I decided to brave myself and read fantasy genre again after suffering the bad reading slump. This book, I think, is a great choice and I feel glad.

Dragonfall follows two main characters. First, Everen the last male dragon. Long ago, humans betrayed dragons. They steals their magic and casted them to Verre Celene. The Dragons been plotting to do revenge. As they got a prophecy about how their male heir would save them. After years, Everen hatched as the only male dragon. Knowing his fate, he decided to make it come true. During an event, a storm coming and he runs through it and went to the human world, they call it Lumet. The world that the Dragons been wanting to claimed back.

Second, is one called Arcady. Arcady decided to steal the seal of magic of their ancestor because Arcady's real identity might be too dangerous because their parents or grandparents seemed to be claimed as Plaguebringer. Arcady wanted to proved that it wasn't true so they wanted to go to the University of Vatra. But that would cost so much of money. As Arcady do some ritual to steal the seal, somehow they called a storm that called Everen and they were accidentally bonded.

As Arcady trying to reach their goal, they tried to find a way to get huge amount of money. Later they also finally encountered Everen.

There are few things I need to say about this book. Most of the pronoun is They/Them and honestly I haven't really used with them yet. It was kind of confusing at the beginning but everything is explained about how the peoples here were not assuming each others' gender so mostly they used They/Them unless they revealed they prefered other pronoun.

Arcady's POV chapters are first POV but Everen's POV is somehow kinda like second POV but the 'you' he refered is Arcady. I think this is my first time reading book with different type of POV like this and it's pretty interesting.

The whole story is really good. I keep wanted to know what gonna happen next. The pace and everything felt right. Totally enjoy my time reading this.

Siapa yang menyangka, selain judulnya yang sedikit mirip, buku ini seakan merupakan kisah mengenai Shizuka no Umi no Paraiso dalam versi Korea.

The Silence of Bones atau Kesenyapan yang Mematikan menceritakan mengenai kisah pembasmian umat beragama Katolik di Korea pada sekitar tahun 1800-an. Mirip dengan apa yang terjadi di Jepang pada tahun 1600-an, ribuan orang ditangkap dan dibunuh dengan keji hanya karena mereka menganut agama Katolik, agama yang dikatakan berasal dari barat dan merupakan ajaran sesat.

Seol adalah seorang gadis yatim piatu yang bekerja sebagai damo di kantor kepolisian. Pada mulanya, tujuan Seol pergi ke ibukota adalah untuk mencari kakak laki-lakinya yang telah lama berpisah. Meskipun Seol cukup meyakini bahwa kakak laki-lakinya telah meninggal, namun Seol tetap berusaha mencari orang yang pernah melihat atau mengenalnya.

Serangkaian kasus pembunuhan terutama terhadap orang beragama Katolik mulai terjadi. Awalnya kasus dibiarkan begitu saja, namun kemudian pihak polisi mulai bersikap serius saat ada anak bangsawan yang menjadi korban pembunuhan. Seol yang ikut mendampingi para polisi menyelidiki kasus pembunuhan ini mulai didera dengan banyak perasaan ingin tahu. Rasa penasarannya membuat Seol ikut mencari tahu siapa dalang dibalik kasus pembunuhan ini.

Khas dari buku karya June Hur menyajikan kasus misteri pembunuhan dengan tokoh wanita yang memiliki rasa ingin tahu yang besar sebagai tokoh utamanya. Kisah The Silence of Bones pun memperlihatkan bagaimana sedaridulu perempuan selalu mendapatkan tekanan dan diperlakukan rendah. Di awal cerita terasa cukup membingungkan karena ada begitu banyak nama karakter yang terlibat, namun perlahan cerita semakin seru untuk diikuti.

It feels nice to finally be able to finish a book after a really bad reading slump. I know that Ann Liang book is not going to disappoint me. Never Thought I'd End Up Here is my third Ann Liang book and I really enjoy it.

The book follows Leah Zhang who just give up on her modelling career. When attending the wedding of her cousin, not only she met the person who ruined her life in the past, but she also accidentally wished her cousin's a bad wishes to her marriage. Feel guilty, Leah finally agree to the trip to China that her moment planned her to go.

