Dip into books

My 2021 Reading Challenge

Posted on January 10, 2021January 9, 2021 by Windie @ dip into books

Hi all,
Windie here with my 2021 reading challenge post.
After skipping reading challenge in 2020, I decided that this year I will push myself not just to read but to read beyond my usual genre and authors. As I am not an expert in this, I decided to browse other sites and blogs for inspiration.
There were 3 reading challenges that became my source: The 2021 Reading Women Challenge, the 2021 Popsugar Reading Challenge, and the Book Riot’s 2021 Read Harder Challenge. Because there are so many items in the three, I didn’t take all the challenges. Below is the reading challenge I personalized based on my 2021 priorities. I fully admit that this covers very little of what’s out there, but hopefully this can be a start for me.

Besides the tailored 2021 Reading Challenge, I also wanted to do something different for this year. Something I probably should have done a long long time ago. You see, I’ve come from a country in Southeast Asia, a heavily underrepresented sub region of Asia in the literature world. However, I, myself, didn’t make enough effort to read more authors from my own region. Admittedly, it wouldn’t be easy to get hold of English-written or translated books from some of these countries, but the least I can do is try.
If you want to join in, I added here the PDF checklist of the 11 Southeast Asia countries.
I will also come with a list of books that can be accessed in ebook or other formats in upcoming posts. I’d also appreciate any recommendation or if you’re an author from these countries, do reach out to me through the contact me page. I accept recommendation for any kind of literature, whether it’s short stories, fiction, memoir, poetry books.

Click here to download the 2021 Reading Challenge (PDF)

Click here to download the 2021 Southeast Asia Reading Challenge (PDF)

Want to start reading journal or tracker for 2021? Here’s how (not) to do it.

Posted on January 2, 2021December 30, 2020 by Windie @ dip into books

power up your readings and document those feelings

Hello friends!
Welcome to 2021 – another year to make an ambitious TBR and then rush through it on the last week of December. 🙂

As in all the years, recently I browsed my Read List in the past 2-3 years, upon which I realize:
a. that I cannot remember what half of the books in the list are about, and
b. I didn’t get why I rate a book 5 stars or other 2 stars.
c. it also happened on the books I wrote review on. So if someone suddenly ask me why I said that this book is so and so, sorry friends I might not be able to answer it before re-reading some parts of the book.

These made me reflect my reading and reviewing habits through the year.
Here’s how my journey looks like:

One. When I started blogging, I kept daily reading journal, bought stickers in many colors, and made my reading tracker as pretty as possible. I managed to do this for 2 or 3 months before abandoning it altogether when I had reading slump. Pros: it’s good to look at even if it’s not of much use for me these days.

Two. After abandoning the first tracker, I went without any physical tracker and tried to use Goodreads to record my thought as I read. It lasted a book. Oh well.

Three. I decided to create a quote keeper since I love saving words and quotes. In the meantime, I procured a monthly tracker notebook to keep my blogging and reading organized. It went okay for 2 months until real life caught up with me and when I took hiatus from blogging, so is my reading tracker.

Four. I finally had enough of keeping everything separate and had a blank notebook as both my reading and reviewing journal.
Now, here’s what I did wrong: I wrote my reading journal in the format of writing review. The upside of this is it saves time because then I just referenced it when writing my blogpost. The downside of it is this is a spoiler-free review and as such I cannot get into specifics. You can imagine what happened when I read my own writing that said: the secondary characters were not very well written and did not have that much depth to them, and I cannot even remember who they are. El O el.

So now, I’m on my fifth phase. I realized belatedly that there are things you need to consider about before starting a reading journal. I’m sharing them here so you do not have to go four stages of failing in reading journal-ing like I did.

