNFing it if you're motivation disappears. I'm listening to a university lecture right now and it is so boring all I can think about is going to sit on my bed and reading it. It's not amazing but it's as good an escape as anything. Much more interesting that this lecture on trusts😂

There is a readalong for this series apparantly. I'm watching How to train your Gavin, his TBR video and he mentioned it. They're reading Wundersmith in February and there will be a liveshow for it! Would be nice to join

@Robin what a coincidence! I came across his channel for the first time yesterday! I'm not into the world of booktubers; Goodreads is enough for me and any more is quite time consuming. The amount of content they put out there is astounding and I find it too much effort to even try to keep up with them. Plus I kinda get jealous of all these books they have which is totally normal for a reader who doesn't have the opportunity to read so many physical books, right? (Please say it is😂)

Anyway, I just watched his video and he didn't say anything about when the live show is going down so if you come across it in Feb feel free to send a link to it here, some people (including myself) might be interested in watching!

Gavin has so many great MG recommendations that I had to stop watching his videos because my TBR kept piling up because of him LOL.

@Spencer I watched just 10 mins of his TBR video and there were like 10 books in that time, imagine if I'd watched the whole video😂 It honestly astounds me, like do these booktubers just spend their entire lives reading? Don't get me wrong I love to read, I set up this group so you can see I definitely invest time into reading, but I also have other things to do in life too. How do they find the time to read so much and create so much content constantly? I am slightly in awe of them😂

I started last year and honestly don't know if I can keep doing it lol. It's one thing to read a lot but to film and edit?? It takes a good chunk of the day. I don't know how the others do it. I think Gavin is monetized though so he may or may not actually do it for a living.

@Spencer I figured some of them must do it for a living but it mustn’t earn as much money as all the time it takes to be honest. I always say how much I’d love to just read for a living and do nothing else with my life and have that as my work but actually it sounds kinda daunting and I feel like that would take the fun out of reading.

I definitely feel you that making your videos can be time consuming. I can imagine it must be like how I sometimes put off writing a review because I can’t be bothered but magnified because you have to film yourself and then edit it. I know it’s not the same but I have an Instagram art account so I know what it can feel like to feel the pressure of having to create content constantly and when it’s really time consuming it can be a drain on you. Just remember to have fun with it! And it’s ok if you decide to take a break or stop completely. You’ll find you might be happier that way! I took a break from my art in December and at the time I thought it would be forever. When I came back in the new year I felt so much better and I made a posting schedule so now I don’t spend all my time stressing about art so I can post and I have so much more time for reading which I totally love. People are very understanding on Instagram and supportive! You should look into making a bookstagram, you know. It might be a platform that you prefer over YouTube. In the sense that you can make posts which take less time and make video content too. And growing your following on Instagram is hard but I think easier than YouTube.

@Kadi thank you so much!

😊😊

Kadi wrote: "@Spencer I figured some of them must do it for a living but it mustn’t earn as much money as all the time it takes to be honest. I always say how much I’d love to just read for a living and do noth..."

I watch some of those videos now to get ideas of books I might like to read. I used to read Romantic Time Magazine or its later iteration, RT Book Reviews, but they went out of business, so I have to find other ways to discover books.

Gavin's live for Keeper of the lost cities is up now. We are apparently reading the books he's reading which is funny

Did we set a date for this yet? I would like to start next week if we can. Even this week, if you guys want to

@Robin yeah I was saying to Yasmijn I think that we can start next week on Monday 8th if that works well for everyone. What does everyone think of that?

Great idea!

Awesome! So I've changed the date on the discussion name👏🏻 Hopefully anyone else taking part will be aware of this and mentally prepare themselves to read this amazing book next week😂

Can't wait! :)

Helloooo everyone taking part! Have you got your books at the ready? We start tomorrow! And I can’t wait🎉

Hello everyone, you are in for a RIDE!! Good luck keeping your emotions intact.

@Spencer haha thanks

@Kadi Yes, I have the audio, so ready to rolll

@Spencer you are so devious teasing us like this! You should know I am 1000% down to have my emotions destroyed by this book. It's not like I need my emotions anyway. I just need them for reading😩😂

@Yasmijn aah sorry to hear about your reading slump! Was that caused by having to wait to read this book? Lately I've just been making everyone wait to read what they want to so I can read it with them😂🤦🏻‍♀️ And I really shouldn't do that so I'm sorry! It's just there's so many books and I'm so eager to read everything and read it with people too! It's fun discussing what you read with someone because it feels like your less alone in the reading process.

So I'm just about to start chapter 5! Whilst I do love the amount of detail and world-building, I must say that it takes forever for the book to get to the point. Like I'm reading every page like "ooh is this going to be the start of the plot?"😂 Where is the direction?

Much like the first book I think this one is doing that thing where you don't realise the direction it's going in until it's already arrived at the final destination. Which means with hindsight at the end you always look back at the details in the earlier chapters like "oh that was important, then!" but whilst you're reading the chapters before you reach the end it's kinda like "where is the point in all this?"

It's not really an issue (yet), it's probably because I'm a big quest/adventure fan that I just want some more drive and direction here. Anyone else feel the same? It's still a lot of fun reading this though. Hawthorne is amazing. I love him almost as much as Jupiter. But my gosh it's annoying when Jupiter (view spoiler)[ keeps leaving and not answering any of Morrigan's questions. Like darn, can you be direct with your answers for 5 seconds?😂 (hide spoiler)]

I do recall Wundersmith starting off a little slower but it gets pretty chaotic as you go on

@Spencer I guess I just have to knuckle down and wait for the chaos to ensue. Hopefully it starts before I hit the 1/5 mark because I'm like a chapter away from that

I just started this this morning, read 1 chapter. It's the best!

Man, just thinking about Israfel makes me want to reread AAAHHH

@Robin did you also think of (view spoiler)[ Harry Potter and diagon alley when Jupiter started tapping the bricks (hide spoiler)] in chapter 1? I definitely did😂

@Spencer I liked his character but naming him Israfel... I don't know, the idea of naming him that of all possible angel names felt really iffy to me because in my religion it is said that he is the angel that blows the trumpet that signals the end of this world, so seeing his depiction in the book felt really weird and... kinda wrong to me like maybe even disrespectful to him. It's probably not supposed to be that deep so I tried not to dwell on it too much. I wish any other name could've been chosen for him so I could've enjoyed his introduction more because it was really well-written and was a great dramatic opening for the book!