"The Red Knight" by Miles Cameron

I desperately wanted to like this book. It sounded like a more gruesome, more battle heavy version of "Uprooted' by Naomi Novik, which I read back in 2015 and absolutely loved. Man versus wild and the creatures within who are encroaching upon their land.

For various reasons I have decided to not finish this massive 766 paged book at the 215 page mark. The writing was terrific, and the battle scenes were just epic. For those reasons alone I almost felt like continuing on with it. Almost. The biggest reason why I just couldn't get into it was the large cast of characters. They were all introduced into the story fairly early on, the points of view switching between all of them every few pages. This made it very easy to forget who was who, and what that certain characters role in the book was. I eventually became familiar with certain characters, but I am still lost on a large majority of them. And new characters were steadily being added as the book progressed. I have read books that contained a large cast of characters, as well as having multiple points of view, and I was never as lost as I am now. Some characters begin to become fleshed out as the book progressed, but for the most part a lot of the characters just fell flat. There just wasn't enough focus on each character. My other issue with this book was the magic system. There was never any explanation of how the magic system worked, it was just there. Random people just had random abilities, and even then the abilities aren't even explored ... stuff just happens. I heard that the magic system is better explained in the second book, but where I am currently, it just isn't working for me.

My Rating: 3 Stars - Did not finish

"The Final Empire" by Brandon Sanderson

This is my first venture into Brandon Sanderson's domain, and I must say that I now see why he is regarded so highly in the fantasy genre. Brandon Sanderson truly does have the ability to create some of the most unique magical elements. The consumption of metals to harness abilities is a perspective that I have never seen before, and one that was so very interesting. The rest of the story was just as finely crafted. The dark lord conquering, the mists that raise up every night to envelop the realm, the ash that falls from the sky like snow to coat the land and cities. It was all so fantastic. Sanderson, you have created a loyal fan in me who will be devouring all of your books.

My Rating: 5 Stars

February TBR | 2015 - Starting Those Series

I may be over achieving here, as I realized after snapping the above picture that I will be receiving two new releases in the mail this month that I would also like to read upon arrival ("Morning Star" by Pierce Brown, and "Glass Sword" by Victoria Aveyard. And at the end of the month "A Gathering of Shadows" by V.E. Schwabs). So we shall see if this months TBR actually happens.

This months theme is starting new Fantasy series by never before read authors.

First is "The Final Empire" by Brandon Sanderson, book one in the Mistborn trilogy. Then I will be reading "Theft of Swords" by Michael J. Sullivan, book one in the Riyria Revelations. And finally "The Red Knight" by Miles Cameron, book one in The Traitor Son Cycle.

January Wrap Up | 2016

I read two books during the month of January. Yep, just two books. And I didn't even technically do that since I just finished "A Game of Thrones" earlier today, but I decided to put it in the wrap up since the majority was read during January. Some would call it a disappointing month of reading, but honestly I vastly enjoyed both of the books that I read, so there is nothing disappointing about it.

_______________________________________________________

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - Book Review

Golden Son by Pierce Brown - Book Review

________________________________________________________

Unfinished Books

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - Book Review

"A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

Winter is coming

It has been a while since I have become this immersed within a book. George R.R. Martin weaves a fantastical tale of brilliant world building, character development, and story telling.


I have watched the television series previously to reading the actual books, but he still managed to rip out my heart and stomp on it with his very well known habit of killing off his characters. Not often am I made to feel enough about a character to feel saddened by their deaths.

