Mount TBR 2017 discussion
Level 2: Mount Blanc (24 books)
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Mount Blanc, here I go!
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Book #13:
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
TBR since: August 29, 2016.
Finished: March 2, 2017.
Rating:★★★
Comment: I liked this book, but at times it confused me and the twist at the end was too crazy for me. It reminded me a little of the Odissey, with the 'finding my way home' plot, but with a scifi twist to it. It also made me think about choices and life. An overall good read.
Book #14:
Drown by Esther Dalseno
TBR since: July 15, 2016.
Finished: March 6, 2017.
Rating:★★★★★
Comment: This is a very dark retelling of The Little Mermaid, based on the Hans Christian Andersen version. I loved the musical writing, the way the author reimagined the mermaid lore and the twists on this fairytale.
While I just finished 2 more books from my TBR pile and am currently reading 8 more that counts towards this challenge, I just bought 10 brandy new books *le sigh*
Book #15:
These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
TBR since: December 20, 2015.
Finished: March 10, 2017.
Rating:★★★★★
Comment: I loved this light mystery and the complex characters. Jo is obviously my favorite character here and I like how she becomes aware of her own privilege and the misogyny in her society and tries to shed some light on it. It's a book about making your own future and coming out on your own. A great surprise and one of my favorite books of the year so far.
Book #16:
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
TBR since: IDK, a really long time
Finished: March 16, 2017.
Rating:★★★ - actual 3.5 stars
Comment:This is actually a re-read, since I've read it when I was about 12,13 years old,but since I made it a mission to finally finish this series this year, I had to pick book 1 one up again because I could barely remember what happened during the first two books. I really like fantasy and am amazed at how much effort the author put into creating this new world, it's mythology and new language. Yes, it drinks from other famous fantasy novels , especially Tolkien (yes, Arya DOES sound exactly like Arwen from LOTR and the Ur'gals reminded me a lot the Orcs. No coincidence about it). That is no detriment to the book, which is interesting and managed to keep me reading even though about 1/3 through I remembered what happened, including stuff from book 2 that are very obvious even during this first installment. Again, I didn't found that to be a problem to be personally. The writing flows really well, even though I found it slow paced at times, especially the beginning. There were too many unimportant things thrown in the middle just to make the book bigger, and that slowed things a bit, and that's one of the things that dropped the rating for me. Also, you can see how inexperienced the writer was at the time - he was only 15 years old,after all - some paragraphs and lines of the main characters felt a little bit childish and odd to me, but I think that as the series progresses, this will stop being an issue. After finishing, I know why I liked these book so much when I was younger and why I wanted to finish the series. I found the characters engaging and intriguing and I want to see how theirs stories play out!
Book #17:
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
TBR since: Somewhere in 2013, maybe.
Finished: March 23, 2017.
Rating:★★★
Comment: I was disappointed in this one, because I don't really like the plot or the romance in this book. Rose acted like a selfish, self-serving and reckless bitch and everything that I enjoyed about the first 3 VA books was just put aside. The ending started to bring it back, though, and I only sticked around for Lissa, Christian and Adrian. I like the new characters introduced here, especially Abe and Sydney, and I want to see what roles they will play in the final books.I really want to finish this series, so I hope that books 5 and 6 will get better and give me a satisfying conclusion.
Book #18:
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
TBR since: July 25, 2015
Finished: March, 2017.
Rating:★★★★
Comment: There are not many books in YA literature like this one - our protagonists are always the hero, the chosen one or at least the morally right one. But every single character in this book is in the grey area, and while they all think they are doing the right thing, they have no qualms about doing 'whatever it takes'. And our protagonists struggles constantly with her darkness, and the little light still inside of her. This book just proves that villains aren't born, they are made and they don't start up automatically evil. Seeing things from a anti-heroine's POV was so interesting and I can't wait to see if in the end she will turn into the monster everyone believes her to be, or if the light will win and chase her darkness away. Also, the world building is so interesting, and the setting - this 'renascentist italy' inspired world just brought the right atmosphere for the story.
Book #19:
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stievfater
TBR since: July 16, 2015
Finished: April 4, 2017.
Rating:★★★★
Comment:This book had a Gemma Doyle trilogy vibe to me, maybe because the magic and paranormal stuff, the villain being someone they knew and 'trusted' or that had a history with other character. I think that's mainly why I liked it. Although everyone keeps going on about the plot twists in this series, there was only one that actually surprised me and I didn't guess right away, which disappointed me a little. Maybe the other books will be more "WOW, WTF JUST HAPPENED?"? Hopefully, because I like being taken by surprise. Also, the male MC was not much. I couldn't make sense with his motives for searching Glendower and the ley lines and overall he's a pretty forgettable MC. I much prefer Blue, who's a delight to read, and Adam (WHO IS MY BABY AND I WANT TO PROTECT AT ALL COSTS, I could relate and sympathize with him so much!), and even Ronan (I'm curious about his 'mystery' - the whole deal with his brother and his father's death). I'm hoping that in the next book we get to know more about the ley lines, the other characters background, the mystery around Blue's father and more on Calla, Maura, Penelope and Orla, because the women of 300, Fox Street are amazing and funny.
