2016 Year End Recap

If you hadn't known, here goes: My blog has only been put back into action at the end of 2016, as in during December. That meant the window to post stuff within the year was rather small. The reason why I finally decided to utilize the space, was mainly because I realized I was starting to behave like a backseat driver, or well, at least harboring thoughts reflecting this trait in my brain often enough, which wasn't something pleasant. Another reason was because I joined NetGalley, and thought I'd have a better chance at it were I to keep a blog (translate: so that I appear to take reviewing seriously lmao). (Not that I don't previously do, I just didn't have a blog dedicated for the purpose.)

This particular blog post is to first document what was actually published here on this blog in 2016. All posts are backdated to other years, as they were material I've previously published elsewhere.

1. [Food in Books] Magyk (Septimus Heap #1) - Angie Sage
2. [Food in Books] Flyte (Septimus Heap #2) - Angie Sage
3. [Food in Books] Physik (Septimus Heap #3) - Angie Sage
4. [Food in Books] Queste (Septimus Heap #4) - Angie Sage
5. [Food in Books] Syren (Septimus Heap #5) - Angie Sage
6. [Food in Books] Darke (Septimus Heap #6) - Angie Sage
7. [Food in Books] The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) - Jonathan Stroud
8. [Food in Books] The Whispering Skull (Lockwood & Co. #2) - Jonathan Stroud
9. [Food in Books] The Hollow Boy (Lockwood & Co. #3) - Jonathan Stroud
10. About moi
11. My Ships from X-Men & Related X-titles
12. [Dream Cast] Trinity Blood - Part 1: The Vatican - Leaders
13. [Dream Cast] Trinity Blood - Part 2.1: The Vatican - Ax Agents
14. [Dream Cast] Trinity Blood - Part 2.2: The Vatican - Ax Agents

This very post itself is published in 2021 and backdated. As previously mentioned, at the time, this blog was basically just being put together. Till this date (2021/4/15), I still have a draft that was last touched upon some time in early 2017, with the content that was a carbon copy of the second link provided below, which was the closest idea I had back then to what I'm doing now (for the second part), and the fact that that I still kept it in my draft, is because I don't personally want to post identical stuff. If I'm getting any "likes" at all, I'd much rather them to be gathered and accumulated in one place, and I won't delude myself into thinking this blog has more traffic than a social platform lol.

2016 Reading Challenge

Sammm has
completed her goal of reading
110 books in
2016!

hide

113 of 110 (103%)

view books

And you've now reached the second purpose of the post, the fun part! On Goodreads, there's the My Year in Books function they provided that give some statistics, [check out mine for 2016!] (My GR profile is set for GR Users only, so this one, you'd have to login in order to view.) There's also the Goodreads Year in Review, [read mine!] (no GR account required.)

So what's different here is that I'm going to rank what I've read, but limited to series that concluded or standalones published in this year. It's fun as it turns out, 2016 does not make a great example even though I did read quite a lot of books. Ladies and gents, drum roll....!

Note: First books of series represent said entire series. I know the cut-off was the final book, but I believe people are usually more familiar with the cover and title of first installments so.

1. 

---

2. 

---

3. 

---

4. 

---

5. 

---

6. 

---

There are 9 in total. The reason why some are stacked, is because, 1 per slot made the ranking list lengthy, which in itself isn't too big of a deal, however, I feel bad for the ones closer to the bottom. It really wasn't like "it's the second to the last place"; trust me, certain gaps are super huge, while others aren't. I figure grouping what I feel the similar amount of like, would make me feel less guilty, haha.

I'm also going to make an exception, as this year was a year I actually attempted to do what a model ARC reviewer likely should do: read and review before the book actually was published! So yeah, adding books officially coming out in 2017 that I read this year into the mix; ta-da:

[Series Overview] Loom Saga - Elise Kova

I started this series on: December 24, 2016
I finished this series on: December 20, 2017
Cover editions here updated on: September 27, 2023
Written content here updated on: September 27, 2023

Disclaimer, one you'd see on multiple posts As I struggled to decide which book series to cover overviews for, it dawned to me that I'd never get started at this rate. It became clear to me that, it's rather unlikely for me to use this blog as my "main" reviewing spot since I have Goodreads for that, and chances of someone miraculously stumbling across this blog out of the countless ones out there, is just rather slim, therefore, I'd put up links to my GR reviews (in English,) and this post would be in Chinese for people who are curious about the series but either aren't comfortable with or just don't prefer reading in English. Please also note that, sometimes I don't have time to write actual reviews, HOWEVER, I do always put down thoughts when I document my reading status updates, so for GR desktop users, remember to scroll down if it appears to contain little, it'd be under the quotes I liked from that book (when applicable lol;) for mobile app users, remember to switch to "Reading Activity," which would not be the default as "Review" is.

