March Wrap-Up

    Hello everyone!  God I wish it would just STOP SNOWING.  Don't get me wrong, I'm really pumped to have a three day weekend, but I'm in Spring mode now so I'd appreciate it if the weather reflected my desires.  That and I've been itching to do some cleaning and honestly, I don't think anyone ever feels like cleaning during a nor'easter.  Anyway, I was only able to finish two books this month with all the school work I had to finish lately, but they were at least two of my most anticipated reads of the year.

(goodreads.com)

    A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab:  THIS BOOK.  I've been dreading the end of this series because I fell in love with it HARD when I started it a few years ago and I just don't want to let go of any of these glorious characters.  In this final installment of the Shades of Magic trilogy, we find Kell and Lila thrust into a battle to save Red London from the clutches of the evil Shadow King (tell me that premise doesn't sound like an epic fantasy adventure?)  We learn a lot more about the overarching conflict in this book and how it came to pass, based on mini inklings leaked from the first two books.  We also get to learn way more about Holland, which I LOVED.  He is such a conflicted character and I really liked the way Schwab took the time in her last book to really flesh him out so that readers can see him as more of a grey area character (no pun intended) than a common "bad guy."  This book also didn't have such a fast pace like the previous book, but I liked the change of scenery.  I appreciated the fact that it ended the way I would have wanted it to and the way I had subconsciously pictured it ending in my head.  My only qualm with this book is this: devoted readers of this series will know that Schwab has been hinting at and feeding us subtle information about the origins of poor Kell since the very first book and I was hoping that we might finally find out where he actually came from or who his true parents are.  We get SO CLOSE in this book to finding out the truth, but unfortunately never see the light.  I understand why Schwab did what she did for Kell's character development, but COME ON.  WE WERE SO CLOSE.  Oh well I guess...  I was so sad (in a good way) when I finished this, but I definitely think this is one of those series that I'll be re-reading again and again for the rest of my days.  A solid and well-deserved 5 out of 5 stars (despite my disappointment).

(goodreads.com)

    The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon:  Can we just take a minute to marvel at the glorious cover for the special edition that I specifically ordered?!  IT'S PURPLE AND ORANGE.  It's way better in person, but I can't believe people would prefer the newer cover design to the originals.  I just can't.  I literally just finished this one yesterday and HOLY CRAP things are getting real.  Now that it was announced that there would be seven books in this series, I feel like it's going to take forever for it to finish.  This book picks up directly following the events to the previous book; Paige has claimed the Under-throne, Jaxon Hall has disappeared, and Scion has plans to wage war on the Citadel and its Unnatural citizens.  A lot happens in this book, but it takes awhile to get there.  I'm not going to lie- the first half of this book dragged a lot.  I had almost no desire to continue, but my hope that it would pick up towards the middle kept me going and I wasn't disappointed.  We get to leave London in this book, which I found fascinating.  I had always been curious to see what it was like outside of London in the world where Scion has slowly been taking over.  There are a lot more mentions of the free world in this as well, so I hope we get to see more of that in future books.  The ship that is Paige and Warden took on a little water in this book.  I'm not as confident in their relationship now as I was before, but we'll see how it pans out.  They are in the middle of a war, so obviously tensions are high.  I'm curious about her tarot reading and how that prediction will play into later books.  I ended up giving this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

    I'm really pleased with the books I was able to get to last month and this month looks really good in terms of how many I'll be attempting to read and the genres I've chosen.  After the depressing subject matter in Shannon's book, I need a little more fantasy in my life.  Let me know if you've read either of these two books and what you thought or let me know what you plan to read this month in the comments.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.