So, I recently watched Super Space Chick’s video of the same title and felt that I wanted to do the same thing. I have not completed as many series’ as she has but I still thought it would be fun to discuss.

Plot for Book 1: Harry Potter’s life is miserable. His parents are dead and he’s stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he’s a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After a lifetime of bottling up his magical powers, Harry finally feels like a normal kid. But even within the Wizarding community, he is special. He is the boy who lived: the only person to have ever survived a killing curse inflicted by the evil Lord Voldemort, who launched a brutal takeover of the Wizarding world, only to vanish after failing to kill Harry.

This is probably not shocking to some as this is one of the most popular children’s fantasy series. I can’t actually remember when I finished the series but it fuelled my obsession which maintains itself to this day. I am listening to a bunch of Potter-filled podcasts like Fantastic Geeks and Where To Find Them, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text and Potterless. I find while I do still love reading the books, I am currently halfway through a re-read, I find myself gravitating to the podcasts more than the books. I think this is due to some fresh content that actually makes me feel like I am reading the books for the first time again.

The only review I have posted on this blog was for my Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, check it out!

Plot for Book 1: Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse – Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena – Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

Another series I can’t pinpoint when I finished. My dad got me the entire series after I fell in love with the movies and subsequently realised, after I read the books, that they were awful and never watched them again!! I have always been a massive fan of Greek Mythology ever since I was little and I loved the blend between the ancient world and the modern world. Percy was an amazing main character that exuded charisma. I was so happy to be able to find another female character to relate to as strongly as I did with Hermione, in Annabeth. Once I finished this series I read half of the Heroes of Olympus series, I never picked up the series after Mark of Athena though I do plan on reading this series and finishing it.

I started re-reading the series last month, my review for The Lightning Thief is available to read.

Plot for Book 1: In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood… Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.

This series I dedicate to being the series that got me back into reading after I had a major like 4-year reading slump due to school and exams. These books were completely out of my comfort zone and far-removed from what I typically read. I was always into YA and that was about it, so picking up this adult novel I was shocked by how incredible it was. I had sort of settled with never being able to get into adult stories. I had a pre-conceived notion at 15/16 that the language would always be something I would find hard to follow until I was abit older. I was so happy to have been able to follow it and LOVED it! The atmosphere created was so creepy, the characters while incredibly dark were very interesting and the plot was so good! The story was very different and a lot darker to what I normally read but I really enjoyed and was happy to find a window into re-tellings but also get back into reading but with a wider view of what was available to me.

Plot for Book 1: This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

I have a weird relationship with sci-fi. I wasn’t a massive fan of the wave of YA dystopia that come out like The Hunger Games, Maze Runner or Divergent. It really threw me off sci-fi for a long time. The reason I picked the first book up in 2017 purely due to the fact that it was written like a dossier of files with different formatting and it really drew me in. I really enjoyed the story with the 2nd book Gemina being my fave! The final instalment was a bit disappointing but I still enjoyed it and it wrapped up the series nicely. My only problem was while it was a diverse story, in terms of sexuality and race, that only extended as far as the tertiary characters. Out of the main group, all of the characters are white and heterosexual and I thought, ‘you are putting so much effort in making sure the background characters are POC or part of the LGBTQ+ community why is that not being shown in the main cast?’

My Obsidio Review (spoilers) if you would like to see my entire thoughts on the final novel of the series. Some of my views have changed such as the exclusion of POC and LGBTQ+ diversity in the main gang. Though Ella does have a disability so we do get some good representation there.

Plot for Book 1: Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It’s a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie’s five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his “meaningless” life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: “Why was I here?”

I read the first book in this series back in 2016 and I loved it. It was the only book I read and loved before I was revitalised by The Chronicles of Alice. While not being super religious myself I loved the viewpoint of the afterlife and heaven Albom created. After dealing with a death in the family a year or so before I picked up the second book I found the second book to be really helpful to help me come to terms with death and what happens after it. I loved the first book the most, while the second book was enjoyable it didn’t resonate with me as much as the first book did.

My The Next Person You Meet in Heaven Review is linked if you would like to see my thoughts of the long awaited sequel.

So there we have it! I think I will have at least 3 series that I will finish next year which is very exciting but this year I have started series with 15+ books so I don’t think you will be seeing another post like this any time soon.