The trip is to learn the language and visits some famous place in China. Upon the trip, Leah who ended up being together with her past enemy, Cyrus, slowly learn about lots of things. The trip also somehow became her therapy session.

This book is nice, light, easy to read. I like how the dynamics of the main characters, the past, how they slowly leaning more about each others and of course the character development. But somehow I think the book focuses more about Leah with Cyrus while I think the friendship Leah built is also beautiful. I think it would be even better if the details about Leah and Daisy together would have lots more moment. It feels like there are actually so much can show about their friendship yet the book is lack of that. But overall I think this book is okay.

I have to be honest but I understand nothing lol

Finally I finished this book, after reading it for a month (actually more). Not the book's fault, I just somehow got my reading slump.

She Who Became The Sun talking about a girl suffering the famine in a village, live together with her dad and her brother Zhu Chongba. Her dad treated her like a slave. As a daughter, she didn't even received a name. She's only there to serves him and her brother. One day, her dad brings them to a seer, to see Zhu Chongba's fate. The seer said that Zhu Chongba's fate is greatness. Curious on her's the daughter as for her fate and it was nothingness.

Group of bandits come to the village, looting for stock food and killed her dad. Later, Zhu Chongba himself died too. Witnessed her brother become nothing, the daughter claimed Zhu Chongba's name as well as his fate. She runs to monastery using Zhu Chongba's name and covered herself as a boy.

Zhu Chongba then encountered with General Ouyang from the Yuan, serving for Prince of Henan. Ouyang burned the monastery but Zhu managed to saved herself and joined a rebel group called Red Turbans. This rebel group claimed they found the Prince of Radiance who should get the Mandate of Heaven, ruling as Emperor. The country was currently ruled by Mongols as the Yuan, that's how Red Turbans trying to tear down them and ruling the country with their own.

This book is reimagined of the history of China when being ruled by the Mongols. Seems that most name written here were actually a real historical figures. So far, the fantasy element only applied on the sign where people got the Mandate of Heaven which they could radiant a light. The other elements seems to be real historical event but some added fictional characters.

The pace of this book felt pretty slow. Maybe that's why I read this even slower during my reading-slump era. Overall this book is very interesting. It's nice to learn about the history and how the characters were simply morally gray.

I honestly don't know how many stars should I give to this book. But honestly? WOW.

Buku Tentang Suatu Tempat di Wilayah Kinki menceritakan mengenai dua orang penulis artikel majalah yang berusaha mengumpulkan data mengenai kisah horor yang berhubungan dengan suatu tempat di wilayah Kinki. Ozawa yang bekerja menulis artikel yang berhubungan dengan majalah horor meminta bantuan kepada author untuk meneliti data yang telah dia kumpulkan untuk dijadikan satu artikel.

Berhubung data yang dikumpulkan berasal dari kumpulan artikel dan sumber berita yang disimpan dengan berantakan, maka data-data tersebut juga disajikan dengan urutan yang acak. Kita diajak untuk perlahan-lahan membaca semua kisah mengerikan yang berhubungan dengan satu wilayah tersebut.

Gaya penulisan buku ini cukup unik. Kita seakan diajak untuk ikut melihat semua data artikel dan rekaman wawancara yang terkait dengan kasus. Selanjutnya, beberapa kesimpulan yang dibahas oleh author dan Ozawa juga turut dimasukan ke dalam buku ini guna untuk mengarahkan pembaca.

Ada film Asia yang yang sempat viral beberapa tahun lalu, menyajikan kisah horor yang cukup mirip dengan inti tema buku ini. Judul film tidak bisa saya tuliskan di sini karena mungkin akan menjadi spoiler, tetapi kemungkinan yang sudah selesai membaca buku ini akan paham filem apa yang saya maksud.

