The Wings of a Falcon
Completed: The Wings of a Falcon by Cynthia Voigt
May 2019 Reading Wrap-Up
Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt
(Tales of the Kingdom, book 1)
Rating: ★★★★★ – it was amazing
Review: Yes
Format: Print
Reading Dates: April 30 – May 13
Read Count: 5-ish
Favorite Thing: My favorite thing this time around is too spoilery to mention, but trust me it’s cute shit (if quite subtle).
Least Favorite Thing: Win is so obnoxious, he annoys me every single time.
Well, new year, new read-through of the Tales of the Kingdom books! You know I can’t resist these books for long. As they are my all-time favorites, I recommend them to everyone.
On Fortune’s Wheel by Cynthia Voigt
(Tales of the Kingdom, book 2)
Rating: ★★★★★ – it was amazing
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: May 13 – 17
Read Count: 5-ish
Favorite Thing: The ability of the main characters to endure any circumstance.
Least Favorite Thing: Creepy, gross men. (Hm, my least favorite thing in real life, too.)
I can’t believe this used to be my least favorite of all the books, I am so dumb. Birle is a treasure and I love her.
My Posts About On Fortune’s Wheel
Maybe (Maybe Not) by Robert Fulghum
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: April 4 – May 18
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: Nothing really stood out.
Least Favorite Thing: Again, some things didn’t age well.
I swear Mr. Fulghum is the grandfather everyone could wish for. He’s so weird, but in a good way, and you could probably tell him your strange thoughts without judgement…
My Posts About Maybe (Maybe Not)
In Progress
Shelf-Confidence Book Photo Challenge – November 4: Sweet Escape
First Lines Fridays: June 8, 2018
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
First Lines:
He knew from the first that this man would know how to hurt him. He had to keep the fear secret, and he couldn’t cry no matter how much he wanted to.
Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!
The Wings of a Falcon by Cynthia Voigt
(Tales of the Kingdom, book 3)
The prospect of freedom is weighted with danger in this tale of high adventure, the third book in the Tales of the Kingdom series from Newbery Medalist Cynthia Voigt.
Oriel has always stood out as someone who would not bend. No matter how much he has had to endure, the Damall’s cruelty cannot corrupt him. Griff, a boy who has watched and admired Oriel, is the opposite. He has learned to keep out of sight, to bow in the face of force. Yet the two became friends, and together they escaped from the terrors of the island and take with them the Damall’s most prized relic—the beryl, a green gemstone engraved with a falcon, its wings unfolding. But as they seek a new life, it’s not as easy as they’d hoped, for ahead lie raiding Wolfers, rival armies, and unspeakable dangers…
January 2018 Reading Wrap-Up
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review: No
Reading Dates: January 6
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Sneaky sneaky sneaky!
Least Favorite Thing: Ooooh Nick is such a douche!
I’m so grateful to Kelsie @ BilboBookins for putting Gillian Flynn back on my radar and making me really consider reading her books and Marina @ The Review Marina for her review which put to rest my worries about whether having liked the movie, I could enjoy the book too. If it hadn’t been for these two I probably wouldn’t have picked up this amazing book at all and I’d have really missed out!
Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Review: Yes
Reading Dates: January 7 – 10
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: The diet secrets “monologue”.
Least Favorite Thing: Boredom.
For something with “Gilmore Girls” all over the cover, it had surprisingly little Gilmore Girls in it. (This is neither a good nor bad thing, just an observation.)
My Posts About Talking as Fast as I Can
All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review: No
Reading Dates: December 27 – January 11
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: The way Beatriz thinks.
Least Favorite Thing: Waiting for something to Happen in the beginning of the novel.
As I mentioned in my rating post, my complaint about this book was just that it was hard to get into, but I really think it’s worth it.
My Posts About All the Crooked Saints
Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt
(Tales of the Kingdom, book 1)
Rating: ★★★★★
Review: Yes
Reading Dates: January 11 – 12
Read Count: 4-ish?
Favorite Thing: Burrrrl!
Least Favorite Thing: Cam is so much more annoying than he was when I first read this in middle school lol
This is my favorite series, and this is one of my favorite stories from the series. It makes me so sad that no one seems to know about these books anymore (admittedly they are a bit old, but they are so good)!
