Tag: book

The Arm of the Sphinx Review

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  • Author: Josiah Bancroft
  • Series: The Books of Babel #2
  • Genre: Fantasy/Steampunk
  • No. of pages: 448
  • Date Read: 09.02.19 – 12.02.19
  • Rating: 4.5 stars
  • Challenge: 2019 sequels

Another brilliant instalment to an incredible series by Mr. Bancroft! This was probably my highest anticipated book for 2019. I read Senlin Ascends last April and loved it! I was a bit nervous getting into this that it might not match up to my expectations but I couldn’t of been more wrong!

Bancroft’s writing is exceptional. I just love the way he writes. It draws you in and paints a perfect picture for you. I was about 4 pages into the book and fell back in love with this story purely based on Bancroft’s writing. It stands out as probably my favoirte writing style.

The world that Bancroft has created is so inventive. I loved re-entering this scary but inticing world and it was so much fun to learn more about the features and the history of the tower. I think it was a brilliant expansion on a world that was set up really well in the first installment.

I love the representation of women in this book. All the women in this book have a variety of different qualities whether it’s strength, wisdom or curiosity. And despite these differing qualities, each woman is presented as strong in her own way and I loved it. We had Iren’s strength, Voleta’s curiosity, Madame Bhata’s intelligence. No women is shown to be less than the other. Especially when it comes to the women of the Stone Cloud, they all bring something key to the team which helps them succeed in what they set out to do. I love seeing a strong woman in novels but what I loved about this story is we get not just one strong women but a good number of strong women. We also see a variety of women of colour which also makes me happy.

All the new characters introduced, like in Senlin Ascends, have such important roles to play in the story and continuing the narrative and it just shows the thorough detail Bancroft has put into this book. Every decision made, in this story, has a consequence or level of importance in progressing the plot and I love that about this book.

I loved the friendship between the crew of the Stone Cloud. They are a rag-tag group of individuals forced together and they form this amazing unlikely bond. They all disagree and fall out but ultimately look out for one another which was an interesting dynamic. I also loved how we got to focus a bit on each crew member and learn it a bit more about them as people. The first book was all about Senlin and his journey but this story felt for about the group as a whole rather than Senlin specifcally.

However, this book does feel more like a set-up book for the following novels to come. The second half of the book felt very stand still in, terms of action, as Bancroft had to set up points that would be important for the rest of the series. I ultimately didn’t mind this, as loads of interesting plot points and character developments were made and introduced to the story. That ended up with me asking more questions and created more tension but not a lot of action really happened in this novel compared to the first book.

I am so excited to pick up his next book as I feel all the setting up he’s done in this book will come to full fruition later on and I want to see it all unfold. The next book I will be reviewing is The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah.

January Wrap Up

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This is just a small post to cover all the books I read in the month of January. I read 4 books this month, which are listed below alongside the review I wrote about it. So please give them a read and let me know what you think!

The Light Fantastic – Terry Pratchett (4.5 stars)

https://indiareads.home.blog/2019/01/06/the-light-fantastic-review/

Fire and Heist – Sarah Beth Durst (2 stars)

https://indiareads.home.blog/2019/01/13/fire-and-heist-review/

The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R Tolkien (3 stars)

https://indiareads.home.blog/2019/01/27/the-fellowship-of-the-ring-review/

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (5 stars)

https://indiareads.home.blog/2019/02/03/nevermoor-the-trials-of-morrigan-crow-review/

Obsidio Review

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  • Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
  • Series: The Illuminae Files #3
  • Genre: Sci-fi
  • No. of pages: 615
  • Date read: 01.02.19 – 08.02.19
  • Rating: 4 stars
  • Challenge: 2019 sequels and ONTD Reading Challenge: Feb (Read a romance or a book that includes a break-up)

WOW! What an amazing end to an amazing series!!! This book is incredibly emotional and I nearly cried numerous times while reading this! This is the first series I have finished in a longggg time! I’m trying to be consistent in getting through series hence why I am doing this 2019 sequels challenge. Check out this post to read more about that.

