Epic Recs March

I'm sure you've seen this meme around the blogosphere. It's basically where people pair up and recommend books for each other and it's hosted by Books of Amber and Paper Riot. This is the first month that Looking for the Panacea is participating- and we're going to recommend books for each other! Chantelle and I thought it'd be kind of fun if we tried to guess each others' picks (with some hints of course). So here are the results of that- the only thing that can be conclusively said is that Chantelle is crap at giving hints haha. (Chantelle: EXCUSE ME! Nara: :P)


Rec for Chantelle from Nara
Nara: Okay, so hint number one!

Credit: http://www.tmiasuperhero.com/3323

Might be a bit too obvious lol.

Chantelle: HAHAHAH is it the xmen book of the month? (some background: Chantelle and I have both joined a book club on Goodreads which is currently doing an X-Men/Avengers themed book challenge)

N: Surprisingly, no :P

C: Oh… eeerm. HINT TWO :D please haha

N: Hint number two: Brutal

C: oh man… heroes… with a brutal storyline...

N: lol need another hint?

C: I’M SO BAD AT THIS!

N: GAH IT’S SO HARD TO THINK OF HINTS THAT DON’T GIVE TOO MUCH AWAY

C: hahah okay, im going to go have some thinking time. people everywhere are probably screaming at their computers like, IT’S OBVIOUSLY THIS BOOK YA DUMMY

N: Okay, so here are some genre related clues
1. It’s an adult book
2. It’s a paranormal fantasy. Possibly some might consider it a science fiction novel.

C: What what whaaaat, do I know this book???

N: You most definitely do. Otherwise how could we do this guessing game lol

C: hahaha ssshhhhhhhhhh. WAIT WAIT WAIT. GAMEBOARD OF THE GODS?

N: Nope. I’d call that a dystopian.

C: hmmm, VICIOUS? :O

N: Wooooo!

C: ZOOOOMMMGGGG YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS! *victory dance* defs excited!

N: haha so the “brutal” clue was actually for the title not that there’s a brutal storyline

C: Yooouuu sneaky bugger. Some part of my mind was like brutal… brutal. HAS TO BE GAME OF THRONES, to hell with the other clue.

N: HAHAHAHA nice one.

C: OKAY!!! Revenge time. My turn!

A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and superpowers, set in a near-future world.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

Rec for Nara from Chantelle

C: Hint number one. mwahaha. (if you guess this quickly I will probably cry)

N: A...foot? Foot sizes? Lemme check my shelves...lol I typed “foot” into GR search, first result: The Foot Book by Dr Seuss

C: HAHAHHAHAH definitely correct!

N: hmm, maybe a Cinderella retelling…?

C: hehehe nope

N: Okay, I need another hint.

C: brutal :P MUAAHHAAAA (legit)

N: Urgh…

C: Think, a fantasy book... that I’ve read that you haven’t… that leaves about one. haha

N: And I’ve definitely heard of it?

C: Yes yes yes, forget the first clue haha I went overly cryptic

N: hmm...by fantasy do you mean paranormal fantasy or high fantasy?

C: hmmm one might say it was a sci fi, fantasy dystopian….

N: Well the only book that kind of fits that that I can think of is Red Rising

C: AND YOU WOULD BE CORREEECCCTTTTTT. hahah sorry, the first clue, was like “Red Sizings”... like red rising… ahhahhaha

N: Dude, that is literally the stupidest clue I have ever heard.

C: YOU’RE WELCOME! ;)

N: smh haha

C: <3 <3<3 ahahahha enjoooy though! I think it’s the type of book you’d like.

N: Definitely looking forward to it! I was actually going to read that at some point in the next few months, so this seems like a good opportunity :D

C: Sweet! Well, I guess we’ll post again towards the end of the month when we’ve both done our readings :)

N: Yep! Sounds like a plan!

The war begins...

Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars. Generations of Helldivers have spent their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that one day people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.

Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. Mars is habitable - and indeed has been inhabited for generations by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. The Golds regard Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

With the help of a mysterious group of rebels, Darrow disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside.

But the command school is a battlefield. And Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda...