September Wrap-Up

    Hey y'all, it's that time of the month again!  September was a great month of reading for me and I'm honestly surprised by how much I've grown as a reader just in the last few months.  I used to read all the time for hours like this when I was younger and stopped sometime during middle school, so this experience is sort of like reliving my lost childhood, but not really.  Anyway, I read a total of 8 books this month, which is pretty impressive if I do say so myself.  I'm hoping to get my reading goals up to about 10 books a month, but with school looming over my head, I think 8 is the highest I'll see for awhile.  That being said, let's get the reviewing under way.

    The Darkest Minds: As I was trying to break up my fantasy book haul with other genres, I looked for a dystopian book that would catch my interests and this one did not disappoint.  Taking place in a society where most children die before the age of 9 and those who survive are cursed with weird powers, Darkest Minds follows a teenager named Ruby as she's cast aside by her family and sent to a prison camp for children with special abilities.  She escapes only to run into other teens like herself, graced with powerful abilities, and attempts to learn how to control hers.  I thought the most interesting part of this book was the character development throughout the story.  I didn't sense a lot of world building going on, seeing as they are technically located within the United States, West Virginia and the surrounding states to be exact.  The book also started off a little slow for me and I was initially confused with the point of view before she came to Thurmond, (the prison camp).  I enjoyed the book much more after she joins her friends.  There were some dark moments in this book that I wasn't expecting, but should have expected due to the apocalyptic, dystopian nature of this book.  I enjoyed this book, so I think I will continue with the series and see where it takes me.  I gave it 4 out f 5 stars.

    Red Queen:  This book also started off slow for me, but I enjoyed the second half much more than I had originally anticipated.  Red Queen is about a poor peasant girl living in the slums of a world ruled by silver-blooded elite who possess powers beyond those of mortal comprehension.  She is thrust into their world by chance and discovers she is a red-blooded girl with powers stronger than her silver-blooded counterparts.  This book picked up quickly after she is found out by the higher powers.  I enjoyed the pace of this book as well as the characters interacting with each other and the mischief they manage throughout the court atmosphere.  There's a lot of emotion in this book, so I'm hoping that they are making a second because I'd like to see what happens next.  I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars as well.

    The Queen of the Tearling:  I honestly expected to hate this book.  All the reviews I've read about it portray it as more of a political intrigue sort of book and not an action-packed adventure book.  They were partially correct.  I didn't love or hate this book, but I'm intrigued enough to attempt to read the second book, which just came out.  The Queen of the Tearling follows a young princess named Kelsea as she's escorted from the foster home she's known her whole life and into the bowels of her kingdom, inherited from her dead mother.  There's not a whole lot going on in this book.  The writing was decent, but there's not even a lot of political nonsense, let alone action.  We basically read about how she gets to her kingdom, how she begins her reign and how she deals with rebellion.  Mainly she talks to her Queen's Guard a lot.  There were some portions of the story with action involved and I loved the parts of the story that involved The Fetch, who is by far my favorite character so far.  Kelsea seemed pretty boring to me until the middle of the book.  The scenery and description I thought was great as well.  This book is very reminiscent of the Arya Stark/Hound story of Game of Thrones.  It didn't wow me, but I'm willing to try the sequel and see if it's better.  I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars.

(goodreads.com)

    Cruel Beauty:  I read this book hoping to quell my thirst for Beauty and the Beast stories and ACOTAR.  I ended up getting ACOTAR again anyway and re-reading it in 24 hours, but this story was decent as a retelling.  This book revolves around a girl named Nyx who has been betrothed to the Gentle Lord of her land since she was born because of a bargain her father made.  I didn't particularly care for the first part of the book, but it picked up after she gets to the castle.  Her main goal, because she can't escape her fate, is to seduce and kill this lord and save her people from a curse he inflicted on their lands.  However, once inside his castle, she is intrigued by him enough that her guard falls and she ends up loving him.  There is a lot more going on in this book than the surface tells you.  A lot of mystery, but also a lot of confusion.  There's a heavy influence of Greek mythology, which I didn't really understand.  There were also mentions of a "time before," which usually indicates a regressed society, but I'm not sure with this book.  There's no real action to speak of, but the two male characters are great.  I could have cared less about Nyx actually; she bored me at times and was way too loose with her mouth.  Ignifex is the best character, having a complex relationship with Nyx as well as himself.  Lots of bi-polar tendencies going on around here.  I gave this one a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

(goodreads.com)

    Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, and Queen of Shadows:  Yes, I read all of these PLUS The Assassin's Blade in the month of September.  I am OBSESSED with this series, to put it lightly.  I started with Crown of Midnight, which had lots of mystery, romance, suspense and action to propel the story.  I loved the chemistry between Chaol and Celaena, until it SHATTERED INTO A MILLION PIECES.  Poor Chaol...  I honestly felt bad for him, but I also felt bad for Celaena.  So much death!  There was a lot going on here and we finally know about Celaena's heritage.  I'm glad Chaol sent her away though, because she meets the immaculate Rowan in Heir of Fire, which was a great read!  It felt more like a middle novel than a third book, because of the change of scenery, which was still flawlessly rendered by Maas.  I felt bad for Celaena more in this book than any other and I did want to kill Rowan in the beginning for treating her so badly.  I also found Celaena to be really annoying for the first half of this book.  I thought the character development in this book exceeded any before it and we get to see sides of both characters that we haven't seen yet.  This was a very GOT style book.  By the end, I was in love with Rowan, (and so was Celaena), but DORIAN!!!!:(  That ending literally broke my heart.  When Aelin returns to Riftfold in Queen of Shadows, everything has changed, including her name.  This book was by far my favorite so far in this series.  I purchased it outright and read it twice!  ROWAN IS EVERYTHING.  I'm totally shipping that for real.  I also loved the revenge aspect of this book and the new characters introduced.  The only thing I didn't like was that Chaol was a raging douche almost the entire time.  I didn't like that he just got angry and refused to be nice at all.  I liked the progression of the Dorian and new Manon story lines intertwined with the actual story line.  The sexual tension in this book had me like whoa.  Hopefully that's resolved by the next book, in like a year, (oh God, I have to wait so long...).  I obviously gave all three of these books 5 stars because they are my life force.

    The Assassin's Blade:  This book was a tad different than the others.  I guess you're supposed to read this one before Heir of Fire, but I read it after Queen of Shadows, which I still found beneficial, especially since I read Queen of Shadows twice.  This book includes 5 novellas taking place during Celaena's life before she is broken out of Endovier by Prince Dorian.  I loved reading about the different adventures she went on and SAM CORTLAND OMG.  I have never felt more reluctant to read something, knowing what was going to happen to poor Sam.  It didn't make it easier, but I was envisioning something more grotesque and in-your-face.  I'm glad it wasn't detailed, but it still seemed pretty abrupt, especially since you knew what was going to happen anyway.  You understand so much more about her life after reading this book.  It's definitely worth the time and effort.  I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

    Those were all the books I managed to cram into the month of September.  Thursday I'll be going over my October tentative TBR list, (because I may read more than I anticipate, judging by this month).  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.