These reviews/musings by me are spoiler free.
So, without further ado here is what I read in January, and what I thought about it.
In the Meh Book Category:
I started out by reading The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. It's one of her older books, and to be honest it was meh. The story lost me a bit and I kinda skipped a huge chunk in the middle to find out what happened in the end. It was such an odd book! The main character, a tall, rather large girl, gets kidnapped by this neighboring tribe because the leader there thinks she is important. And lo and behold she has special powers and fits right in with everyone... it was just a little cliche and uninspiring for me, but I did enjoy it. I won't be reading the sequels.
Another really, really boring book I read was Afterparty by Ann Stampler. This is a droll sort of book about a spoiled rich kid who is...a spoiled rich kid. That's the whole story. Skip it.
I also read The Shamer's Signet by Lene Kaaberol. This is a really lame adventure story about a girl who can read people's shame by looking into their eyes. Good premise. Horrible execution. It has about every fantasy trope you can think of, and also no depth. And angry teenage boys. Avoid.
In the YAY Category:
My favorite book of January would a toss up from Goldenhand by Garth Nix, or The Forgotton Sisters by Shannon Hale. Both were really good. Anything by Garth Nix is a must read for me (of his adult books, that is) and I LOVED his Sabriel series--this is a continuation of that story. And it was amazing. But too short. Why is it always too short? But I loved it and drank it up all in one sitting.
The Forgotten Sisters is the third, and last book in the Princess Academy Series by Hale. The book was great, and I loved it more than the first two--especially with the HUGE twist that I did not see coming at the end at all. It was very well done and blew the pants off me. Ugh, I loved this book so much!
Another book that teeters between yay and whhhhhhhatttttt would be Firstlife by Gena Showalter. I mean, it was a good book. I love the idea behind it. However, it was a bit too dark for my taste and had a crummy love triangle in it--and I am so over love triangles. So it wasn't a clear win/win for me, but I am interested enough to pick up the second one when it comes out. I also really enjoyed The Grimm Legacy--it would have been a YAY but for the fact that the second book in the series, that I also read this month (The Well's Bequest) was a phenomenal letdown and honestly boring.
Honorable mentions:
I read a lot of books that I liked, but didn't love, but didn't hate. Howl's moving Castle, while fun, wasn't my favorite. Howl is whiny and mysterious but annoying, and Sophie is a DIY kind of girl who also has a hot temper. Calsifer was honestly my favorite character. I also read Palace of Stone (the Princess Academy 2) and The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, an Enola Holmes mystery. All these books were good, they just weren't great. You get the idea.
What are you reading lately? Any suggestions? You can follow me on Goodreads here!
