Welcome to the fourth of my book posts for this year, in which I comment on one very good book, one quite enjoyable book, one rather odd book, one flop, and one book that I liked and hated in equal parts. I'm now twenty books into this year's challenge, and feeling pretty happy with it. I spent a long time figuring out how to diversify my reading within this challenge, and I think that's going pretty well overall. Plus, I'm getting to read lots of new books, which is always a good thing. I'm also managing to balance my fanfic and book reading at the moment, which is a minor miracle and the only reason I'm still mostly on track for this challenge.
16. A trilogy (book two)
Golden Son, by Pierce Brown
There are, in my experience, very few trilogies in which the second book is better than the first. This would be one of those select few. Red Rising was about playing a game where the rules are always being bent and changed, where the distinction between friends and enemies is difficult to determine, and where any misstep could be fatal. Golden Son takes all that and ratchets it up several notches. Now, it's not a few lives on the line, it's thousands, and the dangers are larger, while simultaneously more subtle and harder to predict. There were several parts of this book where I found it impossible to step away, because I absolutely needed to know what happened next. Golden Son left me wanting more (in a very good way), and I really hope the third book can live up to my high hopes for it.
My rating: 9/10
17. A popular author's first book
Looking for Alaska, by John Green
I didn't really like the first three-quarters of this book, and the review I started to write then was a rather annoyed rant about contemporary YA fiction. That got scrapped, because I liked the last quarter of the book quite a lot. Also, the edition I read was the special one for the tenth anniversary of its publication, which had some interviews with and notes by the author at the end. Those I really liked. I may not particularly enjoy John Green's books, but I definitely like the way he thinks sometimes.
My rating: 6/10
18. A book you can finish in a day
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, by Alan Dean Foster
Let's be real; I can finish almost any book in a day if I try hard enough. My record is A Memory of Light, at 909 pages. This book was easy. I've read all the Star Wars novelizations, some many times, and this one, while not completely terrible, didn't hold up very well. Moments that were funny or sad or bittersweet in the movie fell very flat, and many of the added scenes and bits of dialogue felt out of character. For example, the movie version of Kylo Ren didn't match up at all with the much more self-possessed Kylo Ren you saw in most of this book. I read the novelizations in order to get added insight into characters and story lines, and this one mostly failed at that. I didn't hate it, but only because I had seen the movie twice, and so could envision the scenes based on that, rather than just relying on the sub-par writing.
My rating: 5/10
19. A book based entirely on its cover
Ink and Bone, by Rachel Caine
As I mentioned last year, I don't usually do this. This year, my selection came from scrolling through the giveaways on Goodreads, which I do occasionally. I think this is a gorgeous cover, even though it does scream YA... After I chose it, I discovered that a long time ago, this author wrote X-Files fanfic under a different pen name, fic that I'd read and liked, which made me even more interested in this book. It didn't disappoint. It was well written, with a gripping plot and a diverse cast of characters. The best part about this book, though, was the depth of the worldbuilding. You'd think a world where alchemy allowed the Library of Alexandria to survive and create a worldwide network of daughter libraries would be a good thing, but this book explores the potential ramifications for society in an entirely unique and intriguing way. I liked it quite a bit, and am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.
My rating: 8/10
20. A book with nonhuman characters
Holy Cow, by David Duchovny
I picked this up in the bookstore the other day, read the first few paragraphs, laughed, then got it out of the library since I'm cheap and it seemed like a funny-once sort of book. It was entertaining, mostly. A little preachy or just plain irritating at times, but it made me chuckle to myself a lot as well, which I consider a redeeming quality in a book. It was honestly pretty much exactly what I expected, which wasn't a bad thing. Great literature it was not, but I just wanted a light read, and it fit the bill.
My rating: 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment