Completed Goodreads Challenge GIVEAWAY!

That's right, it's time to host my first giveaway.  I have a few planned for the rest of the year and I can't wait to start doing these because giveaways are so much fun!

Basically, the reason I'm hosting a giveaway is because I completed my Goodreads challenge.  My goal was to read 89 books, which at the beginning of the year I thought was a little lofty.  Well, there are still a few months left in the year and I've actually (as of today) read 93 books so far.

For this giveaway I can't ship internationally.  I'm sorry about that.  I'm fairly certain my next few giveaways will be international, though, so if you've missed out on this one, I promise you won't miss the others.

Top Ten Tuesday: Epic Fantasy 101

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.  Click here to join in on the fun!

This week was something along the lines of "complete a syllabus as if you taught (insert genre) 101" and so that's exactly what I've done.  View this post as a guide map if you're new to epic fantasy or looking for something new.  I hope you enjoy!

5 Star Book Review: The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)

Author| Brandon Sanderson
Edition| Mass Market Paperback (American)
Genre| Epic Fantasy
Publisher| Tor
Rating| 5 Stars
Related Posts| The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension 

This review has SPOILERS FOR FIRST TWO BOOKS although I will try to give nothing away of this book.

Writing a review for this book seems impossible.  For one, I cannot contain what I felt for this book in one post.  Or two.  I would need to have a very long conversation that stretched days in order to really get across what I felt.  For another, it seems like a lie to say this series is over.  Technically, I know it's not.  There are the Wax & Wayne books, the first of which is already released, and two more series planned in this world.  But the original Mistborn trilogy is all done, everything tied up nicely with a bow.  After spending about three months living in this world with these characters I feel empty.  Yes, I have a book hangover.

This book picks up not too long after the last one.  Elend is emperor and Vin is empress.  They must try and unite all the world in preparation for the end of said world.  For the god (entity?) Ruin has been released and this is the purpose of his existence.  With a creature that can do all but read thoughts, our heroes must find a way to prevail or watch as their world is buried in ash.

The strangest thing about this one is that, barring a chapter or two, takes place exclusively outside Luthadel.  Luthadel is a city I have come to know so well I feel I could give guided tours of it.  Suddenly, spending time in Fadrex and Urtea I felt out of place.  It didn't take long, though, to realize that rather than location-driven (as I think there may be a case for this in the first two) it is completely character-driven.  It didn't matter where they were; I would follow them anywhere.

Speaking of characters, I came to grow very fond of one in particular- Spook.  He's always been a minor character when compared to the rest of the cast.  Here he's clearly one of the main characters.  And I loved it.  It's as if Brandon Sanderson was growing him in a garden, waiting for him to bloom, before showcasing him in such a way.  I also felt very able to connect with him, more so than any other character in the series.  If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen my many posts about needing to give Spook a hug.

As for the rest of the characters, I still think fondly of them all.  Each character had a satisfying (and sometimes too satisfying) conclusion.  Over the course of the whole series, though, Sanderson has done a great job of not dragging a character out or not using enough of them.  He really knows how to get the best of each character.

The ending of this one has left me reeling.  I think about it every day since finishing (I finished it earlier this week but wasn't coherent enough to write a review) and will think of it more still.  It's one that is bittersweet.  Good in many ways, but also sad in many ways.  It's haunting and resonating- a beautiful feat for any huge-sized series.

I once heard someone say that if they had one wish, it would be to see their favorite movie again as if for the first time.  Go into it without expecting anything and coming out with everything.  That's how I feel about these books.  I want to keep enjoying them again and again, with a fresh mind so that I can take everything in.

Thank you, Mr. Sanderson, for writing such an amazing trilogy.

Waiting on Wednesday: Shadows of Self

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and offers an opportunity for readers to showcase the books they just can't live without.

This week is a book that has me soooo excited in such a fangirl way.

Sorry for such a bad picture, this was the best I could find for some reason...

