Bookish Kingdom discussion
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The Wrath and the Dawn
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Book Of The Month Readalong
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BOTM July 2017: The Wrath and the Dawn
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Aladin is a character from some of Shahrzad's stories, just like in this book, except he didn't get much focus here, presumably because his adventures are well-known.
Holy cow I missed a lot of discussion haha. The pain of being in a different time zone and waking up to two new pages of discussion 
At the moment I basically agree with what everyone here is saying. The book is okay but at the moment it's just not much more than that for me. The story intrigues me BUT all the bits I am really interested in i.e. Jahandar, 'the gift', Shazi learning about her 'gift', the curse - all seem to be on the wayside and not getting much attention. This is the only reason I want to read the second book at the moment- in the hope that these plots are more at the forefront.
There is noone that I'm shipping at the moment. At all *sigh* The sword lesson scene was cute but there isn't enough of this to really ship those two. I think I would actually rather Rajut to jump in.
A BIG thank you to Regsly for all the background info. Super helpful and interesting. Although I wish the book stood on it's own more by bringing in more of the interesting info of the original story. I dunno, I just think you should be able to enjoy it more not knowing the original story than think it's okay and than like it a lot more after the original is explained? Does that make sense?
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Right?? Nothing really happens in those three chapters. Like please something happen anything!!
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Aladin is a character from some of Shahrzad's stories, just like in this book, except he didn't get much focus here, presumably because his adventures are well-known."
I saw that and I was really interested on how she told the story and maybe not Disney-fy it but she never really explained so I was a little disappointed
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Ayla wrote: "@Regsly Thanks so much for the extra info! It all makes much more sense now :)"
Glad I could be of help :D It makes having read the gruesome original less of a personal torture xD
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Oh yeah, it's winter there right? It's summer here. Well, there would be less discussion from my part, if I behaved like a good little Regsly and went to bed at proper times :P So don't feel bad.
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Yup, the fantasy part and the reason for the curse are mostly what the story has going for itself at this point.
And I agree that a retelling should stand its own ground. It's supposed to be a fresh intake on an old premise.
I love people getting inspired on something already existing, picking up the good parts and creating something awesome on its own. Deconstruction of concepts, roles and characters. Creating new worlds.
There's really amazing stories like that out there. There's also some that aren't amazing but are lovable and amusing enough, like Beastly. It wasn't an epic read, but I laughed and enjoyed myself. The entertainment was delivered, whomever hoped for a deep story was looking in the wrong place xD
This story seems plain so far. I'm not excited to read the next page. *shrugs* Still liking it, but... I'm not feeling much? Does that make sense?
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I always think about flora and fauna x3 That's why.
(The one who got full of indignation because our equivalent to a mayor's office had the 4 trees in front of my home cut down. And they didn't consult everybody, just listened to a few complaints from some selfish people. I have allergic asthma and I don't want any plants dying because of poor ol' me, but humans are selfish and dumb.
And nobody from the staff has answered my polite but justly indignant e-mails. Huff)
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(view spoiler)
I really want to read Beastly even if it's just for pure enjoyment. I've been very interested about it. Also, WHAT they just tore off your trees for no reason??? That's stupid..
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I recommend the book. It's like I said, not epic, buuuut... well, it has that modern older teen charm with some fantasy elements. I think you'd like it, if you liked Simon, even though they have nothing in common xD
Well, they were part of the public space - it's like a small green spot, but they'd been there long before I even existed!
They created shade and increased the breeze, they created a sort of privacy cuz they blocked onlookers from the street above, and the buildings on the other side, they were home for many different animals, made the street look aesthetically more pleasing. Also, they are important in maintaining the soil fertile and moist. The street and homes got much more hot without them already.
Some neighbours convinced others neighbours to join in their complaints, but they didn't discuss the wills of everybody (apparently some people even claimed the trees were sick which is a lie. I have a mate whose field in biology relates to the environment, so she knows.) *angered face* Then the mayor's office just went with it without consulting all the residents. I left one morning to return and see... chopped up trees. Corpses basically. I was shocked, then I wanted to cry angry tears and finally I was indignantly angry.
I had to find out the information by myself, 'cuz like I stated the city hall didn't answer me yet. I may get the terminology wrong, but I went to my ahm parish council (?) and they knew nothing, then there's the union of parishes from the county who aided in the cleaning up and provided the railings, but they don't know of any motivations either. The president was snotty, but he did give me a second email contact to the city hall's department related with the environment. I resent my email to this department, but have had no answer so far.
I can't go there myself because of my schedule during their working hours.
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It does make sense what you were saying about not being excited to read the next page! I experience the same thing :(
I also would like a change of environment, since pretty much the whole (main) story is set in the palace, until now.
