#standalones

Semifinals

Propaganda and spoilers underneath :

Standalone Fantasies: book recs

Cackle by Rachel Harrison

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation. Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

It's Zinnia Gray's twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it's the last birthday she'll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no one has lived past twenty-one. Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia's last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.

The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie M. Liu

Marjorie Liu leads you deep into the heart of the tangled woods. In her long-awaited debut story collection, dark, lush, and spellbinding short fiction you will find unexpected detours, dangerous magic, and even more dangerous women. Briar, bodyguard for a body-stealing sorceress, discovers her love for Rose, whose true soul emerges only once a week. An apprentice witch seeks her freedom through betrayal, the bones of the innocent, and a meticulously-plotted spell. In a world powered by crystal skulls, a warrior returns to save China from invasion by her jealous ex. A princess runs away from an arranged marriage, finding family in a strange troupe of traveling actors at the border of the kingdom’s deep, dark woods. Concluding with a gorgeous full-length novella, Marjorie Liu’s first short fiction collection is an unflinching sojourn into her thorny tales of love, revenge, and new beginnings.

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

Artemis Fowl - Eight books: Eoin Colfer

You guys really HAVE to read it. The writing is perfect and the storyline is just spectacular.

PS I Love You: Celia Ahern

This is for people who love heart-sickening romance and loves second-hand embarrassment. This book is gold. Try it.

The Fault In Our Stars: John Green [no it ISN'T Jason Grace] Yep. This book really hit home hard. Not a typical cancer story. The quotes are amazing. John Green makes the pain demand to be felt.

Paper Towns: John Green

John Green is like this amazing romance writer. This book makes you snort water out your noses. The humor is amazing and some scenes make you want to die. Perhaps not as great as The Fault In Our Stars but definitely worth your time.

The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown Sure his facts might not be accurate, but this thrilling journey makes you want to be in the protagonist's place. Even better, the story starts in France.

Carve The Mark - Duology: Veronica Roth

These books are lovely, you know. The dark plot in it and the romance sub-plot and a new world make it so much better than her Divergent series. Warning: Might be confusing at first but it gets better once you keep reading Kane Chronicles - Trilogy: Rick Riordan

1. Paperbacks are better than hard backs

2. Trilogies are better than stand-alones

3. Watermelons are overrated

4. Robb is better than Theon

5. John is better than Robb

6. It's okay to crack the spine while reading

7. Night time is better than day time

8. shadow and bone is overhyped

9. Dragons are the best mythical creatures

10. pineapple on pizza.

Of course!!!

1. Paperbacks are better than hardbacks

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

I’m something in between “agree” and “neutral”. I don’t mind either of them. I love the occasional art that’s under the dust jacket but when the paperback is super floppy then that’s paradise❤️

2. Trilogies are better than standalones

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

I guess that depends! I love me some stand-alone book but sometimes I end up liking one too much and wish there was more of it! On the other hand I fear an eventual sequel could ruin it. But on the other other hand sometimes trilogies could have easily been duologies since the middle book is often useless lol. Other times the final book feels to rushed and I think a tetralogy would have been better than a trilogy. I don’t know, maybe for a fantasy book a trilogy/tetralogy/etc is better, but I’m not 100% convinced yet.

3. Watermelons are overrated

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

Kinda disagree??? What did watermelons do to you?😂

4. Robb is better than Theon

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

I guess this depends on what you mean when you say “better”. Better person? Definitely. Better character? I don’t think so, we actually (and unfortunately) know too little about Robb. If we had his POV then I would have been neutral cause I wouldn’t have known which character to pick.

5. Jon is better than Robb

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

As much as I love Robb, I agree. It’s still cause we don’t know enough about Robb, but Jon is much more complex. Robb goes through a lot and so does Jon, but with Robb, we see it through his mother’s eyes, while with Jon we see it through his own eyes, that’s why it’s easier to sympathize with him more. God I’m craving for a Robb pov :(

6. It’s okay to crack the spine while reading

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

YES. Bookstagram makes this sound like blasphemy but for fuck’s sake, reading has to be a nice experience and if I can’t fucking read the pages cause the spine is too hard then that spine will be destroyed and I don’t care. I don’t care about the aesthetic. There’s no way in hell I’m going to read asoiaf (A S O I A F !!!!!) keeping the book half open and bending my neck in order not to break the book spine. Fuck the aesthetics, let me read. If I have to pick which one to break between the book spine and my neck, I choose the spine.

7. Night time is better than day time

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

Oh how I wish I was a cute chubby cat walking alone at night

8. Shadow and bone is overhyped

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

I don’t want to write an essay about it, but I agree. I don’t think it’s this huge masterpiece everyone is talking about. Six of crows is, in my opinion, six of crows is definitely an amazing book for its target and genre, it does deserve the hype. We do have to recognize that the duology wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the trilogy, but sometimes it’s hard to compare the two series cause they’re on such different levels. And honestly, I just think shadow and bone is overhyped for the wrong reasons. It’s nothing original and honestly the very first book felt like just a bunch of cliches all tied together (don’t tell me it was written in 2012 and that was original back then, the chosen one, love triangles and places where you’re trained to use your powers were popular since 1990s). But it does get better as it goes on. Still, nothing phenomenal but at least enjoyable. The world building is cool, but the cliches, the basic plot and the fact that more than half of the characters deserved much more scenes in order to get to know them better really don’t make this look as the masterpiece everyone claims it is. It’s enjoyable, but that’s it. I think this was Leigh Bardugo’s debut, and I must say she did pretty good. There’s writers who’ve written 10x more books than her and still write worse things. Shadow and Bone is cute and entertaining but that’s it. Doesn’t mean Leigh is a bad writer (at all), she wrote Six Of Crows and Ninth House after that, which only proves she’s evolving, learning and getting better and better. Shadow and Bone actually does have a very good message and moral, imo, but that’s something people don’t talk about enough. Actually, to be honest, that’s the only thing that deserves the hype, but unfortunately the majority of people think that’s one of the series’ weak points. Oh well, to each their own I guess.

9. Dragons are the best mythical creatures

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

I mean I would love to ride one lol. I also really like phoenixes, pegasus, succubus and sphinxes :)

10. Pineapple on pizza

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

ACoR: I need a sequel.

Nightbound: Aw. I understand.

ACoR: No, You don't!

Nightbound: Actually, if anything-