The Chaos of Stars, Kiersten White

I'm gonna start off with the disclaimer that this was a total cover buy. 

Good morning, dragonflies! 

I just finished reading The Chaos of Stars, by Kiersten White! 

Oh my gods the cover!

"Isadora's family is seriously screwed up—which comes with the territory when you're the human daughter of the ancient Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris. Isadora is tired of living with crazy relatives who think she's only worthy of a passing glance—so when she gets the chance to move to California with her brother, she jumps on it. But her new life comes with plenty of its own dramatic—and dangerous—complications . . . and Isadora quickly learns there's no such thing as a clean break from family."









First thing's first, I walked into this book thinking it was going to be about the importance of family, artfully crafted along the tales of ancient Egypt. I was all in for it! I've always loved Egyptian mythology and thought it sounded a lot like something I would love. 

Sadly, this wasn't so much the case. I'm going to go through everything that stood out to me point by point, as I find that that'll be the best way to review this. 

1. The plot
When you think 'ancient gods', you tend to think 'plot of epic proportions' - after all, these gods used to be combined with some of the greatest myths of all time. 
I could not find the plot of this book until about 80% through. Then, by the time a bit of plot did appear, it was resolved in about five minutes. The rest of the book seemed to be purely about Isadora, our main character, complaining about family and resisting everything good in life. 

2. Isadora
You guys know how important characters are for me - they're usually even more compelling than the plot. But Isadora was the most annoying teenager I've read about in a long time. Sure, she had reasons to be mad at her family - I would also be if I grew up thinking I was immortal but then was taught how to prepare my tomb - but only in the end did she ever admit that maybe her mom did care for her. The entire book was her complaining. 

I must say I also didn't understand her absolute refusal when it came to love. It got to the point where she would feel the butterflies and the love and even the lust when she was with Ry, but would get mad at him for having such feelings in return. I did not understand that resistance. 


3. Ry
Ok Ry, also known as Orion, was kinda cute in that sweet, head-over-heels in love kind of way. He came up with the cutest lines to express his thoughts, and seemed to be the most genuine of all of the characters in the book. 

I just don't get how he ended up having a private jet in the end? Too easy, if you ask me. I thought it was hilarious. 


4. Supporting Characters
In general, I found the supporting characters to be much more interesting than the main ones - they really were the points that made me want to continue reading, for the most part. 


5. The culture
As I said, I grew up loving ancient Egypt, its stories and culture. It was like the Renaissance for me - completely fascinating. 
I get that Kiersten wanted to use Ancient Egyptian culture and put it in modern day, with a teenager 'stuck' with ancient, godly parents. But I feel like with that came a lot of disrespect for the ancient culture... 
Every chapter started with a little tidbit of mythology, always combined with disapproval from Isadora, or a sarcastic comment, or a sense of disgust. Sure, some aspects were nicer (bringing an exhibit to a musem with accurate stars, explaining the magic behind amulets etc), but I found that the book as a whole did not bring a sense of respect to the culture. A book that did this better was The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. 


That's all I'm going to cover for this book, unfortunately. I was really disappointed by it, but I have heard that Kiersten's other books were incredible, so I'm not casting her aside as an author, for sure :)

I'm giving The Chaos of Stars 2/5 feathers. 

Have you read The Chaos of Stars? What did you think? Let me know! 

Stay bookish! 

YALFU! Young Adult Literature Festival, Utrecht

Good evening, dragonflies! 

A few posts ago, I told you I was going to a book convention. That event, YALFU, happened on Sunday, and I loved every moment of it! 

This event was a part of th International Literature Festival in Utrecht. On the Sunday, they had a YA special which was fascinating. 

1. The Authors
The most notable thing about any book convention is usually the authors you get to meet and greet. Now, most of these were Dutch authors that I had never heard of, but it gave me the chance to test how much Dutch I really understand - I was so happy when I realized I understood almost everything they had to say! 

The first trio had really interesting insights on what its like to grow up in the modern world. I finished highschool years ago but could still relate to their examples. They also had a nice overview of how life is for girls versus boys when you're young which I found to be super insightful. 

A few more authors came around, who were very interesting to listen to. Finally, Becky Albertalli came on stage - you know her from Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda, as well as Leah on the Offbeat and a few other books! She was so happy and quirky! 

Sadly I didn't get to meet her, because the line was super long and anyway I had forgotten my book to get signed at home ^^ Oops! But that did give me the opportunity to see some friends! 

