192 replies to this topic

[SweeneyxxTodd]

Since we're halfway through the year, I figured I'd do a check-in on my progress for my goals.

 

By my Goodreads count, I have read 30 out of 50 books, but that's counting the single issues of Lumberjanes that I read. In my personal count, I'm lumping those together into the trade bindups because it's easier to review four at once than to just say one or two sentences about a single issue.

 

So by my count, I've read 24 out of 50 books, putting my one book behind track.

 

My other goals at the beginning of the year were these:

 

Current Reads I need to finish this year:

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (started Dec 2015)

The Enceladus Crisis by Michael J. Martinez (started June of 2014 lol)

Angelfall by Susan Ee (started Sept 2015)

The Battle of the Labyrinth (started Dec 2015)

 

Status as of July 6:

halfway through!!

I finished Angelfall and The Battle of the Labyrinth.

 

Series I plan to finish this year:

Matched Trilogy (I have had the third book since Christmas of 2012. There is no excuse)

Splintered (I've had the first book for a year, last one came out a year ago...still need to start it....)

The Reckoners (soooooo excited for this one!)

The Raven Cycle series

The Myst tie-in books

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

 

Satus:

1/3 through!! I've finished Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Raven Cycle.

 

Other goals of this year:

Read at least 3 non-fiction books. Fairy Tales/Mythology counts, as does The Great Courses audio lectures.

Reread The Lunar Chronicles

Reread Harry Potter

 

Status:

Meh. I read one non-fiction book (a Scandinavian fairy tales one), but that's it from this set of goals.

 

Overall Status:

Fair. I could stand to stick closer to these goals for the rest of my reading year. The fact that I'm doing so well in my general count is helping a lot. But time to stop reading random books and try to tackle more goals. (after I finish reading ACOTAR, of course)

[Mara=^.^=]

*Still wants you to read Six of Crows*
*Sends you subliminal messages*
*Also waggles fingers at you*

[SweeneyxxTodd]

*Still wants you to read Six of Crows*
*Sends you subliminal messages*
*Also waggles fingers at you*

 

Meh?

 

I honestly feel no desire whatsoever to read Six of Crows, sorry.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

 

3.75 stars

 

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Not quite as much as the Throne of Glass series, for a few reasons:

 

First being, the characters in this weren't as likable as those in Throne of Glass. They were more morally complex, more interesting, and more three-dimensional--all around more compelling and developed than those in the early Throne of Glass books, but less instantly likable. The characters were more selfish, generally speaking, and the fact that a lot of them hated each other to varying degrees didn't help that likability, though it certainly made for interesting conflicts. The only character who I enjoyed on a whole was Feyre. I felt she was a much better main character than Celaena--not as arrogant, generally a bit more observant and on the ball, since she was less occupied with herself, and she grew more over the course of this one book than Celaena did over the first book of her series. But as for secondary and supporting characters, I feel that Throne of Glass takes the win on likability. Chaol and Nehemia were so much more likable in their early appearances than Tamlin and Lucien were, and they were easier to grow attached to.

 

That being said, although I do enjoy Throne of Glass overall a bit more than this book, I can definitely say that A Court of Thorns and Roses is a stronger series opener. The characters are more fully formed from the start, as noted earlier, and the plot is less predictable and more interesting (compared to just Throne of Glass as a book, rather than as a series). I liked the role that faeries and the High Fae played in this book, much larger and more threatening than their small role in Sarah's other series.

 

I did have a problem with the romance in this book, and the ways that many of the faerie males were portrayed in relation to Feyre, which is part of what dampened my enthusiasm for this book. I know some of what happens in the next book--spoilers being as impossible to avoid as they are--and I am interested to see how things progress to that point, based on how they were presented in this book. Hopefully the next book will redeem some of this book's male characters' actions, but it remains to be seen.

 

To summarize: this book is stronger than the first Throne of Glass, has more interesting if less likable characters, and is the superior series opener, but falls behind in its ability to present characters I can root for, and in general enjoyment as well.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Lost Boy by Greg Ruth

 

3.5 stars.

