2022 Challenge: Ginn Hale's Cadeleonian Series

[Jordan]

Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I will have to start again. I have had such a busy, tiring few weeks and my reading has been disrupted but I will catch up!"

That's usually how life goes!

[Jordan]

I could have sworn Elezar was gay and had a thing for Javier.

I appreciate that there was a reminder of the race in the first book, so that the race became necessary, and not just decoration, if that makes sense.

[Jordan]

No worries! Please feel free to read these as your time allows!

That said, I just finished the second one. I got really hooked by the plot because I couldn’t exactly remember who the bad guy was and the action was good and everything was exciting. Turns out, I remembered a lot about the bad guy, but not everything about how it all went down in the end. Lol.

[Josh]

Jordan wrote: "Yeah, I think I signed up for it years ago, but this is the first I’ve gotten something from her, which is not surprising when you know her a little bit. Lol."

I can't tell you how relieved I am to know I'm not the only one who forgets to send newsletters! :-D

[Josh]

Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "Antonella wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I have fallen behind but will hopefully catch up. I had an interview which was such a stressful process. Thankfully it is over now and I got the ..."

Congratulations!

[Josh]

Jordan wrote: "I find it "interesting", perhaps in a sarcastic kind of way that Cadeleonian folks are very homophobic it seems, and yet if your upperclassman in an all boys school wants to be aggressive with you,..."

THOSE BOYS NEED TO RUN MORE LAPS. ;-D

[Josh]

Three things you can always count on in a book by Ginn Hale:

1 - Phenomenal world building

2 - Believable physicality and action

3 - Understated emotional complexity

I just love her so much.

[Jordan]

Josh wrote: "Three things you can always count on in a book by Ginn Hale:

1 - Phenomenal world building

2 - Believable physicality and action

3 - Understated emotional complexity

I just love her so much."

YES!

[Ije the Devourer of Books]

Josh wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "Antonella wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I have fallen behind but will hopefully catch up. I had an interview which was such a stressful process. Thankf..."

Thank you 😀

[Jordan]

I don't know how much folks are keeping up, and please feel free to chat about whichever book you're at if you're not caught up. But we're now free to move about the cabin and chat about the third book in the series and the first book in the second duology: Champion of the Scarlet Wolf, Book One!

[Jordan]

Started this book last night for the second time. I feel so much better knowing who all the characters are this time. Lol. Though it’s a bit of a jolt to jump five years into the future. It seems like so much has changed!

It’s so silly, but until the audiobook, I was mispronouncing Javier’s name. Now that I’m back to an ebook, I found myself mispronouncing it in my head again. Lol. Oh boy.

[Jordan]

I've only got a few hours left of this, according to my Kindle. It's a very good book, but I wonder if I'm just not completely in the mood for it. Once I spend some time with it then I get into it, but it takes me a bit each time I pick it up.

It's so odd seeing Elezar five years later. He's a different person and we see him as more of an adult too. Skellen is is love interest, and he's kinda cute and spunky. lol. People alternately think highly of Skellen, but also don't think he'll ever amount to much. They don't realize the skills he has.

Two things though that are bothering me. One is that there are parts of this that need an editor, where I can see someone should have gone through to delete random extra words. I sometimes find myself needing to reread a sentence so that it makes sense. It's minor. Thankfully, it's not throughout the entire book, but it is surprising, having read many things from Blind Eye Books and Ginn Hale.

The other thing is that the very first sexual experience between Elezar and Skellen is told from Skellen's POV. From what I understand, Elezar has not had sex with another guy. He's also Cadeleonian, who believe M/M is a sin and all that. I really wanted to have that scene from his POV, and we don't get back to his POV for some time after that. When we do, everything seems fine and he's not thinking about it or worrying about it all that much, which doesn't seem right? I don't know. I just wish we'd gotten his take on the sex scene, even a brief comment would have been good.

Anyway, I'm intrigued where this story will go and how it will be split between the two books. I'm hoping to finish this very soon, so we'll see!

[Jordan]

OOF. There's a lot of abuse and neglect of humans (children and adults) and animals, late in the book, just as an FYI. All done off page and it's in the past, but still, it's not easy to read. It gets mentioned and dealt with right after the second attempt on Elezar's life, if you should want to avoid it or just know when it's coming.