POSITIVES:

The Illuminae Files is most well know for its dossier style presentation where the pages look like a bunch of files. There are transcripts, drawings and normal prose. I felt that this added to the story so much in terms of enjoyability for me, it made for a really interesting reading experience

I feel that the story handles morality incredibly well. The theme of life and death, murder and survival run like waves throughout the series and not as much as it does in this book. It poses a lot of questions like, “Is it worth sacrificing 100 lives to save 101 more?” What I also loved was how the authors would give names and sometimes a small bit of background to unknown characters who we never meet. For example, The list of people killed on Kerenza IV after BeiTech take control and the names of the pilots who die in the fight to capture the Magellan. I feel this book really shows the reader the horror of war and the countless people on all sides that are left nameless and forgotten.

I loved AIDAN’s role in the plot and his impact on the story as a whole throughout the series. AIDAN is my favourite character. One of my favourite literary characters of all time. I think he is so intriguing to read about. I really liked the sections where we got to read his thoughts, they were very insightful and again made you question morality in so many ways. He was so horrified but also heart-breaking.

All the characters were great! I loved how the authors would make you so attached to every single side character which you know is stupid becuase most of them would die but you can’t help but root for them all the same!

But I would have to say that Hanna and Kady were by far, the best characters in the series as a whole! I loved their strength, their love for their friends and family, their perseverance. I really enjoyed their budding friendship as well, it was good to see two strong women supporting each other wholeheartedly. In fact, all the women in this book were powerful ass women and it was so enjoyable to read about them and also to read about a variety of different female characters, with a lot of women in positions of power!!!

One of the authors strongest suits is their diversity! These books had numerous POC characters, characters from the LGBTQ community, characters with disabilities and characters going through trauma and mental health struggles. There is a lot of representation in this book. That being said I would have liked to see more representation within the core group. The core group is made up of heterosexual, white, characters excluding Asha who I believe is a woman of colour and we do see disability representation in Ella. That being said despite the lack of diversity in the core group it is more than made up for with the rest of the characters. What I also loved is that this representation is normalised and we find out a character is POC or LGBTQ through passing comments o snippets of conversation which is satisfying to read as it’s not done for the sake of it but to show the diverse culture of the world and that also war can affect everyone from race, sexuality, gender etc.

I felt that Kaufman and Kristoff have really mastered writing chaos. I found myself stressing out numerous times when chaos ensued or there was a fight/disagreement. They could really keep you on the edge of your seats! I think this is due to the brilliant characterisation and variety of personalities created as well as incredible pacing.

I was really interested in AIDAN’s obsession with Kady, I thought it was a really cool dynamic to the story. Intially, I wasn’t sure it was going to work very well as I am not a massive fan of AI storylines but again, I think this was done very well.

I loved all the romance. I didn’t feel like any of it was forced. I felt that we were given a couple of different kinds of relationships within this book. You have Ezra and Kady, who have a very secure relationship with a lot of trust and support. Nik and Hanna who start slightly on the rocks, with them trying to come to terms with what happened in Gemina and where that leaves them and their relationship now. You then have Asha and Rhys who are the broken-up couple trying to see if they can give it another shot as well as being star-crossed lovers. And finally, we have unrequited love with AIDAN and Kady. I am glad each relationship was very different and not just the same cliche relationship you see a lot in stories.

Also, the ending was incredibly satisfying!!!

NEGATIVES:

While I loved all the characters within the story, I did feel like Rhys was the exact same character as Ezra. Because the difference between Ezra and Nik is so strong it stuck out to me the similarities between Ezra and Rhys. I did feel Rhys wasn’t bringing much else to the story personality wise, it was a good thing he was initially working for the other side else I would have not been interested in his character at all!

I did find some of the dialogue to be very cringey and it was very obvious it was two adults who don’t know how teenagers speak trying to write teenage dialogue. Certain phrases were used that made me roll my eyes a couple of times which was very disappointing.

