The Zodiac Book Tag!

Hello, fellow readers and writers! I hope that all of you are well.

Today, I’m participating in the “Zodiac Book Tag!” I found this on bookishwisps’ blog, and I was interested in trying this out. So…why not? Here are the questions and my answers!

Please note: Any hyperlinked answers I have are from books that I already wrote reviews for. You can just click on them and check them out, if you’re interested in reading them!

Aries: Aries is the warrior of the zodiac. Name your favorite “strong female character.”

Tohko Amano from the “Book Girl” series by Mizuki Nomura. 

Tohko was such a fun character to read throughout the entire series. I loved reading about her love of literature, her determination to get to the bottom of things, and her and Konoha’s friendship-later-on-romance.

Taurus: Taurus is known for loving the finer things in life. What food/drink from a book would you like to try?

Madeleines from the “Kitchen Princess” series by Natsumi Ando!

I’ve never actually eaten madeleines before, but they seem super-fancy and really tasty-looking. For those who don’t know what “Kitchen Princess” is about, it’s a manga series about a girl who enrolls in an academy to find her “Flan Prince.” Lots of food-making ensues, and it’s a super-fun, ten-ish-volume-long series. I haven’t reviewed this series on this blog, but I did review Ando’s series “Let’s Dance A Waltz” (all three volumes!) a little while ago.

Gemini: Geminis value interpersonal communication. Name your favorite character friendship.

The friendship between the main four characters in ”The Isle of the Lost” by Melissa De La Cruz.

Okay, I admit it: None of the core main characters were on the best of terms with each other at the beginning of the book. However, I felt that all of them bonded with each other and started working with each other so well over the entire story that they became really close, and I loved reading that development.

Cancer: Cancers are the most emotional of the signs. What book have you thrown/wanted to throw across the room?

“Ash And Quill” by Rachel Caine.

Words cannot express how much I seriously wanted to throw it across the room, mainly because I was so disappointed in it.

I didn’t actually throw it across the room. That would’ve been too cruel. However, I did write a review about how disappointed I was with it, which you can read if you’re interested!

Leo: Leos have a great desire for popularity. Name a character you want more people to love.

Mutt from “The Shotgun Arcana” by R.S. Belcher.

Mutt is such an interesting character in the series, and it’s not because he’s one of the main characters (at least for the first two books, if not the third one). There are so many reasons to love him; his general capability to hold his own in a fight, the bonds he shares with Maude and Jim, and he has not just a rough personality, but also a softer side to him.

Virgo: Virgo always wants things to be logical. What book confused the heck out of you?

“A Blade So Black” by L.L. McKinney.

I really wanted to love this book. I really did. But then the sudden romance happened out of nowhere, with literally no development at all. I also felt that a lot of the worldbuilding didn’t make a lot of sense in this book as well.

Libra: Libra is all about right and wrong. What decision by a book character do you wish you could undo?

Mary too-quickly getting over the fact that she wouldn’t be able to visit her family (including grandkids) due to her now being so young again and basically on the run with Dante. “Runaway Vampire” by Lynsay Sands.

For the most part, I enjoyed reading this book. But this character decision felt way too fast for me in terms of pacing (for context: Mary was a widowed grandmother at the beginning of the book, but ended up turning super-young later on physically, because of various plot reasons). Had the tension of this been drawn out a bit more, it might feel a bit more believable to me, but as is, it just feels too fast a decision she made.

Scorpio: Scorpio is the sign associated with death. What character would you kill if you could?

Almost all of the main characters in “Warbreaker” by Brandon Sanderson.

All of them frustrated me to an extent due to plot holes caused by various decisions and/or developments the main characters had, as well as all of them just being…not smart enough to realize all the manipulation happening to them. I’m honestly surprised none of them died by the end of the book, looking back on it.

Sagittarius: Sagittarius loves freedom and travel. Name a location from a book you’d love to visit (can’t be Hogwarts).

Howl’s Moving Castle from “Howl’s Moving Castle” by Diana Wynne Jones!

IMAGINE how fun it would be to see a fire cook breakfast for you on its own! Howl being his dramatic self while going in and out of his castle. Imagine all the places you could travel to, since this castle can fly, hence the name of the place. It would be so much fun, and you’d even get breakfast served by Calcifer on top of that! An opportunity to travel, AND free meals (or at least breakfast)? Sign me up!

Capricorn: Capricorns are wise beyond their years. What mentor/teacher from a book do you wish you could learn from?

None. 

This sounds really sad, but as far as I remember from all the books I’ve read and reviewed, none of the mentor figures are entirely…er…reliable, for various character development and/or plot reasons. I can’t really list any because of this. Sorry!

Aquarius: Aquariuses are known for their rebellion. If you had to, what revolution from a book would you join?

The fight against Eden in “Rebels of Eden” by Joey Graceffa.

Let’s be honest: Neither the lands of Harmonia or Eden itself are anywhere close to decent societies. Both have their extremes and flaws, as well as their good points (though living in Harmonia is somewhat better, given how it’s depicted in the series compared to Eden).  However, if things were to change for either of these places, it seemed that there was no choice but to have the rebellion that the protagonist caused in this book.

I remember enjoying reading this book, but I also recall some plot elements not going as smoothly as they should have. As for the ‘rebellion,’ there wasn’t so much a rebellion as there was a ‘free everyone’ type of plot instead, but this was the closest I could get to a rebellion happening in all the books I’ve read and reviewed.

Pisces: Pisces never stop dreaming. What book/series did/do you wish would never end?

The “I Am Alice: Body Swap In Wonderland” series by Ayumi Kanou and Visualworks!

I loved this manga trilogy, and I do think it could have taken longer than three volumes, if the writers played their cards right. It was fine as is, but there were potential plot points that could be explored further if the creators wanted to do so.

Those are all of my answers for the Zodiac Book Tag! I hope you enjoyed reading these responses. Do any of you have any particular answers to the questions in this tag? Let me know in the comments!

As for who I’m tagging, well…I’m not going to tag anyone in particular. However, I do encourage any of you fellow readers and/or writers to try out this tag, as this was really fun to answer!

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