I’ve decided to keep a record of the books I read each month. It’s less for others and more so that I can track my progress and thoughts. Not only is it absolutely wonderful to be reading as prolifically as I used to, but I’ve noticed I’m also reading differently. I think this is because I’m simultaneously working on writing a novel and so am more sensitive to my emotions as I read, as well as to the writing and story itself.
In total, this month I read 9 books. If you’re not stunned by that number, well you should know I am. I simply haven’t had time to read that many “for fun” books in years. I probably won’t read as much in April because I’m going to shift my focus with regards to how I read, but who knows, maybe I’m wrong. Regardless, here’s the list, and what I thought of them.
A note on ordering. I’ve listed the books in the order I read them, NOT in the order I recommend them. The list would look different.
The Golden Enclaves
Author: Naomi Novik
The final book in the Scholomance trilogy, the Golden Enclaves did not disappoint. I’m still amazed by the fact that Naomi Novik manages exposition so well. I suspect it’s all the practice she gets writing and reading diversely. If you’re ever curious about mastering “tell don’t show” (yes, the order of my wording wasn’t a mistake), this is the author to read. All in all, a marvelous close to the series. The only series that I’ve felt compelled to finish rapidly this year thanks to horrific cliff hangers. Also, I would like a Maw-Mouth to be placed in the White House right now. Is that too much to ask for?! Yep, you’re just going to have to read it. I probably figured out where this book was going fairly early on, but it wasn’t super obvious so unless you’re paying close attention you might not. Love the monsters. Love the strong and opinionated protagonist. Love the character interactions. Writer is a veritable genius. That said, this is one world I would NOT ever like to inhabit; it’s terrifying.
Into the Sunken City
Author: Dinesh Thiru
I picked this one up shortly after I began having trouble writing a scuba diving scene. I wanted to see how other writers created tension underwater where talking isn’t possible. I didn’t mean to read the whole thing in a couple of days, especially given there’s no actual scuba, but it happened. I was gripped from the start. My sister bought this book for me a couple of years back because it’s a diving book but I avoided it as I didn’t want it to influence my own novel. Fortunately, it’s totally different and so I kept reading. I’m genuinely surprised the author hasn’t received more acclaim for this yet. It would be a great one to turn into a movie. It’s well written and the characters are complex enough to be interesting. I also love that the baddies aren’t “all bad.” Unfortunately, it did not help me with the diving scenes as the diving was a little different, either freediving, or diving in a suit that had comms. It wasn’t real scuba which was what I was looking for. In the end, I realized I’m going to have to find my own way to creating tense underwater scenes sans full face masks or “lucky” air pockets.
Dark Life
Author: Kat Falls
A friend who knows how much I love diving sent Dark Life to me. It was a really quick and easy read. Definitely felt geared toward a younger reader but I think it’s just as much fun for an “adult.” The author did a great job with worldbuilding going so far as to create unique habitats and ways of living underwater. I got a strong sense of the above and below world and really enjoyed the differences, especially as I’m a scuba diver. Some great realism! The book is the first part of a duology so I’ll definitely be reading Rip Tide after this. Plenty of intrigue and action. Give it a go!
Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Alright, before anyone gets on their high horse about why I’m reading Neil Gaiman what with everything going on in the news regarding him, please get off of it. I’m here to learn about what makes a good story and there’s no better person from whom to do it than Gaiman, whose writing is superb and as unique as one of my favorite authors, Diana Wynne Jones.
I adored Gaiman’s Graveyard Book and so, decided to pick up Coraline. If you’ve watched the movie before, I hate to say it but you’ve read the book. I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case even though when you do it the opposite way around (read the book first) you hope it is. Certainly, if I’d read the book first, I’d have been charmed by the loyalty to the story, but having watched the movie, it didn’t feel like there was much new, even a lot of the dialogue is unchanged, which just goes to show how good a job the studio did. I did enjoy the short writing, it’s definitely a distinct style, but I wish they’d opted for a different cover, something more like the British Graveyard book cover by illustrator Chris Riddell as it’s gorgeous. Or a scene from the movie as the animation was great.
Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Oof, this one was tough. I griped like a stuck pig getting through Chapter 2. In fact, it was one of the most difficult chapters I’ve ever had to get through. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I don’t like it when authors introduce dozens of characters at once, especially without depth. It’s tough as you don’t yet care about them which means that whatever happens to them this early on, you’re just not as engaged with it. Still, I kept going because the book does get good reviews and because my sister recommended it. I will say she had read Shadow and Bone (which I had not) and I suspect that influenced her feelings, even though technically this is standalone albeit in the same universe; the GrishaVerse.
Alas, by the end of the book I’d determined a few things. Firstly, that Chatper 1 was not necessary at all and may just as well have been cropped. Secondly, that the book only picks at the mid-way mark (and to me, only truly becomes interesting during the heist). Third that I did not enjoy having to understand the characters at a deeper level only thanks to backstory, which also incidentally came too late. It was odd to not have it more spaced out and earlier; they just weren’t fleshed out for more than half the novel.
I liked the banter and relationship interactions by the end but I was annoyed by the fact that I now have to read the second book to find out how it ends. I hope the second one isn’t rife with the same issues.