On Fortune’s Wheel by Cynthia Voigt
(Tales of the Kingdom, book 2)
Rating: ★★★★★
Review: No
Reading Dates: January 12 -15
Read Count: 4-ish?
Favorite Thing: Birle at the end, with Nan.
Least Favorite Thing: The part at the slave market where that nasty fucker shoves his fingers in Birle’s mouth while he’s deciding if he wants to buy her. I literally had to stop reading and go brush my teeth, the passage evoked that visceral a response from me. (Actually I may need to again now just remembering…)
This one always gives me a little trouble during Part 1, because it moves slowly, but once I get past that, Parts 2 & 3 speed by so fast because this book is amazing.
Note: Also published as The Tale of Birle, which is the copy I actually read this time, since I don’t have access to my own copy right now.
My Posts About On Fortune’s Wheel
Live Through This by Mindi Scott
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review: Yes
Reading Dates: January 17
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: That life goes on as normal even with the bad things that are happening.
Least Favorite Thing: I wish we got to know what came next. I mean I get it, but I still wish.
Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault
Despite the harsh subject matter, I really liked this book.
My Posts About Live Through This
Counterfeit Son by Elaine Marie Alphin
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review: No
Reading Dates: January 20
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: The sailing.
Least Favorite Thing: The mom at the end. Spoiler: [start] I just hate that the book ended without her even acknowledging that he was really her son or anything other than standing there… [end]
I’m not sure what made me think of this book all of a sudden, but once I did I suddenly also wanted to reread it.
My Posts About Counterfeit Son
Gallows Hill by Lois Duncan
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review: Yes
Reading Dates: January 25 – 26
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Piecing together all the little tidbits that didn’t get direct explanations.
Least Favorite Thing: The usage of the g*psy slur & negative stereotyping of Romani people. (It was a part of the characterization of the antagonists, but it was still left a bad taste in my brain.)
I decided to go on a Lois Duncan reading kick, and Gallows Hill was the first one I grabbed.
The Wings of a Falcon by Cynthia Voigt
(Tales of the Kingdom, book 3)
Rating: ★★★★★
Review: No
Reading Dates: January 21 – 29
Read Count: 4-ish?
Favorite Thing: Oriel & Griff’s friendship.
Least Favorite Thing: Merlis…
Don’t talk to me. Don’t look at me. The Thing literally gets harder every time I reread this even knowing it’s coming!
Note: Also published as The Tale of Oriel, which is the copy I actually read this time, since I don’t have access to my own copy right now.
My Posts About The Wings of a Falcon
The Third Eye by Lois Duncan
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review: Yes
Reading Dates: January 30
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: I liked the mechanics of Karen’s gift. Especially the heightened sense of smell. That was interesting.
Least Favorite Thing: Did we really need such a detailed description of a dead dog?
This was the second book on my Lois Duncan kick. I liked it better than the first one I think.
Griff couldn’t, as Oriel could, gather men to him at a glance, seal them to him with a word. He had himself been the first gathered, the first sealed.
– Cynthia Voigt, The Wings of a Falcon, page 469
Version:
Paperback, 544 pages
Published May 26th 2015 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
They wouldn’t know that grief had come down up on him unbearably, and he must be alone to put his arms around her, and feel her arms around him, to take enough comfort from grieving so that he could return to finish the business of the day.
– Cynthia Voigt, The Wings of a Falcon, page 456
Version:
Paperback, 544 pages
Published May 26th 2015 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
There was something that hurt him in the way the hills rose so gently from the broad, rich southern plain. Something painful in the lazy curves of the river, golden under a sinking sun, shadowed by the trees that grew along its edges.
– Cynthia Voigt, The Wings of a Falcon, page 419
Version:
Paperback, 544 pages
Published May 26th 2015 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
In the white, warmless light of the moon, his people’s fear rose up like a tide towards Malke, and it seemed to Oriel that the King drank in that fear, as if it were wine to give him strength and rejoicing.
– Cynthia Voigt, The Wings of a Falcon, page 284
Version:
Paperback, 544 pages
Published May 26th 2015 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
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