‘Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;’
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. This week’s theme:
‘Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;’ – a cover featuring a gravestone
My first thoughts this week were Moon Called and The Graveyard book, but I think I’ve used both of those before so I’ve opted for: Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse #4) by Charlaine Harris :
I’m going for the simple cover this week. I like the last cover but it has an almost comedy element to it that I didn’t really quite understand – this is a fun series but it’s not an outright riot of giggles. I also like the series of covers bottom left) but my favourite this week:
Next week – a cover featuring footsteps’
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ of one of your favourite covers)
25th May – Trip trap, trip trap, trip trap – a cover featuring footsteps
1st June – clinging and invasive – a cover featuring creeping vines
8th June – Raining Cats and Dogs – a cover featuring a stormy sky
15th June – Live in the saddle. Die on the hog – a cover featuring riders
22nd June -‘Murder most foul, as in the best it is’ – a cover featuring a murder scene
29th June – ‘Lips as red as the rose’ – a cover that is predominantly red
6th July – ‘The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow, ‘ – a cover that is windswept
13th July –‘There’s more of gravy than of grave about you’ – a cover featuring a ghost or spectre
20th July -‘In winter with warm tears I’ll melt the snow’ – A cover featuring icicles or snow
27th July – “I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and pass like dreams.” – a cover that is steampunk
3rd August – “Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.” – a cover featuring a starry sky
10th August – ‘…Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore can never leave me again! – A cover with a mask
17th August – ‘Knock, knock… ‘who’s there?’ – A cover featuring a door ajar or closed
24th August – ‘To be a legend, you’ve either got to be dead, or excessively old!’ – A cover with a title featuring the word ‘legend’
31st August – ‘“Come buy our orchard fruits, Come buy, come buy’ – A cover featuring a goblin or dwarves
7th September – ‘Mirror, Mirror on the wall – A cover featuring a queen
14th September – “He had killed man, the noblest game of all, and he had killed in the face of the law of club and fang.” – A cover featuring a wolf or wolves
21st September – ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ – a cover featuring clouds
28th September – Eyes wide shut – a cover featuring eyes
5th October – “He sounded like a man who had slept well and didn’t owe too much money.” – A cover that is ‘noir’
12th October – “The impossible could not have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.” – A cover for a mystery novel
19th October -“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!” – A horror cover
26th October – Trick or treat – A halloween inspired cover
2nd November – ‘Remember, remember the fifth of November,’ – A cover inspired by Bonfire Night
9th November – ‘All right! They’re spiders from Mars! You happy?’ – A cover feturing a critter of the eight legged variety
16th November – There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.’ – A scary cover
23rd November – ‘The child is in love with a human. And not just any human. A prince!’ – A cover featuring a mermaid/man
30th November – “..the children of the night. What music they make!” – a cover with a vampire
7th December – ‘I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.’ – A cover featuring a hero
14th December -“Heavy is the head that wears the crown” – A cover featuring a crown
21st December – ‘ho, ho, ho’ – A seasonal cover
28th December – A freebie – choose one of your favourite titles and compare the covers
2019
4th January – A cover that is fresh – New beginnings for a New Year
11th January – ‘I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king’ – A cover that depicts a novel set in the Tudor period
18th January – A cover featuring an Amulet – either in the cover or title
25th January – ‘Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.’ – A cover featuring a monk/priest/person of the cloth
1st February – A comedy cover
8th February – ‘Hi little cub. Oh no, don’t be ssscared.’ – A cover with snakes
15th February – A heart – for Valentine’s day past
22nd February – “Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.” – A cover with abandoned building/s
1st March – ‘who will buy this wonderful morning’ – A cover featuring a shop or market
8th March – ‘Two little fishes and a momma fishy too’ – A cover featuring a fish/fishes or other sea creatures
15th March – ‘Beware the moon, lads.’ – A cover with a shapeshifter
22nd March – ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’ – A cover featuring a king
29th March – “I thought unicorns were more . . . Fluffy.” – A cover featuring a unicorn
5th April – ‘nomad is an island’ – A cover featuring a desert landscape
12th April – ‘Odin, Odin, send the wind to turn the tide – A cover featuring a longboat
19th april – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – A cover featuring a school
‘She loves me, she loves me not’
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. I’ve changed the topic slightly and my book choices are:
‘Books I thought I would dislike but am really glad I read’
The original theme was ‘Books I Disliked but Am Really Glad I Read – to be honest, I don’t tend to read books through to the end if I’m not liking them. Life is too short. I do have a few books that really surprised me in a good way:
- The Foundation series by Asimov – I didn’t expect to like this. At the time I was reading very little sci-fi and to be honest I didn’t expect to understand half of the concepts here but I ended up having a great time reading the first three books – probably because I read it as a readalong with others which really helped to open up the ideads involved.
