Here we go! I’ve been super busy (and chances are I’ll be busy again with exam season coming up) but here are my reads for April and May!

I got a huge vintage copy of this at the thrift store and was super excited to get into it! This is my first full poetry book I’ve ever read and I really enjoyed it! When I got to read the poems that I recognized from previous classes or any other place, it was a quick wave of nostalgia that felt good. I also liked that a lot of the poems talked about nature and all its aspects, the good and the bad.

I will rate this a four out of five stars for the nostalgia and simplicity and vibes of it.

I really liked this book! I’ve been wanting to read it for quite a while and I’d heard great things about it too. I heard it gave off dark academia vibes and was very immersive, which I have to say it did! But for me, the plot didn’t go as fast as I thought it would and it had just a smidge too much philosophy in it. Don’t get me wrong, philosophical books are great in their own respects, but I felt like I wasn’t expecting it to be as philosophical as it was.

The story is basically about how the top six most powerful mages (or medians, as they’re called) are brought to the Alexandrian Society to study and become caretakers of all the ancient knowledge stored within the Alexandrian Society, recruited and working alongside a mysterious man named Atlas Blakely.

The six initiates are Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona (physicists that can control the natural elements of the world), Tristan Caine (who can see through illusions and see the world in all its real glory), Parisa Kamali (a telepath), Callum Nova (a manipulative empath), and Reina Mori (a naturalist who can understand the language of plants).

As they form alliances and get used to life in the Alexandrian Society, they learn that at the end of initiation, one of them will end up dead: eliminated by the other five initiates.

The characters are all incredibly well thought out, and I will definitely continue the series with The Atlas Paradox. My personal favourite is Parisa (she’s a powerful and confident woman who doesn’t have to sacrifice any femininity!). I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Everyone knows the Medusa story: that she was a beautiful woman, sexually assaulted by Poseidon in Athena’s temple, and got turned into a monster for it with snakes for hair and a gaze that turns anyone who looks at her to stone. Then she is killed by the hero Perseus, who takes her head and uses it to do a bunch of things (save towns, kill evil people, etc). Out of her stomach comes Chrysaor, a warrior of gold, and Pegasus, the first winged horse.

There are many different interpretations of this myth, but this book takes the myth and sheds new light on it, a different perspective if you will. I really enjoyed this book. Immersive and beautiful, and even if I know the story and most of the Greek myths like the back of my hand, I still followed along with the story without feeling bored in the sense of ‘oh, I know what’s coming next’.

I will give this book a five out of five stars. An absolute masterpiece.

Ayla and Lady Crier are back and sweeter than ever!

Iron Heart follows them both again as they work together to take down Scyre Kinok and his followers. Apparently, the Scyre has given his Automa followers a new substance called Nightshade (instead of the heartstone that they normally need for survival) but it turns out to be rapidly addictive and can turn even the sweetest and most harmless of Automa into savage killing machines.

Crier runs away from her arranged wedding to the Scyre in order to find Ayla, who is now working with Queen Junn (an enemy ruler to Lady Crier’s father, the sovereign of Rabu) to take down the Scyre and those of his followers addicted to Nightshade, terrorizing and killing any who get in their way.

There are epic battles, soft romantic scenes, pining, friendship, teamwork, and again, lovely world-building without infodumping. I love this series, and I’m sad it’s over but I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Five out of five. I think that’s obvious by now.

Mirror Girls is a novel set in 1953 at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Two sisters, Magnolia and Charlene (who goes by Charlie) are separated at birth after their parents are killed for being of two different races. Magnolia is white-passing and is adopted by a rich white family, the Heathwoods, who live in a small town in the American South called Eureka. Charlie, on the other hand, is much darker-skinned and she is raised by her grandmother in Harlem, New York.

The story starts when Charlie’s Nana has to go back to Eureka so she can die in her hometown. There, Charlie learns of her sister, and around the same time, Magnolia learns of hers. Such brings about a curse on the two of them. Technically the curse started when they were originally separated, but now they’re starting to feel the effects of it. Magnolia’s reflection in the mirror disappears, and she can’t eat anything. She has to choose a side: pass for white her whole life, or live as a Black woman with her sister, and give up the life of luxury she’s been living with the Heathwoods her whole life.

I loved this book. It was very real, and I normally don’t read the acknowledgements section of a book, but something compelled me to do so when I finished this book. Turns out the author did a lot of research before writing this book, and it definitely showed.

I think it’s really important to read books about experiences you might not be familiar with and to learn about our world’s history even if it’s not kind in the slightest, because it can help us understand each other and why things are the way they are in the current world.

I give this book also 5/5 stars, and I truly recommend it to absolutely everyone, whether you’re a fan of historical fiction/fantasy or not.

Alright now to round up our final ratings:

1. Stone Blind (Natalie Haynes), Iron Heart (Nina Varela), Mirror Girls (Kelly McWilliams) – 5/5 stars!
2. The Atlas Six (Olivie Blake) – 4.5/5 stars!
3. The Poetry of Robert Frost (Robert Frost) – 4/5 stars!

Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments!

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Life is a story. How will you write yours?

Until next time,

Catherine Khaperska