Book Review: The Magic of Memories by Thea Stilton (Incanto #3)

 

 Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Incanto #3: La magia dei ricordi.

Book three time! 

Before we dive in, I do have some sad news regarding my reviews of this series: I recently discovered that, despite this series being quite expansive in its number of books (fifteen total), my review of the next book will unfortunately have to be the last one. Not because I want to quit reading them, but simply because they have not been translated into Dutch past book four.

Normally my solution would be to read the English editions, but these books actually haven't been translated into English at all. And since I do not speak Italian or any of the other translated languages of the future books, I have no choice but to stop reviewing the series. I don't think that they'll be translating them into Dutch in the future, either, so it looks like my Incanto journey will have to end with book four. Unfortunate, but true.

Anyways, let's still have a look at book three, first! Spoilers ahead. 

Book Review: Wolves on the Bridle Path by Tijs Goldschmidt

 

  Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Wolven op het ruiterpad.

I've seen this one at both the library and bookstores (in the animal non-fiction sections) for a while now, so I finally picked it up.

Book Review: Lonesome Howl by Steven Herrick

 

Sometimes I really think I should may be just stop buying books that even vaguely relate to wolves. It often leads to disappointment. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: A Winged History of the Netherlands by Jan Luiten van Zanden, et al.

 

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Gevleugelde geschiedenis van Nederland.

I don't read too much bird non-fiction, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't interest me. So this book combining both birds and Dutch history spoke to me. Let's have a look.

Book Review: First Hero by Adam Blade (The Chronicles of Avantia #1)

 

Once upon a time around 2014 I was a snarky internet reviewer and tore this book apart in one of my reviews, absolutely hating every aspect of it. Now, almost a decade later, I consider myself to be much fairer critic, so I decided to give this book another read. Will it still be bad, or does it hold up and was I too hash on it? Let's find out. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Forest Princess by Thea Stilton (Princesses of Fantasy Kingdom #4)

 

   Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Principesse del Regno della Fantasia #4: Principessa delle Foreste.

We return to the realm of Fantasy Kingdom once again! Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Science of Middle-earth by Roland Lehoucq, Loic Mangin, et al.

 

I love Tolkien and I love sometimes doing a more our reality-based interpretation of fantasy. So let's have a look at this one.

Book Review: The Magical Collar by Thomas van Grinsven, Rutger Vink, Sander Meij (The Adventures of Rutger, Thomas and Paco #1)

 

  Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads De avonturen van Rutger, Thomas en Paco #1: De magische halsband.

I've seen this one everywhere in bookstores in the Netherlands recently, so why not give it a look? Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Wolves by Meis Thewissen (Mini Information #353)

 

  Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Mini Informatie #353: Wolven.

Okay, so in Dutch schools there's (or used to be) this type of very short and concise A5-sized information books about all sorts of topics. There were a few different runs of these types of books and for different reading levels, but the basic gist is the exact same. Pick a topic, write a short and to-the-point book about it with some information and illustrations and that's it. They're never long, usually about 20-40 pages each. They're just here to teach children the basics of a subject and because they're so short they're easy to digest and children can read about a lot of wide topics in a short time. I mean, just look at the number of books there are in this series.

So, case in point, today I'll be reviewing the Mini Information book on wolves, because reviewing wolf books is my jam.

Book Review: Shadow by Michael Morpurgo

 

I've read Morpurgo's War Horse before, so let's see if this one is just as good. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Dog Sense by John Bradshaw

 

The canine companion to Bradshaw's Cat Sense, which I have already reviewed.

Book Review: Kenji and the Akita by Gerard van Gemert (Young Heroes From the Past #3)

 

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Kleine helden van toen #3: Kenji en de Akita.

Quick read I picked up at the library because it has an Akita in it. I like Akita Inu's, they're a cool dog breed. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Shadow by Erin Hunter (Warriors: A Starless Clan #3)

 Yep, still doing these! Let's hope this installment is better than the last few have been. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Evertree by Marie Lu (Spirit Animals #7)

 

We're here, the end of the first arc! It has been a ride with a great start and a decent to good middle. How's the conclusion? Let's see, spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Rise and Fall by Eliot Schrefer (Spirit Animals #6)

 

 Meine Güte, can you believe I am almost done with the first arc of this series after putting reading even book one off for so long? Let's see how this installment fares. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Against the Tide by Tui T. Sutherland (Spirit Animals #5)

 

Note: I am aware I have not posted my review for book four yet. I had it written but I must have accidentally deleted it, because it's nowhere to be found even in my "Trash" folder of Blogger. So for now you'll have to do without my review of book four, I'll eventually go back to re-read and re-review it but that'll be a while away. Apologies for the inconvenience!

Somehow I'm already at book five of the first arc? Past the halfway point? Time flies. Anyways, spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Blood Ties by Garth Nix and Sean Williams (Spirit Animals #3)

 

Book three time! Will it be as good as the previous two? Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Hunted by Maggie Stiefvater (Spirit Animals #2)

Yep, I'm continuing my read of this series. I plan to read at least arc one. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Wild Born by Brandon Mull (Spirit Animals #1)

 

Oh gods, this series. Okay, so when this was first announced me and my brother were super into this series as kids/teens, though we never actually read the books. Instead we (and especially me) played the online RPG that accompanied it, where you could create a character and were assigned an animal companion and had to complete various missions in this fantasy world. It was highly addictive and I managed to reach the max level and complete the main story-line in a really short time. 

After that there was not much left to do but some basic daily quests, so I quickly grew bored of it. Recently I decided to delve back into the game, however it turns out it's completely gone. Lost media even. Quite a shame, I had good memories of my short yet obsessive time playing it. As for the books...why don't I check them out, I mean, I have a library card now, right? 

Also: one last thing to note is that, much like the Erin Hunter pen name for Warriors/Seekers/Survivors/etc., each of the Spirit Animals books were written by a different author. Mull himself (as in, the actual person) only wrote the first book and a few side stories. The other books in the series are each written by a different author, but still use Mull's name as the author name. So that might affect how each book is written since it constantly switches between authors. Even for Erin Hunter there's a small select team of the same writers that (or at least used to be) that writes the books, so there was some semblance of consistency. I wonder if there'll be much of that in this author-rotating series.

So yea, book one. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Eye of Truth by Eva Raaff

 

    

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Het Oog van de Waarheid.

I've already read and reviewed two books in Eva Raaff's Taragon Trilogy series, which I both liked. She's also written this standalone fantasy, however, unrelated to the Taragon universe. So let's check it out! Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Wolves by Axel Gomille

 

 Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Wölfe.

I bought this one as an impulse buy in Austria last winter. So let's check it out!