Winter Magical Readathon Chapter 5 – Rogue Protocol, Age of Death and The Navigator

And so we start the final chapter of the Winter Magical Readathon… and Ginny has been taken to the Chamber of Secrets. But apparently the monster is afraid of roosters, so we need to find ourselves one.

Rooster found we go to Moaning Myrtle who tells us her death story. By instinct we manage to open the sink…

And so we enter the Chamber of Secrets. After solving a riddle we are faced by the basilisk. So we whip out our rooster and make is crow.

It works, and in its panic the basilisk also gets rid of Voldemort. Jeey. And so we save Ginny.

The end…

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So I got three reading prompts for this chapter. But they don’t seem too hard so I am confident I can finish this up fairly easily. My TBR:

The Navigator is the second book in the Tales of the Wendy series, a Peter Pan retelling. Peter Pan has feathered wings, and Tinker Bell is winged as well (and shaped like a dragon at times).

Age of Death is the fifth book in Legends of the Empire, a book that comes out next month but I received early because I backed the Kickstarter. I have waited a long time to pick it up though for some reason, kind of defying the use of getting it early.

Rogue Protocol is the third book in the Murderbot Diaries, the fifth book of which comes out in May. I had started this previously, but the audiobook didn’t quite work for me. Still I want to catch up so am giving it another shot.

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8 Jan: Age of Death, 31%

Seeing as this is book 5 in a series I doubt there is much I can say about it here without spoiler. So you are warned… It was great to see our group reunited with old loved ones. I also really like how Sullivan set up his afterlife, and appreciate we get a good amount of time to explore it. This book reads so easy so far, I don’t know why I waited so long (2 months…) to pick it up. This is the first book in this world I am not reading on audio, and I can still hear the narrator in my head.

Rogue Protocol, 25%

Like I said earlier, I previously started this but gave up on it because the narrator didn’t quite work for me. So far I have no issues with it this time. The main character is great to follow again and I’m having fun so far. The only thing that is throwing me off is that the place the story is set in has my name (or at least is pronounced the same way). It is really weird ‘being called’ everytime they talk about said location.

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9Jan: Rogue Protocol, Finished

Well that was fun. I listened to the rest of this whilst cleaning our library and doing laundry and have to admit I did find my mind wandering at times, unable to concentrate on the narrator (something I rarely have a problem with when cleaning, which is therefore the main time I listen to audiobooks). But I did catch most of it I believe. I still like Murderbot a lot. The humour Wells managed to get through it is perfect. Also Miki/Mickey was brilliant. It wasn’t the most exciting book in the series so far, but entertaining enough. I will have to reread all of them physically someday though, and then will probably enjoy them more.

Age of Death, 51%

A certain character just came back for a chapter, at the end of which something that should have been emotional happened. But this character already got me at the end of the previous book, and now I didn’t feel anything. It just kinda felt like a cheap rip-off of that scene. Also, I still can’t find myself caring for Moya’s boyfriend. He just has no personality, and he adds absolutely nothing to the story. Apart from that I am really enjoying exploring this after life. The way the characters bounce ideas of each other, complement each other, is great. But I do hope we get a scene with Persephone soon again….

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10Jan: Age of Death, 70%

I am a bit lost… Sure, that will be mainly my own fault for being terrible with names (and too lazy to flip to the list at the end of the book). We are focusing on a lot of mythology at the moment, and I believe it’s supposed to be an ‘oh shit’, or at least revealing moment. But I just don’t get it…

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11Jan: Age of Death, Finished

So, even though I flew through the first third of this book, the last half kind of felt like a chore at times. And I think I know why… it is Very info-dumpy. It consisted for a big part of the characters being told stories, or getting hints of stories, and them bouncing ideas of one another to figure out the full details. Which in itself isn’t bad, but there was a Lot of it here. And like I said in yesterday’s update, I couldn’t keep up with all of it. I also had a few small, personal issues that would just be nitpickey (certain characters I don’t like/care about getting more page time over the ones I love). Still, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like this book. Because I really did enjoy it. I loved seeing this whole new part of the world. I loved how all the characters grew and worked together. I loved how we got to see certain characters back and how myths and legends were interwoven in it all. And I love that although this book isn’t out yet, the next one will be hitting the shelves in less than 4 months.

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12Jan: The Navigator, Finished

I finished this decent sized (350pg) book in a single day, which in itself should tell you I loved it. This is the second book in the Tales of the Wendy series, in which we follow Wendy Darling. She has joined the English fleet captained by Hook as a navigator, leading them to Neverland to acquire a flying ship and defeath the enemy of England, Blackheart. In this version Wendy is kick-ass, cunning and clever (carrying a sword, two pistols and a musket…), Hook is not necessarily likable but has his charming moments and is quite dashing, Tigerlilja is an awesome Viking woman, and Peter is… well, Peter. The authors have given everything a clever twist (Neverland has dragons…), and have included Norse mythology as well as epic sea and sky battles. But they also perfectly captured the feeling of the original story… in the characters, writing style and world. This is such a great and fun read, I urge everyone to give this series a go. I for one have already preordered the third book, which comes out on my birthday in June 😀

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And so we finish up the Winter Magical Readathon with a 5* read. I had a wonderful time with this readathon, and already cannot wait for the OWLs in April. But first I’ll be joining the Polarthon in the first week of February.

Hoping you are having a wonderful day,