Secara keseluruhan buku ini dikemas dengan sangat kreatif. Pengalaman membaca dan bagaimana kita diajak terlibat bersama untuk menyelidiki kasus ini begitu menarik. Hanya saja, sebagai penggemar film horor, ada beberapa hal yang membuat saya sedikit kurang puas terutama dengan ending ceritanya. Saya sedikit berharap sesuatu yang lebih besar, akan tetapi ending seperti ini pun sangat menakjubkan.

The Poet Empress, the debut book of Shen Tao, follow a village girl named Yin Wei. Her village been suffering of severe famine and it's been hard to life. So when the news of the second prince, the named heir of the throne was searching for concubine, Wei decided to try her luck. She thought that maybe if she can survived on palace, she can somehow managed to do something to help her village and saved the people from famine.

Coming from poor village, Wei knew nothing about the palace politics. She heard about the bad reputation of the second prince, Terren but she got no other choice but to braved herself. Somehow she made it to the palace and somehow chosen as the Empress-in-Waiting. Even though that sounds impressive, doesn't mean it's a good thing. Wei learned about how everyone in the palace been trying to get higher position, how they craved for power and of course, most of the other girls wanted her position no matter hard is it. Soon, Wei tasted the good taste of that power as well with so much pain. As she falling deeper into all the all the conflicts and drama, the palace been slowly changed Wei and her mindset.

The Poet Empress is one of my most anticipated release of the year and I guess it doesn't disappointing at all. I honestly really enjoy reading this book—even though of course there are lots of part where it feels so cruel. Still, reading about the palace politics and how the concubines rivaling with each others and stuff, this feels like watching a chinese drama.

Honestly I don't know how to feel about the ending, which is reduced the rating that was planned to be 5 stars. The ending isn't bad, I understand why it done but somehow I just... I don't know... I just don't know how to explain this feelings

Ini adalah buku kedua dari seri Kindaichi Kousuke yang saya baca. Petaka Keluarga Inugami menceritakan mengenai kasus pembunuhan yang terjadi di keluarga Inugami. Kisah diawali dari seseorang bernama Inugami Sahei, anak yatim piatu yang kemudian diselamatkan oleh Nonomiya Daini. Kisah kemudian berlanjut mengenai bagaimana Sahei memiliki tiga orang anak dari tiga wanita yang berbeda, karir bisnisnya yang membawa kesuksesan serta kemakmuran yang juga berimbas pada Desa Nasu yang dia tinggali.

Cerita di buku ini diawali dengan meninggalnya pak Sahei. Dengan kekayaan yang luar biasa, seluruh anggota keluarga Inugami telah menantikan mengenai pengumuman mengenai surat wasiat yang akan menentukan siapa saja yang akan mendapatkan warisan. Kindaichi terlibat dan membantu memecahkan kasus yang kemudian terjadi di sini karena mendapatkan panggilan dari seorang biro hukum yang bernama Wakabayashi Toyoichiro. Dikarenakan ada hal yang mengalihkan perhatian Kindaichi, belum sempat resmi bertemu secara langsung, Wakabayashi-san telah ditemukan tewas. Selanjutkan kasus pembunuhan lain terjadi dan mengungkapkan kisah dan rahasia yang tersimpan dalam keluarga besar Inugami.

Sedari awal membaca kisah ini, ada beberapa hal yang langsung saya pikirkan. Yakni mengenai tokoh Nonomiya Daini yang terdengar familiar. Sosoknya yang berpengaruh dan menyukai pria muda berparas cantik seperti Inugami Sahei saat masih muda. Saya rasa kita semua pasti tahu kisah menghebohkan yang terjadi di dunia hiburan Jepang. Rumor mengenai hal tersebut sudah lalu lalang sejak sekian tahun lamanya namun baru tahun 2023 kemarin akhirnya secara besar-besarkan kasus tersebut diungkapkan dengan jelas dan nyata. Kisah ini sendiri diterbitkan pada tahun 1972, dan kejadian mengenai si sosok familar tersebut memang sudah ada sejak tahun 70-an. Saya kira ada kemungkinan kalau memang buku ini mungkin terinspirasi dari sosok tersebut.

