Rebecca Crunden's Blog, page 48

Short Story Review: The Lady or the Tiger? (1882)

The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton

This was the king’s semi-barbaric method of administering justice. Its perfect fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of which door would come the lady; he opened either he pleased, without having the slightest idea whether, in the next instant, he was to be devoured or married. On some occasions the tiger came out of one door, and on some out of the other.

Oh, wow, okay. I absolutely loved the prose. I’ve never even heard of th...

Book Review: Prince of Thorns (2011)

Prince of Thornes by Mark Lawrence, narrated by Joe Jameson

❧ audiobook review
I swallowed the night, and the night swallowed me.

This sentence is so good for one-lining the theme of the book. Darkness, and what happens when you allow it to devour you.

This is my first of the classic grimdarks, really. I’ve heard so much about the genre and have so many of the books on my list, but other than GRRM’s books (which I think are considered grimdark?), I haven’t delved much into the genre....

Poetry Review: The Smallest of Bones (2021)

The Smallest of Bones by Holly Lyn Walrath

my body is two-thirds
whiskey
and one-third
ghosts

ABSOLUTELY. FRAKKING. STUNNING POETRY.

I think we write about ourselves so we can become creatures
we wish we could get out of our skin

Walrath is an excellent poet and I cannot wait to read more of her poetry. ♡♡♡

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Show Review: Castlevania (2017)

‘Killing you was the point. Living through it was just a luxury.’

This show was never on my radar until the other night when someone used it to describe a book. I looked it up and found out that Richard Armitage, one of my favourite actors, is the lead voice actor. SOLD. For those who don’t know, Armitage is known for his voice work and narrates loads of books. So far I’ve listened to his audiobooks of The Velveteen Rabbit, Their Lost Daughters (need to finish this one), and Sylvester; an...

Indie Fantasy TBR

With the recent influx of novels on my reading list thanks to SPFBO and new connections on Twitter, I wanted to post about some of the awesome looking books I’m hoping to read over the summer. I also read this really great blog post recently by Zack Argyle about the great fantasy books coming from indie authors, which of course only made this list longer. (I think I’ve added more than these, but I can’t remember them all off the top of my head! I’ll probably end up making multiple posts.)

Th...

Poetry Review: Fairytales (2020)

Fairytales: A Poetry Collection by M.E. Aster

twisted lies and poisoned trees
you are more than that to me
a volatile orchard perhaps

This is a collection of introspective, emotive poetry and prose that is definitely worth checking out! I can’t wait to read more of Aster’s writing.

Yarnsworld by Benedict Patrick

I recently came across the Yarnsworld series by Benedict Patrick and I really, really want to start reading them. I have so many books to read already, but these look positively amazing. The covers immediately drew me in, but the titles are so striking and the book summaries make it sound super intriguing. I mean, the titles are: They Mostly Come Out at Night, Where the Waters Turn Black, Those Brave, Foolish Souls from the City of Swords, From the Shadows of the Owl Queen’s Court, To Dream and ...

Children’s Book Review Roundup

The Mountain by Rebecca Gugger – Oh my gosh, the artwork in this is simply gorgeous and colourful and just so wonderful. I loved all the extra details in each page and the way the animals and their ideas of the mountain are depicted. This is such a lovely little book, definitely give it a shot! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Burt the Beetle Doesn’t Bite! by Ashley Spires – Everything about this book was cute. It follows Burt the beetle as he tries to find out what he excels at in the bu...

Currently Reading

I have quite a few arcs to catch up on, but I’m hoping to get through a few of them in the coming weeks. I’ve also started two wonderful audiobooks that are currently blowing my mind. The first one is Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Thorns. This book is insanely dark, whoa. The main character is inspired by Clockwork Orange, which definitely fills me with trepidation for how dark the book is going to get, but this narrator is great and Lawrence has really drawn me in with his writing! I’m also kee...

Graphic Novel Review: Forget Me Not (2021)

Forget Me Not by Alix Garin

Give the sea a kiss for me.

This lovely graphic novel follows Clémence after she decides to break her grandmother out of her nursing home and take her on a road trip. Her grandmother has dementia and often forgets who Clémence is or where they’re going, but Clémence is patient and resilient and the pair are led on a wild road trip that gets them in all kinds of trouble! I really love the relationship between Clémence and her grandmother. The topics covered i...