 

The premise of this book was really interesting--boy moves to a new house and finds an antique tape player with the last recordings of a boy who went missing in the 1960s and investigating the case with a girl from his neighborhood. Unfortunately, it did quite live up to expectations. It was still good--I enjoyed the story and the revelation about what happened to the lost boy was interesting, and the artwork was beautiful--but I was hoping I'd get a bit more from this book. The Kingdom of Woodlanders and the talking bugs wasn't explored as thoroughly as I wanted, and the character development was lacking. Nate and Tabitha's friendship went from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye, when it was suddenly important, and it didn't feel realistic. And the origin of the Vespertine, while intriguing, wasn't all that hard to guess and could have been more impactful if it had been explored a bit more.

 

Overall, this was a good story and I'm glad I read it. Not sure if that sequel hook ending will come to anything, but I don't think I'd continue with this story if a sequel was published, unless it got consistently better reviews than this book.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Reached by Ally Condie

(Matched Trilogy #3)

 

3.5 stars

 

I finally got around to reading this after having it on my shelf for three and half years...oops?

 

I think part of what was holding me back from picking it up was the second book, Crossed, which was a huge disappointment and my first real experience with the dreaded "Middle Book Syndrome" that plagues so many YA trilogies. I also feel that this might have been part of why I didn't like this book as much as the first one--I remembered how disappointed I was in the second book, and it had been so long since I'd read the other two that I'd forgotten a lot of what happened before this book. That, and I think I'm just a very different reader with some slightly different tastes than I was when I first discovered this series.

 

In reading this book, I was reminded of why I loved the first book so much, and also why I was so disappointed by the second one. It was a weird sort of mixture of feelings that made me wobble back and forth in my enjoyment of this book. But when it came down to it, I liked it. Quite a lot, in fact. One of the things about this book (and, really, the series) that I loved so much was the love triangle. I never thought I'd ever type those words in my life, but there it is. Normally I can't stand love triangles. They get in the way of the plot and they're usually so unbalanced and so unnecessary and they halt character development. But in Matched, the love triangle is what kickstarted the plot, and it continues to be important throughout all three books, but despite that it is handled very well. Both Xander and Ky would be good romantic partners for Cassia for different reasons, and all three are friends with each other, and they place that friendship above pretty much everything else. Xander and Ky, while both being a little bit jealous of the other for being a romantic rival, respect each other and want each other to be happy, and they want Cassia to choose who makes her happy, and they've both decided that no matter who that is, they will learn to deal with it because they've still got the rest of their lives to live and they're all friends no matter what. And that's what I liked so much about this love triangle.

 

I also liked that the ending was hopeful, if not entirely happy, and I actually liked that it was a bit open. We don't know exactly what type of world these characters are about to rebuild their lives in, but they all found each other again and they conquered the Plague. For a series that focused more on the aspect of choice and agency in its dystopian world than death or violence, this ending was fitting.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

 

4 stars

 

This book had a very slow burning build, so it was a bit hard to get into at first. I understand that a lot of very complex character arcs and political schemes had to be set up for the rest of the book to work, but I wish it could have been done just a tad bit sooner. The beginning wasn't uninteresting, just slow. I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time, but in the end I did, because when story revelations happened, they came in an avelanche. There were several moments that seemed to be like mini-climaxes spread throughout the story to keep things fresh while the true conflicts were set up in the background.

