I can’t believe that the end of Spooky Season has already come and gone! I had a lot of fun with the titles I chose. I might make it a tradition to keep horror themes in all my reading throughout the month of October. It set the perfect vibe for Halloween and the deepening autumn.

1. Sea Change – James Powlik

I had already started this book last week. At that point, I had barely begun it, but already suspected I was going to enjoy it. My gut was right on this one. The threat was truly horrifying. All of the characters were distinct and believable. There were very loveable good guys, extremely easy-to-hate bad guys, and everyone in between. The science seemed pretty solid too, but I’m speaking only as a layman who watches lots of documentaries and knows a couple people in the field.

One thing I really liked seeing was the representation of blended families. The bond between step siblings is not trivialized. The author is able to portray a divorced couple who don’t hate each other, but are still both carrying wounds from the marriage ending. I feel like it’s rare to see both sides of that coin in literature. In most cases I see, the dynamic is either pure animosity or simple lighthearted friendship. As someone who gets along well with my ex, I liked seeing greater complexity in the relationship.

Some sections of the book got pretty technical. To me, those sections seemed well laid-out to keep the information easy to follow, but I’ve had a lot of exposure to both maritime and medical terminology, which may have given me an advantage over the average reader. Aside from that, the only part of this book that left me uncertain was the romantic subplot. The characters made sense together, but the speed at which the relationship moved did not. Fortunately, it wasn’t too distracting from the story.

2. The Color of Magic – Terry Pratchett

After so much horror and general spookiness, I decided it was time for something a bit lighter. Terry Pratchett’s writing is always a wonder for lifting my spirits. While I’ve read more than a handful of the books in his Discworld series, I’d never actually gotten around to The Color of Magic (or any that star the wizards). It’s been sitting on my shelf for a while, and this felt like a perfect time for it.

Pratchett’s signature wit is absolutely hitting the spot as I have come to expect it to. It’s interesting to see that even in the first book of the series, anything that’s seen as “normal” by the characters gets very little exposition. The author trusts the reader to fill in the blanks we need to, and ignore the ones we don’t. Having started with later-published Discworld books, I’d subconsciously assumed that the explanations had occurred in previous books. It’s a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. You really can start anywhere with this series.

I’ll likely finish this title today, and don’t expect to have my opinion of it changed. It’s unlikely I’ll include it next week, but I absolutely recommend it and the rest of the series. By this point, I’m confident that the ones I haven’t gotten to yet I’ll love equally once I do read them. Pratchett is absolutely one of my comfort-read authors. If you haven’t read him, you absolutely should.

That Was the End of Spooky Season For Me!

That’s the recap for my final week of Spooky Season! We are now into November, which I did not set a theme for. I came up with a few ideas, but found that I was trying to come up with themes that fit my TBR pile instead of the season. There’s a good chance I’ll go back to themes next month, but during November I’ll read whatever calls to me. Because months don’t always start on the same day of the week, they don’t always number very cleanly. Therefore going forward, unless a month has a theme, I probably won’t number the weeks the way I did for Spooky Season.

As always, I want to hear from you! What have you been reading lately? Are you having fun with it? Have you read any of these titles, and if so, what did you think of them? Tell me everything, and follow along for more!