bahareads's Reviews (1.09k)

The Way of Kings is a lot to unpack. The entire plot has readers reeling as each chapter unfolds. The characters are not hard to know and love; Sanderson, while having multiple POVs, is able to help the reader keep track of who's who and keep the plot streamline. I became a huge fan of Sanderson as I continued to read this book because HOW do you keep track of everything?!? - This truly is high fantasy. The world-building is not done delicately, readers are thrown into the story with as much as each POV knows. The world-building unfolds at a pace that leaves the reader never daring to put the book down because so much is happening.

I'm excited to see where the story goes next and how the world unfolds even more.

I truly enjoy all of Christie's work. Midwinter Murder was a collection of short stories that were hilarious, creepy, and emotional at the same time. The narrator was great as well.

Valley of Shadows was a great read! I could not put it down. The drama and mystery unfolding was great. The ending was not what I expected AT ALL. I loved the tension between the mystery and the characters, as well as the subtle romance. The writing was lyrical and melodic. I enjoyed the historical setting and non-European main characters. There was magical realism and indigenous Mexican and Indigenous American rep. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Running from Bondage pushes enslaved women's to desire for freedom for themselves and their children compelling them to run away during the American Revolutionary War. The war was a time where a lack of oversight allowed more opportunities for marronage. Bell wants to challenge the lack of Black women's representation in Revolutionary America and show "the ways in which Black women enter history." Using fugitive narratives shows the integral role in the 18th abolitionist movement. Bell builds on the history of how the American Revolution impacted freedom and slavery by highlighting the experiences of enslaved and fugitive women.

Running away was an expression of agency and a strategic act. Flight was a method of fighting against the oppressive system. Two themes throughout Running from Bondage are the creation of a rival geography through fugitivity and using fugitivity as an act of resistance. She's not reinventing the wheel but she is highlighting underrepresented voices. Running from Bondage seeks to answer several questions, and she answers all the questions she poses.

The different chapters examine the various questions Bell poses. There is an analysis of the status and position of enslaved women; an examination of the pre-Revolutionary period; the ideas of the American Revolution while placing fugitive enslaved women on the front; obstacles enslaved women faced in escaping bondage; and the gendered dimensions of maroon communities in America and the Atlantic world. Enslaved rebellions and rumours of rebellions illuminate the networks women used to secure their freedom. Runaway slave ads descriptions allow enslaved people's bodies to be as text to understand the tangible effects of slavery. Ads recognize runaways' historical visibility. Freedom for enslaved people was temporally and spatially changing, dependent on the interplay of a variety of processes.

"Enslaved women who escaped to join maroon communities unabashedly claimed the liberty denied to them and fundamentally transformed their lived experiences."

Voices of the Enslaved gives readers a glimpse into enslaved thoughts and daily life. Using mainly French court records, which gives academics a rare look into the thoughts and feelings of the enslaved. Sophie White is able to show how enslaved people fought to establish boundaries and the worlds slaves created for themselves. Readers see power dynamics in enslaved testimony, and how West Africans were familiar with judicial practices because similar things were practised in West Africa. The French slave court records counteract the question of what is a reliable slave narrative and how academics can use these records.

The first chapter tours French court proceedings. From there, White uses specific court cases to show relations between enslaved people, enslaved people and their masters, and enslaved people and how they regulated their communities. White ends with a slave story between two enslaved people owned by different enslavers. They were able to live as man and wife, free, for eight months. White and readers do not know what happens to Jean Baptiste and Kenet after they are recaptured but the fact they were willing to sacrifice everything to be together was powerful.

Court systems do not reveal the syncretism between Catholicism and Western African spirituality. Testimony allows enslaved people to narrate their feelings and stories. White shows historians what can be done with little source material. Seemly "useless" sources deserve to be used for unheard voices. Intimacy is a big factor in this work and in these stories. The construction and destruction of intimacy. The medium of court testimony allows readers autobiographical snapshots allowing us all to hear the voice of the enslaved.

I'm ashamed to say this is the first book I have read by Martin. I was blown away by the complexity of his writing and I loved the drama of it all. I'm currently watching Dance of Dragons so this helped my understanding of the show so much. I want to read ASOFAI but I NEED this man to finish the last two books before I start it because if he d!es before it is finished I'll be so mad.

The Slave Ship cover the 1700 to 1808, and the ships, their crew and captives. Marcus Rediker says he's not reinventing the wheel but looking at the slave trade from a different viewpoint, slave ships. Rediker covers the four main "dramas" in the slave ship environment: the relationship between slave ship captain and crew; crew and slaves; inter-slave relations; and abolitionists with slave ships. Many studies on slavery start with enslaved people getting off the ship, not the journey on the ship or starting back in Africa. Rediker is more of a storyteller in this work, he's not pushing a particular theory or narrative. He's using first-hand accounts to show readers what life was like on the ships and the relationships between all those on the ships. Readers get first-hand accounts from sailors and captains, as well as their views on the enslaved people on those ships and their treatment of them. There are popular slave narratives such as Equiano are included in The Slave Ship .

There's so much in here - so many stories that had me gasping and crying. Rediker pushes capitalism to be one of the main factors of the slave trade growth. He broadens the scope of what true hell for enslaved people was; the drama of the slave ship. Rediker covers the sailors who didn't want to be on the ships, perhaps being pressed into service and the poor treatment they likely received on the ship. However, he also covers the dynamics of the power sailors had over the enslaved. Captains had to command themselves, the ship, supplies, and the people on the ship. Captains had to put distance between themselves and their crew; resistance by sailors and slaves, accidents and mutiny were all large fears of captains. Rediker shows cruelty to slaves was systemic and systematic as well as learned over time. He also illustrates most captains were violent and cruel to everyone on board their ships. Marcus Rediker looks at enslaved people's experiences; how gender affected treatment, how women were sexualized, freedom of movement or lack thereof, inter-slave relations, rebellion and insurrection BUT most importantly how enslaved people created communities on board slave ships.

Mohawk Saint is a biography of Tekakwitha that highlights the relations of Jesuits (and the French) with indigenous people. Personally, this wasn't my favourite read for the year. There's so little information out there on Catherine therefore Greer had to make a lot of educated guesses and suggestions about incidents in her life. I did appreciate Greer using a similar philosophy to that of Katherine DuVal; that Indians were not colonized by white people but had control over early interactions with Europeans. Relationships with the Jesuits would have been useful for political and commercial advantages. Greer covers European views of native women and the sexualization of native bodies. The interconnectedness of European religion and Indigenous relation in a syncretistic mix with Catherine was probably my favourite thing about Mohawk Saint .

Flame in the Mist was better than Smoke in the Sun . I had so much hope for the ending of the duology. It was a good start but the characters became 2D versions of themselves and the plot was very basic. The characters were all either good or bad, where is the realistic human portrayal?! Where are the morally grey characters?! The ending was happy and quick. I wanted more dramatic, and more real-life qualities to be in the work. I think maybe the YA genre is not for me anymore because it always disappoints me. It was a poor wrap-up to a great start to what should have been a wonderful series.

A great introduction to defending your faith. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it instead of listening to it. Sproul uses a lot of "Christianese" which is fine if you're familiar with all of these theological terms, but for new Christians, I think it would be hard to grasp everything in this work