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – for some reason I always thought the Graveyard Book was probably aimed at children and it kind of distracted me from picking this book up for a long time, even though so many people who I knew read it and loved it. I was wrong. It’s that simple. I loved this book and Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors.
- I am Legend by Richard Matheson – this was at the recommendation of a good friend. I don’t know why but I had reservations going into the read but I kept an open eye. It’s definitely a very bleak sort of read from the perspective of one very lonely man – but it completely blew me away and the ending is really astounding.
- Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Similarly to No.1 this book is space opera – again, I worried, quite needlessly as it turns out, that most of it would be too hard sci-fi for me. This is a really good read though and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
- Borderline by Mishell Baker – this series had glowing reviews and so I expected to enjoy it, however, I bought it as audio and so wasn’t sure if listening to this would work out for me. As it happens it won me over completely – I’m still a beginner when it comes to audio and I have learnt a few lessons along the way so far, but this book is great to listen to. The narrator does such an excellent job with the different characters that I was carried away.
- Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory – this book is absolutely brilliant. I can’t deny that I wasn’t in love with the cover for it though and it wouldn’t particularly have drawn my attention. Also the blurb and the whole talk about gangsters, etc, put me off a little – it seemed such out of my usual safety zone. This book was so good though. My husband only reads a few books a year – last year he read this and loved it – I can’t think of a higher recommendation really.
- Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky – this is a book that I felt was going to become very military focused – and there is a level of that involved – but there’s also an intensely compelling storyline which is helped by the use of an unexpected courtroom drama.
- The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt – a long time colleague and good friend recommended this one to me. Again, I had doubts. At the time I wouldn’t normally contemplate books with a western feel but this was just brilliant. The dialogue is so good and it was just so unexpectedly compelling.
- The Outlander (Cross Stitch) by Diana Gabaldon. The friend I mentioned above passed on this series to me – her sister had read and loved it but she didn’t fancy reading it which kind of put me off a little too – as it happens I devoured the first five books in quick succession. I haven’t completed the series yet but will do so eventually (although I’m not sure that the series is yet finished).
- Your book choice – do you have a book you didn’t expect to enjoy but ended up loving??
“Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.”
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. This week’s theme:
‘Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth’ – a cover featuring a dinosaur/s
I expected this to be more difficult than it turned out. I had another couple of books in mind but I decided to go for a classic (funnily enough, now I think about it my other books were classics two so I’m intrigued to see if there are more modern books with dinosaurs now I’ve thought about it. My choice: Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth. There are lots of covers for this so I’ve tried to stick with a selection that reflect the theme. Feast your eyes on these:
This is a tough choice. I like a few of these for different reasons. I think my favourites are:
But my winner, which just feels over-the-top-outrageous is:
Next week – a cover that is a ‘freebie’ – simply choose a book you love and compare covers – it should be an interesting week 😀
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ of one of your favourite covers)
18th May – ‘Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;’ – a cover featuring a gravestone
25th May – Trip trap, trip trap, trip trap – a cover featuring footsteps
1st June – clinging and invasive – a cover featuring creeping vines
8th June – Raining Cats and Dogs – a cover featuring a stormy sky
15th June – Live in the saddle. Die on the hog – a cover featuring riders
22nd June -‘Murder most foul, as in the best it is’ – a cover featuring a murder scene
29th June – ‘Lips as red as the rose’ – a cover that is predominantly red
6th July – ‘The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow, ‘ – a cover that is windswept
13th July –‘There’s more of gravy than of grave about you’ – a cover featuring a ghost or spectre
20th July -‘In winter with warm tears I’ll melt the snow’ – A cover featuring icicles or snow
27th July – “I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and pass like dreams.” – a cover that is steampunk
3rd August – “Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.” – a cover featuring a starry sky
10th August – ‘…Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore can never leave me again! – A cover with a mask
17th August – ‘Knock, knock… ‘who’s there?’ – A cover featuring a door ajar or closed
