DISCUSSION | Game of Thrones S07E01

In case you live under a rock, season seven of Game of Thrones came back on Sunday, July 16th! 

There's not much to say before getting into spoilers, except that my friend Sierra and I are doing weekly live shows to discuss the episodes on my channel! So make sure to subscribe so you can join the conversation!

*I apologize in advance if I spell character names wrong. Please don't kill me*

So let's discuss the first episode of season seven of Game of Thrones. The episode starts with a scene of badassery from one of my favorites, Arya Stark. She puts on the mask of Walder Frey (who she's already killed) and murders the rest of the Frey's who were there at the red wedding. IT WAS GLORIOUS.

We also get to watch Jon Snow acting as king in his new role, preparing the North for their fight with white walkers. We also get another badass girl moment when Lord Glover tries to protest Jon's announcement that women need to be trained to fight as well.  But Lady Lyanna Mormont takes none of that! 

"I don't plan on knitting by the fire while men fight for me.  I might be small, Lord Glover, and I might be a girl, but I am every bit as much a Northerner as you. And I don’t need your permission to defend the North."

YASS GIRL YASS.

We also see Bran make it to the wall - I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE STARKS TO REUNITE AT LAST, see Arya continuing to make her way to King's Landing in order to kill Cersei - um hi Ed Sheeran that was weird, and watch Cersei and Jamie argue about the realization that they have no allies - and Cersei's annoyance that Jamie let Tyrion live so he could then become Dany's hand.

We watch a disgusting montage of Sam's daily routine - I gagged, and then it's with the help of his lady friend, Gilly, he discovers that the HUGE stash of dragon glass lies in Westerns where the mad king had his huge castle-like thing. In this montage, we also see that Jorah - the man who is sick because he was touched by a stone person - is in the Citadel, hopefully trying to get cured.

Ending with the glorious Dany and Tyrion landing at the very same dragon glass mountain, and ending the episode with, 

"let us begin."

THINGS I NEED TO SEE:

I'm hoping to see Dany and Jon make an alliance of some sort to fight the white walkers. AND thinking they are possibly related (that's a theory, not proved) I would love to see Jon and the dragons react to each other.

I need to see Arya, Bran, Sansa, and Jon reunite. OMG I'll cry.

I want to see Arya kill Cersei, but I also think we could see some sort of repurcussion for that. We know our favorites will not come out unscathed in this series, but I can't live with the Stark children dying before reuniting - especially Jon and Arya. Dear god, it needs to happen.

Can't wait to see you guys later for the liveshow! Comment down below if you'll be joining!

Until next time,

Kassie

REVIEW | Sage Alexander and the Hall of Nightmares by Steve Copling.

Happy Bibliothon Day 2! I hope you are all enjoying the addition of blog challenges to the array of crazy we have going on this week. 

Today's challenge is simple. Write a book review. One of the last biblithons we had a challenge to film a book review - we hoped that we would get you guys comfortable with pretty regular videos on Booktube, if you're just starting a channel.

Reviewing can be crucial when running a bookish account, whether it Youtube, a blog, or Instagram. It might not be something you choose to do which is totally okay! But many people do review the books they read, so we thought we'd like to see the way you guys choose to do it!

Here's my challenge for today:

Sage Alexander and the Hall of Nightmares was a 3.5 star read for me. I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review.

                                                   

This story is super fast paced! I felt engaged the entire time reading it because it was very action packed! It felt a lot like Percy Jackson in certain aspects with the characters being involved in the fighting of monsters, having to go into something similar to Hell, etc. 

I did find some things felt a little unrealistic for me, and I don't mean the fact that there are half angel humans or magic powers, etc. But for example, our main character Sage is 14. In his 14 years he had time to train hard for a while and quit a few years ago before this story begins. It felt like not enough time passed in his life for Sage to be where he was in his irritation with his life/destiny/etc.