My Rating: 5 Stars

Why Reading Is Not Always A Good Thing

I cannot believe that I just wrote that in the header, but it is something that I have been reflecting on a lot lately, and it is true. Sometimes there is a such thing as too much reading, and reading too much is not always a good thing. I challenged myself to experience a different kind of reading this year, and currently I am only on my second book for the year, and I am okay with that. There are several reasons for this. The first being that I am now only reading for me. This means that I won't navigate towards slimmer novels just in a attempt to read more, therefore having more content to write book reviews for. No, the books that I have been navigating towards are the massive fantasy novels that I forsake last year because they were 'too time committing'. Now I ask, is it better to read four young adult novels that you will more then likely walk away from disappointed, or should you read the books that you love, the ones that stay with you? I made my choice. I have not regretted that decision, and I am thoroughly enjoying books again. This year there have been several hyped up young adult releases ("Truthwitch" by Susan Dennard, and "Passenger" by Alexandra Braken), and you know what? I have absolutely no interest in reading these, and I won't. I have ventured away from the young adult genre, and I don't foresee myself returning to it. I do have a trusted few young adult authors that I will continue to read, but the genre in general is just too stale and too immature for my tastes. With that being said, I have also spent less time reading this year. I have put aside a hour or two each night for reading, and I will sometimes read more during the weekend, but I am not just focusing on reading anymore. Reading used to be my entire outlook on life. I wanted to rush home after work to read, I didn't want to do things on the weekends because it would cut into my reading, I didn't want to pursue my other interests because once again, it would cut into my reading time. And I don't even think that it was about the reading itself, but rather feeling like it was my job to read. I had to read as many books as possible, and I had to read 'all' of the books. It was unhealthy, and quite frankly it was ruining the experience for me. Now I read when I feel like reading. If I don't feel like reading, I don't. My new years resolutions didn't just involve books, it also involved goals for myself. So I have also been focusing more on exercising every night after work, which also means less time for reading. And I am okay with that. Reading less also intensifies each experience that you have with the books that you do read. I can usually recount each book that I read, and it stays with me, but I have heard it said that people that read massive amounts of books cannot always recall what a particular book was about, it gets buried in the shuffle.

Reading is a wonderful experience, and I love living inside of the worlds created within books, but you need to live your life as well.

"Daughter of Smoke and Bone" by Laini Taylor

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well."

Laini Taylor has a elegant way of writing, some would describe her writing as flowery and poetic in prose, but from the little of what I did read of "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" Laini Taylor's elegant writing is masked by her immature writing style. Her books don't stand out to me, rather she is just yet another young adult author in a sea choked full of mirror images. I expected more from her based sorely on the lavish praise given to her, but I should of known better. This is way I distanced myself from the young adult genre and now only read those trusted few.

One of my biggest issues with it was the modernized setting. I have never much cared for modernized fantasy, vastly preferring the realms of middle earth and the such (Harry Potter being the exception). The other issues being, of course, the immaturity. The immaturity given to the writing style, the young cast of characters. I didn't get far enough into the book to uncover any other flaws that the book might have.

My Rating: 2.5 Stars (For decent writing technique) - Did not finish

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

"Let him welcome me into his house, so I might burn it down"

This is where all similarities to aforementioned books has ceased to exist. Where "Red Rising" greatly reminded me of a better written, more mature, version of The Hunger Games, "Golden Son" has gone its own way and become its own thing. This second installment was more politically centered then the first book, but much like the first book the first half was vastly different from the last half. The first half was obviously building up the last half, and the ending is what really bumped up my ratings. The third, and final, installment in this trilogy sounds like a promising ride judging by where this one left off.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Shelfie | January 2016

As promised, here is a updated shelfie picture of my library. I did a major unhauling of books back in December and my shelves are now looking rather depleted as a result. However, that does not upset me in the least as all of the books on my shelves are now books that I have already read and now cherish as personal favorites, or they are books that I have not yet read but find myself incredibly excited to read and explore. My library is smaller now, but it is more personal as a result.

And guys, a lot of these fantasy series that I will be reading this year are trilogies and series ... so if I enjoy them enough that I would like to own them, then my bookshelves will begin to fill up once more. I'm just going to be very selective about the books that I purchase.

My Goodreads Reading Challenge | 2016

Its official, I have pledged to read 70 books in the year 2016. I don't know how logical this goal is, or if I will be able to accomplish it, just because of the mere size of some of the books that I intend to be reading this year. 70 books doesn't sound like a impossible achievement by any means, but taking into consideration that a lot of the books that I will be reading during this year are adult fantasy that typically have 400 pages to just slightly over 1,000 pages, I think that this goal is the best that I can do.

Happy reading everyone!