[Jordan]

Also, I'm feeling better now that Elezar seems to have a real purpose coming to him. I think a lot of it is me loving the idea of all the organizing he will need to do to clean up and set to rights this place he has suddenly acquired. There's a LOT of work to do, and I think he's well suited for it. I'm trying not to give spoilers, lol.

[Jordan]

Wow, what an ending! It’s very much the end of the main plot line, but there’s so much left undone, that it does make you want to pick up the next one right away. But I’ll be waiting. I need to start a 600 page tome for my other group! Lol

[Karen]

I'm stuck midway through Book 1. I think it's mainly because I'm finding it difficult print books these days. It may be my eyes. I'll see whether that's a big part of it after my new glasses and contacts come in. Or I may just need to break down and buy the e-books I'm missing (I have some of the series).

The other factor is related to what Jordan mentions about abuse and neglect of people/animals. I had a hard time with some of that in the Rifter series. I have a hard time reading about aspects of homophobic and totalitarian regimes... which is a weird thing to say considering many of the books I've read and enjoyed, and also considering that we've been watching the Polish TV series 1983 which is enough to give anyone "enemy of the state" nightmares.

[Jordan]

I find it interesting in this series how easy it is for Javier, and now for Elezar, to find love with another guy when their religion forbids it so much.

Elezar takes longer, I think, and has internal protests, but the act itself seems to cause no issues for him. Javier is much more chill with it right away.

I do hope your new glasses help! I’ll be reading the rest of the series in eBook, though I do have the next one also in print. My Kindle is much easier to carryto work, or on vacation, as I did with this book.

[Josh]

Karen wrote: "I'm stuck midway through Book 1. I think it's mainly because I'm finding it difficult print books these days. It may be my eyes. I'll see whether that's a big part of it after my new glasses and co..."

I haven't started yet, but I'm blanking on those aspects in Rifter. I'm wondering if those elements are harder to read now given how much our own world has changed?

[Josh]

Jordan wrote: "Started this book last night for the second time. I feel so much better knowing who all the characters are this time. Lol. Though it’s a bit of a jolt to jump five years into the future. It seems l..."

I do that all the time. :-D

[Josh]

Jordan wrote: "I've only got a few hours left of this, according to my Kindle. It's a very good book, but I wonder if I'm just not completely in the mood for it. Once I spend some time with it then I get into it,..."

Five years is a bold choice. It allows for significant change within the world and within the characters. The danger is readers feeling they missed out on too much.

I'd love to read an interview where Ginn discusses her choices. She's always so thoughtful and inventive.

[Jordan]

Josh wrote: "Karen wrote: "I'm stuck midway through Book 1. I think it's mainly because I'm finding it difficult print books these days. It may be my eyes. I'll see whether that's a big part of it after my new ..."

I don't remember all of them, but I do remember Child Kahlil getting beaten by the other priests, I think.

I really really need to do another reread of Rifter. If I had the time, or if this was in audio, I'd reread it once a year. Alas... lol

[Jordan]

Josh wrote: "Jordan wrote: "I've only got a few hours left of this, according to my Kindle. It's a very good book, but I wonder if I'm just not completely in the mood for it. Once I spend some time with it then..."

It is a bold choice! The third book does have a different feel to it because now everyone is grown up and has some adult experiences under their belts.

[Karen]

Josh wrote: "Karen wrote: "I'm stuck midway through Book 1. I think it's mainly because I'm finding it difficult print books these days. It may be my eyes. I'll see whether that's a big part of it after my new ..."

It was the roadside crucifixions and my general anxiety about societies ruled by religious fanaticism. And yes, those feelings are affected by current affairs.

That said, all of the Ginn Hale books I've read have been amazing... but some of them make me anxious. :)

[Jordan]

Karen wrote: "Josh wrote: "Karen wrote: "I'm stuck midway through Book 1. I think it's mainly because I'm finding it difficult print books these days. It may be my eyes. I'll see whether that's a big part of it ..."

Oh yes. Now that you say that, I do remember those being a thing. Yep.

[Jordan]

I will be starting Champion of the Scarlet Wolf book two later today!

[Jordan]

My kindle will not open this ebook! Grrrr. Thankfully I have this in print, but I would prefer to read it on my kindle. Boo.

[Jordan]

I’m halfway through Scarlet Wolf 2 and really enjoying it! I wish I had the time to just sit and read it straight through!