Some of the magic also didn't make a lot of sense. The fact that Sage is a destined warrior made it a very easy fix when he does end up having to fight after not training for most of his life essentially - remember he's only 14. If he had been aged up, and quit at 16 and was now 18 that might have been a little less frustrating for me. I also found it convenient that in the alternate hellspace nobody has ever seen, nothing attacks our inexperienced main character(s) unless provoked. That was just too easy in my opinion, especially after Leah so blatantly proves Sage isn't ready right before he goes. I think I would have loved a book of his learning to train before he ever had to go into the Hellspace.

But there were lots of things I did like about this story! Theo was a great character. I absolutely adored him and Sage's grandfather. They are both very endearing. I also found David and Kato hilarious while still being bad ass in their own magic. I loved the teamwork in this story too! All of the battles we see throughout the story were also well crafter, significant, and unique from each other. 

Like I said earlier, this book was a very quick read for me! Despite my issues, I found this book to be captivating every time I picked it up. I will be doing a spoiler free review on my channel as well very soon!

Comment down below - are you interested in picking up Sage Alexander? Along with a link to your challenge for the Bibliothon today so I can see them! (and hopefully find more books to aadd to my TBR)

Until next time,

Kassie

REVIEW | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling

I've been making my way through the harry potter series in audio format as time goes on. The next book I listened to was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling!

I gave this book a four out of five stars. The Order of the Phoenix is my least favorite book in the series in general because I find a lot of the characters just downright obnoxious in this book.

Of course, I still love this book and some very important things happen in this installment of the series, but I just want to scream every time I get to this book, which is honestly why I haven't read the last three Harry Potter books that many times. I'm not one to pick up any of them and just read them out of order, so if I don't pick up this one I don't go through the rest.

Let me talk about some things that bothered me about this story, at least this time around.

Harry. We all know it. He jumps down everyone's throats in this book, and won't stop getting angry with his friends, the ones who are at his side even when the rest of the wizarding community thinks he's a liar. It drives me insane.

Umbridge. I don't need to say more do I? I want to strangle her every scene she's in. It's just not a fun time for me.

Sirius. I love Sirius, and there is of course heartbreak when I read this book, but I also am frustrated with Sirius throughout this entire novel. It frustrates me how much he doesn't separate James and Harry from each other in this novel. And the older I get, the more I feel myself being on Molly's side when her and Sirius fight. Although I do think Sirius was right to tell Harry more information than Molly wanted him to hear, I think it's unfair how much of her love for for Harry and acceptance into her family she has provided for him is swept under the rug. I think Molly and Arthur don't get enough credit for the way the treated Harry like their own son, and that shines brightest in this novel for me.

Dumbledore. This is when I really start to get annoyed. I know we get an explanation at the end for why he held Harry away from him at the end of this novel but that doesn't make me any less frustrated.

Basically JK Rowling makes me feel like an angsty fifteen year old when I read this book because I want to punch everyone in the face when I read it. Maybe that means this is the best book, since it does such a great job at pulling on my emotions.

One last gripe I had with this audiobook in particular was the French accent that Jim Dale gave Bellatrix LeStrange. Most of the time in the books, JK Rowling put the accent on the characters - Seamus' dialogue is very distinctly written with an Irish accent, you can hear "yer a wizard, Harry" when Hagrid speaks, and Fleur's dialogue has a French accent written into it. I don't remember that from reading the books on Bellatrix' dialogue so it took me by surprise when she shows up at the end of the book and has a French accent. 

There are many things to love about this book too, of course. It's the beginning of the darkest books in the series, which begins to make this books feel even more real. JK Rowling doesn't shy away from hurting people (although fun fact: Arthur Weasley was supposed to die in this novel, and JK loved him so much, she changed it to just harmed because she couldn't part with him), we see St. Mungo's and Neville's parents, and of course Voldemort does finally show himself in his true power to the ministry and greater wizarding community.

I can't wait for my reread of the last two novels of this book! The audiobooks are definitely a whole new experience for me as I continue with this series for the umpteenth time.

What book in the series is your favorite?

Until next time,

Kassie