I also met some people! I met one of my instagram besties, as well as someone I've been following for months @sjmtrash, we were talking and once we shared our handles we could not believe we had just met in real life! It was amazing! I also met some absolutely amazing people who I didn't previously 'know' and with which we now have a bookish group chat. It was really amazing to be comfortable with people right away, as this is so rare for me. 


2. The shops
Oh this made me so happy! A lot of the dutch shop owners I can consider to be my friend - the girls from Oriandle, Till and Dill, and Rome made Candles were all there and so much fun to see again! I highly reccomend checking out their things on Etsy, they're all unique and incredible! 

I hauled a lot of stuff. 

And I hauled a lot of books. 

3. Book Haul
So, way way back in July, I placed a BookOutlet order, bought books off an instagram friend, and placed a second BookOutlet order with a friend of mine to save on shipping. Then the book convention happened and well we got some books for free. 

I was on the train with a backpack from my weekend's travels, a bunch of merch, and 18 books (3 for a friend). 

It was not easy! 

But in the end, I have the biggest book haul ever! 

From top to bottom, I hauled... 
- The Chaos of Stars, by Kiersten White (BookOutlet)
- Leah on the Offbeat, by Becky Albertalli (BookDepository)
- Throne of Glass (NL), by Sarah J Maas (YalFU)
- This Adventure Ends, by Emma Mills (BookOutlet)
- Otherworld, by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller (Anniek, thanks!) 
- The Crown's Game, by Evelyn Skye (BookOutlet)
- The Diviners, by Libba Bray (Anniek as well!)
- Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy, by Cassandra Clare (BookOutlet)
- The Midnight Dance, by Nikki Katz (Bookoutlet)
- Walk on Earth a Stranger, by Rae Carson (BookOutlet)
- Kids of Appetite, by David Arnold (BookOutlet) 
- The Clockwork Scarab, by Colleen Gleason (BookOutlet) 
- StarFlight, by Melissa Landers (BookOutlet) 
- The Last Magician (NL), by Lisa Maxwell (YalFU)
- Tower of Dawn, by Sarah J Maas (BookOutlet) 

Whew that's a lot! Just a dislcaimer, I am not a BookOutlet afiliate. Nope, it's just an obsession! 


4. Some merch I got! 
As I mentioned, I saw a lot of my favorite shopowners this weekend, so of course I got some things from them! Anniek also passed on some things to me! This stuff does not include all the quote cards and other goodies we got from the event itself, because most of it was really quite indie, very Dutch and something I'll probably not get very far with. ^^

This first batch is all the bigger items. The Parabatai candle from Letters and Lights smells absolutely divine! Anniek sold that to me, as well as the Will-and-Tessa tile that does not represent my main ship (Jessa ftw) but that I love nonetheless! 

The tea comes from my baes Julia and Sheuly from Oriandle! It's based off Winnie the Pooh and has Ceylon black tea, Lapacho, Chamimile and Rose. It is perfection! 

Finally the cards come from the beautiful and talented ladies at Till and Dill! This is their new design and I am in love! 





         
 Now these smaller items I could not resist! The dragonfly bookmark is also from Letters and Lights and well when I saw it I kind of freaked out! I adore it! 

The Simon candle was based of Love, Simon and, even though I never read the books, I had to get it. Purely because its chocolate smell is like a drug. 

The Parabatai necklace is one of my favorite items! I got it from Oriandle! Parabatai is one of my favorite fictional concepts, I wish it was a thing in real life! 

Finally, Anniek gave me the absolutely epic Zelda necklace that I wore all day! I sent a snapchat thanking my 'bookfriend' and yet most of my friends freaked out because they thought I said "boyfriend', oops! 

Ok the 'intense' look failed, plus I'm not wearing black! Good
going, Caro! 

Finally, I got a bigger item that I did not have the right space to take a photo of while writing this post, so I got up and did this, haha! 

I got this tote bag from Reviews and Roses (as well as a sticker that I can't show you because it's stuck on my laptop, oops!), that says "Shadowhunters, looking better in black than the widows of our enemies since 1234" which I always thought was such a badass quote! 

Next time I use it I promise I'll be wearing black! ^^ 





5. Fun News!

So this bit of news has nothing to do with the festival except for the fact that it happened on the same day! 

You guys have most definitely heard of The YA Chronicles - a monthly subscription box that's all over instagram and booktube. Well, I'm going to be one of their September-December reps! *cue dance music* As soon as I know my discount code I'll let you guys know, they have some of the most incredible items sent out every month! 

That's it for this recap! The entire weekend was amazing, actually! I went to my old town and saw my parents who where there as well, and I stayed with some really close friends of mine, we had so much fun! I enjoyed every bit of it <3 

Stay bookish! 

