Three books because All The Light We Cannot See NEEDED it's own post. Bonus book for you, yay.
The Winner's Crime - Marie Rutkoski - 402 pgs
16) A book at the bottom of your to-read list
Honestly, I should have kept it there. It was at the bottom of my list because I kind of enjoyed the first one and this one has just been released, but didn't know when I would get to it when I had such a long list of books I wanted to read first.
This book is not long. Sure, it's listed as 402 pages, but the print is large and the pages are small. So why did it take me a MONTH to finish it??? Because I simply couldn't make myself pick it up and continue reading even when I was at work with nothing to do and I was at the climax. Now you see why I didn't want to blog this one with ATLWCS? This book was so painful for me. I hated the characters left to carry the story, I didn't care about their problems or their stupid complaining. The setting for this book has moved to the capital city in the palace since Kestrel is now engaged to the Prince, who is kind despite having a terrible father yet she at best thinks he's unimpressive. She becomes a "spy" (she basically does nothing) against the King who is terribly one sided and hates just about everyone except Kestrel's father. Why does the king even really want her to become Queen? Well, I'm rambling now, but basically Kestrel makes dumb choice after dumb choice. I mean seriously. Kestrel was supposed to be smart, right? Well she's probably the most shallow and unthoughtful character I've read this year. I'm supposed to like her? Yeah...No. If you recall, I chose the first book as my "Book with bad reviews" and was impressed. Winner's Crime has more positive reviews than the first one (Winner's Curse), even the blogger who said she didn't get why the first one was so popular liked the second one. WHAT??? Now I'm the one that doesn't get it.
I don't think I ever will.
Fairest - Marissa Meyer - 220 pgs
4) A book published this year
Fans of the Lunar Chronicles series by Meyer (Cinder, Scarlet, etc.) I address you directly now. Read this book. It's easy to overlook since it's small, it's a prequel, and the line for it at the library is some 400+ people long, but it's worth it.
If you're unfamiliar with the Lunar Chronicles, think all your favorite fairytales set in a science fiction setting. It's innovative and unlike any other retelling of classic fairytales you've read. Fairest was released January 27th 2015 after the first three books of the series, but it takes place before all of them. It tells the tale of the Evil Queen, Levana, and how she came to be the controlling ruler of the moon. It's a slippery slope from oppressed character to villain and we get to see every heartbreaking, shocking choice Levana makes on her way to the throne. She's crazy people. In stories like this, you tend to feel sorry for the character and their choices make sense, but not here. Sure, you understand why she makes her choices, but you never agree with them and you certainly don't want to see her succeed.I love this series and I'm excited for the last book coming out later this year. I would suggest it to all fairytale and sci-fi lovers out there, you could even start with Fairest and go to Cinder from there.
The Well of Ascension - Brandon Sanderson - 590 pgs
40) A book with non-human characters
Can you tell I'm running out of open ended requirements to fit these books in? This could've been my trilogy, but I had already started another one first. Anyway...
Goodness, these books are good. This is the sequel to Mistborn, which I read earlier in the year. Brandon Sanderson has a gift people. He's able to write a bunch of believable characters and keep them all interesting and distinctly individual. I can never smell his plot twists before he reveals them. I wrote that the first book reminded me of the Harry Potter books because they are lengthy and have an overarching storyline that makes everything important and involved in that overarching story. It answers it's questions, even if it takes time to do so. I don't have to worry about a storyline not being completed and that's a blessing.
This sequel deals with the consequences of the first book. They over threw a large and powerful government, there are going to be consequences of that. I feel like I haven't read very many books that have made me realize that fact. I mean, overthrowing and oppressive government is wonderful (Uh-meri-kah) and usually takes the whole series to do anyway, so why worry, right? Wrong. Suddenly their hopes for making Luthadel an equal and thriving city are being destroyed not just by the armies coming to take over, but also the citizens inside who don't believe their freedom is more important than living. This book has it all. Substantial character progression, plot twists, war, death, love, betrayal, exciting new characters, humor. In short, this series continues to be one of the best things I've ever had the pleasure of stumbling across. If you like high fantasy or a good long summer read with memorable characters (like the good old days when Harry Potter was released every summer) I highly recommend this series.
Read on,
Jamie
