Reviews Week 1

 Reviews Week 1

January 1st-8th

Book 1: Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters

By Nikita Gill

Read January 1st-2nd

Pages Read: 256

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Absolutely beautiful! I love how Nikita retold many different myths throughout this collection, both in poetry and prose. It was interesting to see the different formats in this collection, and each piece fit well together. She retells stories of the goddesses, gods, mortals, and monsters from Greek Mythology through a feminist lens. 

We get multiple poems for most of the characters that she uses throughout the volume. Each gives insight into their thoughts and also their actions in the mythology. Some of my favorites from the work were the modern-day takes such as "Persephone & Hades, After" and "Ares, After." Her depiction of Ares was very different from what I have ever seen done before, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. That one stood out to me from the volume. Another favorite of mine was "Hephaestus's Tale." Hephaestus and Aphrodite's relationship is hardly ever depicted in a positive light. I thoroughly enjoyed this take on them. 

What I enjoyed most about this volume is the fact that Nikita did not just look at all of the male gods/mortals in a negative light. Many "feminist" pieces make all of the males terrible and show them in a horrible way compared to the women. I loved how we got to see both sides. Zeus is obviously horrendous because that's how he is. But then we get characters like Hephaestus, Hades, and even Ares, who are depicted more positively. 

Another aspect I would like to touch on is how this volume starts with many of the Titan characters, such as Gaia, Metis, Chaos, and so on, and then continues through to the goddesses, gods, mortals, and monsters. We get stories from so much Greek Mythology, and I loved that. Also, the hand-drawn illustrations throughout were beautiful and added even more to the volume as a whole. 

My many favorite pieces from this collection were: 

"What it Means to be a Forgotten Magic Maker"

"The Titanomachy"- I really enjoyed Hera's depiction throughout this volume. 

"The Making of a God-Queen"

"Athena's Tale"- Such a great piece

"War and Poetry"- This in the following piece are interesting takes on Ares

"Ares, After" 

"Hephaestus's Tale"

"Apollo to Icarus"

"A Friendship: Demeter and Hestia"- Loved their story of sisterhood

"Hades to Persephone"

"Persephone and Hades, After"

"Asterion"- Stunning take on the Minotaur 

"Athena to Medusa"

"Danae, Mother of Perseus"

"Penelope, Wife of Odysseus" 

"Argos, Dog of Odysseus"- This one made me tear up

"Iphigenia, Daughter of Agamemnon"

Book 2: Lore Olympus: Volume 3

By Rachel Smythe

Read January 3rd

Pages Read: 384

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My favorite volume so far. I loved seeing more of the Underworld throughout this one. Rachel's take on the myths is so interesting, and I cannot wait to see where this goes from here. Especially with the ending. The Hades and Persephone myth will always be one of my favorite stories, and I love how different this version is from the ones I have read before. Volume 4 cannot come soon enough.

Book 3: Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard

By Tom Felton

Read January 4th

Pages Read: 308

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I decided to pick up the audiobook of Tom’s memoir, and I am incredibly glad that I did. It was a wonderful experience to listen to him share stories from his life, especially the ones from the set of the Harry Potter movies. Most of the book focuses on that time, but he also shares about his family, his life before the movies, and also his life afterward. His stories were touching, and I am glad that he decided to share so much in this book. One of my favorite parts was when he discussed Daniel Radcliffe. Also, I loved Emma’s forward at the beginning. I recommend this to any fans of the Harry Potter movies.

Book 4: Stronger Together (Partners, #1)

By Jamie Lynn Miller

Read January 4th

Pages Read: 234

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I love friend-to-lovers romance stories, and this one was pretty great. Collin and Liam had a close relationship throughout the novel, and I enjoyed how Jamie showed how close they were as friends before they became lovers. It was sweet, and I loved the setting of the English cottage. I definitely want to read the second book with them, spending Christmas in the cottage.

Book 5: I'm nobody! Who are you?

By Emily Dickinson

Read January 5th

Pages Read: 105

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Emily Dickinson had an interesting way of writing poetry that stands out quite a bit in this volume. There were some that I loved from the poems, especially the titular one. For my 8th grade English class, we had to memorize that poem, and I still remember it to this day.

The poems I loved started with the lines:

~ "A word is dead."

~ "Pain has an element of blank,"

~ "A precious, moldering pleasure 'tis."

~ "Hope is a thing with feathers."

However, many of the poems in the volume were not ones I really enjoyed reading. Emily had a melancholy way of writing that comes across in most of these poems perfectly. Though, I did not personally love reading them the way I hoped I would.

Book 6: Hilda: The Wilderness Stories: Hilda & the Troll /Hilda & the Midnight Giant (Hilda 1 & 2)

By Luke Pearson

Read January 7th

Pages Read: 96

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My first introduction to Hilda’s world was through the Netflix series. The little girl I used to nanny for last year was obsessed with the show and asked me to watch it with her one day. I don’t know what episode we started with, but I have got to say that I got hooked a couple minutes in. We continued through to the movie.

So going into this book, I did not know the full extent of the start of Hilda’s story, but I did know that I would love this adventure. This is the first two volumes of the Hilda graphic novels. I love this type of fantasy adventure and Hilda as the main character. She is a young adventurer that enjoys learning about the world around her and spending time in the wilderness. 

In this first volume, we are introduced to Hilda, her mother, her deerfox named Twig, and the Woodman. We also see many other creatures, including the rock trolls, who play an essential role in the series. 

I also enjoyed the information that came at the end of each of the volumes. The first had info on the rock trolls, and the second was on the giants. Luke Pearson’s illustration style is stunning and fits well with the story. I look forward to picking up the other books in this series and cannot wait to see Season 3 of the show when that comes out. 

I recommend this to the fantasy lovers out there, both young and old. It’s wonderful.