Hamilton and Books

So, I've been thinking that I want to make this a — more or less — weekly thing. Not necessarily doing a book tag a week but doing something quote unquote special each week. Seeing as Lisa from Lies 'n Buch suggested I do the Hamilton Book Tag, that's what I'll be doing this week.
Just in case you've been living under a soudproof Internet-blocking boulder: Hamilton is a musical and it's great – I didn't even like musicals until I listened to Hamilton and suddenly became obsessed with it (not musicals in general just Hamilton). Hence, I'm super eager to have an excuse to listen to all of the songs (again)!

The Hamilton Book Tag was created by Maureen from Maureenkeavy.

Quick warning: There are some spoilers for Harry Potter, Thondras Kinder, and The Lord of the Rings ahead.

The Room Where It Happens: Book world you would put yourself in

What is a book with an extremely rich, wonderful, and magical world, filled to the brim with incredible creatures, adventures, and fairytales where every place you visit is, somehow, larger than life and enchanting? The Inkworld and/or Mirrorworld series by Cornelia Funke. Not only is Inkworld one of my all-time favorite series – and I've really been enjoying Mirrorworld so far, though I almost like the world better than the story – but I also generally adore the incredible world-building Funke demonstrates in pretty much every book of hers  (these books in particular).
Furthermore, the nice thing about the Inkworld is that you'd get to experience adventures no matter where you'd end up. I mean, knowing my luck, I'd probably be a muggle in the wizarding world had I chosen Harry Potter for this one. (Am I being too pragmatic? Possible.)

The Schuyler Sisters: Underrated Female Character

Dart from the Godslayer Chronicles by James Clemens. She isn't necessarily underrated but the series is pretty unknown in general so I hope that counts. Dart is only a kid but has to learn how to fight for herself way too quickly when she faces dangers so dark and twisted as only James Clemens can make them up.
I really need to reread these books but, more importantly, Clemens has to finally finish (and then publish) the rest of the series. I've been waiting for, like, seven years for the next book and that's just way too many years!

 My Shot: A character that goes after what they want and doesn't let anything stop them

Let me preface this by saying that exam week is coming up and I've been studying a lot, especially for my Textual Analysis module. Hence, the only character I can think of right now (besides Lila Bard) is Helena from A Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespeare. A character so set on making Demetrius love her she blindly follows him into a forest even though he treats her like garbage. Thinking about it, she could really use some stopping. Or common sense, for that matter.

Stay Alive: A character you wish was still alive (Spoilers, duh)

I rarely truly wish a character hadn't died. Usually, the purpose of a character death is very clear to me and I don't see a point in protesting against it even if they are main characters. But there is one character death I never really got over. And that's Fred. Like in Fred Weasley from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. He has always been one of my favorites and I would have never expected him to die. Ever. The Weasley's and Hermione were pretty much immortal in my mind – even Harry was only sort of immortal. So, yeah, that death shook me up pretty badly. Frankly, I still can't/don't want to believe that he actually, really, undoubtedly died. 

Burn: The most heartbreaking end to a relationship you've ever read (Spoilers)

For this one I have to go with a guilty pleasure series of mine. I read this a long time ago and I'm aware that hardly anyone knows these books (they're German to make matters even worse). The thing is, when I first read this series I was just getting into that phase of your teenage life where I'd be super flustered when I read about cute couples and stuff and this couple I really rooted for and – before I start ranting about stupid breakups I'll quickly tell you that this one is about the Thondras Kinder series by Aileen P. Roberts which you probably won't know but if you wish to skip spoilers do so now (They're fun books but you really can't take them seriously. I'd recommend reading these when you feel like just turning off your brain and enjoying a weird plot with lots of gorgeous people doing dumb stuff in it.) – they somehow manage to be stupid enough to go through several stupid breakups and their stupidity really upset me but then they are even more stupid and she marries some other weird, stupid dude and then he comes back stupidly and they can't get back together because she was stupid and illegally married this stupid guy and this stupid turf war over her breaks out and they all act stupidly and– well, let's just say everything is very stupid.

You'll Be Back: Sassiest villain

An entire race of villains that torture their captives by reading – their own – terrible poetry to them and are obsessed with properly doing paperwork:

They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.

In my book, that's pretty sassy; pretty much everything they do happens out of spite. They're so much fun! Of course, I'm talking about no other life-form than the Vogons from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. 

The Reynolds Pamphlet: A book with a twist that you didn't see coming (Spoilers)

Okay, so I've been thinking about this for a while now and I'm kind of stuck with this one scene from a particular, awesome book. I was planning on not mentioning The Lord of the Rings – because I already did in my Harry Potter Spells post – but the ending of The Return of the King (by J.R.R. Tolkien) includes one of my favorite scenes from the entire trilogy. If you've read the books – No, that scene isn't in the movies and, yes, I was very upset when I first saw them … and the next ten times after I first saw them. I've come to terms with it by now but it did take a while. – you'll know what I'm talking about when I mention the Hobbit's return to the Shire. 