[Jordan]

If only I had the time to finish this, I'd have been done with it by now. lol. It's a good book. I think it's even a fast book, but my reading time is small these days, especially as I try to finish writing and editing a story before I leave for vacation next week. I was also impulsive and borrowed a bunch of DVDs from the library over the weekend. lol. oops. Where does the time go? Why must I sleep at night? Why can't I just inhale media 24/7?

[Karen]

Jordan wrote: "If only I had the time to finish this, I'd have been done with it by now. lol. It's a good book. I think it's even a fast book, but my reading time is small these days, especially as I try to finis..."

Yes, I know that "Why must I sleep?" feeling. :) Although retired, various volunteer tango-related "jobs" and my bead design "business" take up a chunk of time, as well as attention to home/garden/family take up a lot of my day. I stay up way too late reading...

[Jordan]

Karen wrote: "Jordan wrote: "If only I had the time to finish this, I'd have been done with it by now. lol. It's a good book. I think it's even a fast book, but my reading time is small these days, especially as..."

It's good to be busy with other things though and you're doing a lot of fun projects!

[Jordan]

About 100 pages left... figures that when I finally have enough free time to sit and read to the end I’m falling asleep in my chair. Lol. Through no fault of the book, mind. I’m in the middle of a huge war. Lol.

Anyway, this is still good. I love Ann the characters here. I do wish I could see images of the trolls. I want to know how those trees grow on them. I think they’re on the troll’s back, and they must curve upward. Anyway, I love the trolls and so many others. The grimma have a good backstory as to how they became what they are, and I appreciate that.

There are some mistakes in this though that another editing round with fresh eyes would have caught, mostly small words that are missing, like “of” and “a”. But there are enough missing to be a bit of an issue, I think. They keep pulling me out of the story so my brain can make sense of the sentence and then move on. But, that’s mostly it, just a bunch of very small words that are missing, nothing worse than that.

Anyway, I do hope to finish this today.

[Jordan]

Oh, I should update. I finished the book after midnight that night, as I recall.

I've put the series on hold for now. I just have the final two books, but with the summer reading bingo challenge for my library I don't have time for other things. I plan to pick this back up in September.

[Antonella]

Jordan wrote: "Oh, I should update. I finished the book after midnight that night, as I recall.

I've put the series on hold for now. I just have the final two books, but with the summer reading bingo challenge ..."

Summer reading bingo challenge?

[Jordan]

Antonella wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Oh, I should update. I finished the book after midnight that night, as I recall.

I've put the series on hold for now. I just have the final two books, but with the summer reading b..."

https://www.bpl.org/bingo/

There are separate prizes for staff, which I may not win, but I did at least get a totebag! lol. It's a lot of fun, but really takes up a lot of time. I've still got five books to read by the end of August, which does not include books from either book group I'm in or the books I review for the library blog. It's a lot!

[Antonella]

Jordan wrote: "https://www.bpl.org/bingo/"

Oh, interesting, thank you! I had never heard of this.

[Jordan]

Most summer reading programs are for young kids. It’s great to have one for adults!

[Jordan]

I just finished the second to last book, The Master of Restless Shadows book one. And I just now realize the title is referencing Fedeles.

Anyway, this was a slow read for me, but I really enjoyed it. Here’s my review: “It seems with each new installment we get more characters and more world building as the plot expands. Even though these are three duologies with separate stories, everything is interconnected. Parts of this story reflect back to the first two books, for example. It’s crucial to read these in order.

This book also has side characters who are trans and lesbian and one of the main characters is bisexual.

It’s a long story of assassins and political intrigue, all possibly leading up to another war in the final book.

I do wish the main antagonist wasn’t so one-dimensional, but no one else is, and maybe we’ll learn more about him in the next book. This duology focuses on two different gay relationships and thus, has four points of view. I like all four of the characters. Some of the others, I’ve been wondering whose side they’re on, and it’s a great way to keep readers on the edge of our seats!

I plan to write one all encompassing review for the series when I’m finished, so this review is serving as notes to remind me my thoughts later on.”

I need to finish a different trilogy I started last month and will come back to the last book in this series when the other is done. One I will review for the work blog in November, this series I’ll review in December. I can’t wait to finally find out how it all ends!

[Jordan]

I finally finished this series! It’s really good!