The next book I will be reading is The Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft. I read his first book Senlin Ascends and it became my favourite book of 2018! Let’s see if this one is just as good.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow Review

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  • Author: Jessica Townsend
  • Series: Nevermoor #1
  • Genre: Fantasy and Middle Grade
  • No. of page: 384
  • Date Read: 25.01.19 – 31.01.19
  • Rating: 5 stars (Favourite)

Words cannot express how amazing and magical this book was! Part of me wishes I didn’t devour this book as quickly as I did and just read it slowly, taking in every single detail. But if I love a book I end up reading them so quickly! I will definitely be re-reading this in the future.

Plot:Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she’s blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks–and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday. But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor. It’s then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city’s most prestigious organization: the Wundrous Society. In order to join, she must compete in four difficult and dangerous trials against hundreds of other children, each boasting an extraordinary talent that sets them apart–an extraordinary talent that Morrigan insists she does not have. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor for good, Morrigan will need to find a way to pass the tests–or she’ll have to leave the city to confront her deadly fate.

I genuinely have no bad things to say about this book so it will be purely positive things. I feel I might have peaked early this year.

The imagination in this book was amazing, it surprises me, with every book I read, in the vast creativity of authors where they can come up with such fun and imaginative ideas. This book is no exception! This book exuded magic and imagination, I felt like magic was spilling out of the pages! While I don’t like to compare books to other books, I definitely felt the same kind of magical feeling that I got when I read Harry Potter for the first time. I love the Hotel Deucalion with its varying rooms. I loved especially how the hotel changes the resident’s room to match their personality. It was fun to see Morrigan’s room develop as the story went on. I loved the brolly rail I thought that was super fun and I was impressed in the variety of trials! My favourite would have to be the Book Trial!

This was overall just a really fun book. I enjoyed reading it so much and it was so funny. The dialogue in this book was well balanced in being incredibly funny but not in a cringey way and I found myself laughing out loud at times.

The plot was really incredible. Whether it was just a chapter at the Deucalion or a chapter which involved an important trial each chapter introduces something new, whether it’s an unknown fact about a character or an insight further into the book’s on-going mystery. The mystery especially was one of the biggest highlights, Townsend was really good at keeping you intrigued right until the end, never really solving things but also maintaining the excitement throughout. You can’t possibly put the book down as you need more of this world, these characters, this story!

All the characters were exceptional. They worked really well as an ensemble cast and were all really likeable. They were also all incredibly different which made for a better reading experience. Morrigan was also a solid main character and I enjoyed viewing Nevermoor from her eyes. I found her POV to be fun to read about. My favourite character though would probably have to be Hawthorne Swift, he was such a ray of sunshine, hilarious and so much fun to read about.

The next book I will be reading is my first sci-fi novel of 2019. I will be reading Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, the third and final book in the Illuminae Files Trilogy.

The Fellowship of the Ring Review

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  • Author: J.R.R Tolkien
  • Series: The Lord of the Ring Series #2 (I am counting The Hobbit as the first book)
  • Genre: High Fantasy
  • No. of pages: 535
  • Date read: 06/01/19 – 24/01/19
  • Rating: 3 stars
  • Challenge: 2019 Sequels and ONTD Reading Challenge: Jan (Read a book which was adapted into a movie or TV show)

First thing I would say is if you are questioning whether to read The Hobbit first. Do it! There are a lot of references and spoilers in this book about The Hobbit so definitely read that one first!

Plot: In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts a Ring of immense power to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

POSITIVES:

I loved all the characters. They are all very layered and very different from one another which helped make the group interesting and keep you on your toes. Notable characters included

  • Aragorn. This is probably the only character in the book where I can’t explain why I liked them. I just thought he was really brave and there is clearly something hidden about him that we will find out in later books.
  • Gandalf. I loved Gandalf in The Hobbit and he was just as great in this book. I loved how wise, kind and funny he was.
  • Sam. Sam was the absolute cutest. I loved his loyalty and innocence, he was a refreshing character as most of the companies are rough and serious.
  • Galadriel. The only female character of importance and she was incredibly powerful and wise. I was happy to see a powerful woman in the book who was respected as more than just the King’s wife which is what I had expected.