Decide on your objective of keeping a journal.
Now I know that sounds like a duh of course, but also do you really? I didn’t think about why would I need one when I first started, I just did it because everyone else doing it and it (theirs) look amazing and eh why not. But you should have one and it doesn’t even have to be that ambitious. Do you keep a journal to encourage yourself to read more? Then maybe a page tracker or even goodreads might work. Do you want to diversify your reading, try to read more of different POV, author, or genre? A reading list may suffice and it wouldn’t take much of your time. Do you want to ensure you remember years from now why you read a book and why you love or hate it with a passion? Then reading journal is for you.
Determine how much time and effort can you commit to it.
I love watching videos of other people’s creative reading journal on youtube. They look so pretty and make me wanted one as well. But know this: those reading journals take effort. Trust me I tried. And not everyone is that passionate in making things look amazing. Take for example, me. I love SEEING beautiful bullet journals, but my own is plain as hell. It’s written on a traveler’s notebook with a black or blue ink, but I managed to stay on it for more than 2 years now.
If you like being creative with your journal and can commit to making it look good, then go for it! I’m looking forward to see it in your blog or bookstagram or booktube.
But if you cannot, then in all honesty black on white paper with a lot of scratches and notes written all over it is COMPLETELY OKAY. Don’t get burden with the need to make it looks as good as the others.
Be specific when writing.
When you wrote “her prose is expertly written” try to give some examples. Similarly, when you called out a problematic relationship during your reading, make a note in your journal why. Quotes and Names are things I often forgot to write about in my journal, but you definitely want them written as a reminder.
As I said before, it’s frustrating to read my journal and still cannot remember why I said this or that. Always give examples.
Do it daily. Or not.
Seriously it’s up to you. I try to do it daily because I don’t have that long memory span. But some might prefer to write it when they finish a book so they can write more comprehensive thought. Others prefer to have reaction journal when they write short blurb and reactions whilst reading. Any way you do, be sure to also implement number 6.
Make use of the tools available to you when reading.
Depends on the format of the books you read, there’ll be tools to annotate or bookmark a specific quote or reaction. For example, I read mostly ebooks these days, and ebook reader applications usually have tool to highlight specific parts and make notes. I utilize this heavily because I don’t want to interrupt my reading to write on my journal but I also don’t want to lose these quotes or facts that I found so fascinating. Similarly, if your reading a physical book you can use bookmarks or paper receipts or whatever available to mark these pages. Audiobook usually also have similar tool to bookmark parts you want to come back later.
Later you can look them up when you write your journal.
Be flexible to change.
When starting you might think you want to write a comprehensive review of each and every main and secondary characters in the book, but 2 months later you might find this overwhelming. So change it, get rid of the things you cannot commit on or you no longer find joy on. Implement and experiment new things in your reading journal.
Oftentimes, I see people struggle to keep their journal even if it feels like a chore because they always write it that way. They might eventually quit journal-ing altogether because of this. Don’t let it happen to you.

Okay, so that was it. My journey into making reading journal and tips I share to help so you do not repeat my mistakes.
Currently, I’m going back to simple tracker and short log because I realize I want to keep the highlights that resonate strongly with me but am not able to spare time to document all my thoughts into comprehensive reading journal.

If you’re interested, I uploaded the printable templates here for reading tracker and reading log. These are A5 size, very simple, minimalist template I’ve been using myself. You can print it on those blank A5 loose leaf paper like me, or print them as two=pages on one sheet in A4 paper.

Click to download my reading log printable template
Click to download my reading tracker printable template

So let me know in the comments:

Are you keeping a reading journal yourself and what parts you enjoy the most?
Are you planning to keep a reading journal and what are your concerns?

Happy reading and have fun reading journal-ing or tracking or whatever it is you want to do! 🙂

REVIEW: Incendiary

Posted on May 14, 2020May 14, 2020 by Windie @ dip into books

Book Review: Incendiary
	Book title	Incendiary
	Series/standalone	Hollow Crown #1
	Author	Zoraida Córdova
	Pages	464
	Year published	2020
	Category \| Genre	Fantasy, Historical
	Rating

Official Summary

I am Renata Convida.
I have lived a hundred stolen lives.
Now I live my own.

Renata Convida was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King’s Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucia. As a Robari, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata’s ability to steal memories from royal enemies enabled the King’s Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.

Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred–or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned “hollow” during her time in the palace.

When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love makes her place among the Whispers bearable. But a disastrous rescue attempt means Renata must return to the palace under cover and complete Dez’s top secret mission. Can Renata convince her former captors that she remains loyal, even as she burns for vengeance against the brutal, enigmatic prince? Her life and the fate of the Moria depend on it.

But returning to the palace stirs childhood memories long locked away. As Renata grows more deeply embedded in the politics of the royal court, she uncovers a secret in her past that could change the entire fate of the kingdom–and end the war that has cost her everything.

