Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: How to become the dark Lord and die trying  Author: Django Wexler  ISBN: 9780316392204 Publisher: Orbit Part of a Series: Dark Lord Davi  Type of book: comedy, satire, fantasy, adventure, flipping the fantasy tropes, power of evil vs good, quest, humans vs other humanoids, mastermind  Year it was published: 2024  Summary: Characters: Main character is Davi, a snarky and sarcastic young woman who comes from 21st century of our world. She is very open, energetic, logical and is passionate. She also has a vicious streak of sorts, but at the same time compassion. She is also reckless as well. There is also her love interest Tsav an ogre? Woman who is practical, loyal and is willing to do what she can to make sure Davi survives. Amitsugu is a fox? Creature who is sneaky, too clever for his own good and often thinks with his feelings instead of brain. I am sure there are a ton of other characters I am forgetting, but they are worthwhile to check out.  Theme:

Name of Book: The Tower of fools Author: Andrzej Sapkowski  ISBN: 9780316423694 Publisher: Orbit  Part of a Series: the hussite trilogy   Type of book: Poland, 1420s, fantasy, foiled love, family, reputation, religion, Latin tongue, church, anachronistic women, wealth, middle class  Year it was published: 2020 ( original 2002)  Summary: Characters: The three main characters are Reynavan, Scharlie and Samson. Reynavan is a healer who does witch type magic. He is also a philanderer who often thinks more with his heart and passion rather than logic. Scharlie is definitely a favorite character. He is creative, intelligent and loyal. He is full of surprises. Samson Hineypot is also a fascinating and lovable character who is otherworldly and who is best known for strength and religious knowledge, although all three have that in spades and more.  Theme: I read it from cover to cover, but no idea what lesson i should have gathsred from it   Plot: The story is in third pers

Name of Book: these deathless shores  Author: p.h. low  ISBN: 9780316569200 Publisher: orbit Type of book: dark, Asian Peter Pan retelling, expectations, captain hook side, island, anorexia, romance, drug use and dependency, murders, real world vs Neverland, fantasy   Year it was published: 2024  Summary: Characters: Main characters include Jordan, Baron, Tier and Chay. Jordan is extremely abusive and manipulative. She disguised herself as a Lost Boy and almost pulled off the disguise until she is discovered and forced to go back. She is also a talented warrior. Baron is Jordan's friend and has a one way crush on her. He is an intellectual and has goals for being a doctor. I would guess he is opposite of Jordan. Tier didn't have much impact on story. He simply acted as a love interest for Chay. He is poor little rich boy.  Chay is acting as the mother for the lost boys and Peter Pan. She is very nurturing but often does dark things to herself to makes sure she ca

Title of the book: The Burning Earth; A history  Author: Sunil Amrith  Publisher: W.W. Norton  Publishing Date: 2024  ISBN: 978-1-324-00718-0 Summary: A brilliant, paradigm-shifting global history of how humanity has reshaped the planet, and the planet has shaped human history, over the last 500 years. Ever since innovations in agriculture vastly expanded production of food, our remarkable achievements in reshaping nature have allowed billions of humans to exist and thrive. Yet every technological innovation has also empowered us to exploit each other and the planet with devastating brutality. In this magisterial book, historian Sunil Amrith twins the stories of environment and Empire, genocide and eco-cide, human freedom and planetary costs. His environmental lens provides an essential new way of understanding war as massive reshaping of the earth through global mobilizations of natural resources, including humans; and explains patterns of migration as a consequence of env

Name of Book: French windows  Author: Antoine Laurain   ISBN: 9781913547752 Publisher: Gallic press  Type of book: France, modern times, artist block, storytelling, secrets, quirkiness, counseling, mysteries  Year it was published: 2024 (2023)  Summary: Bringing his trademark style and charming whimsy, Antoine Laurain’s new novel of intrigue, murder and neighbourly curiosity is sure to delight fans old and new.  Nathalia, a young photographer, has been seeing a therapist. Having accidentally photographed a murder, she finds that she can no longer do her job.  Instead, Doctor Faber suggests that she write about the neighbours she idly observes in the building across the street. But as these written snapshots become increasingly detailed, he starts to wonder how she can possibly know so much about them. With each session, Doctor Faber and his mysterious patient will get closer and closer to the truth. But are the stories Nathalia submits each week as she claims... Bestsellin

Name of Book: Kalmann and the sleeping mountain  Author: Joachim B Schmidt  ISBN: 978-1-916725-00-3 Publisher: Bitter lemon press  Part of a Series: Kalmann series Type of book: Covid, 2020-2021, mysterious death, USA, election, Jan 6 insurrection, FBI, Iceland, possible mysteries,, motives, pollution  Year it was published: 2024 (2023)  Summary: The return of Kalmann, the oddball hero of the  bestselling  novel of the same name. Set first in West Virginia and Washington at the time of the 2021 riots at the US Capitol Building and then in the far north of Iceland where Kalmann, the self-appointed Sheriff of a small fishing village, is faced with murders leading back to US shenanigans in Iceland during the Cold War. It all begins with Kalmann in very hot water. He’s at the FBI Headquarters in Washington, arrested during the Jan 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol Building. All he wanted was to visit his American father in the US for the Christmas holidays – but his dad takes