 

I did really enjoy this book, when it all came down to it. It had a fascinating magic system and intriguing, layered characters. I was frequently taken completely off guard by the major events in this book, but they always made sense when I took a moment to think about them. Really, my only complaint is that the beginning was a bit too slow of a build. I'd certainly recommend this to anyone, especially those who like a lot of political intrigue mixed in with their fantasy.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Jackaby by William Ritter

 

Abigail Rook, fed up with her restrictive life in England, absconded with her tuition money and spent four months trying to be an archaeologist in Ukraine before running out of money and accidentally boarding a German ship for America instead of home to England. Secretly elated she won't have to face her parents just yet, she arrives in a small New England city of indeterminate location called New Fiddleham, where she ends up becoming the assistant to a Mr. R. F. Jackaby, a Holmes-like private investigator who can see the supernatural and frequently makes a nuisance of himself with the local police department by barging into the investigations uninvited and unwanted just because he wants to solve the mystery and prove some kind of paranormal wickedness is afoot. They begin investigating a murder at an apartment building in town, and in the meantime Abigail ends up befriending a ghost and a duck who was once Jackaby's former assistant, and crushing on a shy little sweetheart of a junior detective who's working on the same case.

 

4.5 stars

 

I loved this book. Absolutely adored it. Jackaby was lovably bizarre, and Abigail was a very funny narrator as well. The way she seemed to take the paranormal in stride after only a very short time of being involved with it provided a lot of situational humor that I will never get over ("I went to go see a duck about a dress" and everything else that had to do with Douglas). In the same way, the paranormal elements were equal parts whimsical and threatening. I was never entirely sure which way a situation would turn out, and I laughed out loud many, many times while reading. I'd definitely recommend this book to anybody.

 

Really, the only reason I had to knock off half a star is because I figured out the identity of the murderer not too long after he was introduced, but that really isn't so much a fault on the part of the author as it is me already knowing a little bit about some mythical creatures and being fairly good at noticing small details. Throughout the course of the book, I was about 99% sure it was one character, with the occasional doubt when certain details about another were described repeatedly, but I did end up being right in the end, and I was extremely glad it wasn't the character who the narrative seemed to suggest, since I really liked him. I hope we get to see him again in the sequels.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

 

4.5 stars

 

I've been anticipating this book for almost a year now, and it definitely did not disappoint. I didn't like it quite as much as the third and fourth book, mainly because I found some of Aelin's actions confusing and didn't always think her reasoning for it made all that much sense. It was also a little annoying that the characters made so many excuses for her about this behavior--essentially enabling it further, despite their constant grousing about how frustrating it was. I get that when she managed to pull off stunts and reveals that they thought were impossible was really impressive and they were always caught so off guard by them, but there didn't seem to be any scenes where the characters realized that what she did was still a dick move and call her out on it.

 

I guess maybe the subordinate status they all have to Aelin as the Queen of a nation probably had something to do with them letting her get away with it so much, but Dorian is a King now. He had the authority to call her out on her shit but alas...it's not in his personality. He's laid back and soft-spoken unless he absolutely has to be something else, so I didn't really expect him to be the one to do it. Manon was too much of an outsider, too detached from the other main characters, not to mention being so new to the whole rebel thing. Aedion was the only one who ever called her out, but he beat himself up for it for a good portion of the book, which I found really disappointing. But her actions had serious consequences, one of which set off the entire climax of the book. Which was a good narrative move--it showed Aelin what could happen if she kept everyone out of the loop like she tends to do. And in the aftermath, everyone was too shaken up to really sit there talking about how the giant bloodshed was totally Aelin's fault, so she still didn't get the reality check she desperately needs. Lorcan ended up taking the fall instead, which frustrated me because if Lorcan--or any of the others, really--knew what Aelin knew, he wouldn't have done what he did, which might have postponed the eventual confrontation if not entirely avoided it. I hope Aelin beats herself up for this slip in the last book, because she could certainly do with a little more humility.

 

But otherwise, I really loved this book. Especially everything that happened with Manon and the other Ironteeth witches. I may have mentioned this in a previous review for an earlier book, but Manon is the entire reason I started reading this series. I saw a lot of posts about her and the other witches on Tumblr in the months leading up to the release of Queen of Shadows and decided I needed to know more. I was disappointed that she didn't show up until the third book, but I have never been disappointed with her chapters. I find her character so fascinating, and the development she's undergone since her introduction to the series is astounding. I think she's the best-written character in the entire series. I would read a book solely about her. A whole series. Dozens of books. I'd read them. She's great. I know Sarah can't announce yet what the additional books involved with this world/series will be about, but I am hoping to all the powers that be that at least one will focus on Manon.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

(The Reckoners #3)

 

4.5 stars

 

Wow. What a great ending to the series. I knew it was going to be good, but honestly I wasn't expecting this to wow me as completely as it did. Clearly, I have low expectations for trilogy finales. But this is Brandon Sanderson we're talking about, and I shouldn't have doubted him.

