WWW Wednesday: Jan 27th 2021 #wwwwednesday #bookblog #amreading #booklove #sharing

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This book meme was initially created by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Taking on a World of Words. There are three Ws to answer in each post. What are you currently reading?, what did you recently finish reading? and what do you think you’ll read next? Please feel free to join me in the comments below to discuss your three Ws too!

I am slightly behind in my reading going into 2021 as I have been reading some pretty long fantasy novels. Reading House Of Smoke and then The Forever Sea back to back took a while but it was totally worth it. I am now reading a fantasy novella by George Mann called Broken Things which is a nice change of pace. I am not sure what I want to read next, but I’ll have it worked out by the end of this post! Thank you for stopping by to read my thoughts on some recent reads, your support is forever appreciated.

What Are You Currently Reading?

Synopsis: The goddess Amaranth, Queen of the Broken, has been reborn for the first time in generations and now resides once more in her distant tower, observing the world through her strange, fractured eyes. Three pilgrims set out on the trail to find her, each for their own reasons: Pallor, the Knight of Perish, who wishes to die by a worthy hand and will challenge the goddess to a fight to the death; Nok, the tribal Wolkin, who carries her brother’s bones to beg Amaranth to restore him to the afterlife; and Ambrose, the monk, charged by his Order to seek the answer to the unanswerable question at the heart of his faith. Each of these pilgrims will be tested on the road to their inevitable convergence—and each will be granted answers, of a sort, from the Broken Queen…

My Thoughts: George Mann is a legend for me in the dark thriller, steampunk and mythology genres. I am incredibly curious about his approach to fantasy and Broken Things seemed like a golden opportunity. I am glad it is a novella because I have been reading some hefty books recently. I have so far met all the main characters and I am liking what I am experiencing with them. I think Nok will be the most interesting as her life and interactions are the most fantastical so far. But the Knight definitely has the potential and if not him then his squire. At least I can confidently say that I am back in the fantasy game as a blogger after many months of avoiding it!

What Did You Recently Finish Reading?

Synopsis: Sing.

A story of hope and adventure, of loss and sacrifice, of the blue-sky surface world far above, where ships sail upon the endless grasses, a story of the Forever Sea, a story of you and I…

Every story has its beginning and this one starts when a young sailor, Kindred Greyreach, hearthfire keeper and sailor aboard The Errant, receives some devastating news. Her grandmother—The Marchess, legendary captain and hearthfire keeper—has stepped from her vessel and disappeared into the Forever Sea. But the note she leaves Kindred suggests this was not an act of suicide. Something waits in the depths, and the Marchess has set out to find it.

To follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, Kindred will embroil herself in conflicts bigger than she could imagine: a water war; a mythic pirate city where monsters lurk; battles against beasts of the deep, driven to the brink of madness; and the elusive promise of a world below the grasses.

Of all this, and much more, sing, memory.

THE FOREVER SEA is a story about the beauty and threat of nature and the relationship between finite natural resources and infinite greed. It’s about leaving behind everything that is familiar and plunging into the terrifying unknown.

My Thoughts: The Forever Sea is an excellent fantasy novel that I can happily recommend to all. Set in a magical world where boats use fire to sail on seas made of grass. It is a lush and crazy as it sounds. I thought Joshua Phillip Johnson did an incredible job crafting this world, it’s inhabitants and it most creative secrets. I am on the fence about the main character Kindred because she is a troublesome rebel who gets a lot of people killed serving her own needs. That said, she has a great backstory and the way she interacts with the world is worth all the chaos. I am a bit upset that I have to wait for a sequel because I really want to know what truly lives beneath those prairie waves!

What Do You Think You’ll Read Next?

Synopsis: From one of the most dynamic rising stars in astrophysics, an eye-opening look at five ways the universe could end, and the mind-blowing lessons each scenario reveals about the most important ideas in cosmology

We know the universe had a beginning. But what happens at the end of the story?

With lively wit and wry humour, astrophysicist Katie Mack takes us on a mind-bending tour through each of the cosmos’ possible finales: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, Vacuum Decay, the Big Rip and the Bounce. Guiding us through major concepts in quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory and much more, she describes how small tweaks to our incomplete understanding of reality can result in starkly different futures. Our universe could collapse in upon itself, or rip itself apart, or even – in the next five minutes – succumb to an inescapable expanding bubble of doom.

This captivating story of cosmic escapism examines a mesmerizing yet unfamiliar physics landscape while sharing the excitement a leading astrophysicist feels when thinking about the universe and our place in it. Amid stellar explosions and bouncing universes, Mack shows that even though we puny humans have no chance of changing how it all ends, we can at least begin to understand it.

The End of Everything is a wildly fun, surprisingly upbeat ride to the farthest reaches of all that we know.

My Thoughts: I do enjoy a good dabble in astrophysics or quantum mechanics from time to time, despite not possessing the brain power required to understand it to its fullest extent. I have the advantage here because I have already read half of The End Of Everything but stopped because I felt I wasn’t giving it the attention it required. It is a fascinating book though. Katie Mack explains the various theories about how our universe is set to end (or recycle) based on current and viable research that is happening right now. Katie’s charming writing and obvious intellect is the perfect setting for this discussion and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about entropy, cosmological constants and dark energy. It gives me goosebumps because despite all the knowledge we have on our universe, its secrets are still so distant and mysterious beyond measure. Can’t wait to get back into it!

Thank you as always for coming by to see what I’ve been up to in the land of books. I am feeling quite hyped about reading (not so much reviewing) at the moment so I am going to do as much as I can before the steam escapes me (weird visual image there). I am thinking big thoughts about my blog going into 2021 and I hope at least 1% of my ideas come to fruition, we will see. Let me know what you’re all reading at the moment and please provide some recommendations for me to keep up my momentum.