My Sci-Fi Summer did some fantasy footwork there

Self fulfilling prophecy alert! I did say that after two of these readathons where I finished all of the books on those respective TBRs, that the Sci-Fi Summer one was going to break that potential streak for me and it did!

This, of course, is of my own doing as I chose much longer books for this challenge and seriously underestimated how long one of them would take to read(YA fantasy shouldn’t be taken for granted in this regard). However, two out of three really isn’t that bad so let me get into this pair of fantastical reads:

The School for Good and Evil 3: The Last Ever After-Yes, despite the high page count, I thought this would be a quick read but to be fair, there is quite a bit of backstory that requires the additional length.

When we last left Agatha and Sophie, the two of them were in separate realms with their respective “true loves” but as it turns out, neither girl is really happy or safe from the total destruction of both their worlds.

As Agatha and her prince Tedros head back to the tittle school, things have definitely taken a few turns for the worse as zombie versions of classic villains have risen up to brutally rewrite the endings of their stories at the behest of Rafal, the evil School Master determined to make Sophie his Queen.

Teaming up with a band of aging former fairytale heroes and the wizard Merlin, Agatha and Tedros must find a way to convince their friend to break her ties with Rafal to save the day yet can Sophie truly turn down the chance at some sort of true love, not to mention a crown?

I did enjoy the wild twists that this finale took, including the bits of humor from the pack of old school legends (including a very cranky Cinderella!) at times. This book was more than just a wild ride through fairytale land as character development emerged strongly and many surprisingly touching moments occurred all the way towards the end.

There are more books in this series (a follow up trilogy and a pair of prequels) but I think that I’m good stopping here. The ending tied up most of the major plot points and left a few loose ends to be suitably imagined by the reader if you ask me. 

At the very least, I got to see both leading ladies achieve their dreams even if one of those made her an evil queen for a day:

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi: We don’t get enough pirate queens in pop culture, if you ask me, and this novel by Shannon Chakraborty more than makes up for in treasure chest abundance.

Amina has retired from sea faring life to raise her daughter Marjana in relative peace but her past comes back to demand one more journey from her.

A wealthy woman who happens to be the mother of Asif, a former crew member that died under secret circumstances, requests that Amina find her missing granddaughter Dunya, who has been allegedly kidnapped by Falco, man seeking objects of powerful magic.

Amina is reluctant to take this job but a combination of great payment and threats against her family make her say yes. Along the way, a number of  very startling revelations and dangerous encounters cause her to reconsider this voyage but an experienced sailor like Amina knows when there is a point of no return indeed.

This book is old fashioned storytelling at its finest with fresh takes on both the characters and expected tropes to boot. What’s not to love about a book with a pirate queen battling evil magicians, sea monsters and the occasional acting up of an injured knee?

I got this book from Book of the Month Club awhile ago and saved it for this readathon which made it go down like a very fine wine there. If you get a chance to read it, do so as soon as possible! This is one literary trip you won’t regret :

While I am sorry about not getting to The Fifth Season in time, this was still a great readathon and much thanks to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for making this all happen.

The rest of the summer should be smooth sailing but I do plan to put a few books aside for the High Summer readathon in August. 

We’re getting some steamy dog days of the season to be sure so staying cool with a good book sounds ideal to me. Not much out there to tempt me to venture out beyond my local library but best wishes to those heading out for some warm weather fun, especially if you’re a Barbie fan: