A pretty solid month for me with some new found favourites that I am adamant will make it onto my Top 10 books of the year!
- I read 10 books this month
- Genre: 6 fantasy, 2 literary fiction, 1 sci-fi and 1 mystery
- Gender of authors: 7 men and 2 women
- Race of authors: 5 asian authors, 3 white authors and 1 latino author
- Age range: 5 YA and 5 adult
- Format: 9 paperback and 1 hardback.
Challenges
- Prompt: High Fantasy
- The Burning God
- Elantris
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol.1
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol.5
- Claymore, Vol.1
- Sequel Challenge:
- The Burning God
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol.5
Elantris – Brandon Sanderson (DNF)
I am devastated to say that I DNFd my first ever Brandon Sanderson book. I never thought I would see the day where I would do so! Unfortunately, while this book had interesting characters and plot, the pacing was just so incredibly slow and boring that I could feel a reading slump forming. So I had to put it down. I don’t think I will ever go back to reading it.
Termush – Sven Holm (2 stars)
A dystopian novel re-issued for modern day audiences. This book was fine. It was a lot shorter than I expected and I felt that its page count put it at a disadvantage. I wanted more detail, more exploration, just a lot more. This story felt very surface level and I blinked and it was over.
The Mill House Murders – Yukito Ayatsuji (3 stars)
Another instalment in Ayatsuji’s Locked Room mystery series. I preferred this book a lot more to the first book in the series, The Decagon House Murders. Better atmosphere, more engaging characters, a plot which genuinely shocked me and I felt satisfied with the ending rather than stumped.
Claymore, Vol.1 – Norihiro Yagi (3 stars)
This is my official read through of the manga after I watched the show last year. I think if I didn’t already know the story – this rating would be higher. But I thought the story and the world was engaging and I look forward to reading more. I do believe this series might have been discontinued though so we shall see how many volumes I can find.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol.1 – Hayao Miyazaki (4 stars)
Also a manga I picked up because I watched the adaptation first. This time round though I enjoyed the manga a lot more. The artwork is beautiful as per for Miyazaki and I love Nausicaa with every fibre of my being. I will say though. that the plot is hard to follow at points so despite its beautiful art, clear striking message about protecting our planet I have to deduct a star. Sometimes I had no idea what was happening!
Lies We Sing to the Sea – Sarah Underwood (4 stars)
Despite me saying I was going to stop reading greek myth re-tellings… here I am! This book had a lot of people talking back when it was announced so I was interested to see my thoughts on this book. I ended up really enjoying it. I loved the setting, the characters, the plot. It was so far removed from what I was expecting it to be. For clarification, this book is not an Odyssey re-telling. It takes inspiration from the death of Penelope’s handmaidens at the hands of Odysseus and says what if? The book is set hundreds of years after the Odyssey and it’s only mentioned a handful of times. The book truly focuses on the characters of the present than the past.
The Burning God – R.F. Kuang (4 stars)
The final book in the ground-breaking Poppy War trilogy. Overall, it was good but it was not my favourite book in the series. I had the ending spoiled for me last month so that defiantly hindered my enjoyment as I already knew what to expect. I also think this book’s plot was the weakest of the 3 books and I wasn’t as engaged as I had been with the others.
Trust – Hernan Diaz (5 stars)
An unexpected favourite here! Very Great Gatsby meets Succession vibes. This story tells the story of a billionaire and his wife; their relationship, rise to fame, their philanthropy and her illness. This story is told 4 times, in 4 different ways. As you read this book you try to unearth whose version of the story is actually true. I thought it was incredibly impressive for an author to take the same story and write it in so many different ways with different narrators and through different mediums. I felt like I was solving a puzzle.
Yellowface – R.F. Kuang (5 stars)
Probably, my favourite Kuang book to date! I have a more detailed review up on my blog but this book was just so incredibly engaging and exciting. I loved being in the mind of someone as complicated and unlikable as June. It was so interesting to not be following the hero of the story but the villain. Delving into the failings of the publishing industry was very interesting indeed (though I do wish Kuang went even deeper).
IndiaReadsALot 
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