24th August – ‘To be a legend, you’ve either got to be dead, or excessively old!’ – A cover with a title featuring the word ‘legend’
31st August – ‘“Come buy our orchard fruits, Come buy, come buy’ – A cover featuring a goblin or dwarves
7th September – ‘Mirror, Mirror on the wall – A cover featuring a queen
14th September – “He had killed man, the noblest game of all, and he had killed in the face of the law of club and fang.” – A cover featuring a wolf or wolves
21st September – ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ – a cover featuring clouds
28th September – Eyes wide shut – a cover featuring eyes
5th October – “He sounded like a man who had slept well and didn’t owe too much money.” – A cover that is ‘noir’
12th October – “The impossible could not have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.” – A cover for a mystery novel
19th October -“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!” – A horror cover
26th October – Trick or treat – A halloween inspired cover
2nd November – ‘Remember, remember the fifth of November,’ – A cover inspired by Bonfire Night
9th November – ‘All right! They’re spiders from Mars! You happy?’ – A cover feturing a critter of the eight legged variety
16th November – There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.’ – A scary cover
23rd November – ‘The child is in love with a human. And not just any human. A prince!’ – A cover featuring a mermaid/man
30th November – “..the children of the night. What music they make!” – a cover with a vampire
7th December – ‘I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.’ – A cover featuring a hero
14th December -“Heavy is the head that wears the crown” – A cover featuring a crown
21st December – ‘ho, ho, ho’ – A seasonal cover
28th December – A freebie – choose one of your favourite titles and compare the covers
2019
4th January – A cover that is fresh – New beginnings for a New Year
11th January – ‘I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king’ – A cover that depicts a novel set in the Tudor period
18th January – A cover featuring an Amulet – either in the cover or title
25th January – ‘Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.’ – A cover featuring a monk/priest/person of the cloth
1st February – A comedy cover
8th February – ‘Hi little cub. Oh no, don’t be ssscared.’ – A cover with snakes
15th February – A heart – for Valentine’s day past
22nd February – “Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.” – A cover with abandoned building/s
1st March – ‘who will buy this wonderful morning’ – A cover featuring a shop or market
8th March – ‘Two little fishes and a momma fishy too’ – A cover featuring a fish/fishes or other sea creatures
15th March – ‘Beware the moon, lads.’ – A cover with a shapeshifter
22nd March – ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’ – A cover featuring a king
29th March – “I thought unicorns were more . . . Fluffy.” – A cover featuring a unicorn
5th April – ‘nomad is an island’ – A cover featuring a desert landscape
12th April – ‘Odin, Odin, send the wind to turn the tide – A cover featuring a longboat
19th april – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – A cover featuring a school
Can’t Wait Wednesday : Priest of Bones (War for the Rose Throne #1) by Peter McLean
9 May 2018
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Can't wait Wednesday, Peter McLean, Priest of Bones, Wishful Endings
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was originally created by Breaking the Spine. Unfortunately Breaking the Spine are no longer hosting so I’m now linking my posts up to Wishful Endings Can’t Wait Wednesday. Don’t forget to stop over, link up and check out what books everyone else is waiting for. If you want to take part, basically, every Wednesday, we highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to. This week my book is : Priest of Bones (War for the Rose Throne #1) by Peter McLean:
The first in a brand new dark and gritty epic fantasy series, where a crime boss comes home from the war only to find that his businesses have been stolen from him.
It’s a dangerous thing, to choose the lesser of two evils.
The war is over, and army priest Tomas Piety finally heads home with Lieutenant Bloody Anne at his side. When he arrives in the Stink, Tomas finds that his empire of crime has been stolen from him while at war. With his gang of Pious Men, Tomas will do whatever it takes to reclaim his businesses. But when he finds himself dragged into a web of political intrigue once again, and is forced to work in secret for the sinister Queen’s Men, everything gets more complicated.
When loyalties stretch to the breaking point and violence only leads to violence, when people have run out of food, and hope, and places to hide, do not be surprised if they have also run out of mercy. As the Pious Men fight shadowy foreign infiltrators in the backstreet taverns and gambling dens of Tomas’s old life it becomes clear; the war is not over.
It is only just beginning.
Due for publication October 2018
“Come freely, go safely and leave something of the happiness you bring.”
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is :
Books With My Favourite Colour On the Cover (or In the Title)
Feast your eyes on these lovelies.