Book #20:
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
TBR since: October 13, 2015
Finished: April 16, 2017.
Rating:★★★★
Comment: I liked this one more than I did Heir of Fire,but I lived mainly for the other characters. Aelin pissed me off during half the book with her self-righteous bitchness and although I came to like Rowan more by the end of this installment, I still don't care much about him, and he was a main character and got his own POV in this one, so a downside. I CAN'T GET BEHIND ROWAELIN, I TRIED BUT I CANT'T,OK? Chaol,bb, you deserve better and though we don't get much on Nesryn in this book, I already like their relationship. BUT LYSANDRA,DORIAN AND MANON. THEY WERE EVERYTHING. I ship Manorian already, that scene at the end of the book had me squealing. I can't wait to get to Empire of Shadows already, because things are getting good!
April is being a slow month for me, especially because I'm tackling lots of books at a time AND some of them are big. I hope to finish Eldest and Crooked Kingdom before the end of the week, though.
Book #21:
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
TBR since: December,2016
Finished: April 23, 2017.
Rating:★★★★★
Comment:THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! It managed to be even better than Six of Crows - fast paced, smart and full of plot twists I couldn't see coming a mile away. And we even got a guest starring from characters from The Grisha Trilogy, to further link those two stories. I'm so sad I have to part with this characters that I came to love! I liked how they all ended up (well, with one exception that made me so angry with Leigh Bardugo and made me so sad - I understand it was kind of a poetic ending, but I thought it was a little unnecessary), and the character development all of them went through in this novel. So, so good!
Book #22:
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
TBR since: 2008, maybe? I really don't know.
Finished: April 30, 2017.
Rating:★★★
Comment: Despite appreciating the author's writing development, I found the book to be unnecessarily large. Half of it is just Eragon's training, describing Ellesmera and him pinning after Arya. Roran's and Nasuada's chapters were the only thing that balanced the book, bu they were too few in between Eragon's ones that the overall pace was just slow. The final battle and the plot twist at the end were not unexpected (I've read this one before, after all), but it did managed to make things interesting and kind of salvage the book. On to Brisingir, finally!
Book #23:
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
TBR since: December 26, 2016
Finished: April 30, 2017.
Rating:★★★★
Comment: This is the best book in the entire series,I think. Finally, the entire court is together again, we have some good character development (except for Aelin, she still kinda bitchy and arrogant in this book...but more badass as well) and I'm enjoying the couples that are being formed here.The final showdown is being set and we know the truth behind Aelin's survival, the Wyrdkey and her powers. There were a lot of unexpected twists, the book was super fast paced and left me on the edge of the seat at all times. I feel that Rowan's character grew on me a little, but I think he is severely underused. He's this legendary Fae warrior, a prince, with lots of connections in the Fae kingdom and who can do a lot, but he was reduced here to Aelin's lapdog and
Book #24:
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
TBR since: February 26, 2016.
Finished: April 30, 2017
Rating:★★★★★
Comment: Amie Kaufman did it again! Another partnership that worked flawelessly! This book was so addictive and I love the way it was designed, like a dossier, with files and audio transcripts and chat pages and 'wikipedia-like' prints - it made the reading more dynamic and entertaining and the physical copy of the book IS GORGEOUS. Also, Amie is the master of plot twists. At the end of both this and Gemina (book 2, which I also devoured), and had my jaw on the floor and wanted to pick up the next book in the trilogy right away to see what would happen. The writing style is similar to the Starbound trilogy, what with each book having a different couple as the MC's, but with the main storyline woven between them and in the end the three couple uniting somehow to save the day. I also loved the references to mythology, pop culture and classic literature in these books and how well developed the world these two authors created is. If I could give these books a whole constellation of stars, I would, but I can only give five, so five it is.
AND THAT'S A FLAG ON MOUNT BLANC, YAY!
April was a slow month, mainly because I decided to read a lot of big books, all of them 500 pages or more, so my total is only 6 books. But I managed to purchase 6 more on Amazon, so my pile is the same, pratically. May and June will both be slower as well, because I'm on my surgery rotation at college, and I'm on the hospital from 6am to almost 9pm, so there's not much time to read aside from textbook stuff. I may be able to complete 4 or so books I started already (1 I already did finish, so yay me), and I'll try to pick up smaller books, so I can still read a fair amount in these couple of months.
Congrats Natália on reaching the top of Mount Blanc! I like your format for your posts too.
Great job! Slow month, but you tackled some big books! No shame in that! Good luck balancing your rotations and reading for pleasure!
Mount TBR 2017
Books mentioned in this topic
Illuminae (other topics)Eldest (other topics)
Empire of Storms (other topics)
Crooked Kingdom (other topics)
Queen of Shadows (other topics)
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