Review: Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

What a book and what a duology. This sequel had me on the edge of my seat as much as the first and had just as many exciting and unexpected twists and turns. At first, I read this book quite slowly because I didn’t want my time in this world to end, but I raced through the last 150 or so pages as each development meant this book was simply unputdownable. There were parts that made me smile, parts that made me want to cry (especially chapter 49) and parts that left my mouth hanging open in shock. I couldn’t recommend this duology highly enough and am just sad that I didn’t read this book sooner.

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Review: Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

This book succeeded in being intriguing and it was definitely a story that I wanted to follow through to the end. To say that it was 800 pages, it didn’t feel that long, but I do remember getting to page 200 and thinking that I was going to be in for a long ride. Deciding how I feel about this book has been difficult, in part I think due to its length because over so many pages, a lot happened. But, overall, there were aspects of this book that I didn’t like and certainly dampened my enjoyment of the story.

Firstly, and because it plays such a key role within the story, I didn’t like the relationship between Hunt and Bryce. I felt like them eventually getting together was too obvious even though they started off their relationship as ‘enemies’. As their relationship developed, it didn’t make me feel anything more for them, both as individuals and as a pair. Maybe it’s because, in typical Sarah J. Maas style, I assume they won’t remain together in the next book and that expectation has made me wary of wanting them to be together.

Secondly, whilst I enjoyed the final fight for Crescent City and found the fight scenes enjoyable to read, I didn’t like how Bryce’s firstlight fixed the city, repairing buildings and healing the injured. Whilst I’m glad the dead stayed dead, it felt like too much of a happy ending after this book trying to be more gritty and real by having main characters killed off and accepting the darker sides of life. Personally, I would have enjoyed it more if Hunt had died, especially as he was literally described as having been almost blown apart. Maybe that’s because I don’t like the relationship between Hunt and Bryce that much, but still.

As well as that, I thought Hunt’s betrayal and the whole storyline with the synth deal on the ship was poorly done. Throughout the book we had Hunt’s perspective and from that, I didn’t get the indication that he would want to start another rebellion, especially after how the last one had gone. It seemed to appear out of nowhere and be for the sore purpose of separating Hunt from Bryce for the final showdown.

So, why didn’t I give this book a lower rating? Because the story still kept me engaged throughout the bits that I didn’t like, because I wanted to have an answer to some of the mysteries and because of Ruhn. To me, he was one of the best characters in the book and I was hoping to see a lot more from him than we actually did. In the initial stages of the investigation, we got some chapters from his perspective and I thought that would be a continuing theme, but then they seemed to drop off until the end of the book. Still, I held out hope that we would hear more from him because even though he was treated badly by Bryce, I cared about him and what would happen to him.

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Books and Music

I’m someone who can’t read in silence. There needs to be some other noise, preferably music, but if that isn’t possible then the sounds of other people or rain outside is a must. Something about having to force my mind to focus on the book instead of the music helps me to read, though if the plot is particularly complex then the low-fi beats are what I choose.

Sometimes though, I end up listening to one song on repeat while reading and whenever I read that book or hear that song, I think of the other.

This has happened memorably with three books and songs.

The first was The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. Reading this series as a teen, I was deep in my Panic! at the Disco phase and so the whole time I read this series I was listening to ‘The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage’ from their first album. Does this relate to the series in any way? Not really, though I suppose connections can be made by the story that the song tells and it saying to not trust those in power which the series explored to some extent. Still, whenever I hear that song, I think of the Iron Fey series.

The second was The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, and while I was reading those three books I was listening to ‘Bloom’ by The Paper Kites. To me, the song is quite magical, and it put me right into the historical, Russian-esque setting. Despite all the action in those books, listening to that song and having it as my reminder of them makes my memory of the series take on a calm and relaxing nature. I’m sure if I reread them, I would be taken aback by how unlike that they are.

And finally, and most recently, while I was reading Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell, I was listening to Harry Styles’ Fine Line album, which soon switched to just my favourite song from that album, ‘Golden’. Now all I can think of when I listen to that song is Simon, Baz and Penelope taking their road trip across America. I think of all the songs that I’ve made a connection to books with, this one holds the strongest connection in terms of fitting the themes of the book. To me, it symbolises how Simon and Baz think of each other, how they’re scared of being with each other and how much they really like each other. I think without this connection to the song, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the book half as much and it makes me more invested in their relationship than I was before.