Also, it's ridiculous they just chop down those threes without
A) getting a full view on this by hearing all of your opinions, and; B) not thinking about the consequences - streets and homes that get hotter.
I haven't heard of "Beastly" yet, but I'll take a look! Sometimes a book doesn't have to be perfect and a bit of entertainment can be enough :) Especially on those hot summer days, when you don't want to think about underlying messages or something like that too much.
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It's like eating a banana for me. I can't say I like them, but I eat them just fine.
Yeah, they don't even hire landscape architects and proper specialists in the environment to know which trees to plant where. Like it's not the poplars fault that tall buildings were constructed near them. They've always released pollen, those cotton-like balls, but because of the tall buildings it creates an umbrella effect and the pollens get stuck instead of being carried away by the wind.
Dry winters and years also don't help and small showers only bring down more pollen, instead of cleaning it. Anyone can find this out with research.
What angers me is why do humans think they are entitled to take down voiceless lives for feeble reasons? Why do they find humans lives the be so high and mighty when opposed to any other life?
Sorry, I won't go into it anymore.
So okay, Beastly. Modern retelling of Beauty & the Beast. It's from the OT Beast's pov. There's a moral to the story, of course.
And the author looked at the various versions of the tale, and found there were things that disturbed her: the fact that Beauty/Belle is so beloved but her father gives her away willingly, easily, and the fact that Beast was all alone for unknown reasons, presumably abandoned by his family. So she made an unsugarcoated version of it all.
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Hahaha, love the comparison with the banana xD
That must be very annoying, especially for people with an allergy to pollen.
Personally I don't really think about this often, but I do think about the mass chopping of rainforests.
It is strange that human kind has so much power. While we certainly are very intelligent, we make mistakes as well. But I guess the good and the bad have to be in balance to make things work.
Beastly certainly sounds very interesting! :D
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It is, and there lots of medication that aren't very effective, or make you sleepy. Also what works for you, may not work for me. Aside from the typical stuff, there's the eye and skin itch, the pimples, the throat, etc...
I know about it first hand, but hey I never rage against nature.
The needs to be more balance, there's too much bad.
If you ever read it, give us the feedback ;)
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A lot of people in my family have this allergy as well, so I know it can be very irritating...
You're probably right: so many bad things are happening at the moment, it's so sad.
And I'll definitely give you the feedback, if I read it :)
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I hate how people are treating the environment. It's so wrong. Without plants or trees, we wouldn't live either so all they are doing is making it worse. It's just very irritating.
Also I've been wanting to read Beastly for so long XD
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The MOST infuriating thing is the people who are denying global warming :(
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Oh my poor siblings of suffering sniff. Though truth be told, it's humankind's fault. Allergies and asthma are "industrial" health problems.
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They take down trees and greenery and don't even build roof gardens to compensate. Then it's tar everywhere which basically turns the soil barren and increases our problem with heat because of its colour, surface and substance, due to how light travels.
Denying global warming is the same as those people who claim the holocaust never happened. I swear, I don't know what is wrong with some people's brains and with the conscience of others.
We all know our planet goes through all sorts of phases. We've had a fire age before, an ice age, etc, etc... But claiming this is normal when it is happening at a faster rate than nature would ever do it?
Nature has its ways to heal and prosper, attacking us is one of them. Even some fires are useful for the forest, I learned as a child. Mother nature knows best. But we obviously don't! Every time we mess with it even with good intentions, things go bad, because we can't do better than nature itself.
Do it! Read it! *wags pon-pons* Then tell me: Brah, I didn't like it. Why did you tell me to read it? xD
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XD! I love coming back to this conversation. Made my day.I haven't read past the Bluebearded chapter but thought I would pop my head in and catch up. Don't ruin anything for me BUT I am really hoping that with a chapter called 'Two Crossed Swords' there is MM twist *crosses fingers* Khalid+Jalal perhaps? *grins expectantly*
But yeah, Regsly it's winter here. Which I mean, I hope winter but the weather is so all over the place this year that it's just annoying. Freezing one day, hot the next, random fog and 10 minute torrential rains.
If we are going to recommend retellings than I 100% recommend The Mermaid's Daughter to everyone. I'm super picky on retellings because I hate when they rely too heavily on the story or make it cheesy or the exact same except make everyone robots (not looking at any books in particular). But this one won my heart. You don't need to know the story, the character development is fantastic. You WILL ship the gorgeous characters as well. Loved it so much.
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KhalidXJalal would be incest xD (although between cousins I don't really consider it. I've read the scientific studies and there's exactly the same chances of an unrelated couple giving birth to a baby with health problems. Of course, they're men. But yeah, let cousins get married, world! xD)
I know what you're saying, even though it's summer here, it's also all over the place.
Woah I've just read the synopsis and it sounds awesome! Why aren't we reading this one instead? my brain asked xD We should do a buddy reading of this one!