The plot is incredibly detailed which made for a rich and fulfilled reading experience. Each character has a long history and origin which makes them who they are, they have all suffered in some way which has affected them in quite deep ways. I loved that we got to see an intricate and long backstory for the Ring, which spanned further back than when Gollum obtained it, I also how it linked certain characters together. The backstory makes the quest more dangerous and intense knowing that the Ring has left a path of blood and devastation in its wake. We also see a long history between the elves and dwarves which is interesting to read about, it is not explored in depth unlike the Ring’s origin but it’s mentioned enough, it gives Legolas and Gimli an interesting dynamic and friendship.

It’s highly imaginative. I loved all the fantasy elements. Sauron’s minions (Black Rider) were incredibly exciting to read about, I loved all the scenes they were in, they bought a real sense of danger and they were incredbly evil and mysterious beings which made me feel I was really reading a high fantasty. The Elven kingdom of Lorien was so beautiful, Tolkien’s description of the kingdom was incredible I could truly visuale it and all it’s beauty. I loved everything to do with the Elves and their magic and I loved the exploration into the mighty power behind the ring.

The scenes of action were incredibly fun and exciting to read, Tolkien knows how to write a really good action scene which exudes danger and get’s your heart racing! Notable scenes include – The Pony, where we first meet Aragorn and we get the first major warning from Gandalf. Any scene with the Dark Lord’s minions and the journey through Moria.

NEGATIVES:

The writing was very intricate and detailed which worked well for the action scenes but… it was too much all the time. Most of the novel consists of the characters from travelling from point A to point B and Tolkien spent pages upon pages just describing the mountains and the rivers. They were so longwinded and dull. I found myself at times wanting to DNF the book as I couldn’t take how much description their was for the landscape. This is one of the main reasons why I couldn’t give this book 5 stars. Too much of the novel was focused on describing the area they were walking through.

The pace is also very slow for most of the book, which didn’t bode well with the longwinded descriptions. The book did have small spikes of fast-paced action which were amazing but it didn’t make up for the fact that the rest of the book plodded along slowly. It was a very stop, start kind of pace, where we would pick pace during action sequences but then stop with chapters of endless walking.

There were only 3 female characters in this book. Goldberry, she was so irrelevant in my eyes she might as well not have been in it, Arwen, who is only there to give Aragorn a sad back story and Galadriel, who is an incredible character I loved her! It was a shame that out of the whole cast only 3 women were included and only one of them was actually important to the novel’s progression. I am sure Arwen becomes important in later books especially with Aragorn. But it was just disappointing that two of the three female characters were boring or said nothing.

The next book I will be reading is Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend.

Top 5 2019 Releases I’m Excited For.

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2019 has a lot of exciting books in store for us! I can’t wait to get stuck in! Today I will be talking about some 2019 releases that have piqued my interest.

The Hod King – Josiah Bancroft

The Hod King is the 3rd book in The Tower of Babel series. I read the first book Senlin Ascends last April and it was my favourite book of 2018. It follows Thomas Senlin who travels to the Tower of Babel, with his new wife Marya but he loses her and spends the rest of the book traversing the tower in search for her. I haven’t read the 2nd book in the series yet but I just loved his first book so much I can’t help but get excited for new additions in the series.

Finale – Stephanie Garber

Same case as The Hod King. Finale is the final book in the Caraval trilogy. I read the first book Caraval, last February and absolutely loved it. I still haven’t read the 2nd book in the trilogy, Legendary, but I loved the first book so much I’m just so excited for new instalments. Fairyloot, a UK based book subscription box, is doing a very special box all about Finale and I really want to purchase it.

The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon

This story is told through multiple perspectives and focuses on Ead Duryan, an outsider turned lady-in-waiting who uses forbidden magic to protect the Queen, who is being targeted by assassins.

I have been hyped for this book since November as initially, I thought it was Fairyloot’s book for their December box. I love multi-perspective novels and I’m really intrigued about where this story will go especially as it seems the main characters are women.

The Gilded Wolves – Roshani Choski

Set in Paris in the 1800’s we meet Séverin Montagnet-Alarie, as treasure hunter. He is given the task of a life time when he is told to find an ancient artifcat for an ancient society called the Order of Babel . In order to get this artifact though, he will need a team of experts.

