September 2021 Books Review | Reading Wrap-Up

Hello friends! On October, I feel like more reluctant to write reviews and make this reading wrap up, so I wait until I’m ready to do it. So, here we have a September Books Review posted on November. On September, I participated in Magical Readathon Orilium as I mentioned in my September Reading Plans. I read 10 books and I found some new favorites here.

1. Crowns of Croswald by D.E Night

I received the arc a month before, however I couldn’t finish this book on August because it always ended up with me falling asleep when I read this book. At first, I downloaded the arc to my phone, it’s around 500-ish pages with serif decorated font which made me sleepy even I just read 2 pages. Then I decided to start again from page 1 on September by downloading it to my computer. It became 300-ish pages with normal font.

This book is whimsical and magical on the environment but I have no idea who the main character was. The magical vibes of this book did remind me a lot to Harry Potter. The author has descriptive and detailed narration about the place, people, or events, but it lacks on the character of Ivy, the main character. I always see her as someone around 11-12 years old even though she is described as 16 years old. Her reaction, word choices and decision were too young for 16 years old girl with a background being in a kitchen for so long under a grumpy head kitchen. However the magic system is interesting and the idea behind using writing as magic power is amazing. There are some events which are not related to the conclusion of book one, but I do hope it will be tied to the next book.

2. Charting Stars by Micheline Ryckman

It’s a bit difficult to understand at first, just like Talia who found herself in an unknown place in a short time. The world building is unique and people inside this new world are interesting too. The dual point of view between Talia and Jarret are well written and I can easily picture which chapter is Talia, and which one is Jarret’s. I love everyone in this book, they are all likable. This story reminds me to adventure anime where the main character went on an adventure and formed a group of different and interesting people which feels like a new family. The romance is sweet too. Review I left on Goodreads :  I love this book and the characters here. I love how Talia and Jarrett become so relatable without super special power, they got injured, they were captured and feeling pain. They're lovely and sweet people I want to be around with, the same as Maren (I love her red fiery red hair), Bash, Moses, QB, Drew and Tae. I love how smart Micheline Ryckman make all the characters come to life. Amazing world building and interesting long journey to the north. I don't want it to end this quickly.

3. A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

Unexpetedly, I enjoyed this book. As I have posted in A Lesson of Vengeance Book Review as celebration of my 100^th book read, I don’t usually read a dark book with a lot of murder and violence and alcohol especially for students, but I read this book without any complains and liked it.

4. Bird of Paradise by Oliver K. Langmead

Another great book I found on Scribd. I never heard of this book before but this is a contemporary magical realism which has a lot of violence, murder, abuse and suicide thoughts. This is an adult fiction which I didn’t expect to like. Yes, it has those things I used to avoid in abook because I can feel the pain through the words I read, however the author wrote this book in a genius way that I enjoy every word in this book. Beautiful book inside and outside. It has beautiful poetic writing. I haven't read a book like this before. An unusual idea to be poured into a book. This book shows human's rage, raw emotions and actions, support, friendship, loneliness, being absorbed in one's thought because he can't relate to this place, feeling not belonging to anywhere and having passed so much violence and deaths, longing for the home he used to be - that everything else felt dull and meaningless.

5. Under The Whispering Door by T.J Klune

The next book I really love this month. It’s an arc I received a month before which is also my September Anticipated Book Releases. This book is for fulfilling the prompt which has to feature a book with ghost in it. This book is a slow read for me, as the repeated point in this book to take one’s time and take everything slowly because nobody rushes someone to digest everything all at once. This book has the sweetest relationships between its characters. This is the review I left on Goodreads : I love this book. Wallace was someone we can find anywhere and it made him relatable to the readers. This centers in the character development which is the thing I look forward the most in a story, how Wallace digested everything that came so quickly into his life (and death). I love Hugo, Mei, Nelson, and Apollo, how they together showed the readers the power of friendship, support, compassion, to give someone the space they need. I think there are many things I love about this book. The romance and characters are flowing, they just who they are, especially when it comes to the queer characters. They are sweet and just naturally be there. Also they came from different background and talked about their lives casually.

I love the jokes (even though it talked about a heavy topic around death and losing beloved people), the jokes balanced the story. A tiny complaint from me is the blurb that mentioned the 7 days given by The Manager, when it came only the last few chapters of the book. Overall this book is impressive and a recommended read.

6. Zodiac P.I Vol. 2 by Natsumi Ando

7. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

It's a more difficult read for me, but I did enjoy the book. Angeline Boulley wrote the narration in short and effective, not super long descriptive one, which is sometimes overwhelming me with so many information at the same time. However, I love the book as I go deeper into the story. The beautiful Native American culture, ceremonies, tradition, beliefs and way of life are perfectly told in each chapter along with the mystery thriller plot. One word to describe this book : RICH. Also, the cover is stunning

8. Hollowpox : The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

I love this series and I love every character inside this book, especially Fenestra. I can relate to the third book as the mysterious illness and all the reactions and consequences reminded me a lot to what's happening recently. The hatred, the provocation, the fear and the power to move the mass are beautifully written here. It also shows how our Morrigan was super excited because she found something she wanted to do and forgot everything else. The second place I love after Hotel Deucalion is the magnificent Gobleian Library!

9. Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

The second book in Cassidy Blake series which I like for a middle-grade horror. However I feel like there’s something missing in this book compared to the first one, so I gave it 4.5 stars. As usual, this book is easy to read. I love the characters inside this book, the friendships and some back story which makes me understand more about them. Not too much development here, and I still like Cass’ curiosity and carefulness which sometimes make her a good planner and a perfect danger attractor.

10. Magus of the Library by Mitsu Izumi

First of all, I want to praise the beautiful and detailed artwork provided in every page in this manga. I love it. A book about library and books is such a heaven for me. A touching story about Theo who was born half-blooded and being discriminated by the villagers. Young Theo loves reading and books. I cried over his persisting to protect the book that has been borrowed to him. Even though the magic system wasn't quite clear here, I love this manga, hopefully as Theo stepped his feet on the adventure we get more about the magic system and everything else in the next volumes. 

Okay, so that’s all for my super late September Book Reviews or my September Reading Wrap-up. If you read one of those books I mentioned above, let me know! Or do you have a favorite book you read during September? Tell me down below. As usual, see you on the next blog post, bye bye!