Non-stop: A series you marathoned 

I guess you could argue that I technically marathoned a few series (Hex Hall, The Lunar Chronicles, Shades of Magic...) but I don't really count those because I didn't actually read them all back to back. Frankly, I hardly ever do that for several reasons: 1. My reading memory is pretty good so I don't feel the need to read books closely together; I can pause a series for up to a year and not miss out on any kind of intricate information. 2. Hence, elements of repetition and looking back at previous books from the series often seem redundant and bore me. 3. I don't like getting an entire series at once. I much prefer just getting one book at a time after finishing the previous ones. Why carrying around an entire series when I don't even know whether I liked the first one, yet? 4. Having to wait for the next book in a series to be published.
However, there are some exceptions to that: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Banned and the Banished by James Clemens. I've already talked about both The Lord of the Rings and James Clemens in this tag but I haven't mentioned James Clemens' The Banned and the Banished series yet, which is also one of my favorite series of all time.
I love how dark this story gets at times, how much development everybody goes through, and how it is filled with plainly awesome characters (honestly, it's like Clemens wrote down my fantasies of purely awesome elves and witches and even mermaids – previously, I hadn't even know mermaids could kick-ass, let alone kick major ass while riding on dragons.). I haven't read this series in a long time but thirteen to fifteen-year-old me would highly recommend reading it.

Satisfied: Favorite book with multiple POVs

This isn't necessarily my favorite book with multiple POVs because there are a lot of great books with multiple points of view (Six of Crows, The Lord of the Rings, Skippy Dies...) but I haven't talked about the Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab yet!
Shades of Magic is a first-rate fantasy series about this magical guy who can travel between different Londons and this pirate/thief crossdressing girl who can do anything she wants because that's the way she is. (I'm doing a terrible job explaining the awesomeness that is this trilogy.) There are, obviously, more characters than just those two but their points of view are pretty predominant. I strongly recommend reading this series if you haven't yet because it has everything you could wish for: a rich world, an awesome plot, and fantastic characters.
(I actually wrote review for all three books of this series wich you can find here for book one, here for book two, and here for book three.)

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story: A book/series you feel like will be remembered throughout history

As far as I'm able to tell, there seems to be an overwhelming consensus among everyone who's answered these questions: Harry Potter. It's pretty much the most logical answer because everyone already knows it and people who grew up with it will tell it to their children so everyone will continue to know it. However, seeing as this is such an easy answer it's also a little bit boring so I'm going to chose something that I hope will be remembered throughout history:
Everything by Megan Abbott. Her style of writing is so interesting, her stories so intense, her characters so full of wonder and tragedy and beauty, and her ability to capture the feelings of mundane strangeness is so fascinating that I can't help but love and be moved by everything she touches. Future culture: This would be a great author to remember. I'm just saying. 

(I've only read You Will Know Me, Dare Me, and The End of Everything so far but wrote reviews for all of those - the one on The End of Everything is written in German, though.)

Bonus questions!

Helpless: A relationship you were pulling for from the very start

Urgh, there are so many! I guess the most recent example are Zoe and Digby – from the Trouble series by Stephanie Tromly – whom I love and really want to end up together. Obviously, the entire series is awesome and funny and I'm in desperate need of the third book. Seriously. Give it to me. Now.
(Again: A series I wrote reviews about. I wrote my review for the first book in German but my review for the second book also comes in English.)

Ten Duel Commandments: Favorite fight scene

Well, that's easy. Every scene in Six of Crows ever. Leigh Bardugo writes fight scenes like Edgar Wright or Matthew Vaughn direct action scenes. It's totally and unconditionally awesome.
(Yes, one of those books you can find a review of – just a German one and just on the first book of this duology, though. I need to get on the second one asap!)

Say No To this: Guilty Pleasure read

Again: there are so many! I have a huge thing for guilty pleasure reads – I don't even feel guilty about them. I simply acknowledge what they are to let other people know that I might be gushing about a book but that my love for it doesn't mean that it's a "quality read". The Precious Stone trilogy by Kerstin Gier is a great example for this: I was laughing my head off listening/reading these books but I'm very able to point out all of its flaws (and it does have many of those). 

What Comes Next: A series you wish had more books

Can I chose The Godslayer series again because not all books are out yet? Wait, hold that thought. I was actually planning on saying something different but now that I'm thinking about it: The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. I need the third book desperately. (And so do you, trust me.)

Right Hand Man: Favorite BROTP

Fezzik and Inigo from The Princess Bride by William Goldman. They are simply perfect for each other. 

What'd I Miss: A book or series you were late to reading

Were? I currently am super late to reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. I've been enjoying the first book so far (I should be done later today, I think) and honestly don't really mind the whole "being late" bit because I probably would have disliked it as a kid anyway. 

And that's it! Thank you for reading and feel free to do this tag if you want to (It's quite a lot of fun).
Have a nice day and I guess you'll read me soon.