Review

In A Nutshell

In its core, 15th century Spain-inspired Incendiary invited us to see the world built on hatred and racism, where you can hate and kill people based on who they are regardless of what they actually did.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Incendiary” →

My 2020 Reading Goal

Posted on April 14, 2020May 14, 2020 by Windie @ dip into books

spay_email:

After nearly 3 years of hiatus, I decided that I have done enough of procrastination to last the entire blogging life. (Like can you imagine I spend more time on hiatus than active on this blog?)

So to kick off this relaunch, I will start with something small – and that is my reading goal for 2020.

First of all, yes it is small. I only put 13 books as target in my Goodreads. So far I have read 4 books, a far cry from what I’ve done in the past but bring me right on track on reaching that 13 books a year target. I also still remember when I have ambition to finish reading the entire catalog of Brandon Sanderson in a year (ha ha ha ha), and yes that includes the wheel of time (HA!). Also when I try to read as many doorstopper books as I can in one year. Well, look where it got me. A reading slump :p

So here we go, fresh start, not overambitious, and hopefully refuel my passion for reading:

13 books in a year.
This SHOULD be achievable easily. SHOULD being the keyword because guess what I put 12 books last year as my target and have to scramble at the end of the year to complete it. This year, I am around 23% done and we’re still in April so should be easy enough to catch up.
Diversify my reads.
I have been away for 3 years, and got disengaged with book community perhaps 6 months before that. But I’ll be lying if I said I didn’t miss the discussion and passion of this community in strengthening ownvoice, non-binary gender, and even those discourse with the word “diversity” I felt that I am so behind on this, and it’s time to get myself educated on this.
I haven’t decided on the topics to start with, but I’ll be looking out for recommendation. I do love fantasy and science fiction so I will start with that genre but going outside my usual reads. This time around, however, I am not doing any of the book challenge besides the one in Goodreads. We’ll see next year
One audiobook.
I tried, seriously, I did try. MULTIPLE times. I just can’t. And as crazy as this sounds, google play books read aloud works better for me than a real audiobook. I finish my first book this year on an elliptical machine, listening to the google robot reading like 5 or 6 chapters to me. Awesome. It turns out I prefer robot to real human being?
Finish reading Rhythm of War by 31 December 2020.
Is this even a goal? Maybe. Maybe it’s a treat for me. 😀

Have recommendation for me or want to share your reading goal? Drop your suggestion or the link to your post in the comments and let me know.

REVIEW: Three Dark Crowns

Posted on August 13, 2017August 13, 2017 by Windie @ dip into books

Book Review: Three Dark Crowns
	Book title	Three Dark Crowns
	Series/standalone	Three Dark Crowns #1
	Author	Kendare Blake
	Pages	398
	Year published	2016
	Category \| Genre	High Fantasy
	Rating

Official Summary

When kingdom come, there will be one.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.

Review

In A Nutshell

Three Dark Crowns came short of the promised complex siblings rivalry.

Highlights

The cunning ploys and all the political intrigue. If there’s a thing I enjoyed the most about Three Dark Crowns is that all of the adults have their own agenda. Make no mistake, some of them are truly despicable – but still I got to admire the thoroughness Blake puts into each and every character to make me despise them. On the downside, the sisters were merely tools for these adults who want to reign the island.
The premise. Is it a good or a bad thing that a book has a really good premise, but doesn’t deliver? One might opt to classify this as a bad thing, but what I see is that there’s hope that this series will get better because with a premise that good, surely you have a way to go there. It’ll be quite a long and bumpy journey, but I still think that Three Dark Crowns (series) has the potential.

Things I Wish Were Different

Love trianglesss. For the record, I do not mind love triangles if it’s necessary and well-written. The love triangles – and actually all the romance – in Three Dark Crowns were just exhausting to read and in some cases, infuriating. I do not like any of the love interests, and the way the three sisters behave when it comes to romance. This book was supposed to be about the battle between the three sisters, and yet it was filled with scenes of them went all googly-eyes on the guys.
More diversity please. Surely, surely with three protagonists and the numbers of side characters in the book, the author could throw in some LGBTQIA+ reps but it was all cishet romance and there was an awful lot of them. As far as I can tell, there was also no POC and disability representation, and yes, I am disappointed in this regard too.
Unrealistic plot and plot holes everywhere. Just because it’s a fantasy, doesn’t mean you can wave your hand and make plot holes go away. Three Dark Crowns, sadly, is riddled with them.
Slow, slow pace. This book took forever to build up and I’m not even sure it eventually reaches a good pace. It’s like going all turtle pace up till the end then it suddenly “FIRE!” “EXPLOSION” “CHAOS EVERYWHERE”.