I’m getting a very strong Indiana Jones and Ocean’s Eleven vibe from this book so I am excited to read this! I haven’t read many books set in Paris either so it will be nice to explore Paris in book form.

The Similars – Rebecca Hanover

The Similars is a YA sci-fi novel focusing on a character called Emmalina who’s best friend, Oliver, died that summer. Trying to get over the grief of losing Oliver she comes face to face with Levi… her Oliver’s clone. Six clones arrive at her high school and even though she doesn’t want to get involved with them she can’t help but feel the pull. Soon she gets mixed up in the dark truth’s about her school and the clones.

I have never read a book like this before. Sci-fi isn’t really my genre but this sounds so intriguing so I really want to give this a try!

Fire and Heist Review

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  • Author: Sarah Beth Durst
  • Series: Standalone
  • Genre: Fantasy/Magic Realism
  • No. of pages: 290
  • Date read: 07/01/19 – 12/01/19 (DNFed at page 172)
  • Rating: 1 star

My first DNF of 2019! To put in context, I only dnfed one book in 2018, The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. We are in the middle of January. It is the 2nd book I have read this year. I have already dnfed it.

I read this as part of a read-along with the company, Fairyloot, who sell subscription boxes for books. I was excited to participate in the read-along but I don’t think I will participate in the next one, I prefer to read at my own pace. The curators of Fairyloot obviously hyped up the book, the premise sounded so cool who wouldn’t want to hype up the book. But subsequently, I went in with really high expectations which weren’t met at all! I have still purchased 2 more boxes from Fairyloot and will continue to do so as I personally loved the other items that came with the box.

Plot: Sky Hawkins is a wyvern. A person who could turn into a dragon and poscess the abilities of a dragon. Her ancestors were exiled from their home and forced to live on earth. Like dragons from myth and literature, wyverns like to hoard gold and subsequently these families are very rich. The way they get their gold is simple… they steal it. The story starts with Sky who’s mother disappears after a failed heist and the story follows her trying to uncover why and where her mother has disappeared to.

POSITIVES:

I always like to start off positive and this book did have some positives.

The setting is our modern world. What I liked seeing was magic and technology mixing. I liked seeing how the wyverns have adapted with technology. I liked seeing magic and technolgly working togehter, how magic helps enhance the technology. I thought that was smart and fun to read about.

The mystery of where Sky’s mother disappeared to was really intriguing and kept me going after each chapter. I just wanted to know what happened to her. Was she locked up? Has she been tortured? Did she choose to leave? I had so many questions and each chapter more pieces were added to her disappearance and I was really excited to see what happened to her. That being said you find out where she goes halfway through the story and because that was the main draw of why I continued to read the book I subsequently had no incentive to continue the story.

I really liked learning about the lore, myth and history behind the wyverns. Everytime Sky mentioned something about their meetings known as “Reckonings”, the rules they must follow, the hierarchy, the powers. It really interested me.

My favourite character was Gabriela, Sky’s human friend. She was the sweetest person who I related to a little bit in the fact that she wanted so much more to life and wanted adventure. She just was a little ball of sunshine.

NEGATIVES:

My main problem with this book is the writing.

The writing to me was very cringey. I can’t explain what it is about the wiritng but it felt very young YA. Someone said she felt it read like fanfiction! The main point is the writing ended up ruining parts of the book that could have been good.

I think Sky, the main character, could have been a really cool, empowering female character but reading from her perspective was annoying and she just came across as a spoilt brat so I couldn’t connect with her whatsoever! Durst tried to make it out that Sky was really self-aware with the fact that she was spoilt but to me it didn’t help make Sky’s character likeable, it actually made her worse. It was disappointing because I love a powerful female character.

The first half of the book felt rushed. It felt like the writer was just trying to get to the second half of the book and get to the plot twist. Some of the best parts of heist movies is watching the training and the execution of the heist unfold but in this story, we get a very short training section, which didn’t have much training in, and then suddenly its the heist which started and ended within one chapter. It was very lacklustre and not developed at all.

