August book haul!| #31

Hello, welcome to September first! Last month, I purchased five books and a lot of manga and graphic novels. This is what I got:

I went on various vacations and trips this August, and picked up a few different books at each, so if appropriate I’ll point out where I got them.

Fence vol 3 by CS Pacat

I’ve been awaiting this volume for quite a while now. My feelings on this series are positive, but I don’t love it yet. I’m waiting. I know something will happen and I’ll grow to adore it.

Goodreads synopsis of vol 1: Sixteen-year-old Nicholas Cox is an outsider to the competitive fencing world. Filled with raw talent but lacking proper training, he signs up for a competition that puts him head-to-head with fencing prodigy Seiji Katayama…and on the road to the elite all-boys school Kings Row. A chance at a real team and a place to belong awaits him—if he can make the cut!

I Hate Fairyland vol 1 by Skottie Young

I’ve had my eye on this for a while. It sounds absolutely hilarious! This one was a birthday gift from my parents, as my bday was the 7th of August. 😀

Goodreads synopsis: An Adventure Time/Alice in Wonderland-style epic that smashes its cute little face against grown-up, Tank Girl/Deadpool-esque violent madness. Follow Gert, a forty year old woman stuck in a six year old’s body who has been trapped in the magical world of Fairyland for nearly thirty years. Join her and her giant battle-axe on a delightfully blood-soaked journey to see who will survive the girl who HATES FAIRYLAND.

My Hero Academia vols 17-20 by Kohei Horikoshi

With these four volumes, I’m completely caught up to what’s been released in English so far. I’m tempted to read them now but season 4 of the anime is gonna be released soon and I kinda wanna experience it for the first time that way. I’ll likely binge read all 20 volumes after season 4 is over and I go into withdrawal.

Seriously if you haven’t started watching this one yet, I highly, highly recommend it.

Goodreads synopsis of vol 1: What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks” at age four? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…

Inspection by Josh Malerman

This is the guy who wrote Bird Box! And since I really liked that one, I wanted to pick up this one! I got this book in Bookoff when I visited NYC this year for like six bucks. I about peed my pants.

Goodreads synopsis: J is a student at a school deep in a forest far away from the rest of the world.

J is one of only twenty-six students, all of whom think of the school’s enigmatic founder as their father. J’s peers are the only family he has ever had. The students are being trained to be prodigies of art, science, and athletics, and their life at the school is all they know—and all they are allowed to know.

But J suspects that there is something out there, beyond the pines, that the founder does not want him to see, and he’s beginning to ask questions. What is the real purpose of this place? Why can the students never leave? And what secrets is their father hiding from them?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest, in a school very much like J’s, a girl named K is asking the same questions. J has never seen a girl, and K has never seen a boy. As K and J work to investigate the secrets of their two strange schools, they come to discover something even more mysterious: each other.

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

I’ve been after this one for a while but just haven’t seen it floating around. So when I did see it, I grabbed it. I was kinda surprised to see it was so little though. On the plus side I should get through it quickly!

Goodreads synopsis: Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life.

Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

Rave Master vols 4-5 by Hiro Mashima

This is a series from my teenager-hood, so I’ve been trying to collect the volumes when I find them. They’re out of print, so I have random ones. Total, I’ve got 1-6 now and 12. So if you have any randos you don’t want, lemme know, I’ll buy them off you, ahah. I got these at Otakon in DC!

Goodreads synopsis of vol 1: The Continent of Song is in chaos. The sinister secret society known as Demon Card is using the power of Dark Bring to destroy everything in their path. The only things capable of stopping Dark Bring are the Rave stones. Unfortunately, the Rave Stones were scattered around the globe in an explosion 50 years ago, so now they must be collected by the Rave Master in order to stop Dark Bring once and for all.

Ten Count vol 1 by Rihito Takarai

I’ve had my eyeballs on this series too for a while, and decided to pick it up recently. I’m hoping I dig it – I haven’t seen anyone talk about it yet.

Goodreads synopsis: Corporate secretary Shirotani suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. One day he meets Kurose, a therapist who offers to take him through a ten-step program to cure him of his compulsion. As the two go through each of the ten steps, Shirotani’s attraction to his counselor grows.

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

This was an almost-impulse buy that I picked up in almost-NYC. Basically I was walking by when I was in NYC and saw this displayed. Stopped dead in my tracks and went ‘I WANT IT, IT’S MINE’. I had never heard of it before, haha. But, I managed to talk myself out of getting in there and then, paying list price. But you bet as soon as I got home, I picked it up at my local bookstore (…using member discounts and sales and coupons, ahaha).

Goodreads synopsis: The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He’s going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn’t get the chance. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He’ll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.

Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb

I have such bitter sweet feelings about this book. It’s the last one in Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings land – book 16 – and I’M NOT READY ;~;

Goodreads synopsis of Assassin’s Apprentice (book 1): In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang

Man am I so excited for this sequel. I read book one earlier this year and ended up really liking it! If you haven’t picked up this series yet, I definitely recommend it.

Goodreads synopsis of The Poppy War (book 1): When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.

Only the Ring Finger Knows by Satoru Kannagi

This book brings me such nostalgia. I read it back when I was a teen, borrowing it from a friend. The story has more or less stuck with me since then, and when I saw a copy for the first time ever at Otakon, 14 years later, I had to pick it up. I’m looking forward to rereading it, and I hope I like it as much as I did the first time. This is a standalone manga.

Goodreads synopsis: It’s the ultimate expression of love – to wear matching rings with your significant other, showing the world that you are a couple.

High school student, Wataru Fujii, also wears one though he is single. When he accidentally switches rings with popular and handsome senior, Yuichi Kazuki, they discover that their rings pair up! Since then, Kazuki, who is known for being kind to all becomes strangely harsh to Wataru. They alternate between hot and cold, as in between clashes they begin to sort their feelings for one another. Are Wataru and Kazuki the worst of enemies or are they actually soulmates?

Delicious in Dungeon vol 4 by Ryoko Kui

I also picked this up at Otakon! This is such a pleasant series, I adore it. I’m hoping this one will be just as good. 😀

Goodreads synopsis of volume 1: When young adventurer Laios and his company are attacked and soundly thrashed by a dragon deep in a dungeon, the party loses all its money and provisions…and a member! They’re eager to go back and save her, but there is just one problem: If they set out with no food or coin to speak of, they’re sure to starve on the way! But Laios comes up with a brilliant idea: “Let’s eat the monsters!” Slimes, basilisks, and even dragons…none are safe from the appetites of these dungeon-crawling gourmands!

Goblin Slayer vol 1 by Kumo Kagyu

Also purchased at Otakon, this is the light novel that the manga came from! I’ve never read a light novel before, so I’m hoping I like this one. I really like Goblin Slayer as is, so I figured this was the best place to start.

Goodreads synopsis: A young priestess has formed her first adventuring party, but almost immediately they find themselves in distress. It’s the Goblin Slayer who comes to their rescue–a man who’s dedicated his life to the extermination of all goblins, by any means necessary. And when rumors of his feats begin to circulate, there’s no telling who might come calling next…

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And that’s it! Technically I got six books, but one of them is a light novel, so I’m counting it more as a manga. ;P pbtbtbt everything is artibrary.

Also, I got some new bookshelf decorations, look-it!

Aren’t they cute? I got some for my mother to match, too!

Have you read any of the above? Lemme know! Happy reading!