the binge continues.

I said after my last reading roundup in March that I was done for a while, but evidently I wasn't.  (So, I guess I'll be back with more reads in a couple of months??).  Anyway, this brings my book count for the year to 33.  😳😳😳


The Gilded Wolves, by Roshani Chokshi
The book was like if The Da Vinci Code and Six of Crows had a baby; lots of symbology and riddles mixed with a high stakes heist.  Obviously I loved the setting, (I mean who doesn't love Paris during la Belle Epoque?) and I think the author made really good use of Paris as the backdrop for this story.  I also liked each member of the heist group, but my favorites were Zofia and Laila.  I thought they were the most interesting developed characters of the group, and honestly, I kind of wish they were the starring members and we were reading their stories instead of Severin's.  I also loved Hypnos from the very beginning, sorrynotsorry.
I did find the symbology and mathematics to be a little confusing at times.  There were several countries and mythologies mentioned at various times throughout the book, and I thought it was a little messy. (I would have preferred all of the references to be of a single origin.)
And then there was the end, in which two characters were terribly mean to each other.  And I get it's to establish conflict that will carry forward and eventually (hopefully) be resolved, but damn, that shit broke my heart.  At this point I'll probably read on just to make sure those two make amends, and less because I want to see overall how the plot works out.

Air Awakens series, by Elise Kova
I found myself needing to read more after The Gilded Wolves, and this series came at the suggestion of my sister.  And to be honest, it was just okay.  Two months later, I can remember the main character and her love interest and most of the main conflict and resolutions, but little else.  Oh, and two character deaths that beyond enraged me and did not help my weak feelings for the series.  Anyway, I wouldn't necessarily say that I regret reading these, but my life definitely didn't change because I read them.

Shatter Me series, by Tahereh Mafi
I really liked this series, and it's one where the time you put in yields great rewards.  Books One and Two are extremely difficult to read at times (ok, A LOT of times).  This is because the author has chosen the syntax to match the main character's state of mind, which is a straight up mess in the beginning of the series.  This is evident by the obvious: the strikethrough sentences littered throughout the books, and also the exhausting use of metaphor on the part of Juliette to describe what she is experiencing.  (The metaphors got to me way more than the strikethroughs, I disliked them very much.). Luckily, everything improves over time and by book three it's smooth-reading from there on out.  If you start this series and feel like you want to quit in the beginning, try your best to make it to the end of Book Three.  And if you're struggling to make it that far, just hang on to those characters that are so easy to love and root for.  They are worth it!

A Very Large Expanse of Sea, by Tahereh Mafi
This is the first non-fantasy book I've read in ages, but I couldn't resist another book by this author.  It tells the story of a young Muslim teenager just after 9/11 and what her high school experience is like.  It's an emotional and enraging and heartbreaking piece of fiction that I suspect is actually closer to autobiography than fiction.  I started and finished this book in a single afternoon, I couldn't put it down.
I'd also like to mention that the author, Tahereh Mafi, is hands-down, probably the most beautiful human being I have ever seen in my life.  Scrolling through her IG feed is like engaging in art, her beauty and fashion sense belonging in every issue of Vogue.  I mentioned to my mom once that I like the corners of Instagram that authors inhabit, because instead of the constant "Look at how pretty and perfect my life is!" you see everywhere else, every author is like "DEADLINES NO SLEEP WRITER'S BLOCK NO SHOWERING I'M GOING TO DIEEEE" and it's hilarious and sobering and a breath of fresh air.  The exception, of course, is Ms. Mafi.  Stunningly beautiful and not a hint of deadline or writing stress to be found.  What a dream!

Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik
Okay, so I had very strong, very negative feelings toward a certain character in Novik's other book that I read earlier this year, and I swore if there was a similar character in this book then I'd immediately stop reading.
And there was a mean, unlikable male partner in this book.  TWO, in fact!  But I kept reading, because this book wasn't at all about these men as love interests to our heroines and any hot makeout sessions that immediately followed verbal abuse.
Instead it was about three heroic young women and their efforts to save their loved ones even when thrust into hopeless, dangerous, and thoroughly unromantic circumstances.  Did I end up wishing for something romantic to eventually happen to certain characters?  Yeah, sort of.  And maybe there was hope for that at the very end, but this book is entirely unromantic and it's not really a bad thing.  It was refreshing and satisfying.  Thank you for not another Dragon character, Ms. Novik.

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, by Clamp
My first ever Manga series!  And good hell, was it a doozy.  So many twists and turns, it was hard to keep up with sometimes.  But I liked it!  Lots of cool, well developed characters who wouldn't seem to mesh well together but form a good group worth cheering for (or not?  again, those twists were 😳).  And it was also cool to see the characters that I liked so much from Cardcaptor Sakura throughout this manga series.

Frostblood series, by Elly Blake
This series was wholly inoffensive to me, and therefore good.  (I think I might be at that point where I categorize books like this now: LOVED, inoffensive, HATED).  Ruby is a solid main character to get behind, the world is pretty airtight, and a conflict between Have(magic)s is much more appealing to me than the one between Have(magic)s and Have not(magic)s.
My one request would have been that the building relationship between Ruby and her primary love interest be dragged out a little more.  Book One had some good relationship angst, and I found myself missing it throughout the rest of the series.  I preferred the budding relationship dynamics of Frostblood to the jealousy and anger and petty-meanness (and love, of course) that was in books Two and Three.