The romance was not good. I didn’t care whether Ryan and Sky got back together. I think Ryan was a lovely character but because I didn’t like Sky and the writing surrounding their relationship was cringey. I didn’t want to continue reading about their relationship. It felt out of place sometimes as this is marketed as a heist book but Durst spent more time focusing on their relationship than actually developing the writing of the heist!

The problem with the book was the plot points were really cool and could have wowed me I just don’t think it was executed in the right way.

The Light Fantastic Review

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  • Author: Terry Pratchett
  • Series: Discworld #3
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • No. of pages: 288
  • Date read: 31.12.18 – 05.01.19
  • Rating: 4.5 stars (Favourite)
  • Challenge: 2019 Sequels and ONTD Reading Challenge: Jan (Read a book which was adapted into a movie or TV show)

You know that problem with book series where the 2nd book is never as good as the first. Not the case with this book!

A direct sequel to the first book in the Discworld series, The Colour of Magic. That book follows failed wizard Rincewind, as he agrees to show tourist, Twoflower, around the city of Ankh-Morpork. I can’t really give you the plot of this book because of spoilers.

I really liked the first book, it was a nice introduction to Terry Pratchett’s writing style and storytelling but this book is miles better than the first!

POSITIVES –
I loved Twoflower and Rincewind’s dynamic. They are such a comedic duo. I loved how it isn’t until the very end of the book do you truly know how they feel about each other as most of the time Rincewind has been putting up with Twoflower. Their friendship is very much unlike things I have read before.

The Luggage was a standout character to me. I love the fact that an object with no dialogue and no ability to speak, can be so emotive and hilarious! Pratchett did a great job with making you understand how the Luggage is feeling but without just saying outright. I loved its personality and how you never truly understand what it is, it’s just a mystery you never solve.

One of the things I liked about this book compared to The Colour of Magic is it feels like it had more of a cohesive plot with a clear direction of where it was going. The first book felt a bit all over the place with no clear structure, it was just following the characters on a journey with no clear end destination. It felt a bit messy in terms of plot structure but it’s overshadowed by how imaginative the world is. I liked seeing this improvement.

The description and the imagination that Terry Pratchett had is outstanding! Every page I turned I didn’t know what was going to happen next and who I was going to meet! Especially at the end at the very climax of the ending Pratchett’s description is off the charts. I could visualise the scene perfectly.

I loved how imaginative the world is and how each part of the Discworld is unlike the other. All the characters were incredibly different from one another one character is an ageing warrior while another is an angry and tired rock troll. I loved seeing a bit more exploration into the wizards from the Unseen University as well. Giving a bit more insight into the magic system at play in the Discworld.

Another point that made this book better than the first is that the ending was a lot better. The main negative I had about the first book was that I thought the ending was rushed and not that great it really spoilt the book as I had enjoyed it a lot before we got to the ending and I felt it didn’t work with the rest of the novel. The ending was amazing in this book you don’t know what’s going to happen next and even when I thought I knew what was going to happen, Pratchett surprised me with something weird and crazy! Very on-brand.

This book also helps me complete the first month in the ONTD reading challenge! Quick disclaimer – I did read the January challenge wrong. I thought it was read a book adapted into a TV show or movie, not specifically limited to 2019 but I was wrong. It’s too late now so I am just counting any book that was adapted into a movie or tv show since the dawn of time. This book, in particular, was made into a movie alongside The Colour of Magic.

The next book I plan to review is Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst. A fantasy novel involving humans who can shape-shift into dragons, unsolved mysteries and heists! I am partaking in the Fairyloot Readalong so the review will be up same time next week.

My 2018 Wrap Up

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So this is it! The end of another year. 2018, as I have said before, has been my best reading year to date! I read 32 books this year and I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store. I try not to plan things to extensively but check out my “Plan for 2019” blogpost which I posted about a week ago to have an idea of how I am going to attack 2019 head one!

I won’t try to overload you with loads of information but I took the stats from my Goodreads Wrap Up and have applied it here. These stats have been compiled by Goodreads.

Basic Stats

  • I read 11,486 pages over 32 books this year.
  • My average book length was 358 pages.
  • My average rating for 2018 was 4 stars exactly!

The shortest book I read in 2018 – 156 pages

The longest book I read in 2018 – 659 pages

My most popular book.