第一集我從NetGalley拿到了ARC！相當感激！

首要事：這不是YA！這不是YA！這不是YA！

撇除個人觀感，我覺得也該相信一下出版社和作者的專業見解^{[作者Facebook文]}，也許，確實有年齡層較低的讀者也欣賞該作，也不會有人去禁止特定年齡的人閱讀，但是我覺得你要怎麼想是一回事啦（事實上我自己也是覺得這當YA也okay的）但是GR上的一大瑕疵，就是書籍頁面的genre會依使用者加書櫃的多寡顯示，也就會導致上面列的不盡然永遠正確（相信我，一堆輕小說被寫成是漫畫，真的很可笑）。如果你是根本沒看過這系列的人，誤加了young-adult/ya，考慮一下行行好，撤架吧！我覺得有時候讀者可能會忘記自己年紀有在增長的這個無可避免事實，如果你因為你自己喜歡就覺得這也YA啊，啊然後自己其實已經超過25歲，請factor一下也許你自己能接受的範圍已超出所謂的YA也不一定。

這部有跟我稍微互動過的網友大概可以感覺到我沒事就會推這部哈哈。已經到狂熱的境界了（重點是要我講我為什麼愛我也講不清，這不是狂熱是什麼xD）我後兩本GR心得算有寫得比較多，這裡就先這樣囉。

The actual review is, as usual, WIP, but like I said above, getting the post out there first.

GR stats (links and covers represented by default edition)	Editions I'm privy to
[Read My Review!]
[Read My Review!]
[Read My Review!]

Author:
Series:

Disclaimer, one you'd see on multiple posts The following section, basically a gallery of editions around the world with different book cover art, is largely inspired by treatments of fellow blogger Amethyst, who unfortunately hasn't done those types of blog posts for a while. Please DO NOT mistaken the following to be all existing editions; I'm only including completed sets with matching designs. All clickable images are linked to respective editions on GR; people, shelving correct editions ain't that hard. Highly recommend accurate shelving. =D

這個本來有望個別發文, 因為平裝封面不同（雖然超簡約）^{[Goodreads頁面1][2]}, 結果作者網站上說第三集沒打算出平裝= =

Kova 2022年比較低調，我因為有signed up for her newsletters，2022/10/13收到了一個天大的驚喜。我不知道她在幹嘛（喂喂）我記得她之前明明說對於先前平裝版沒出齊感到殘念的人，由於版權回到她手上了，有望可湊齊... 結果... 竟然是全新的封面xDDD


American English | 美式英文 （原版；已絕版）

由愛爾蘭籍繪師Nick Grey繪製^{[繪師官網]}。不要問我為什麼，我真的就是好喜歡這個原版QQ

American English | 美式英文 （2022平裝）

其實這新封面並不是只有用在平裝版上，是任何有販售版本都一起改了，但因為當時「告知好消息」是特別跟粉絲說當年沒齊全的平裝版可以齊了，就以平裝優先了。由越南籍繪師Hoàng Lập繪製^{[繪師Instagram]}。我沒有覺得不好看，但我就只是太愛原版了。可參考設計演變^{[繪師ArtStation一][二][三]}，超用心，蠻多不同構圖的！Cvareh（第二集）的我覺得最spot on，真的是隻愛fashion的一條龍xDDD（感覺因為被書名擋住了可能沒那麼明顯，但真的就是個在乎穿著的可愛人xP）。至於Flor（第三集），我懷疑應該是作者欽點才會是最後那張設計（廢話），我個人覺得沒被採用的最後一張圖，比較吻合角色病嬌屬性... 角色沒有到日系病嬌（？）那麼明顯，而且圖本身也頗正常甜美啊所以沒毛病（我只是可以聯想而已xP）（我真的最後超討厭Flor）（討厭到需要佔用這裡來寫xDDDDD）

American English | 美式英文 （Fox & Wit Exclusive）

QOTD: do you prefer a standalone, duology, or trilogy? Part 1 of 2 Loom Trilogy unboxing. We absolutely LOVED these...

Posted by Fox & Wit on Thursday, February 16, 2023

Fox & Wit最早於2022年4月公佈會為此系列推出限定箱子^{[箱子Facebook文]}，不過後來陸續釋出的設計，我自己本人是沒有很心動（純粹是因為我太愛太愛原版了xDDDD）（需要再次強調）但還是為系列感到高興^{[箱子官網賣場]}，不過現在也已完售。裸書封由Riddle & Ravens設計^[Instagram]，可參考成品及設計演變^{[箱子Facebook文]}。書衣由德裔繪師Christin Engelberth繪製^{[繪師官網]}，可參考成品及設計演變^{[箱子Facebook文]}。

---

Cover editions update log:

• 2022/10/13: Redesigned edition
• 2023/02/17: Fox & Wit Exclusive

[Series Overview] Dark Gifts - Vic James

I started this series on: September 20, 2016
I finished this series on: November 8, 2019
Cover editions here updated on: September 2, 2021
Written content here updated on: September 2, 2021

Disclaimer, one you'd see on multiple posts As I struggled to decide which book series to cover overviews for, it dawned to me that I'd never get started at this rate. It became clear to me that, it's rather unlikely for me to use this blog as my "main" reviewing spot since I have Goodreads for that, and chances of someone miraculously stumbling across this blog out of the countless ones out there, is just rather slim, therefore, I'd put up links to my GR reviews (in English,) and this post would be in Chinese for people who are curious about the series but either aren't comfortable with or just don't prefer reading in English. Please also note that, sometimes I don't have time to write actual reviews, HOWEVER, I do always put down thoughts when I document my reading status updates, so for GR desktop users, remember to scroll down if it appears to contain little, it'd be under the quotes I liked from that book (when applicable lol;) for mobile app users, remember to switch to "Reading Activity," which would not be the default as "Review" is.