Balancing Reading, Blogging and Classes

Good evening, dragonflies! 

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm having a hard time reading a lot with the recent beginning of my masters. But, I want to take care of my blog, so I'm going a little more contemporary! 

With the beginning of the new school year, I've seen a lot of students mentioning the fact that it was more difficult to keep up with their blog, Instagram and reading. I totally agree with this! But, I also hear about a lot of students who say they used to read a lot, but dropped it all once school took over. This, although understandable, I found to be quite sad. 

So, I decided to compile a list of suggestions on how to balance the uni world with the book world! 

1. Make use of public transport

Up until this year I took the bus everywhere - we lived 15 minutes away from the city by bus, so it usually amounted to 30 minutes a day (but it usually took more because of schedule delays). I know it's tempting to go on your phone to check what's new on Reddit in that time, but it's also the best time to get a chapter or two done. 

Plus, public transport is great! It takes me 2 hours on the train to get to my old city. That's two hours in which you have no social interactions because everyone is keeping to themselves. Two hours of book bliss. 

2. Books with short chapters are your friends

Ok, this might be a little difficult to filter out at first. But books with chapters that are only a couple pages long are so easy to flip through! This usually means that there is a lot of things happening in the story itself, and it's always so tempting to see what's going on afterwards. Plus these books make it super easy to divide your reading into manageable chunks - read a few chapters while your pasta is cooking, in those extra minutes you have before leaving to class, or even during the commercial break in a movie. 

3. Love the draft function

I've made this mistake before - I've been so caught up in classes that I forgot to post. But I would still get ideas of posts. 

The best way I found to get around this was, once I had an idea for a post (or a book review I didn't have time to finish), was to use the fact that you can save posts as drafts. 

This is one of the best functions - have an idea? Write it down in a few lines in a new post that you don't publish. You finished a book on the bus but have an assignment to finish? Write down your main opinions as a list on an unpublished post. It's a super useful way to see how much you have to finish, but the best thing is, you are under no obligation to finish! Plus, if you want more regular posts, you have many of them already half-done! 

4. Instagram? Take photos in batches

I've had a lot of people ask me how I manage to find time every day to take my instagram posts, especially from friends who don't bookstagram. 

The thing is, I don't. I treat my sleep preciously so there's no way I'm going to get up early to take a photo. That would really put me off of instagramming in general. 

The best way I found to do this is, once you have a few hours off for whichever reason, take loads of photos at once. If you keep them simple enough, you can take up to 10-12 in an hour. They might not all be perfect, or what you want, but at least you'll have a few that you can use for the next few days. 

5. Read what you want, not what people want you to read

This is a point I can't stress enough. There are so many people who assume that because you're a reader, you've read all of the classics - and if you haven't you can feel the judgment of these people. 

It is tempting to then just cave and reach for the books that everyone tells you to read - whether it's from social media or the people around you, just to fit into the hype. 

The thing is, every reader is different. We all enjoy different details in books that we choose to read. Just because a book was adored by 98% of the community doesn't mean that you need to force yourself to read it. Read what you want when you want, and I promise you'll read more easily. 

6. Close Netflix and read

I get it, after a long, annoying day there's nothing more tempting than to wrap up in a blanket and watch 15 reruns of Friends for the 3rd time. And that's okay, sometimes it's so necessary. 

However, reading has shown to be equally - if not more - relaxing. Try it out, and see what it does for you! 

This is my list for now! Do you have any other suggestions? Leave them down in the comments! 

If you are currently in school or college, I hope that you are doing well! It's an important time to really learn about yourself, and learn to grow, so make sure that some of your free time is also spent going out in the world and spreading your wings. 

Stay bookish! 

Bookish Talks ~16~ YAL-event, Booksheves, and Observations

Good afternoon, dragonflies! 

So I'm writing this between classes because 1; I just need an escape from crowds and 2; I haven't posted in a long time, although there were many promised posts! Oops! 

So instead of making more excuses, lets go right into the talk! 

Oh dear so much has been happening that I'm not even sure what to start with! 

1. Another move and a new shelf
So I recently (almost 2 weeks ago) moved into my dorm room in the beautiful town of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. One of my best friends comes from the city so I had already explored it and knew I would enjoy the place - its a great place to live! It's lively and colorful and surprising in more ways than one. 

Of couse, moving into a semi-permanent place means that I need to bring books with me. And I did. A lot. We also brought a shelf from home that wasn't in use, and needless to say, it's full of books I brought with me! 

A lot of them are some favorites I brought with me because I can't just leave my preciouses behind. Some others are books I've been intending to read, and soon I should be recieving a bookoutlet order that might not fit in very nicely with everything else BUT I'll do my best. 