 

This wasn't my favorite book in the series--that would be Steelheart, the one that started it all--but I definitely liked this a lot more than Firefight, and I loved Firefight. But I had issues with it, which is why this one was able to slip into second place so easily. I didn't have as many issues with this as I did with Firefight. We got Cody and Abraham back, and we learned more about Abraham's backstory, though there was still plenty of mystery left, and we got major answers. I really liked getting to see so much of Firefight and his dimension, as well as learning what exactly Calamity is, and why Epics work the way they do. Seeing the mysteries and misconceptions develop throughout the series was fascinating. And once again we got a great setting in Ildithia, formerly known as Atlanta, which was just as interesting in how it worked and was created as Newcago was, and way more interesting of a setting than Babilar was.

 

And have I mentioned how happy I was to see Cody and Abraham again? Val and Exel were insufficient replacements for their roles in the second book, and to be honest I didn't miss them in this one. At all. Maybe that makes me a terrible person, but I don't really feel all that bad about it. They weren't that interesting of characters and I didn't really see their loss as much of a loss.

 

I also loved how the ending had a sort of "The Adventures Continue!" feel to it. Almost like a sequel hook, but not quite. It reminded me of the ending of The Incredibles, in a way, and I really liked that. I'm really looking forward to the spinoff series that's coming in a few years.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Journal 3 by Alex Hirsch, Rob Renzetti, and Andy Gonsalves

 

"Stay curious, stay weird, stay kind, and don't let anyone ever tell you you aren't smart or brave or worthy enough. If you have come on these adventures with us, then you are an honorary member of the Pines family, and your adventure starts today."

 

My only complaint about this Journal is that Blendin's letter is impossible to decode by hand. I had to look up the solution online, which from what I gather, people were only able to find by using an online decoder with the key word and by typing the whole letter to decode at once. I would have preferred to decode the letter and other cryptograms myself, but most of the time they were just too difficult. This frustrated me so much I put the journal aside for two and a half months before deciding to just enjoy the plain text on its own. And I'm glad I did. There were still plenty of new mysteries and discoveries to be seen right out in the open, as well as lots of shout outs and call-backs to episodes and shorts. This entire journal really is just like the show--a mixture of whimsical oddity cataloguing, offbeat humor, and genuine paranormal and family drama, mixed with lots of friendship and family love. Reading this was like experiencing the show for the first time again. I really hope the other two journals briefly seen in the show can be made into real books, too.

 

5 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

 

4 stars

 

Another fantastic fantasy by King Brandon. This one was harder to get into than Elantris, since in general the narrating characters (as well as the other non-narrating ones) weren't quite as likable for most of the narrative. I barely tolerated Vivenna for most of the book, and frankly I wanted her to just go away for most of it. Her arrogant false-modesty and judgmental, catty attitude irritated me so much, and I was glad she had to go to such a deep rock bottom in order to overcome that. I'm a little hesitant to say she deserved it, because she went through some tough shit in order to emerge a better person, but...she kinda did deserve it, if I'm being quite honest. It also took me a little while to like Lightsong. But once he started his own character development and became interested in the strange goings-on around the palace and became an active participant in the plot, I found myself speeding through his chapters so that I could watch him discover things. He was so happy when he was investigating and finding out more about who he was when he was alive, and I really liked seeing that. Siri I always liked, and I never really did end up liking Vasher, though I did start to appreciate him by the end of the book.

 

And Susebron! I LOVED that innocent, naive little dork. He and Siri were absolutely adorable and I am very pleased with how his character turned out.