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(view spoiler)
Actually Becca suggested it but since it didn't have enough ratings and there were other suggestions, it didn't make it into the poll. But she tried at least. Maybe it could be a buddy read separate from BOTM
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I'm in for buddy-reading The Mermaid's Daughter :D
The synopsis sounds cool!
Maybe one of you could suggest it for the BOTM August, since its theme is "Fantasy" and The Mermaid's Daughter fits into that as well :)
Otherwise we could always do a buddy-read on it of course!
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That would be pretty cool. I'm down. I can't suggest it because I already suggested Strange The Dreamer. It's always hard to pick one suggestion out of the many I have in my head XD
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You're welcome, Ilsen, go to sleep with Beyoncé *giggle*
Eveytime I remember the book going "hahaha just you wait" I snicker.
I can see us at the ending "Wait, it ends like this?" and the book all like "muahahahah caw caw see you at the sequel mudsuckas. Did I mention we only did 2 books so we could get double the money for half-assed effort? :D"
I think this book needs an asylum for a big part of the cast, and anger management therapy for the rest.
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Now, about the book. I already suggested one too sniff
But yes, we can do a buddy-reading for The Mermaid's Daughter. I'm up for it! :D
Actually, I'm feeling more excited about that one than Shazi's story. I think if a comet fell and they all died right now, I'd just yawn and not shed a tear xD
I hope this changes yet. I mean, I've progressively gotten more bored.
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Hahaha, the ending will probably be like that XD
But the hardcover sequel is cheaper though! At least on amazon :)
I could create a thread for the buddy read tomorrow and see when we could start :)
And, honestly, same. I've no connection to the characters. at. all.
But I'm still hoping for a plottwist or something like that, to make the story interesting again!
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I'm even imagining the book waving a little white handkerchief.
We should've thought the hard-cover sequel being cheaper was suspicious.
If it's not too much work for you, I know you've been busy, I agree :)
I only have this protective wing for Khalid 'cuz he's a broken character. But even so... xD
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There better be something interesting. I have the second book already on ebook because my sister already read the duology. I'm kinda scared because she read it this year and she doesn't even remember the ending XD. But yea I'm down to read The Mermaid's Daughter. I'll just get it on the Nook super quick. And there better be a plot twist or something. Everyone always raves about this book and I just feel like this one didn't live up to the hype but maybe the ending will change that.
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The Mirror & the Maze
The Crown & the Arrow
They don't even have enough pages for the Reading Challenge, but I might as well see if this brings some insight into anyone, anything.
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I heard one Booktuber rave about the novellas for The Wrath and The Dawn but honestly I'm still debating if I'm picking up the second one so I don't know. I have to be drawn to read the novellas. A novella I'm really looking forward to is a Dorothy Must Die novella (there's so many of them it might as well be a book but I haven't finished the last two) and the Star-Touched Queen novella
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Meh the e-novellas were free and are super short *shrugs* (I'm always up for raising my yearly readings)
I WANT TO READ THE DOROTY UNIVERSE! But there's so many, like you said. I don't want to start something that may have a big number of "books" coming out yet.
I've gotten myself into series that just won't end, and I always have to re-read the previous books at a certain point, 'cuz I end up forgetting things ;__; It would be fine, 'cuz I likem, except I want to cut down on my TRL (I mean, I don't even have all I wish to read listed here so I don't go crazy)
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Honestly the novellas help but you don't need to read it. Without the novellas, it's a 4 book series. It should have been a trilogy but whatever. I think it's still really good
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Bookish Kingdom
Books mentioned in this topic
Flame in the Mist (other topics)The Mirror and the Maze (other topics)
The Crown & the Arrow (other topics)
The Mermaid's Daughter (other topics)
The Mermaid's Daughter (other topics)
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First, welcome finally :D You had to wait for your book and then you had a lot of catching up to do as well as living your life, so good job!
(view spoiler)[ As for the curse, it's the same conclusion I reached about its terms.
But I'm assuming there is a lot more female population for various historical reasons, including the fact that men go to war.
Also, it's not just the population but the kingdom and Khalid that suffer consequences. There is a big difference to me. (specially with the poor animals and plants also dying -_-) If there's storms with thunder and tornadoes and stuff; if other natural disasters occur and leave the land forever unlivable...
Not that I'm excusing the murders. It is the part for the whole, if one is to be pragmatic.
More people annoyed at Tariq *snort* Also, I've already mentioned above about how I would kick his ass if he came to free me against my wishes. She made a choice, knew the consequences. He's basically interfering.
I'm expecting Tariq's revolution to invade and screw things up at a crucial point and for the curse to hulk out at the end. Also, probably some magic from Jahandar thundering on the background xD (hide spoiler)]