Worst case scenario I can always get a smaller shelf, right? 

I feel slightly insane but hey that's ok! 


2. New Unis 
On Monday, I started my courses at Radboud University, not really sure what to expect. I'm used to 200-400 people in a faculty, with only a handfull of them actually there at once. This faculty alone has almost 3000 people with several hundered at the same place at once. 

To make things funner, I am the only student in my major who did not do her bachelors here. I'm the only one who knows nobody. 

I'm not going to lie, this doesn't exactly result in the most comfortable situations for me. I can't tell whats up and down, socially, as it's been dificult to even gather the courage to talk to anyone. 

It's the same situation in my dorm - everyone in my house of 120+ people keeps mostly to themselves, yet complains once something isn't the way they want it to be. 

It's been shaking me up a lot, as I'm not sure how to act and react in these situations, but I'm ready to figure it iout. 

On a side note, my courses are epic! I'm so glad I chose this masters!


3. Blogsta changes
It's no surprise ot the world that moving takes a lot out of you. I haven't sat down to read properly since I moved in, just because I keep realizing that there are little things that need to be done, that I need to cook and clean for myslef, homework to be finished, and by the time I'm done with all of that, I just want to sit down and either sleep or watch an episode of Friends. Except for specific cases, reading has not been a priority. 

But I do NOT plan on stopping. But I do know that even though I'll do everything to stay on track, I might not be able to review as often as I want. 

This is why I'm going to be a bit more 'contemporary' on my blog - back-to-school suggestions, lifestyle, blogging and instagram tips, moving tips, written vlogs about a convention I'm going to, etc. 

I hope everyone's ok with that choice! 


4. YALFU
No, its not a new swearword or a name of a character. 

In two weeks there will be the International Literature Festival in Utrecht! And, as true understanders of what this implies in the modern bookish world, they dedicated the 23rd of September to be all about YA, with special guest, Becky Albertalli! I haven't read any of her books yet BUT I found a good deal on one online so I'm ordering it and reading it asap! 

What I'm super excited about is the fact that I'll be seeing a lot of bookish friends there! This includes many instagrammers that I've bonded with over the years, some online shop owners who I just want to hug and say thanks to for choosing me to represent them, and other people! It'll be full of goodies and bookish talks and I'm just super excited for it to happen! 

Plus it's the weekend after my birthday so for me it's kind of a birthday gift to me! That plus all the merch I'll probably end up getting from there, oh dear! I"ll make sure to put a recap here!


That's it for today, but TOMORROW I have a surprise for you all! Stay tuned and, stay bookish! 

Obsidio, by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufmann

Good evening, Dragonflies! 

I recently finished reading Obsidio, by Jay Kistoff and Amie Kaufmann! As expected, this book really delivered on its promises! I adored Illuminae and Gemina and was happily surprised with Obsidio! 

"Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion? 

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. 

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken."

This book really amazed me! As the other books in the Illuminae Files, almost none of it is written in normal prose, and I loved every minute of it! The storytelling through video files, instant messages and more really make for a unique worldbuilding experience that I'm now sad is over! But, it was one hundred percent worth it! 

Obsidio, as Illuminae and Gemina, brought in two new characters. I must admit, I did not care much for them, at least for sure not as much as Kady, Ezra, Hanna and Nik! Although I did not find myself to be particularly attached to them as characters, I did appreciate Asha and Rhys as the roles they played! They were different from our original quartet but still were a fun way to show that young adults are not helpless! (Although sometimes we are slightly hopeless - I swear I'm almost 22 and I don't know what life is all about. Ok back to review)

Now, I must admit, I need to re-read it: I was so immersed in the world and the design of the book, that I completely missed out on some details! 

BUT! 

I adored AIDAN with every bit of my soul. It really evolves in this book, in such a way that it really makes you think about the implications of having a super-smart artificial intelligence agent! AIDAN as a character is wholly fascinating and thought-provoking: I would love a book that focuses on it and its evolution to have gotten to the point where it now is - on the border of consciousness. 

This book seemed to be a lot more centered on the political intrigue between the worlds and space ships. I really enjoyed these parts, but they are also the moments that I had a hard time attaching to well enough to be able to grasp all of the little details. 

This is what I can say without spoiling too much! Of course I could keep rambling, but I need to get going :)  Obsidio was overall fascinating and heartbreaking, just as it was thought-provoking and, at times, scary. 

I'm giving Obsidio a 4.5/5 feathers! Definitely need to have a re-read! 

Have you read Obsidio? What did you think about it? Let me know! 

Stay bookish!