Hello and here I am again with another reading roundup. Since my last reading roundup, I’ve read five books and COMPLETED MY GOODREADS CHALLENGE! Go me! This year so far I have read/listened to 83 books to beat my goal of 80. I was wondering if I’d make the challenge this year given how busy my new role has kept me. Of the books I’ve read since the last roundup the one I enjoyed most was probably Catalyst: A Rogue One Story by James Luceno, which I listened to in audiobook format. I almost always listen to Star Wars in audiobook format because the narrators, production and sound effects are invariably excellent. This really brings something special to the story. Catalyst: A Rogue One Story is a prequel to Star Wars: Rogue One and tells the story of the construction of the first Death Star. I really loved this story despite it being somewhat slow and lacking in action. The characters were beautifully written and the cat and mouse games between Erso, Krennic and Tarkin were excellent. Galen Erso is a fascinating character with his passion for knowledge blinding him to political issues. While I don’t believe it spoils…
Hello and welcome to another reading roundup. Since my last roundup I have read two pretty good books which I’d like to share with you. [book-info]I received an Advance Reader Copy of The Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott at BEA. It’s been on my TBR for a while, but it’s only recently I read it. The Poisoned Blade is the second book in a planned trilogy (I believe) and continues the story of Jessamy, a young woman caught between two cultures whose passion in life is playing the game of Fives. In this second book, Jes is drawn into court politics and has to deal with the fallout of her decisions in book one. I listened to The Poisoned Blade in audiobook format and very much enjoyed Georgia Dolenz’s narration. What I liked The characters. I really liked our protagonist, Jessamy. Her conflicts between her love for the Fives, her need to protect her family, the limitations placed on her by her heritage and her affection for Kal were expertly written. The pacing. The Poisoned Blade didn’t suffer from middle book syndrome at all. There were enough conficts and resolutions to keep me well satisfied. I will certainly be…
Hello, once again, welcome to my belated reading roundup. My new role at work has kept me extremely busy, we had guests and I’ve been dealing with a sick, unhappy kitty. I swear cats can smell one grain of crushed up medication in a spoonful of delicious, tasty food. I’m really sorry for the forced pill popping Lushka, but I did try it the easy way first. Fortunately, she seems to be on the mend. Anyway, enough of the excuses. Since my last roundup I’ve read three books and I’m part way through three others. What I read The first book I read was The Young Elites by Marie Lu. This is the first book in a YA fantasy trilogy telling the story of Adelina, who, like some other young people, has been left with special powers after an illness. Marie Lu has said her inspiration for Adelina was Darth Vader, and being aware of this helped me a lot – Adelina is a rather dark character. While I enjoyed the book – I loved the Renaissance style setting – a lot, it didn’t leave me with any desire at all to pick up the sequels. Strangely, I had the…
Hello and here I am again with a reading roundup. Yes, I know it’s been ages since I rounded up my reading. My new role has been keeping me very, very busy, which is good, I guess. I’d still rather be reading though! Despite being so busy, there are seven books I’d like to discuss with you which I’ve read since my last roundup. I’m not sure if it was just because I was tired, but sadly very few of them really rang my bell. More of them were good, but no cigar. The first book I read was Furthermore by Shatter Me author Tahereh Mafi. This is Mafi’s first foray into middle grade and tells the story of young Alice who must venture into the world of Furthermore to rescue her father. I really loved the writing style in Furthermore – Mafi’s descriptions were lyrical and gorgeous. Unusually, Mafi regularly breaks the fourth wall in this novel to give the author’s viewpoint on Alice’s reactions, which I adored. It reminded me of Noel Langley’s Land of Green Ginger which was one of my favourite books as a child because of a similar technique. It’s worth reading this book…
Hello and my apologies for the lateness of this reading roundup. I started a new role at work this week so it’s been a very busy week. I’m switching from shiftwork to a more regular Mon-Fri job, so my blog posts may be somewhat irregular until I get myself into a new routine. Please bear with me. I did read some great books over the last little while. I read and finished Furthermore, Shatter Me author Tahereh Mafi’s foray into middle grade. While it wasn’t really my cup of tea, the writing was beautiful. I will be writing a full review of Furthermore shortly, so keep an eye out for it. I hadn’t intended to pick up Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, but I started reading/listening to the sample and I was hooked. I’m about four fifths of the way through it, so again expect a review at some point in the future. This week I finally started to read another of the ARCs I received from BEA, Replica by Lauren Oliver. It moved up my TBR because of the EpicReads First 5 newsletter to which I am subscribed. This is a email where they send you the first five…
