Good morning and welcome to another reading roundup.  And happy St Jean to my fellow Quebecers!

[book-info]This week I read the wonderful Iron to Iron, the prequel novella to Ryan Graudin’s Wolf by Wolf.  Like Wolf by Wolf, it is set in an alternate universe in which the Axis won World War II.  It tells the story of Luka Löwe and Adele Wolfe’s burgeoning romance during the 1955 Axis Tour, a relationship which causes much of the tension in Wolf by Wolf.  Within a couple of pages I was immediately back in the world created by Graudin and back following the Axis Tour.  I listened to Wolf by Wolf in audiobook and although this novella is an ebook only, I still heard it in my mind with Christa Lewis’ voice.  It’s not often that I have such a strong link with narration.  

For those of you who have not yet read Wolf by Wolf (and why not may I ask?) the Axis Tour is a motorcycle race between Berlin and Tokyo, with the winner receiving an Iron Cross and many accolades.  Iron to Iron is told from Luka’s perspective, and we learn more about him.  Both he and Adele are strongly motivated to win the Axis Tour, he to prove his worth to his father by winning a second Iron Cross, she to prove that women are equally as competent as men.  Of course, having read Wolf by Wolf we know the outcome of this race; Graudin does a wonderful job of keeping the tension high despite that knowledge and without the addition of the whole shapeshifter trying to kill Hitler plot of Wolf.

My only gripe about Iron to Iron – and it is very minor – is that fräulein is written with a lower case f.  In German all nouns are capitalised, so this really irritated me.  I gave Iron to Iron a well deserved five stars out of five.  Now when is Blood for Blood out?!?

This week I also started reading His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik.  So far I’m really enjoying it.

Game of Thrones thoughts after the cut

This week’s episode, Battle of the Bastards, was the traditional episode nine spectacle.  It was definitely a better episode than last week’s cringeworthy No One.  Battle split the focus between Dany in Meereen and Jon battling Ramsey outside of Winterfell.  I really didn’t care about Dany’s storyline, but I did enjoy Jon’s story.  There were definitely some real feel-good moments such as when the Stark banner was raised above Winterfell once again.  I REALLY hope they update that in the intro.  I watched Blackwater earlier this week and loved seeing the Stark symbol over Winterfell.  I also enjoyed Sansa’s final interaction with Ramsey and his final fate.  Sansa has come a long way since she left Winterfell with her father with dreams of marrying a handsome prince.  

That’s all for this week.  Have a great day and see you next week!