My favourite things of ever in books

Reading like a maniac as I am, I came to notice that I love some elements in books more than anything, like if they’re here, I’m bound to love the book even more. I was thinking about it because of the book I’m currently reading (The Girl from Everywhere) and I thought I just HAD to make a list about it. These elements bring me joy every time I encounter them! Of course, it’s just a glimpse of what I love the most in books, maybe I’ll do a part two at some point… But I’ll need to think about it thoroughly first.

SHIPS

I think that every time a book involves a ship, I talk about it in my reviews, like: “of course I loved it, it was about ships!”. When I was younger, I loved to learn everything about them, the different words for the parts of it, but also sailor’s phrases. In the Lady Grace Mysteries series, the characters were going on a ship and it was my favourite in the series, I was rereading it All. The. Time.

Now that I also read sci-fi books, it also applies to space ships, especially when there are space pirates (like in Starflight <3)! Of course the pirates go with the ships (like we almost can have one without the other, no?) and it’s so damn fantastic. I think there is something about being at sea/in space that totally fascinates me in books. I don’t think I would actually go in space in real life, though.

DREAMS

A few years ago, I had a dream journal, where I tried to write down all of my dreams before they faded away into nothingness. What our minds can create when we’re asleep is really fascinating. Many authors have used dreams in their plots, because it’s so intriguing, I’m thinking of Percy Jackson, where Percy had dreams of Cronos, but also The Raven Cycle (book 2 = The Dream Thieves, ha!) or Dreamology, that I read more recently. In the latest, it was also about scientists’ studies on dreams and it was interesting to learn about that.

STEAMPUNK

I’m a history nerd and fantasy is my favourite genre, so I was bound to love steampunk novels. The 19^th century is so fascinating, with all the discoveries that happened during that time, and it’s so interesting to read about what could have happened. Moreover, Victorian era is one of my favourite time periods, it was pretty cool to see automats in The Infernal Devices, but also the tools of the Spirit’s Hunters in Something Strange and Deadly. Technology really improved the world we now live in and I love seeing all the inventions that led to it. I still have Revenge and the Wild on my TBR, where the main character has a mechanical arm in the Wild West, and that, my friends, is just the coolest thing of ever. I’m just obsessed with this subgenre and some of my favourite series are steampunk. <3

DISCOVERING NEW PLACES

I don’t live in America but sometimes, I’m just tired of all the books being set there. I want to travel the world through my books and that’s why discovering different countries through said books is so much fun. For one of those reasons, I love reading time-traveling books because they take you to new places (like Damascus in Passenger or Honolulu in the Girl from Everywhere). I have money to buy books, but it’s way more expensive to travel in real life, so books = how you escape somewhere. When Daughter of Smoke and Bone was set in Prague, I just gasped out loud, because I had never read a book set there.

ELEMENTAL MAGIC

So many fantasy books involve elemental magic and I can’t say I complain. The elements are pretty much roots of our world, it’s like those powers are actually based from nature and not thin air. Moreover, 80% of the time, the author will choose to include a fifth (or more) element and I’m always looking forward to it. Also, I’m pretty sure my power would be water (see: the ships) and I totally relate to characters that have a power on water. A Darker Shade of Magic, Falling Kingdoms, Truthwitch and Vampire Academy are some of my favourite books involving elemental magic.

(PART OF) WORLDS BASED OFF SEASONS

If you can’t tell, that’s pretty much my A Court of Mist and Fury obsession speaking through me (sorry, not sorry). Also, I want to see the rest of the courts, pleaaaaase. But really, I like seeing the different seasons in all their magnificence and how those books celebrate them and shows beauty, even if sometimes, we don’t like some seasons. For example, I don’t like winter because I hate the cold, but seeing Meira and the Winter’s kingdom in the Snow like Ashes trilogy is pretty interesting. Moreover, I like when those seasons even dictates some traits, physical, mental, but also magical. So yes, I’m pretty much obsessed.

MAPS

Obviously, high fantasy books with maps help the reader to see the world and they’re pretty, so it’s always a plus, but I also love books about maps. I think that if I had lived in the 18^th century, I would have liked to be a cartographer, it seems like one of the best jobs ever! For example, I totally bought the Glass Sentence because I knew it was about maps (they’re all cartographers) and how different parts of the world are in different eras (!!!) so yeah they can’t really establish maps, but they’ll try anyway. I’m still annoyed and waiting for the second book to be out in paperback, because of course I bought the paperback edition of the first one in June 2015 *weeps*. In The Girl from Everywhere, the characters are using maps to time travel, like they need precise maps of that year or it won’t work! It's just amazing.

CONVENTS WHERE BADASS ASSASSINS/WARRIORS/WHATEVER ARE TRAINED

When we think about nuns/monks, we think: “well, they’re so boring praying all the time, ugh, I wouldn’t want that life”. But if those convents train warriors and all that? I find it pretty cool to twist it a little. For example, in His Fair Assassin trilogy (I still need to read book three though), young women are trained to be assassins, because they’re basically the hands of Saint Mortain, the god of death. I don’t know how it could be cooler, since they’re in service (like regular nuns) but it’s for Death itself. That’s pretty scary too, but details. In Truthwitch (yes, you got that Susan Dennard is one of my favourite authors <3), Aeduan is a warrior monk and he’s so badass. As of now, he’s not my favourite character but he’s pretty interesting. This convent thing just gets me every time.

SLOW-BURNING ROMANCE

It’s definitely my favourite type of romance. You just see all this build-up, all this tension between the characters and you just yell: “JUST KISS ALREADY!!!!” and explodes with happiness when finally, they do… And starts bickering with each other again. I’m sorry but there was so much tension between Feyre and Rhysand I might have died once or twice or a billion times during A Court of Mist and Fury (yes, I’m doing this again). It was just the same thing in Dark Triumph and oh, how I loved it. This type of romance also means the romance doesn’t take the central stage in the story, because most of the time, I’m annoyed by it. This tension is just life!

MAGICAL TOURNAMENTS

As you know, fantasy is my favourite genre so I love seeing the characters showing off their powers. Is there a better way to do this than in magical tournaments? I think not. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is just glorious and I think my favourite of the series for this reason. All these magical tasks and fighting other magicians is just the best. Victoria Schwab also showed it in A Gathering of Shadows, it was just a big game of powers between empires and ooooooh. Magical tournaments are 80% of the reasons I’m excited for The Crown’s Game (it comes out on Tuesdayyy) and the rest is Russia, let’s be honest.

What are the elements that make you love a book 1000 x more than usual? Do we share any?