Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Books I Read in March 2016


During March I read nothing but fantasy novels, I usually try to thrown in one or two contemporaries but I was in a huge fantasy kick. I managed to finish off the The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices books which I had started the previous month and catch up on a lot of new books that were released earlier this year that I had gotten behind on. So here are the books I read and some of my thoughts and opinions on them:

Books 4-6 of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare - Last month I read the books 1-3 in TMI series and I thought they were okay, and I now understand why people love these books so much because the last half of the series is so much better. There were so many improvements in Cassandra Clare's writing, and I liked the storyline and development of these books more than the first half of the series.

Books 2 & 3 of The Infernal Devices Trilogy by Cassandra Clare - While I really like TMI series as a whole and I absolutely love The Infernal Devices Trilogy. I thought that the first book was a good set up and these last two books absolutely blew me away. The writing, characters, and the story absolutely captivated me and played with my feelings so much (I cried so much reading these two books). And somehow Cassandra Clare managed to write a love triangle that I actually liked both sides (which has never happened to me before), it was so well written. I read all of the Shadowhunter books in the order that they were published, and I enjoyed seeing how the two series are weaved together

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare - This is a collection of 10 short stories that takes place after TMI series. Overall these were pretty enjoyable quick reads, Simon was my least favorite character in TMI, but I actually really liked how he was portrayed in these. I liked how they added a bit of background information to the universe, but they weren't my favorite of the Shadowhunter universe. I really just read these because I heard that they should be read before reading Lady Midnight, the first book in the next Shadowhunters trilogy.

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer - This is a collection of short stories that takes place in The Lunar Chronicles universe.  I absolutely loved these additions to the series, they provided a lot of background information and the last story is an wedding that takes place after the last book, Winter. I loved reading new information about some of the characters that I love so much. One day I'd love to reread the whole series in chronological order, because I love these books so much.

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard - This is the second book in the Red Queen series. Once I got past my problem of forgetting what happened in the first book, I could not put this book down. Even though the plot in these books isn't the most original (there's so many YA tropes), Aveyard's writing is really captivating and drew me in. And the ending of this book was absolutely crazy, and I need to know when the third book will be published, because I want it now.

Books 1 and 2 from The Winner's Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski - This trilogy revolves around a well respected general's daughter, Kestrel, and the consequences of purchasing a slave. These books are so good, I absolutely loved them. Kestrel is definitely up there with my favorite female protagonists, although she's a general's daughter she recognizes that she has no skill for fighting and focuses on skills and strategies. I also really enjoyed the romance and the world building. I'm a huge nerd for Roman history and the author drew inspiration from Rome's invasion of Greece for these books, and I love how the author used that to shape her world.

The Shadow Queen by C. J. Redwine - This is a Snow White retelling and the first novel in a series of stand alone novels that take place in the same universe. I really love fairy tale retellings, and I enjoy reading them most of the time, this book was no exception. I really enjoyed this book, and the romance elements between the Snow White figure, Lorelei, and the Huntsman figure, Kol. The only things that kept me from absolutely loving this retelling were the magical aspect, which I found confusing, and the world building, but otherwise the writing was fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the other books in the series play out and how the author develops one the world building.

I'm still slowly making my way through Persuasion by Jane Austen, it's just taking me longer to read and I keep setting it aside and getting distracted by other books, but I'm determined to finish it because I hate not finishing books. I've already read two books this month and I intend on finishing off all the Shadowhunter books that are published. These past couple of months I've been buying so many books so this month is my chance to catch up on those, I'm even trying not to buy any books this month other than the one book that comes out this month that I preordered (The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater). So we will see how that gets me, because I do have some books in my BookOutlet cart and I tempted to break that vow... - Jessica

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