This book was read by 5,611,021 people on Goodreads.

My least popular book.

This book was read by only 297 other people on Goodreads.

The highest rated book on Goodreads that I read in 2018

This book was been rated on Goodreads an average of 4.55 stars.

Rating Breakdown

Now we are going to break it down into what books I gave a certain number of stars to. Since I started this blog at the end of the year, it will also help you see what books I have been reading. One good thing this year is I gave no books 1 star.

Books that I gave 2 stars – 2

  • The Princess Saves Herself in This One – Amanda Lovelace
  • The Magician’s Nephew – C.S. Lewis

Books that I gave 3 stars – 8

  • Murder on Christmas Eve – Edited by Cecily Gayford, written by Various Authors
  • One of Us is Lying – Karen McManus
  • The Sacrafice Box – Martin Stewart
  • Fight Club – Chuck Palahiniuck
  • The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
  • Everless – Sara Holland
  • The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett
  • The Mermaid – Christina Henry

Books that I gave 4 stars – 9

  • It Devours! – Jeffrey Cranor and Joeseph Fink
  • Mythos – Stephen Fry
  • Battle Royale – Koushun Takami
  • The Riviera Express – T.P. Fielden
  • Uprooted – Naomi Novik
  • The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One – Amanda Lovelace
  • The Bear in the Nightingale – Katherine Arden
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
  • Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman

Books that I gave 5 stars – 13

  • Red Queen – Christina Henry
  • Lost Boy – Christina Henry
  • Caraval – Stephanie Garber
  • Senlin Ascends – Josiah Bancroft
  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K Rowling
  • Gemina – Amie Kaufman
  • Scythe – Neal Shusterman
  • The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton
  • Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi
  • Circe – Madeline Miller
  • The Murder on the Links – Agatha Christie
  • The Hobbit – J.R.R Tolkien

I added 11 of these books into my all-time favourites list proving how successful my 2018 has been.

Genre Breakdown

Lastly, for my 2018 wrap up I will break down the different genres I read this year and how many books of that genre I read. There will be overlapping as some books fit within multiple genres.

  • Contemporary – 4
  • Classics – 2
  • Fantasy – 15
  • Historical Fiction – 4
  • LGBT Fiction – 4
  • Murder Mystery – 4
  • Mythology/Folklore – 5
  • Plays/Poetry – 2 (Both poetry)
  • Re-tellings – 3
  • Romance – 6
  • Sci-Fi – 4
  • Steampunk – 1
  • Paranormal – 1

My Reading Plan for 2019

IndiaReadsALot3 Comments

I have done really well this year. I will end 2018 on 32 books by the end of this week and I am incredibly proud with how much I have read. My original goal was 22 books so I was very happy to beat that goal.

I have 5 areas that I want to complete during 2019. They cover authors, genres and reading challenges. I wanted to plan a bit more for 2019, as this year I just picked up anything I liked and read it. But since then I have started but not finished a lot of series and I have signed up for reading challenges and book subscription boxes. I wanted to approach 2019 in a more organised way.

How many books do I plan to read in 2019?

For 2019, my goal is to read 25 books. I was deciding to possibly aim for 30 but this year I was very fortunate to go on a couple of holidays where I spent a lot of time reading and I was also in college with a lot of free time so I managed to get a lot of reading done between lessons. Now that I have started full-time employment I don’t want to give myself an unachieveable goal.

2019 Sequels

I started a lot of series in 2018 that I was un-able to finish. So on Goodreads, I created a shelf called my 2019 sequels shelf which was dedicated to the sequels to the book series I had started within the year. My plan is to read these books before the month of June, so the first half of the year is dedicated more to finishing or continuing series from 2018 and the 2nd half of the year is dedicated to new series and books. There are twelve books on this shelf and they include;

