Books I've read -- Oct. & Nov.

I'm just going to skip all of the books I've read between May and September. I don't remember enough of them to give more than vague descriptions.

Anyway, here's a read-more cut:
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, finished 10/3. Okay, I've gotta be honest, I don't remember much of this book either;; It didn't really impress me. The whole fae concept was cool, but it was pretty similar to the Need series, and I liked those books a lot better. I might go and read the rest of the series in the future but probably only if I need books to read.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, finished 10/11. I didn't actually know this was a historical fiction when I decided I wanted to read it. There was an ad in a Seventeen magazine I flipped through while at the grocery store. It was really cool! How the story was told was really interesting -- it used multiple perspectives and kind of jumped around a little, but everything tied back together nicely. It was kind of depressing (it's about WWII, of course it is), and I think other than that I would have rated it higher.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth, finished 10/23. I really loved Divergent and Insurgent, but sadly Allegiant was kind of a let down for me. I really liked the world building but there were a lot of scenes where I wanted to put the book down because it was making me mad. Insurgent really left off on a cliffhanger but Allegiant made a huge plot twist of sorts that kind of makes it seem like it's not even part of the trilogy. The characters also changed a lot, and while that might be part of development and what all they've been put through, they didn't seem like themselves. Also, I got really mad at the ending. (Stopping there to avoid spoilers.) Veronica Roth made a post explaining why she wrote the book the way she did, but it does discuss the plot twists, so be careful about spoilers!

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick, finished 11/4. I've really got to pay more attention to the bookshelves my to-read books get put on. I don't do so well with zombies or post-apocalyptic stories. I managed to get through Ashes, but I really didn't like the world that resulted from "the Zap" (I think that's what it was called). Most of my problem with it was that so much went wrong. I have issues with that -- I get kind of depressed. The ending of Ashes also made me a little upset, but it was a little more ... to be expected, I think. It at least made sense within the context of the book. Although, now that I'm looking at Goodreads, the series continues, and apparently the book didn't end like I thought it did. I guess I'll continue reading the series if I ever encounter the next books, though I probably won't go out of my way to look for them.

The Sandman and the War of Dreams by William Joyce, finished 11/4. (Aka the day it came out.) I absolutely love the Rise of the Guardians / Guardians of Childhood series (if you don't know), and I've been waiting for the fourth book since I first got the box set since about December. The release was pushed back at least once though I'm not sure why. The third book (Toothiana's) also mentioned the introduction of Jack Frost, though that actually didn't happen ;o; Even so, I still loved the book! It went into a lot of detail regarding Pitch and his daughter. Their backstory is so heartbreaking! I spent the next three days complaining to my friend how much the book made me sad and how I wanted to read the next one already. Goodreads doesn't have any information on it yet, and publication is currently listed sometime in July. Summer needs to be here sooner. I think that it was an amazing book for one aimed at 7 - 11 year olds. I liked the way it was written way more than some books written for teenagers. It definitely kept my attention better than some YA books.

Pulse by Patrick Carman, finished 11/10. I had a hard time getting through Pulse. While the idea was interesting, I felt that the way it was written was more of a children's novel than one aimed at teens. The characters were also pretty simple. I can't really say that they grew much over the course of the book.

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, The Atlantis Complex, and The Last Guardian are reviewed in a different blog post!

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong, finished 11/26. My friend recommended that I read this book. She and another friend of mine had both read the series, and I needed a book to read during school, so I checked it out. I have to admit I wasn't too impressed at first. I thought it kind of uninteresting at first. However, as I continued reading, I did start to get more of an interest in it. I started out thinking this would be a one-time deal for me, but by the end I decided I wanted to continue reading the series. So, if you read it and think the same about the beginning, I think you should give it a chance. However it does have very good ratings on Goodreads so I think I'm probably in the minority here.