客觀中文簡介^{[英國安德魯納伯格聯合國際有限公司（台灣代表處）]}、出版社們趕快看一看去買（喂喂）。

這一部我是在GR上算是有被追蹤的人慫恿（自己看到好像很多人想看就覺得喔喔喔我也要），第一集在NetGalley上拿到了ARC... 然後不對味xD 但是！！！我真的覺得值得表揚一下，即使我不喜歡，它還是讓我很好奇後續發展那樣。超級戲劇性！死很多人xDDD 本來不會推，但退一步想想（這是幾年過後的事！），確實也沒有一開始想的那麼差所以。

The actual review is, as usual, WIP, but like I said above, getting the post out there first.

GR stats (linking default edition)	Editions I'm privy to
[Read My Review!]
[Read My Review!]
[Read My Review!]

Author:

Disclaimer, one you'd see on multiple posts The following section, basically a gallery of editions around the world with different book cover art, is largely inspired by treatments of fellow blogger Amethyst, who unfortunately hasn't done those types of blog posts for a while. Please DO NOT mistaken the following to be all existing editions; I'm only including completed sets with matching designs. All clickable images are linked to respective editions on GR; people, shelving correct editions ain't that hard. Highly recommend accurate shelving. =D

以下涵蓋5款，記得看全文以觀賞喔 >:3
如果西班牙文或加泰隆尼亞文有出齊的話可以期待再增加1兩款！
但基本上感覺機率不太大，因為出版社2017年連續出了第一和第二集就沒動靜了。


British English | 英式英文


magyar | Hungarian | 匈牙利文

匈牙利這一版我掙扎了一下要安插在哪xDD 如果有不清楚我排序規則的人，我趁機解釋一下哈哈 基本上，會以原文優先，所以絕大多數都會是英文擺最上方（我看的外文書英文是翻譯的，也只有德國作家的書，然後偏偏系列的封面又爆多款，所以到2021年秋我都還只有1帖是這個例子，但就算編輯完了也不過會再多個2帖啦xDDD），接下來的順序都會按語言的英文名稱排序，限量的特別版則是不管什麼語言，都會排在各國語言的通常版之後，最後，只有書衣的粉版更是排在全部之後。英文部份有時候會更細分，不按照字母排序的時候大概就是作者是英國人啦www（或是有美版和澳版但作者是澳洲人的時候） 也還是有例外，就是遇到中途改封面這種圈叉三角事的時候！這種個別情況我會在文內解釋。

好了，所以這篇的問題是最開始，英美就是兩套封面，兩者也同時公佈第二集封面；這個時候美國都還是採用和最初第一集金色封面相搭的款式^[Tor.com]，結果過不久美國就莫名其妙換成以手為亮點的下方封面。嘛... 本來照我的邏輯英版就會放在最上方，而且之前也沒有其他國家是採用美版封面、不會遇到『要不要跟著換』這個問題，所以排序方面我也不用多想。幾年後看到匈牙利採用好久不見的金封面有點開心www 而且很有良心的湊成了套出齊了！！！它的第二集並不是採用美版沒出成的設計，所以覺得真的很有心。如果要當刁民的話（喂）就是三集封面很像但也就那樣了哈哈。啊前面說的掙扎的點就是，我不是很想拆相同語言的排序（笑死），可是想到我另一帖都已經直接原封面至上了，這真的是小事，所以美版我還是把它擠下去了=3=/

封面是誰的功勞，匈牙利這邊我不清楚，但最原始的美版，Tor在分享第二集時有給個名字，我依此找到了一個不太確定是否為官方的消息原^{[Random House Art Department @ Tumblr]}，表示設計者為Scott Biel^{[設計者官網]}和David G. Stevenson^{[設計者官網]}，後者同時也是藝術指導。痾，但看了一下兩人的作品集，只能說個人覺得風格實在不是很像xP 不排除負責「畫」的另有他人，但也有可能是有效運用圖庫啦。

American English | 美式英文 （平裝）

前面寫了那麼一大串，美版不寫好像有點對不起它，畢竟我還是靠這版的ARC（嗚嗚... 金封面啊！😭）才得以先行閱讀的。但我坦誠一下，我印象中有在書店看到舊封面實體書... 不怎麼樣（被揍死）螢幕上比較好看嗯。新封面實體書也有看到，跟螢幕上比、沒有更好看但也沒有更糟。這版我冷漠偏排斥的原因在於... 那手的膚色... 是只有我覺得很屍樣嗎囧？而且前兩集我都覺得手的樣子超不自然Orz（形狀詭異） 第三集就相對沒這個問題了。順帶一提，第三集也是我覺得最與系列內容相呼應的封面喔！一切盡在那「金」當中～呵呵www