Book Mail Day!!

Eep! So excited! Look what came today! I can’t wait to dive in. Have you read the Fablehaven series? What did you think of it? I think I may have read one or two years ago, but I can’t remember. I guess I’ll see if anything sounds familiar, haha! 😂

Final Review: The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar

Warning-mild spoilers

Ta-da! I finished it! If you have read my previous post when I was about halfway through with this book, well, I’m sorry to say that my opinion did not change. I was not wowed by this book, and perhaps may have not finished it had I not been reading it for this blog. Anyway, without further ado, here you go.

The Magician of Tiger Castle follows Anatole, who, you probably guessed it, is the magician of what becomes known as Tiger Castle. He is initially tasked with making the princess fall out of love with a lowly scribe, who is definitely not the prince she has been betrothed to since basically her birth. As he works to nix their relationship and sway the princess to marry her intended, he befriends the scribe and longs for a way to set him free. He also feels like a dad figure to the princess, who often sought solace in his laboratory of sorts. What ensues is Anatole finding his courage and the pursuit of he and his friends to escape the wiles of a wicked queen and prince.

As I said in my previous review, I was expecting a love story out of this, and that definitely does not make up much of the story at all. There are allusions to the love between the princess and the scribe, and some bantering back and forth as they flee together, but any happily ever after that may happen for them happens off the page, if it happens at all.

There is definitely adventure in the story, especially once Anatole and the others escape. I suppose if I had to say what was my favorite part about the book, it would be some of the adventure they encounter as they flee the castle. Even at that, there’s probably more setting up of the adventure than the actual adventure, though.

I will admit that crude language and innuendo was included far more than I was expecting, which was a significant detractor from enjoying the book for me. I know that it is an adult book and I shouldn’t have been expecting the content level of Holes, but having tried to look up what content to expect before buying, let’s just say the internet lied.

Overall, I really wanted to like this book but ended up disappointed with it. I would give it a 1.5/5 stars. If you read the book, let me know what you thought in the comments below!

Content Rating (score out of 5, with 5 being an extreme amount and 0 being no content)

1. Language-1/5 (few s words and a couple p words)
2. Violence-3/5 (fights described, but nothing super gory)
3. Substance use-if you consider the potions he makes, which do discuss use of poppies, then probably 4/5
4. Sexual Content-4/5 (no scenes graphically described, but definitely heavy innuendo and crude joking)
5. Themes-rape is implied, arranged marriage, death, murder (not the kind where the couple ends up falling in love like rom-coms)

Halfway Through!!

Okay, so, I’m about halfway through with The Magician of Tiger Castle and wanted to share my thoughts so far…and, I’m not quite sure what to think. 😂 I can say it’s not my favorite, but it’s also keeping my attention enough that it won’t go in my DNF (did not finish) pile.

When I read the synopsis, I think I was expecting there to be a little bit more of a love story. So far, though, this has not been the case. Yes, the love between the princess and the scribe is talked about at the beginning but then events happen, which I will not be discussing here to avoid spoilers, that turn the story away from that.

Now, the events that do happen are interesting and do make me want to turn the page to find out what happens. There is some humor, tense moments where you wonder if the characters will make it, and maybe there will still be a happily ever after for the princess and the scribe in the end. I like the characters of the magician and the scribe actually more than the princess. And the character of the dungeon guard has been a nice surprise.

A warning to parents or those who are looking for a clean read, this book does have a fair bit of innuendo and crassness in it that I was not expecting. More on that in my final review. For now, back to the pages.

First Books For The Blog!!

Good morning! I have exciting news!! I have chosen the first two books that I would like to read to start this book blog. I would love it if you want to read along with me! I am hoping to do some video reviews as I read through them, so stay tuned for those!

The first book is The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar. I loved Holes as a kid, so I can’t wait to dive into this one! The cover photo and short blurb were taken from Amazon.

The second book was a recommendation from a friend and sister at church, West with Giraffes. Again, photo and blurb taken from Amazon.

Have you already read these books? If so, let me know your thoughts (spoiler free, of course)!!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! Here you will find all things literary (and maybe some movie reviews thrown in too). I will be posting reviews of the books I read, and will try to add some content reviews too.

Content reviews, what’s that? I’m so glad you asked! You may think of them like the rating system given to movies. Wouldn’t it be great if books were given advisory ratings where you could tell the age appropriateness of the content within? You know, this book is rated PG, so it’s probably appropriate for most ages…or this one is rated R, better steer clear! Since we don’t have that readily available for books, I would like to do my best to provide that here!

In addition to reviews, you will find updates on the books that I have written and the ones I am working on.

So, welcome! Feel free to introduce yourself and read along with me!