Welcome!

I am glad you decided to take the time to check out my blog! My goal is for you to find something enjoyable, fun, or informative here as we explore various worlds of words together. This post is a guide to the style I hope to convey and the way I approach my reviews and other content. I will continue growing as a writer and book reviewer so you should expect to see changes over time (hopefully, for the better!). Always feel free to contact me at achasethacker@gmail.com to provide feedback and suggestions. 

Why should you trust my reviews?

I would start with “I am an avid reader”, but that statement is pretty trite. Obviously, I am an avid reader if I am trying my hand at writing a book review blog. I have been reading roughly one book per week for the last 4 years, and I plan to keep up that pace so I am pretty well read. I believe that book taste is highly individual and that you should trust my reviews if you find that they match with your own feelings about the book.

Where I hope to add value is by breaking down a book’s themes, plots, character, worldbuilding, etc. more deeply than the typical reader. Though I am not a fiction writer myself, I enjoy spending time studying story telling and story structure. In these reviews, I hope to bring you additional insights beyond the norm.

If you want to start learning more about story for yourself, I strongly suggest Brandon Sanderson’s excellent lecture series that he delivered when teaching at BYU (embedded below).

What will I review and write?

A little bit of everything!

Since the majority of my reading occurs within the sci-fi and fantasy genres, most of my reviews will be related to those topics. However, I am not going to stay limited purely to those and will review most or all books that I read. This list could include things like history, theology, economics, business, analytics, and children’s books.

Currently, I am working my way through the entire “Legends” collection of Star Wars books so expect to see plenty of Star Wars reviews for the next few years. About half of my reading will be Star Wars and the other half will be other books sprinkled in.

In addition to reviews, I will sometimes write comparison content or lists. Let me know if there are any books you think I should compare and contrast.

How will your reviews be structured?

Though the structure will change book to book, I am hoping to cover the main elements. For fiction books, I will focus on things like plot, characters, prose, and worldbuilding. I will also cover overall fit in the series for books that are part of a series or fit within a larger literary world.

For non-fiction, I will cover their premise and how well they formed their arguments for their main points.

For children’s books, I will cover the purpose of the book (as I interpret it) and how well it achieves that purpose; more importantly, I will cover how much fun it is for kids! With these books particularly, I want to bring in a Christian perspective on their content since these books catechize our kids every night.

 Importantly, for the structure, if there are any spoilers, I will hide them like this:

Generally, I will avoid spoilers, but I promise to hide them if they are included.

Conclusion

 Welcome again to the blog, and thanks for checking it out! If you ever want to discuss books or give feedback/suggestions, please email achasethacker@gmail.com.

Enjoy!