 

And once the plot finally got rolling, I did have a much easier time reading quickly. But it was a bit hard at first, having to read from three characters' perspectives who I was certain I would never like.

 

I'm excited to pick up more Brandon Sanderson in the future, and eventually make my way through all his Cosmere works.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Lumberjanes Vol. 4: Out of Time by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Brooke Allen, Grace Ellis

 

3.75 stars overall.

 

I read the individual issues, but don't have substantial enough comments to review individually, so I'm collecting them all here.

 

Issue 13--3 stars

-I liked getting to see the characters before they all became friends, but I wish there had been more development of certain character's backstories (Mal, Molly, and April).

-I also wish that there had been a scene or two of the five all bonding together before the search for Mr. Sparkles in the forest.

 

Issue 14--4 stars

-I thought this was really well done. Abigail seems very mysterious and vaguely threatening, and I like how it's shown that despite her frustration and disagreements with the way the camp is run, Jen really does love the girls in her cabin and is loyal to the Lumberjanes

 

Issue 15--4 stars

-I love the hinting at Abigail's history with Rosie, and how they're implied to be much, much older than they look--absurdly so

-The plot is thickening and I'm really interested to see how the rest of the Lumberjanes' summer is going, and how this particular plot thread is going to wrap up.

 

Issue 16--4 stars

-I loved the flashback we got in this issue, but wish it had been expanded upon just a little bit to show Rosie and Abigail's friendship outside these two plot-relevant scenes.

-I loved the ending to this issue. It's the most suspenseful cliff-hanger we've had yet, and I'm anxious to see how this arc comes to a close.

 

In general: The pacing is markedly improved from the first eight issues, when they thought this would be a limited run and had to cram everything into a few issues. The characterization is also much more solid and the characters are getting a lot more emotional complexities to deal with.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Lumberjanes vol. 5: Band Together by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brook A. Allen, and Kat Leyh

 

Read as single issues. Here are my thoughts on each:

 

Issue 17 4.5 stars

-Great wrap up to Abigail's story arc. I hope she comes back in the future, and that we get to see more of her and Rosie's flashbacks to their days as young Lumberjanes.

 

Issue 18 3.5 stars

-Not really a fan of this new art style. I wish they'd change illustraters less frequently and stick with just one. I really liked Carolyn Nowak, who illustrated issues 10-12. 

 

Issue 19 3 Stars

-Kinda meh. Not bad, but didn't seem to progress the story much further. I feel like this mermaid story could have been a subplot rather than the focus of so many issues.

 

Issue 20 3.5 stars

-While a bit lackluster compared to the other arcs, the mermaid one did have a nice wrap up.

-I really liked that Jo called April out on her shit, which this group has seemed a bit reluctant to do for most of this series. April really needed to hear it.

-I do love how trusting and close all the girls are, though. 

 

Overall: 3.5 stars. The mermaids had cool designs, but I didn't really find myself getting all that invested in what was happening. This was the first time an entire story arc focused on something that wasn't related to the lore of the Lumberjanes camp, and honestly it just felt like a bunch of unnecessary filler. I hope the next arc is more substantial.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

ApocalypticiGirl: An Aria for the End Times by Andrew MacLean

 

The first disappointment for me was the art style. It's very unique, but not at all to my taste. People's faces were frequently drawn with weird proportions for no reason whatsoever, and the effect was just really unsettling. My second issue was the lack of coherence. Nothing about this story makes any freaking sense. It's after the apocalypse and humans have regressed to a more primitive state of evolution, but for some reason our character still has advanced technology and knows about/remembers before the apocalypse? And then we find out at the end that she might be an alien and that's why why still has all this knowledge and supposed sophistication? Except she looks exactly like a human and is the only alien who does? Also she makes a big deal about not killing this one character in the beginning of the book, but then slices off arms and blows all his fellow tribesmen to smithereens for the rest of the book and doesn't care. And she spends most of the book trying to repair this giant robot that wasn't even related to her mission, but was somehow important to the ending. Also the graybeard tribe of humans looked like blue-skinned ape people for some reason? Just...nothing makes sense. The worldbuilding is shoddy, there's no character development, and the art style is incredibly unappealing. I can't recommend this book at all. Skip it and move on to something better conceived and better executed.