I do wonder if I’d have appreciated the book more if I’d known more about the GrishaVerse and Grisha but even then it is supposed to be standalone. Unfortunately, the magic is also missing for much of the book. I would have liked more of it earlier. As a whole I found this book a bit of a rollercoaster ride. I also noticed the mechanics of the story/writing which was odd. They seemed very obvious to me. I found the writing style frustrating though objectively I think she’s good at writing at a style/sentence level, I found the story/plotting off. Pacing too. And the backstory characterization just flat out strange as I’ve mentioned above. Would have loved to read this book after a proper edit as I think it could have benefitted from that. Sometimes I wonder if editors stop editing as much when their writers become better known. A shame. In my opinion, Six of Crows could have lost 40% of the book and been fine. Not sure what to say as once again I detest giving poor reviews but I think it would have been a good book with a big edit and a bit of restructuring.
Revenge of the Witch
Author: Joseph Delaney
This is the first book in the Last Apprentice series. I read this because my mom told me she’d read seven books out of the series’ 13 in one go. She loved it! It’s rare for my mom to say this as her reviews (and she reads prolifically) either fall within, the range of, “couldn’t get into it” to 2 to 4, with 3 being “worth reading to a habitual reader.”
Though at first blush it appears simply written and appropriate perhaps primarily to a middle grade reader, I think that begins to change. The protagonist in this book, like Harry Potter, will age as the series continues. With this in mind and with the pretty dark subject matter, I think this series is actually surprisingly suited to teens and adults. I wish I’d read it when I was younger. There’s a lot about it to love. I did have to stop myself from blitzing through though the whole series so be warned!
Curse of the Bane
Author: Joseph Delaney
This is the second book in the Last Apprentice series and it’s just as good as the first. Perhaps even better because you don’t have to get to know everyone/the world. I loved the monster in this one (how awful!) and liked that the boy started to come into his own. I’m looking forward to seeing how Delaney deals with romance as he gets older and to the characters own confidence in himself. Can’t wait to read the third book, with ten more after that to go. Whoop! PS: They did turn this series into a movie so I’d recommend reading it all first. The kid in the movie looks older which means it probably encapsulates a lot. Not sure why they didn’t make it a series. Would have been marvelous that way.
Uprooted
Author: Naomi Novik
I picked up this book because I had a hankering for a good Snape/Hermione fanfiction (read enemies to lovers) and, as you know, I’m trying to read less fanfiction to prompt myself to read more books. It was MARVELOUS! The start was a little slow and I was initially concerned the female protagonist would be weak, but I was wrong and before long she’d become one of the most independent and strong women I’ve read in a long time. The story is unique, the magic is unique (and prevalent) and pacing excellent. The tension near the end does last for a bit so brace yourself. Could totally see this becoming a series I’d get hooked on. Will definitely be going on to read her other one (similar to this) that got a lot of praise: Spinning Silver. All said and done, probably one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Every Heart a Doorway
Author: Seanan McGuire
I truly hate writing bad reviews of books because I know that there’s an audience for every book and because I have an appreciation for the hard work an author puts in. Still, this one wasn’t for me. I picked it up because I was charmed by the premise: kids who’ve been through magical doorways (portals) sent to a school by their parents in the “real world” to help them “recover” from their delusions. Unfortunately, the “magic” I was expecting never came to pass. In fact, there is no magic in the book, well unless you count a minute of a walking skeleton 80% through.
But, duped as I felt by the promise of magic, it wasn’t even the biggest issue. The entire book just wasn’t interesting, at least not following all the others I read this month. Largely, everything you learn is through dialogue, and the dialogue is used to convey pretty much everything, meaning it seemed like the only tool the author felt they had at their disposal. I’ts odd. I can’t quite put my finger on what’s wrong with this one. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the dialogue interesting either.
In the end, I whipped through the final 20% of the book only because I was close enough to finishing it anyway and because I have a hard time not finishing books if I’ve started them (you can learn from something even if you don’t like it). As a whole, I felt bored reading it. I won’t be going on to read the other novels in this series, which is unfortunate as perhaps they do contain magic.
Though I really want to get back on the literary fiction reading bandwagon, it’s nice to be catching up on all the fantasies I missed when I got stuck on A) my Michael Tougias and disaster-at-sea stories, and B) my nonfiction and true adventure reads.
I’m presently reading Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, Storm Front (book 1 of the Dresden Files), and The Salvage. I have my sights set on more of the Last Apprentice books, Spinning Silver, and Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Hey, sometimes a girl’s got to read a good romance.
And yes, though I am certainly still trying to cut off too much fanfiction reading, I did read a fantastic Draco/Hermione this month. Check it out if you’re into that sort of thing: The Right Thing To Do by LovesBitca8. Really really good. So much so that I’m now reading the second part from Draco’s POV and I typically despise it when authors do that sort of thing (I would recommending reading the Hermione POV first btw, it just completes the picture better). Only other fanfiction/book I’d do it for is Ink & Alchemy, a Snape/Hermione story by antebellum13. It too has a second part but from Snape’s POV.
I have also been listening to Alchemised by SenLinYu when I cook. I might have mentioned I read that, with some hesitation, when it was a fanfic. I’ve got to be honest, I’m probably not going to finish it. I did after all read the story as a fanfiction and I think it worked better there given we already know the characters and the world. It needed to change more to fit this new world and certainly the characters needed fleshing out rather than simply having names replaced. It’s not a pleasant story and I think it was better as a fanfiction. SenLinYu is clearly very capable of writing and telling a story and I only wish she’d adapted it more from the fic, a bit like Brigitte Knightley did with her book, the Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy. Still, it’s not a pleasant read and I wouldn’t read it as a fanfic for a second time either so do with that what you will.
I have also decided, for now, that I won’t be finishing the Spellshop. It’s rare I don’t finish a book but I cannot see how this one is going to pick up the pace. I’m sure there are people who enjoy slow comfy reads like this but it’s not my cup of tea. I suspect the cozy tea shop genre isn’t my cup of tea.