Good morning. This is going to be a fairly brief roundup this week – I don’t have a great deal to talk about! One book I finished this week was The Bronze Key, the third in Holly Black and Cassandra Clare’s Magisterium series. The Magisterium series owes a lot to Harry Potter, set as it is in a magic school, following a protagonist linked to the Enemy of Death. This third outing sees our heroes trying to identify a spy in their midst all while keeping secret Cal’s connection to Constantine Madden. The Bronze Key is another solid outing in the series and I enjoyed it very much. While it doesn’t have Rowling’s wit, charm or gorgeous worldbuilding, I do like the depth that Black and Clare have given to their characters. It’s series I will certainly follow to the end. I gave The Bronze Key four stars out of five. I’m currently reading Sarah J. Maas’ Empire of Storms, the fifth book in the Throne of Glass series and am loving it so far. It’s funny to see on my GoodReads news feed how many of my GoodReads friends are currently reading this book! Expect more thoughts when…
Good morning! I’ve a lot to cover in this post vacation/hospitalisation reading roundup, so let’s get on with it, shall we? [book-info]The first book I read was Kate Elliott’s Cold Fire, the second in her Spiritwalker trilogy, a young adult fantasy series. I admit I really struggled with this book. It is the middle book in the trilogy and I really felt that. I liked the characters and the world and the dilemmas our protagonist had to navigate were interesting. The whole answer a question with a question scenario was wonderfully done. However, with no resolutions I still really had to force myself to complete this book, and I think it will be a while before I attempt book three. I gave Cold Fire three stars out of five. [book-info number=1]Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds by Rick Riordan pretty much does what it says on the tin. It is a slim companion volume to Riordan’s Magnus Chase series based on Norse mythology and provides a succinct and witty guide to the Norse pantheon. If you’re familiar with Riordan’s style, this is more of the same. Personally I’m not as familiar with Norse mythology as say Greco-Roman so this…
Good morning and welcome to another reading roundup. This week I finished Naomi Novik’s League of Dragons, the last in the Temeraire series. As I mentioned in my last reading roundup, I skipped the intermediate seven books of the series and relied on Tor.com’s reread. That wasn’t such a great idea in hindsight. While there was a lot to love about the book – especially the narration (Simon Vance, people!) – I expect some of the emotional punches passed me by. I did very much enjoy the whole theme of draconic rights and Temeraire’s commitment to improving his kind’s lot in life. What did irk me though was the sudden switch in goals. It seemed that every time our protagonists came near to achieving their goals, the posts were moved and they were sent off on another errand. It did all come together in the end, but it did bother me at the time. I gave League of Dragons three and a half stars out of five. My library hold of Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown came through earlier and I’m enjoying it very much indeed – much more than I had anticipated. I would place it in the…
Good morning and welcome to another reading roundup. To be honest I don’t have a great deal to share with you this week. It’s been a heavy week at work so I am a little tired. Though I am absolutely loving having a kitty again to curl up beside me when I’m reading or watching TV. This week I finished Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin. It was as wonderful as I’d hoped. The ending in particular was beautiful. I’m really hoping we get a few more short stories in this world. Expect a full review soon My library hold of Naomi Novik’s League of Dragons came through, so that is my current read/listen. This is the last in the Temeraire series which is based on the Napoleonic Wars but with dragons. I listened to and loved the first – it’s narrated by Simon Vance! – but I was uncertain about committing to a nine-book series. So I cheated and read Tor.com’s Temeraire reread for the intervening books. The series is definitely well worth checking out. I’m also hoping to make a start on The Poisoned Blade, the second in Kate Elliott’s Court of Fives series, the ARC of which I…
As you will see from my picture, I got my hands on a copy of Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin! This is the sequel to Wolf by Wolf which I adored. You can read my review. Those of you who follow my blog will know that I missed out on this one at BEA in Chicago, and that it was one of my most anticipated reads for 2016. Hachette Canada was kind enough to send me an Advanced Reader Copy. Thank you soooooo much. Expect me to share my thoughts on it over the next week or two. Blood for Blood will be released on November 1st 2016. More exciting news, this time from the world of audiobooks. Brent Weeks announced this week that Simon Vance has recorded The Black Prism, the first book in Weeks’ Lightbringer series. It was originally recorded by Cristofer Jean, and Vance took over narration duties from book two, The Blinding Knife. Now, no disrespect to Mr. Jean, but this is Simon Vance we’re talking about. Winner of multiple Audies and other awards and a damn good narrator. I personally credit Brent Weeks and Simon Vance for my love of audiobooks. When listening to…