Review: Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Whilst there’s no doubt in my mind that after reading this book I’ll be picking up the next when it comes out, Wayward Son didn’t amaze me. The premise of this book was promising. I think the idea of looking at what happens after a hero’s journey “ends” was good because it’s true, we get to the end of a book series, film or TV show and just accept that it’s over and everybody has their happily ever after. Seeing Simon’s mental health improve throughout the course of this book definitely helped lift my own spirits and having the group together again to fight off forces meant this book was hard for me to put down, for sure.

The large fight at the end wasn’t a satisfying climax to this book. The quick switches between the characters that were narrating instead of making the scene fast-paced meant that I kept losing track of where each person was in the fight and the general progress of it. I think without the switching narration and with fewer components to the fight, it would have been much easier to grasp and made a more fitting conclusion to the book.

This next point might make it seem like I’m knit picking, but as a British person, the way Penelope, Baz and Simon spoke really bugged me. Things like Penelope not knowing what a tornado was and Simon saying he was “shagged out” (I know shagged can technically mean tired, but no person, British or otherwise, that I know uses it in that way and let me tell you, no one in this book was having the experience of the main meaning of this word from my recollection) really drew me out of the story. It was made more annoying because it was something that could have easily been fixed by switching phrases.

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Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book and my expectations from the first few chapters were very different to how the book ended up turning out. Initially it seemed to be more of an urban fantasy tale, but by the end there was no doubt that it was a suspenseful thriller. I ended up not being able to put this book down, especially towards the end when the mystery started to unravel, and I was constantly scared that any character would die.

That being said, even though there is no doubt in my mind that this book is a five star read because of the suspense and mystery, there were things that I disliked about the book. One of the things was the constant sexism throughout the book, which exuded from almost every character; though it can be partially be put down to the time when the book was set, at times it seemed to go a bit far. The second thing that I didn’t like was the casual mention that Daniel was going to die because it took all the suspense surrounding Daniel’s well being away from me and made me not only know that his death was coming but also that he would survive. Without that mention I would have been none the wiser and that part of the book wouldn’t have been spoiled.

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Review: Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

This was by far the best book in the Anne of Green Gables series. Rilla was such a well-developed character and you could so clearly see her change and progress throughout the book. This book made me laugh at some of the awkward moments, but it also managed to make me cry at the sadder moments. What made the difference in this book was the continuing thread of the war throughout the story. It gave a driving force to everything that happened and served to bind the characters together in a way that we didn’t get to see in the previous books. I could also clearly see the development of Montgomery’s writing from her previous books and I couldn’t be happier that this was the end to the series.

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Review: Rainbow Valley by L. M. Montgomery

My rating: ⭐⭐

The start of this book was promising. With a new set of interesting characters, there was a chance to make a good story and an effective plot. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and there wasn’t enough of the likable qualities of Anne present to make up the deficit.

This is probably something that is edition specific, and I checked in the front to find that this should be the exact same version as that which was printed in 1919, but I absolutely hated the use of capitalised words within sentences for emphasis. It was something that wasn’t in previous books and seemed like a very unnecessary addition.

While the story of the Meredith’s was initially interesting, eventually it just became a repetition of the same story, but with a different child punishing themselves for stepping out of line. To keep interest in the plot, for me, Mr Meredith would have had to have come to his senses sooner and started acting like a proper father. However, the way the plot is, the story became far too predictable and boring.

There’s a lot more that I could say about this book, but I want to avoid ranting, so I’ll make one more comment, which fittingly is about the final part of the book. Out of nowhere on the last page, the narration starts to talk about the coming future, specifically the war. I completely understand the relevance of this, with the book being published in 1919, but it seemed completely out of place from the rest of the book and really drew me away from the story. When reading a book that forms part of a series, you want to be encouraged to stay in that world a little longer and by having that part tacked onto the end, it did the opposite for me.

If there wasn’t only one book left in the series, I would be severely tempted to stop reading after this book.

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