Melly

Very cute illustration with nice messages of care and compassion. Not my usual read nor do I think I'll pick it up often, but it is very beautiful.

Please don't read this. It's extremely graphic and disgusting just to be so nor in a way that gives insight to a sad situation. It felt like someone trying to make up a situation of abuse and glorifying it with no clue how.

Marketed For Beginners

I had this shown to me in my masters in computer science. For one, I am not the market, but I'm not sure I'd put any beginner through this.

It's overtly complext using old mathematical concepts to try to learn. Using the free swift or go tutorials or the many apps will do you far better as an intro to code and you'll enjoy you're like a lot more.

This feels like it was written in 1985 and yet sadly it's on a few years old. Save yourself the headache.

Tantalyzing... yet never quite delivers.

In occupied France a small village on the coast struggles to survive the brutality and starvation that comes with the German soldiers. Although it's primarily centred around Emma, a genius baker, who creates a network of hidden trade to help her neighbours survive, it also has moments following the stories of the many different inhabitants.

It's a candour is heart wrenching as the sorrow dealt to these poor souls is held not lightly but with defeat. Where even “love” can turn on you.

It leads up to the D-Day invasion right in time for a truly defeated village. Our heroine has refused the resistance right up till the moment, but is in the best position to help the forces as soon as they arrive due to her wit and courage.

This book reminded me of a song. The wording is magical and the entire book plays out like a dance. Granted a very sad dance where the weariness can be felt by the end.

Dora Rare is the first daughter to be born in generations of Rare men. Her birth brings up feeling of mysticism which only increases as she's taken under the apprenticeship of the towns Acadian midwife, Miss B. We follow her family through war, marriage, marital rape, death, historical tragedies, and renewing love as we watch her just live her life taking each day as it comes. We follow the harsh reality of being up in the isolated village from idle gossip to lack of work to horribly abusive men with no one to stop them. Yet Dora has a gift at healing, and does her best to do well by the women of the town. A Dr. comes to the town down the market, working with the men to sell them insurance for their wives births. His cruel methods show a juxtaposition against the suffragettes that some aspects of the modern world now invade the last place women actually had control of, the birth. It's truly a book of empowerment to women in all their places as we root for our heroine to decide her own fate.

The writing is fascinating piece where it feels almost flat, but in a way that truly benefits the story instead of taking away it. It's as if the fact that each women must go one step in front of the other is there the whole way through. Please don't mistake this flattness for a lack of capitvation. I spent many a night reading late.

Be warned it shines a light without fear to some very dark places of the early 1900s, but does so gracefully without spectical.

The book is a long story about Kiara and her relationship with the soft blade that surrounds her. It brings ancient and new species into contact with each other, and a spell binding situation of the consequences of human actions of fear, love, lust, and ego.

Futher more over and again this book pushes the idea of what it means to be not quite human, in hindsight almost ever main character displays this idea from a different perspective.

It is definitely a journey style novel. The plot can be meandering and the ending suprising. At many turns it's clear this is not the straight forward plot many books go for. Without understanding that it could be a very long frustrating read. So graba nice nook, take some breaths and just live with Kira, because that's truly how this book shines.

Oh and this is a bit hard core. There's a lectures in the back of the book from “Professors” to explain the sci fi elements. Personally I was satisfied without the deep dive, but knock your socks off!

Absolutely fantastic. The story has amazing pacing especially for a large book. The problems and ways they are faced feel authentic. The plot kept me feeling like I knew more than the main character... and then realizing I knew nothing at all.
It was such a clever way to introduce Norse Mytholodgy espeically from a different view than I've had it before at least. I feel so grateful this was translated over. It is one of my favorite books now, and I can hardly wait to go read the rest of the series.

If you enjoy fantasy with both political intrigue and action along with mytholodgy and retellings... check this one out!