Final Score

2.5 stars (out of 5 stars)

Verdict

This book was one of my most anticipated reads last year so I really was disappointed when I found it didn’t deliver the promised conflict, nor did it deliver the complex siblings relationships. I think the biggest reason why I was very disappointed is that the synopsis promised me an epic battle and instead it gave me romance storylines I didn’t enjoy, uninspired secondary characters, and plot holes while going on a snail pace.

REVIEW: A Conjuring of Light

Posted on August 6, 2017August 6, 2017 by Windie @ dip into books

Book Review: A Conjuring of Light
	Book title	A Conjuring of Light
	Series/standalone	Shades of Magic #3
	Author	V.E. Schwab
	Pages	624
	Year published	2017
	Category \| Genre	High Fantasy
	Rating

Official Summary

Witness the fate of beloved heroes – and enemies.

THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED…
The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.

WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell – once assumed to be the last surviving Antari – begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?

WHO WILL RISE?
Lila Bard, once a commonplace – but never common – thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.

WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay.

Review

In A Nutshell

The finale of the Shades of Magic offers the readers closure despite leaving questions unanswered.

WARNING: This review is for the third book in a series and may contain spoilers for the first two books. If you haven’t read the first two books, beware of spoilers or jump straight to verdict at the bottom of this post.

Highlights

Characters’ growth. Having read many series, I tend to cling to the characters, not wanting to let them go. Strangely enough, I found it easy enough to let go of Kell and Lila and Rhy. Sure, I’ll miss them, but I don’t feel like requesting more books about these characters. Why? I suspect this is related to how Schwab ended the series. She gave us closure, this is it, the story ends, and I could now let go and get back to my life (or.. you know to worry about other characters). The biggest problem with A Darker Shade of Magic was the lack of character growth, something that’s been fixed in A Gathering of Shadows and continue to be evident here. It’s bittersweet watching them grow up, but the satisfaction of seeing how the story ends made it worth.
Friendship, family, and romantic relationships all put to test. Schwab, the queen of slow burn romance, included some really hot sexytimes as a gift to the readers for being so patient (just kidding, maybe). There are both cishet romance and m/m romance as to be expected if you’ve been following the series. On the other hand, Kell and Rhy bromance will always be one of my favorite sibling relationship ever, but even their close bond is put to test in this finale of the Shades of Magic.

Things I Wish Were Different

The villain. It’s a shame that this book has one of the weaker villain compared to other books in the series. One would think that a series’ finale will have the most epic villain – but sadly that’s not true here. The villain is actually really strong in term of magic (since after all this is a series about magic), but there’s nothing underneath that smoke. No complexity, no genius evil planning, just complete evil. Perhaps, it’s intended to be so, but I cannot help but think that this book will fare even better with a good villain.
Way too many secondary and tertiary characters. I read this book months ago (because I’m the queen of procrastinating on backlog) and now when I’m writing this book I cannot tell you the name of a single memorable character that is not part of the main clique. Cannot even tell you the name of the queen, sorry. And perhaps that’s my terrible memory or lack of attention but surely there is a limit on how many characters you can dump into the book before it make the readers dizzy.
Mystery that remains mystery. I am actually not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Right after I finished reading the book, I wrote in Goodreads that despite some questions remain unanswered, I am strangely okay with that. Well, after months have passed and I have more time to contemplate, I realize that I am after all WANT those answers. We all know that in life, there are mysteries and questions that will never be answered and some that are better left as they are. However, I, as a reader, want to know these things, have been waiting for the answers since Book 1 (check out my A Darker Shade of Magic re-read if you’re curious what the questions are – WARNING: they are filled with SPOILERS), and to know that these questions might never be answered is kind of painful.

Final Score

3.5 stars (out of 5 stars)

Verdict

If you’ve read A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows and you demand answers, then this finale will leave you somewhat unsatisfied. If you’ve read both books and all you want is more Kell and Rhy and Lila and Alucard and more bromance and romance, then this book more than delivered. The weak villain and the bulk cause by too many secondary characters (and side stories) made this book felt dragging at some points. As it stands, A Gathering of Shadows remained my favorite book of the series, but A Conjuring of Light is a respectable finale.