  1. The Arm of the Sphinx – Josiah Bancroft (Book 2/4 – The Tower of Babel series)
  2. The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien (Book 2/4, I am counting The Hobbit in this series.)
  3. The Girl in the Tower – Katherine Arden (Book 2/3 – The Winternight Trilogy)
  4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling (Book 4/7 – Harry Potter series)
  5. Legendary – Stephanie Garber (Book 2/3 – The Caraval series)
  6. The Light Fantastic – Terry Pratchett (Book 2/41 – The Discworld series)
  7. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis (Book 2/7 – The Chronicles of Narnia)
  8. The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in this One (Book 3/on-going – The Women Are Some Kind of Magic series)
  9. Obsidio – Amie Kaufman (Book 3/3 – The Illuminae Files)
  10. Poirot Investigates – Agatha Christie (Book 3/41 – Hercule Poirot series, not including the new books by Sophie Hannah)
  11. Resort to Murder – T.P. Fielden (Book 2/on-going – A Miss Dimont Mystery series)
  12. Thunderhead – Neal Shusterman (Book 2/on-going – The Arc of the Sycthe series)

The ONTD Reading Challenge

On Goodreads, there is a group currently called “2018 ONTD Reading Challenge”. It’s run by two women and they pick a theme for each month of the year and you must follow the theme and read a book each month that fits within the theme. I thought it would be really fun to do this as it means I would read books I would have never thought of picking up. I also tried to apply some of the books from my 2019 sequels list to some of the themes between Jan and June. So I have made a small plan, of books that I could read during the month, and it looks like this:

January – Read a book that has been adapted into a movie or TV show.

  • The Light Fantastic (TV episode)
  • The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Movie)
  • The Fellowship of the Ring (Movie and TV episode)
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Movie)
  • Poirot Investigates (Multiple TV episodes)

February – Read a romance or a book in which a couple breaks up.

I am not really a romance fan so the books I looked at all have elements of another genre.

  • Obsidio (Sci-fi)
  • Cinder – Marrisa Myer (Sci-fi)
  • The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern (Fantasy + Historical Fiction)
  • The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid (Historical Fiction)

March – Read a non-fiction book.

  • The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson
  • This Is Going To Hurt – Adam Kay
  • A Thousand Naked Strangers – Kevin Hazzard
  • The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures – Aaron Mahnke

April – Read a book about time-travel.

  • 11/22/63 – Stephen King
  • All Our Yesterdays – Cristin Terrill

May – Read a book set in a country you have never been to.

  • The Girl in the Tower (Russia)
  • Confessions – Kinae Minato (Japan)
  • Shadow of the Fox – Julie Kagawa (Japan)
  • The Widows of Malabar Hill – Sujata Massey (India)

June – Read a book about friendship.

  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire/Order of the Phoenix (I would read OotP if I read GoF earlier in the year.)
  • The Fellowship of the Ring/The Two Towers (Same as above)
  • Neverworld Wake – Marisha Pessl

July – Read a re-telling.

  • Dorothy Must Die – Danielle Paige (The Wizard of Oz)
  • The Afterlife of Holly Chase – Cynthia Hand (A Christmas Carol)
  • The Child Thief – Brom (Peter Pan)
  • Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik (Rumplestiltskin)

August – Read a thriller where a female lead is in danger.

  • The Cheerleaders – Kara Thomas
  • Sometimes I Lie – Alice Feeney
  • Unraveling Oliver- Liz Nugent
  • Broken Things – Lauren Oliver

September – Read a comedy.

  • Three Bags Full – Leonie Swann
  • My Lady Jane – Cynthia Hand
  • The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue – Mackenzi Lee

October – Read a book about war.

  • A Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris

November – Read a graphic novel/manga.

  • From Hell – Alan Moore
  • Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromu Arakawa
  • The Prince and the Dressmaker – Jen Wang

December – Read a book that won an award in 2019.

This book I would have to pick closer to the time. These are just books I have in mind that fit the theme, I may decide later to read something else.

Any authors you plan to read more of?

I would love to read some of Brandon Sanderson‘s books. I have heard great things about his work and it seems like the kind of thing I would enjoy.

Any genres you plan to read more of?

I would love to read more classics. It’s probably the only genre I haven’t attempted to read, outside of school. So it would be good to try the genre out.

Link to ONTD Reading Challenge – https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/208213-2018-ontd-reading-challenge

Link to my Goodreads page – https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/45790257-india