As promised, I kind of picked up a little heavier books this month but instead of reading the first two Stormlight Archive books by Brandon Sanderson, I read just the first one. Then I picked up lighter books, more tearful books and definitely a little less serious books at the end of the month. All in all, despite my plans to go all out and read only big books this month, I still went for the light reading and therefore managed to finish six books in total.
THE WAY OF KINGS PART 1
Brandon Sanderson / 2011
As the paperback edition for The Way of Kings was split in two, I viewed both parts as separate books. The first one was great, it was definitely an interesting read filled with fantastic characters and story lines. As a high fantasy series, it’s hard to summarize it but I’ll try my best. In a fictional world, war rages between the higher people and the uncivilized, over a killed king. The world has magic in a form of stormlight, that enhances warriors and men who wield magical weapons and carry powerful shields. The book follows various characters in the middle of war, trying to survive, trying to understand their visions and finding answers. PS: Kaladin is by far my favorite character of the series!
Themes: High Fantasy, Adventure, Magic
HEART-SHAPED BOX
Joe Hill / 2007
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son, tells a story of a haunted suit and a rockstar with a habit of dating younger women. The book is not badly written, just that the story line didn’t interest me and the horror aspect seemed lacking. The story also seemed to drag, which therefore made me bored, which in turn, took away the aspect of suspense that I was so desperately needing.
Themes: Horror, Thriller, Ghosts, Revenge
THE WAY OF KINGS PART 2
Brandon Sanderson / 2011
After a short break, I picked up Brandon Sanderson again and I was not disappointed. The story unraveled with great speed, as the story lines became richer and more amazing each page. I was, before I even finished the book, certain I’ll pick up the second book and the third, yet unpublished book and etc. With 10 books in total, I will be reading this series for years, but it’s alright, because I need to know what happens to Kaladin, the bridgeman, who survived.
Themes: High Fantasy, Adventure, Magic
ME BEFORE YOU
Jojo Moyes / 2012
For reasons, mostly because I kind of liked the movie trailer, I picked up Me Before You and even before I finished it, I had a dream about it! I rarely have dreams, and even rarer are the ones that are related to books, movies or shows. So I guess Me Before You is special because it kind of got to me but also because I dreamed about something that hadn’t even happened. And it happened! Despite the fact that my dream made the ending predictable, I still liked it a lot. I liked that it was about a 27-year old who was lost in her life. I liked that it had a character who was disabled yet still described handsome. And I liked the lessons it taught me, and well, I kind of even liked the ending.
PS: I kind of hate the title though…
Themes: Friendship, Romance, Disability
THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER
Michelle Hodkin / 2011
As you know, I’m a fan of YA and I don’t care whether it is fantasy or contemporary – I’ll read it all! So I guess I liked The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, because I shouldn’t technically care if it’s not fantasy or contemporary. The problem with this book is actually the fact that it wasn’t really neither. Written in a manner of contemporary in the beginning, fantasy elements slowly emerged in the end of the book and it confused me so much! Not because it was confusing, but because I was unable to switch from contemporary to fantasy, because that never happens! Though it’s brave and definitely unique, it’s also a bit weird. Anyway, the plot is about a girl who loses all her friends, and moves to a new city to run away from her nightmares. Then of course there’s a boy, who is cocky and British – which is like every high school girl’s dream.
Themes: YA, Contemporary-fantasy, Death
THE DUFF: DESIGNATED UGLY FAT FRIEND
Kody Keplinger / 2010
This marks my first re-read of 2016 and I couldn’t be happier about it. It was an one-sitting kind of read, and the plot, as it wasn’t so fresh in my mind anymore, was still exciting in a way. For some, The Duff is this Hollywood movie with Mae Whitman, but for me, it’s a book that actually is different from the bunch. Nothing like the movie, completely different and better for sure. While the movie was focusing so much on making her hotter, the book is just about Bianca hiding from her problems, hiding in Wesley’s bed and though the word duff hurt her, she didn’t become obsessed my changing herself because of that word. I’m disappointed that the movie failed to see that aspect of the book, and changed it into something that was shallow and meaningless.
LOVE your rating graphics! I’m currently reading an alternative history novel SS-GB and loving it, can’t wait to see the BBC adaptation later this year!
Thanks! I love them too! I do wish I’d done a half a cup too, like 3,5 and so on, but in some ways I think that would have made things even harder with rating. SS-GB?
Yep, I just talked about it in my latest post. It’s an alternative history novel set in Britain.
Cool. I’m not into history myself that much though.
Love your new layout! I’m reading Me Before You now ’cause of the movie trailer too. Sam and Emilia look great.
Thanks! I got tired of the old one which isn’t a surprise, I always get tired of them 😀
I read Me Before You because I got curious about the movie, it really was a great book.
Same. Now I hate it.. it had been a while since I’d been that emotional over a book.
That reminds me, I was going to go to the Library to see if Me Before You was available. I just finished The Girl With All The Gifts, enjoyed that one, but it was so sad.
Well… then I won’t be picking The Girl With All The Gifts up any time soon because I’ve had enough of sad after ME Before You.. it’s good though.. good and sad.
Oh wow, I had no idea that there would be 10 books in The Way of Kings series. That is kind of holding me back to even start, because then I’ll have to keep up with everything. On the other hand, Brandon Sanderson is such an amazing writer, so there will be enough books to enjoy his writing!
I found out after I started and now it’s a little stupid to stop but I’m holding back with the second one right now because who knows when the third will come out. 😀