Now, for those who haven’t started the series, you might have questions too. If you haven’t read the first two books, should you read them? Should you invest your time in this series? Well, after reading all three books, I can honestly say that if you’re a fan of fantasy novels, this series is well worth your time. It offers great character arc, well-written magic system, competent worldbuilding, diverse cast, gay reps, and complex characters and relationships. I will give the whole series a 4-stars rating.

REVIEW: Labyrinth Lost

Posted on July 30, 2017July 30, 2017 by Windie @ dip into books

Book Review: Labyrinth Lost
	Book title	Labyrinth Lost
	Series/standalone	Brooklyn Brujas #1
	Author	Zoraida Córdova
	Pages	324
	Year published	2016
	Category \| Genre	Young Adult \| Fantasy
	Rating

Official Summary

Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.

The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

Review

In A Nutshell

Magical coming-of-age fantasy influenced by Latin American culture.

Highlights

Everyone has their own motives. I really liked this about Labyrinth Lost. Having read books where many characters, friends and comrades alike, throwing their life for the main character without any clear reason, it’s refreshing to see that everyone in Labyrinth Lost has something to gain, a secret or in some case not-so- secret motive, from helping the MC. Of course, at the end of the day, it was all for the greater good, but it’s always nice to get something extra.
The romance. It’s slow-burning and progressing very well. I adored the love interest and I hope you will too.
Family first! This book captured sibling relationship perfectly. That catfight, the envious feeling on your more beautiful and capable sister, the annoyance when they’re taking too long to do anything. Her family is not perfect, but the MC loves them anyway. Sure, she did some selfish things, but that made her more relatable.
The diverse cast and the Latin American culture and influence. So, by now, you might have heard that this book is an ownvoices and as such it did not disappoint. The heavy influence of Latin American culture was on display throughout the book and I truly enjoyed learning about brujas and brujos. It was probably the first fantasy book I ever read based on Latin American culture and it made me want to learn more. The magical world, Los Lagos, was not less captivating compared to the ‘real world’ as it’s filled with interesting characters and formidable villain.
In term of representations, Labyrinth Lost has bisexual and lesbian reps and most of the characters are Latinx, except Rishi who is (I think – can anyone confirm this?) Indian.
Character growth. Alex was a flawed character who secretly didn’t want to be a bruja (a witch). Her character arc was quite a strong one and we definitely watched her growing up throughout the story.

Things I Wish Were Different

This book needs more layer on the secondary characters. I just didn’t feel too much character depth especially in the secondary characters. I still root for them, but I want to know more about them. It seems that what given to us is just the topmost layer of these characters. Rishi was portrayed as a bad-ass bestfriend that always stood up for Alex. Nova was a cynical that kept reminding Alex that he’s doing this for his own benefit. But what’s hidden beneath this layer? I want to know more about Nova’s background, Rishi’s family, and others!

Final Score

4 stars (out of 5 stars)

Verdict

Labyrinth Lost is a great blend of urban fantasy and high fantasy. Siblings and friends relationships, an adorable romance, and great character arc were the highlights for me. A lush world-building in form of Los Lagos with its magical creatures made the book even more enjoyable. Meanwhile, it also offers us a glimpse of the life of Brooklyn brujas and brujos that left me wanting to learn more of the Latin American culture.

REVIEW: My Lady Jane

Posted on July 23, 2017July 23, 2017 by Windie @ dip into books

Book Review: My Lady Jane
	Book title	My Lady Jane
	Series/standalone	The Lady Janies #1
	Author	Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
	Pages	512
	Year published	2016
	Category \| Genre	Young Adult \| Historical \| Fantasy
	Rating

Official Summary

The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane is about to become the Queen of England.

Review

In A Nutshell

A fun (and probably inaccurate) retelling of the life of Lady Jane Grey.