 

1 star.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

So according to Goodreads, I achieved my reading goal last week...but that was sorta cheating because I've been marking individual issues of Lumberjanes as read while reviewing as if they're the collected editions, so my personal count is only like 36 or something? So by my own account I'm like 14 books behind, but Goodreads says I won so...mini celebration? Either way, I'm not going to be able to review 50 things before 2017. I'm in a bit of a reading slump right now because I'm slogging my way through Splintered, which isn't living up to my expectations...that seems to have happened a lot this year, at least recently. More so than I can think of in previous years. I might have to put it aside and try to finish up or read some other things instead to power my way through to the end so I can meet my own personal goal. Time to bust out those rereads finally? I'm also hoping to listen to Misosis, which is a short story in the Reckoners series that takes place between the first and second books, as well as The Lost Hero, which is the first book of the Heroes of Olympus series (sequel series to Percy Jackson), over my Christmas holidays with Tim. We might not be able to get to both of them, since we'll probably only listen while driving and we don't have to drive as far this year as last year.

 

Time to see how the final month of the year pans out for me.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Old Testament (Great Courses lecture series by Amy-Jill Levine)

 

My interest in this lecture series waxed and waned a lot as I went through it. I often found myself only half-paying attention, but it's not because the material was boring, just not what I was expecting. I went into this thinking it might include some theological discussion, but it ended up being more of a basic overview of the Old Testament and some of the historical and cultural traditions that informed and influenced its creation. The entire middle section--the discussions on Judges and Prophets, mostly--I found to be the least interesting, personally, but I was quite engaged during the lectures on the book of Esther and Apocalyptic literature.

 

Overall, I'd say this is a three star quality series. It might have been more interesting if it had been more focused on a certain type of Old Testament literature and gone in depth. But really, though, I think this just didn't click because I expected something other than it was. I would still recommend it to those interested in an introduction to the Old Testament and its history.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

 

The story of a robot who washes up on the shore of a small island after her cargo ship is destroyed by a hurricane. She befriends the island's animals and raises an orphaned gosseling. It tells her story over the course of just over a year.

 

This book was lots of fun to listen to. I loved all the sound effects that played underneath the narration for the first and last couple of chapters. It really enhanced the listening experience, though I do wish it had been utilized a bit more.

 

I also loved that the primary point of view was from a robot, and that it brought emphasis to the ways that robots are different from animals and people, while also demonstrating how much Roz had changed and developed a real personality over the course of her year living on the island. I'm so glad I discovered this book. I'll certainly keep Peter Brown's work on my radar in the future.

 

solid 4 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Copperhead Vol 1 by Jay Faerber and Scott Godlewski

 

A space western comic series about a single mom who took up a job as the sheriff of a rundown mining town on a backwater planet to get away from her mysterious past.

 

Somehow, in between adding this to my Christmas list and receiving it, I forgot this was a space western, and ended up getting surprised when I opened it up yesterday and saw aliens on most of the pages. Not a criticism, obviously, but I don't know how I managed to forget about the aliens.

Anyway, this was a solid four star read for me. Fast paced, with intriguing hints about many of the characters casually and artfully woven in, leaving me eagerly anticipating reading the next volume. I also loved the art style. It was a really good fit for the story and subject matter, and Clara's relationship with her son was strong without falling into any of the usual tropes you see in stories where a single parent and their child is a main driving force of the narrative. I'm really interested to find out more about the war that informs many of the interspecies relations and interactions, and I'm really interested in Ishmael's character arc.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

At this point, I'm not going to be able to achieve any of my goals aside from having read 50 books and the ones I've already achieved. I'm a bit disappointed, but I did set quite a high bar for myself. I guess I have to take that into consideration and cut myself some slack.