5 Eulen

[Rezension] R.F. Kuang - The Dragon Republic

11:30

The Dragon Republic | R.F. Kuang | 672 Seiten | Hardcover | Harper Voyager | ca. 22€

Inhalt

In the aftermath of the Third Poppy War, shaman and warrior Rin is on the run: haunted by the atrocity she committed to end the war, addicted to opium, and hiding from the murderous commands of her vengeful god, the fiery Phoenix. Her only reason for living is to get revenge on the traitorous Empress who sold out Nikan to their enemies.
With no other options, Rin joins forces with the powerful Dragon Warlord, who has a plan to conquer Nikan, unseat the Empress, and create a new Republic. Rin throws herself into his war. After all, making war is all she knows how to do.
But the Empress is a more powerful foe than she appears, and the Dragon Warlord’s motivations are not as democratic as they seem. The more Rin learns, the more she fears her love for Nikan will drive her away from every ally and lead her to rely more and more on the Phoenix’s deadly power. Because there is nothing she won’t sacrifice for her country and her vengeance.

4 1/2 Eulen

[Rezension] Elisabeth Thomas - Catherine House

12:38

Catherine House | Elisabeth Thomas | 320 Seiten | Paperback | Tinder Press | ca. 12€

Inhalt

Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment, has produced some of the world’s best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance comes with a price. Students are required to give the House three years—summers included—completely removed from the outside world. Family, friends, television, music, even their clothing must be left behind. In return, the school promises its graduates a future of sublime power and prestige, and that they can become anything or anyone they desire.
Among this year’s incoming class is Ines, who expects to trade blurry nights of parties, pills, cruel friends, and dangerous men for rigorous intellectual discipline—only to discover an environment of sanctioned revelry. The school’s enigmatic director, Viktória, encourages the students to explore, to expand their minds, to find themselves and their place within the formidable black iron gates of Catherine. 
For Ines, Catherine is the closest thing to a home she’s ever had, and her serious, timid roommate, Baby, soon becomes an unlikely friend. Yet the House’s strange protocols make this refuge, with its worn velvet and weathered leather, feel increasingly like a gilded prison. And when Baby’s obsessive desire for acceptance ends in tragedy, Ines begins to suspect that the school—in all its shabby splendor, hallowed history, advanced theories, and controlled decadence—might be hiding a dangerous agenda that is connected to a secretive, tightly knit group of students selected to study its most promising and mysterious curriculum.

5 Eulen

[Rezension] S.A. Chakraborty - The City of Brass

15:45

The City of Brass | S.A. Chakraborty | 526 Seiten | Paperback | Harper Voyager | ca. 10€

Inhalt

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles. 
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass. A city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound. 
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences. 
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...

End of Year Tag

End of Year Book Tag 2020

12:36

Ich weiß, dass ich mit diesem Tag ein wenig spät dran bin, da das Jahr nur noch wenige Wochen alt ist. Aber ich habe einfach Lust auf diesen kurzen Tag, welchen ich bei forbookssake gefunden habe, zu machen. Die Fragen passen aber noch gut in Dezember und so dachte ich mir, dass ich den Tag noch mache. Nächstes Jahr bin ich dann vielleicht ein wenig früher dran, wenn ich es nicht wieder vergesse. 

Monatsrückblick

[Monatsrückblick] November 2020

13:33

November war irgendwie ein komischer Monat. Einerseits ist er total langsam vergangen, gleichzeitig aber auch total schnell. Besonders die erste Monatshälfte hat sich aber gezogen. Ich denke mal, dass das an den US-Wahlen lag, die ich gebannt verfolgt habe, denn leider beeinflussen die US-Wahlen ja ganz stark unsere Wahlen und die US-Politik hat ja generell einen enormen Einfluss auf das restliche Weltgeschehen. Dementsprechend bin ich natürlich froh, dass Biden die Wahl für sich entscheiden konnte, obwohl auch er nicht die beste Wahl ist. Aber er ist immerhin das kleinere Übel.