July Wrap Up

July was a pretty hectic month for me so I did not get much time to read and blog. Even this month is going to be hectic, probably even more than July so this might be the only post for august unless I feel compelled to review some book. I read 2 novels and 5 comic books in July. Even the two books that I read were pretty small in size. Out of these two, one was an audiobook which I listened to while commuting to and back from work.

The two books that I read this month are –

1. Temeraire (Temeraire #1) by Naomi Novik
   5 stars
   I absolutely loved every single character in this book. If you love dragons, this is THE book for you. I wasn’t a fan of Eragon, A natural history of dragons and many other books with dragons. But this book is oh so amazing! It satisfied my dragon craving. I am currently listening to the second book in this series and it is even better than the first part. Also the narrator of the audiobook did a great job. This is now one of my all time favorite fantasy series which I am definitely going to read again. This book put me back in a fantasy mood so I am now mostly reading fantasy again. I will do a detailed review of this book along with the second part soon.
2. Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2)
   4 stars
   This series is about kids who come back from different worlds and have difficulty in coping up with the normal world. The first book in this series (Every heart a doorway) is about a school where these kids are sent for rehabilitation. This book is like a prequel to the first book and talks about the adventures that two characters from the previous book have in the magical world they came from.
   In a way, this book was slightly better than the first book in this series. This is only about Jack and Jill as they enter the portal and it’s about the moors with vampires, werewolves and a freaky doctor. It even had a LGBTQ romance in it. I read this book and then read the final few chapters from “Every heart a doorway” again and everything that happened in that book made sense to me. I love this series a lot. I am a big fan of this author’s writing style. Also there were some great parenting tips in this story which I liked. If you love portal fantasy and books like Alice in Wonderland, you will love this. I expected this book to be creepy but it wasn’t.My favorite quote from this book which I absolutely loved –
   

Comic Books –

1. Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory
   2 stars
   This is about a man (Chu) who can take a bite from a dead body and figure out how they died or who killed them and thus solve mysteries. It was yuck! I didn’t find it humorous and the story wasn’t that great either. The only part I loved was Amelia’s and that part was pretty funny. Other than that, Chu as such didn’t appeal to me much. There was too much of blood and gore. It was gross to watch cannibalism as Chu tasted human flesh.
2. Fables vol.1 – Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham and others –
   3.5 stars
   This was an interesting comic. Here the fairy tale characters are alive and living amongst us in our modern world. Snow (from Snow White) is the mayor of fable community. Wolf (from the 3 pigs story) is a detective who is trying to investigate the murder of Snow’s sister Rose Red. The book had brief appearances from others like Pinocchio who never grew up or hit puberty and ended up being a young boy for 200-300 years thanks to blue fairy. Haha. The murder mystery aspect was great. I am definitely going to continue with this series.
3. Justice League A League of One by Christopher Moeller
   5 stars
   Wonder Woman is a great character but all the stories of hers that I have read so far (except for one) have been weak. I was waiting for a story of hers that would blow my mind. And this was it! Her best story ever as many people consider it to be. I will talk more about this in my Wonder Woman post which will be posted soon.

I also read couple of Zen Pencils comic books. I had read few of these comics online but I am not a big fan or follower of this comic. I have also not caught up on all the posts so this was an easier way to read them all.

1. Zen Pencils: Cartoon Quotes from Inspirational Folks by Gavin Aung Than
   5 stars
   This is a great book to read when you are feeling down. The quotes in this volume can uplift your spirit and make you realize that there is more to life than just running the rat race. I loved all the quotes and will revisit them whenever I feel down.
2. Dream the Impossible Dream: Zen Pencils: Volume Two by Gavin Aung Than
   4 stars
   This collection isn’t as good as the first volume but still some quotes were very uplifting.