But yes, this week I'm dying for Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson.  This is the fifth book in the Mistborn series, the second in the Wax and Wayne part of the series.  Here's the official description from the author's website:

The trilogy’s heroes are now figures of myth and legend, even objects of religious veneration. They are succeeded by wonderful new characters, chief among them Waxillium Ladrian, known as Wax, hereditary Lord of House Ladrian but also, until recently, a lawman in the ungoverned frontier region known as the Roughs. There he worked with his eccentric but effective buddy, Wayne. They are “twinborn,” meaning they are able to use both Allomantic and Feruchemical magic.Shadows of Self shows Mistborn’s society evolving as technology and magic mix, the economy grows, democracy contends with corruption, and religion becomes a growing cultural force, with four faiths competing for converts.This bustling, optimistic, but still shaky society now faces its first instance of terrorism, crimes intended to stir up labor strife and religious conflict. Wax and Wayne, assisted by the lovely, brilliant Marasi, must unravel the conspiracy before civil strife stops Scadrial’s progress in its tracks.Shadows of Self will give fans of The Alloy of Law everything they’ve been hoping for and, this being a Brandon Sanderson book, more, much more.

This book comes out in October of this year, which also just happens to be my birthday month, so this would be such a great present!

What are you waiting for this Wednesday?

5 Star Book Review: The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)

Author| Brandon Sanderson
Edition| Mass Market Paperback
Genre| Fantasy
Rating| 5 Stars
Other Reviews| The Final Empire

This review is SPOILER FREE.  If you want my full thoughts, with spoilers included, leave me a comment and I'll post one.  I would love to talk about these books for ever and ever.

Without giving too much away, this takes place about a year after the first one.  It's very different, too.  The characters have matured and, reflecting on The Final Empire I almost can't imagine them like that.  What a testimony to Sanderson's writing, that characters have grown so much.  Another big difference lies in the central theme.  No longer is this a heist story, rather a war story.  Additionally, where the first is a bit of a conversation about religion, this one is a conversation about politics.

I loved this book so much.  I can't say I loved it more than the first book because I loved them equally in different ways.  The character development, for one, blew me away.  Those of you who aren't fans of Breeze, by the end of the book I swear you'll be sold.  Besides him, Sazed and Elend have the most drastic of changes.  I can't believe they're the same people!  Vin, too, goes through a lot, but I feel like it's a more predictable trajectory.

This book ends with one heck of a cliffhanger (it had me turning to the page with Sanderson's picture and cursing him out of love...) and can't stand on its own.  Which makes sense, since it is a trilogy.  Like with Final Empire this one had some pretty mind blowing surprises about 70% of the way through that continued to build and finally, in the climax, shatter my mind.  My.  Mind.

Five star reviews are hard to write because it's literally me just gushing and gushing.  So I won't say anymore.  Hopefully you're planning on picking the first book up because it's well worth it.  It does take a while to read, though, so be warned that other reading might get shoved to the side.  This one took me almost two weeks (although they were especially busy weeks, I grant you).

Anyways, happy reading!

5 Star Book Review: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)

Author| Brandon Sanderson
Edition| Mass Market Paperback
Genre| Fantasy
Rating| 5 Stars

I went into this book knowing little of the story but hearing everyone rave about how amazing it was, so I had super high expectations (that were met).  I wasn't expecting anything, least of all having my heart ripped out in the last two hundred pages.  So of course, I'm reading the next one.  Very soon, might I add.

This is my third Brandon Sanderson book (I've read Steelheart and The Rithmatist) but it is the first one to truly cause me to endlessly spend time on his website and stalk it for any hints of what's to come because I plan on reading all of it.  Certainly Mr. Sanderson is one of my favorite people now, and I've already begun telling people that they better get their hands on one of his books.  Immediately.

There are two things making this review very difficult: 1) I think it's best you don't really go in knowing much about the story, and 2) I gave it five stars for a reason- there isn't anything (or nothing I can think of, at least) wrong with it.

For a quick synopsis: A common trope in fantasy stories is one where a hero is destined to save the world from some nameless evil.  In this world, the hero failed.  Now, thousands of years later, the world is dictated by the Lord Ruler and ruined by the mists and the ash.  Enter Kelsier and Vin, our protagonists.  That's it.  That's all I'm telling you about it.  Go pick it up.

For a fantasy novel, this one reads pretty similar to YA.  Vin is only sixteen (seventeen later on in the book) and a fantastic main character.  Kelsier is equally great and completely different.  In fact, all the characters are different.  The variety is refreshing.  The plot, too, is somewhat unique.  If you've read any of the interviews Brandon Sanderson has done lately, he's mentioned that Steelheart and Mistborn share a lot in common, plot-wise.  I agree.  But don't think because you've had the pleasure of reading Steelheart you'll be able to pick this one apart.  You won't.  I tried and I couldn't.

How I wish I could say more.  There's so much I could say!  But it would all boil down to the same thing: I loved it, it was great!

Have you got the message?  Now go give it a try.