Progress: 7/50
Did January seem endless to anyone else or was that just me? New Years feels ages ago already.
It's been a fantastic reading month for my part, and I feel really good about my reading goal so far, which is roughly 50 books for 2018. I know it seems low in comparison to others in the bookish community, but considering I only read actual books, and I don't use Kindle or listen to audio books at all.... economically this is the best I could do! Also I'm trying to ease back into reading and not suffocate myself with too high expectations at the get-go.
In January I read 5 full books, as well as finishing 2 which I'd started in December. I'm pretty sure the success of the month is largely owed to starting the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas, which - if not as good as ACOTAR series, still is easy to read and keep up steam on.
Ratings and thoughts:
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas:
- Throne of Glass: 3/5 stars
- Crown of Midnight: 3/5 stars
- Heir of Fire: 3/5 stars
- Queen of Shadows: 4/5 stars
The series about Aelin Ashryver Galanthynius is interesting plotwise and fun to read, but it's easy to tell this is the authors debut series. She struggles with oversharing and dumbing down a lot of the plot, overexplaining to the reader. As the books go along this does get better and I enjoyed being able to give 4 stars to the 4th installment, as I was not half as annoyed with the characters, plot or general writing as the previous books.
As for now, I will be taking a break from the series and focusing on some other reads for February, and hopefully I will be more excited to pick up Tower of Dawn next month to read about Chaol's adventures. Fingers crossed he will only keep growing as a character and annoy me less then.
Everless by Sara Holland
- 4/5 stars
Though a little slow to get into, I ended up thoroughly enjoying this book, and I'm immensely excited about the sequel. Although there are some signs of a debut author: information dumps and overexplaining plotlines, the story is new and interesting, the idea of blood as a currency for time is intriguing, and the characters are well developed. There are even a few surprising plot-twists. Definitely a recommended read from me.
This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
- 4/5 stars
I have been wanting to read some of Schwab's books for a good while, and I finally bought This Savage Song this month. The Monsters of Verity series tells a somewhat Shakespearean tale of Kate Harker and August Flynn, who are both heirs to their respective side of Verity, a city plagued by monsters created from people's evil deeds. After an attempted assassination, the two become unlikely allies and fight to uncover the culprits behind. Although I didn't scramble to pick up the next book immediately after finishing, I am intrigued and look forward to see where the story goes next, and definitely am very excited to read more character development in the following books, as both Kate and August pick up new responsibilities and roles in their own families.
Furyborn by Claire Legend
- 3/5 stars
I was very excited for this book as I picked it up, and really expected to like it more. The plot is interesting and the prologue had me almost drooling to know more. Unfortunately it ended there. Throughout, I found the characters hard to love, the skipping back and forth on the timeline was both confusing and annoying, and the book seemed entirely too long, considering how little plot progression we saw. The book balances on an edge of a potential high fantasy and YA, without really nailing either. I found it hard to say whether I picked this book up again each day because I wanted to know more, or just wanted to finish so I could move on to my next read.
In February I am hoping to keep steaming on with my reading, but I know that the month will be more busy so we will see how well that goes. I have a few books on my TBR for this month, but we will see if they are postponed or even if I will have the chance to pick them up at all.
- THUG by Angie Thomas
- Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
- Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
- Smoke by Dan Vyleta
Have you read any of these? Let me know your thoughts!