Saya rasa kisah buku ini ada sedikit mirip dengan salah satu cerita di buku Kasus Pembunuhan Honjin (dalam buku tersebut ada tiga cerita yang diterbitkan sekaligus dalam satu buku oleh Gramedia), akan tetapi saya rasa kisah ini jauh lebih rumit dengan plotnya yang semakin diperluas dengan banyak detail. Saya mengerti bahwa buku ini pertama diterbitkan sekitar puluhan tahun yang lalu sehingga cukup terasa nilai misoginis yang dimasukan dan dimiliki oleh pengarang meskipun sudah diperhalus. Akan tetapi secara keseluruhan saya kira kisah ini terasa menarik untuk diikuti. Sekilas rasanya mirip seperti sewaktu menonton drama lama yang berjudul Ie Naki Ko, meskipun tentu saja ceritanya berbeda jauh.

Jika dibandingkan dengan buku sebelumnya, yaitu Kasus Pembunuhan Honjin, saya kira gaya penulisan di buku ini sudah terasa lebih mudah dinikmati.

Took me around 11 days to finished this book. I think I need to take a rest from reading a little while after this.

A Fire Endless is the final book of Elements of Cadence series. After the ending of the first book, A River Enchanted, Adaira started her life in the west side of the isle. She had to faced lots of different things here where the thanes might using every chance to overthrown her family, the people are having limited sources to get foodstock, the thiefs and criminals who get to fight until death as their punishment, and more.

Meanwhile in the east, Torin as the new laird has to face a new problem. Some of the crops are get blighted, the spirits of the plants are sick and it might infected anyone who touched it. While Sidra tried to find the remedy, Torin got called by the spirits who need his help.

The second book here, we're going to see more about the spirits world. How the king of the spirits, Bane the northern wind get angry because of Jack's song. The spirits who were against him are getting punished and the whole isle get the impact. From the uncertain weather to the severe blight that infected people as well.

Somehow while reading this book, I kind of start to see Rebecca Ross's style. The way most of her books has something about song, music, and how it has power. Two sides, the war of the gods, the spirits, the tyrannical King, the past couple that became the beginning of the story. Some of her books has similarity but everything written in very different world building and I think they are all very good and enjoyable. As always the love that Rebecca Ross write is always the gentle kind yet passionate. Some might come slow but still beautiful.

Well, I totally enjoy reading this book and I really love the relation between each characters. My favorite character is of course Sidra. Sidra's very brave yet strong and wise. Everything about her is very admirable.

A River Enchanted is the first book of Elements of Cadence duology. This book follows Jack Tamerlaine who's been studying in college on the mainland. One day he receives a letter from the laird of the isle of his birth land. Cadence is an isle where the place is enchanted. The wind carrying news and gossips, the earth, the seas, the river, everything has spirits that power still has impacts with the civilian.

Jack coming back to Cadence after years forgetting it and reaching his dream in mainland. He come home to found out that apparently he got a sister and few girls of the isle are being kidnapped. Upon his days re-adapting with the isle that had been his childhood, Jack felt connected with the isle, with the people and everything. He finally feel belongs.

The whole isle of Cadence is actually divided to two territory, east and west. Due to their ancestor's legacy each side has their own specifications. The east, the earth is fertile and they don't need to worry with the foodstock as the land is rich and providing. But they are cursed for when using their power in making enchanted goods, it gonna drains their health and hurt their body. Meanwhile the west is the opposite, the land is bad and they have to raid the east when winter come. But they can produced enchanted goods as many as they want.

This book somehow kinda like mystery where they have to find the missing girls and revealing what's the reason behind that incident but added with fantasy elements. The book is kinda slow at the beginning but it felt pretty cozy. Since the main character Jack is a bard, he tried to revealed who's the kidnapper of the missing girls by singing and calls the nature which is kinda pretty.

This book has few pov from the main characters but there's no information which it might changing different pov on the next paragraph but it's totally easy to catch and understand. All written so beautiful as usual as Rebecca Ross' style. I kind of understand when people said that this book is might be the first idea of Divine Rivals because there are few similar things about the spirit who rules the country and there's war between two area. Still, this book is very interesting as it gives a very different world building with Divine Rivals.