I am exactly 3497 decades too late putting this up. I did the math. (And you thought you were a procrastinator!) 3497 is also, serendipitously, how old I am in draconic years. It's how old my soul is... when I'm not writing dirty limericks or watching Courage The Cowardly Dog over and over again.

But I digress.

In human years, my birthday was at the end of October. I'm a Halloween baby, which really goes such a long way in explaining my tastes and predilections. Go ask Tumblr what a Scorpio is like. When they go MURDER, GORE, FANTASY, DEATH, BLOODY RITUALS IN THE MOONLIGHT, DRAGONS, SASS - nod and slowly back away. I don't really set much store by the Zodiac, but... my bookshelf says that that's pretty accurate.

My wonderful, lovely friends, however, don't seem to mind my ritualistic homicidal tastes, so for my birthday they SHOWERED ME WITH BOOKS. One might think they were trying to purify and cleanse my soul, but... the books they chose suggest otherwise.




First of all, Six of Crows. And exactly no one is surprised.


I've shrieked about this book extensively in my review. Through a careful, scientific process, I've compared it to Nutella, and Six of Crows still came out on top! (Which says it all, really, because we all know Nutella has magical healing powers.) And I was not alone in extolling the virtues of this magnificent beast. The internet shrieks with me! (Hear those drums in the deep? It isn't the Balrog. It's a chant of thousands of readers going SIX. OF. CROWS. SIX. OF. CROWS.) For further chanting and some vaguely intelligible praise, head over to my review. At the time the book came out, I was silently but potently obsessing over it. (I was about a day away from building it an altar without having even read it.) I loved the Grisha trilogy. I love anti-heroes. This is a book about a band of anti-heroes committing a heist in the Grishaverse. Sign. Me. Up. And though I wasn't exactly mentioning it to my bookish buddies at the time, my friend Dennis and I have clearly done that creepy thing where two friends kind of gel together and become one person. It's messy and problematic when we want to go to different places at the same time, but it's excellent when it comes to books, because Dennis had quite possibly chosen the book I wanted the most. I messaged him in Caps Lock only for about three days. It was glorious.


Second of all, Dennis is over-the-top generous. And exactly no one is surprised. Dennis's two books moratorium, you see, was resolved like this: he bought me two things. Out of which one was Six of Crows and one this GIANT, BEAUTIFUL, DAZZLING, SPARKLING, FIRE-BREATHING BOX SET OF AWESOMENESS. I suggest everyone just move to the UK now. Look how lovely our European covers are! I have also previously shrieked about Mistborn in our Top 10 Book Series of Shame. It was my #1 pick, and it remains the #1 series I have yet to read, but which I hopelessly ADORE already. I do that. I fall in love with books without reading them. It's a problem and I love it. Who's kicking 2016 off with an outstanding fantasy series? This bookdragon is!


And lastly, Throne of Glass. And exactly no one is surprised. While on the subject of kicking the year off with an amazing fantasy series, my 2015 started out with this very one. And we've harped on about it since in exactly 3497 posts on this blog. I've painted it. I've reviewed it. We've squeezed it into every Top 10 list we could conceivably manage. But the one thing I didn't do is actually own it in physical form. Not one book except for the first. And while I love my ebooks... I mean... look at these, okay?! Are you looking?! They're gloriousness and epicness and holy cover goals, and I was lusting. My lovely co-blogger probably knew this better than anyone. And my lovely co-blogger sent me these beauties! Because Dennis's over-the-top generosity is contagious. Two friends, seven books! All I'm saying. We're basically squad goals and I've got my Zombie Apocalypse Team all worked out.

The question is... do you? Bwhahaha!

It's the Halloween-baby-thing. I'm (mildly) sorry.

P.S. Brains.




Talk to us, fellow book hoarders! Have you read and enjoyed any of the glorious beauties featured? Which books do you hope to get from Santa/friends/your own Zombie Apocalypse squad? Leave us a comment below and let us know. Then direct Santa/friends/your own Zombie Apocalypse squad to your comment innocently and we'll make sure to give them an extra nudge.