Highlights

The best thing about My Lady Jane is that it didn’t take itself seriously. The absurdity of the story, the crazy scenario, the ridiculousness of the situation that made readers go “whaat?” were all combined into one novel. The result is a book that’s light-hearted and entertaining. You can just tell that the three authors (who called themselves The Lady Janies) were having so much fun writing this book and it clearly shows.
The premise. I really liked the idea the authors bring to My Lady Jane. What if there were people who can turn into animals? This concept in itself is not new, there were many examples of it. We have seen JK Rowling in Harry Potter explored the concept as “magical gift” in form of animagus. KA Applegate’s Animorphs series spins it as a superhero ability. And those were just two out of hundreds ways to utilize it. In My Lady Jane, however, the authors use it as a tool to show something else. The Eðians – people who can turn into animals – and Verities – those who cannot – were representations of social castes and through them the authors explore racism, discrimination, and injustice.

Things I Wish Were Different

The characters. I am sorry friends, but I really don’t get all the fuss about Jane. Sure, she loves books, and yes, that gives her instant 10 extra points from me. Apart from that, Jane and G and Edward and pretty much everyone else in the cast just didn’t get me invested enough in their story. I read the book because it was fun and it was a page-turner. I don’t really care about the characters and it probably has something to do with the second point.
At no point, did I feel the characters were in actual danger – which was weird because according to the story there was so much at stake. The problem is the stake didn’t feel real. I think that the authors sacrificed too much to make the story as fun as possible, but as a result the story felt inconsequential. Turned out, having too much fun could be bad for you.

Final Score

3.5 stars (out of 5 stars)

Verdict

I read My Lady Jane on Kindle so I didn’t know how many pages it actually have in physical version until I looked it up on Amazon. The number that I found surprised me. 512. Believe me, it didn’t feel even half that long. This book is the very definition of light reading and page-turner, and many readers will find it entertaining. For some, however, the characters and the lack of actual stake could impact their enjoyment of reading.

REVIEW: Want

Posted on July 16, 2017July 16, 2017 by Windie @ dip into books

Book Review: Want
	Book title	Want
	Series/standalone	Want #1
	Author	Cindy Pon
	Pages	336
	Year published	2017
	Category \| Genre	Young Adult \| Sci-Fi \| Dystopia
	Rating

Official Summary

Jason Zhou survives in a divided society where the elite use their wealth to buy longer lives. The rich wear special suits that protect them from the pollution and viruses that plague the city, while those without suffer illness and early deaths. Frustrated by his city’s corruption and still grieving the loss of his mother, who died as a result of it, Zhou is determined to change things, no matter the cost.

With the help of his friends, Zhou infiltrates the lives of the wealthy in hopes of destroying the international Jin Corporation from within. Jin Corp not only manufactures the special suits the rich rely on, but they may also be manufacturing the pollution that makes them necessary.

Yet the deeper Zhou delves into this new world of excess and wealth, the more muddled his plans become. And against his better judgment, Zhou finds himself falling for Daiyu, the daughter of Jin Corp’s CEO. Can Zhou save his city without compromising who he is or destroying his own heart?

Review

In A Nutshell

A group of teens trying to pull off dangerous mission in this futuristic dystopian YA sets in Taiwan.

Highlights

An authentic Taiwan setting. Want is an #ownvoices book and as such, it’s to be expected that this book has a rich cultural background, including language, literature, and history. I was pleasantly surprised to find multiple references to “Dream of the Red Chamber”, one of the most famous Chinese literature from the 1800s. Despite it being sets in the future, you can still feel the vibes and the influence from the current Taipei in Want.
Diverse cast of characters. Even though it’s set in Taiwan, the author made sure to include other Asian characters in the main cast. While Zhou (the lead) is Taiwanese, Victor is Filipino, Arun is Indian, while Lingyi is Chinese. There are also bisexual and lesbian main characters in the book, and this made my heart so happy. The best thing about these characters was that they were not just best friends, they’re a family and I am a sucker for this kind of relationship (six of crows anyone?)
The action scenes. Want was my first Cindy Pon’s book and I was truly impressed by what I found. Cindy’s action scenes were well-written and exciting. The story climax was executed well although not as adrenaline pumping as I originally thought it would be.

Things I Wish Were Different

My only minor complaint about Want is the sometimes uneven pace. There were times when I felt the story skipped ahead too far, and some scenes were rushed. It’s only for a small part of the book, though, and the overall plot was still delivered nicely.

Final Score

4.5 stars (out of 5 stars)

Verdict

Want is an exciting, well-executed dystopian novel. Moreover, it is an ownvoices with a diverse cast of characters and an authentic Taiwan setting. What else could I ask for?