Sorry for not posting anything else during May!;; I really didn't do anything interesting to blog about other than read... I'll hopefully have at least a few cosplay posts coming up before Otakon this August!
The Fault in our Stars by John Green, finished 5/1. Reviewed in a separate post because I had a lot of thoughts about it.
The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White, finished 5/2. The Chaos of Stars was a pretty quick read -- I checked it out right around 7:00am and had it finished by 6:00pm at the latest, classes and going to the public library included within that time frame. I loved the concept of the book. I don't think I've ever read a book regarding Egyptian gods. It's always Greek or Roman. Never Egyptian. And I liked that sense of unknown, learning about a culture I'd only briefly googled and searched wikipedia for in context of references peppered through other series. One thing I can say is that Isadora is a very rebellious teenager. But stuck in that middle school mentality at an age where she should have gotten over it long ago. Whether this is due to her relative isolation to the rest of the world and actual human contact, I can't exactly say. But I thought the rest of the characters were pretty okay (even if Ry was pretty predictable). And I liked Isadora's sentiments about not needing romance in life and turning down Ry's advancements for most of the book, even if there was her dark "everything is finite and will end" mentality behind it. I liked being able to read about a girl who didn't fall for the guy at first. Whose relationship with him was more than just 'I like you like that but I'm not sure if I want to get with you'. The romance was fairly standard for a YA novel, though. It wasn't entirely unique. I really wish there was a sequel, though.
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan, finished 5/14. One of my friends was really surprised that I had only read the first book of the Percy Jackson series, and when I said it was because I couldn't find the second book at the library at all, he lent his copy to me. And I probably would've read it a lot faster if it weren't for the two AP tests I had soon after he gave the book to me. I really liked The Sea of Monsters! I think the Percy Jackson books are just unfamiliar enough that I can't really see what's coming, and I really like that. I also like that it incorporates something as old as Greek mythology with modern-day stuff. It makes it a lot easier for me to understand. (If only we could study this in school instead of the originals. I'd enjoy it more.) I was also caught off guard by the ending. The only negative thing I have to say about the book is the narration, as it is a little ... stiff? It is considered a "middle grade" book, so it's understandable. And it's not even so much as stiff, but it does sound like a stereotypical, reckless middle school boy telling a long but organized story. Which could be good or bad, depending on if you can tolerate that kind of storytelling.
The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr, finished 5/16. I don't have much to say about this book. It was honestly kind of boring -- I ended up putting it down a lot. It could just be the narration, which, according to goodreads, was a step out of the box for the author (using 3rd POV instead of a usual 1st). I also thought the relationships were a little weird, as well. The characters seemed out of character for themselves at some points through the book (like being soft / mean when they were usually the opposite), and Lucy's crushes on two different teachers was a little weird. I mean, the book's not terrible, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to read it again.
The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan, finished 5/19. I am enjoying this series a lot more than I expected to. I think I really needed to read about mythology and reckless middle-school aged kids after reading so many melodramatic YA books with so little action. I kind of wish there was a little bit more about the di Angelo twins, and that Bianca got a little more time, but I also hope that there'll be more in the next book. (Also, I found a geographical error, but that's just me being a nerd and has no impact to the story.) Again, I really liked how the mythology was worked with to fit in the 21st century.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman, finished 5/20. Someone in my English class recommended this to me, saying it was kind of like Harry Potter, but written for adults. He said he really liked it, and I trusted him, so I read it. Which took me a long time. (Just over two weeks.) It was ok, though it was really out of my genre range. I have a hard time reading books written for adults, especially when they're large books with really tiny print. (The library's copy was.) The book also covered a lot of time, at least six years, when in YA it probably would have been made into an entire series. Either the plot wasn't paced correctly, or I'm just not used to reading things outside YA. I wouldn't have finished it if it weren't for my classmate asking for what I thought about it whenever we saw each other.
False Sight by Dan Krokos, finished 5/21. There was a really big shift between False Memory and False Sight. The first thing I noticed was the narration, which really threw me off. I'm not used to first person present and there were often two or three simple sentences when they could've been combined together into one longer sentence. (That also made me self-conscious about my own writing. And I've been struggling to write since I realized it.) There were also huge elements of the plot that weren't really any part of False Memory, which was actually pretty annoying. There was no groundwork at all for what happened (to be spoiler-free) and it seemed to just come out of nowhere. I didn't feel any sort of attachment to the characters, and I really only finished it because of how much free time I've had in school recently.
The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan, finished 5/23. I forgot everything I had to say about the book;; I liked it, but basically everything I said in the past two reviews for the Percy Jackson series applies. I was surprised by one of the plot twists regarding the characters, though. Which could have been caused mainly by my lack of knowledge regarding the mythology around the labyrinth. I don't know. I'm a little nervous about the series ending with the next book.
Prodigy by Marie Lu, finished 5/26. I read Legend well over a year ago, so I struggled a little bit to pick up the series again. I really liked learning more about the Colonies, which is apparently something I'd wondered about when I wrote my review of Legend. It was also really easy to read, and I ended up reading around half the book in a day. I'm pretty unfamiliar with the military and politics (since those are about the same in the Republic), but I think the books have done a good enough job to include the terms but also make it easy enough to get by without a large understanding. I really liked the narration differences between June and Day, especially the font and colors used for each of them. It made it really easy to know when the perspective was changing. (*cough* Unlike Allegiant.)
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff, finished 5/26. Stormdancer took me a long time to finish, partially because of the small print of the paperback copy I had and partially because I carried it in my messenger bag and really only read it when I was outside of the house and bored. (I've had it since November.) And part of that could also be how slow the beginning seemed to be, which really wasn't compelling me to pick up the book instead of checking my iPod. But, as I got further into the book, things did pick up. (Though the frequent pick up / put downs I had with the book made it a little confusing when things were actually happening, because I'd lose my place on the page and forget what's happening.) I can say that the book would probably be confusing to someone who doesn't have a strong understanding of Japanese terms / language, though there is a glossary at the back that I hadn't noticed until the book ended with 15 pages left. I am glad I finished it, though. And I do feel a little bad about letting the book get some wear and tear before handing it over to Gigi (and for taking so long.)
Leap of Faith by Jamie Blair, finished 5/28. The goodreads summary for Leap of Faith was really interesting, but the book itself kind of wasn't. I don't know if it's just my lack of understanding regarding growing up in a broken family and drugs or what, but I really had trouble understanding Leah/Faith's reasoning. Kidnapping a baby is one thing. Trying to take care of the baby completely on your own and lying constantly to the people that are helping you out is completely different. I understood why she wanted to get Addy out of the situation she was born in, but she had plenty of opportunities to come clean to the family that was helping her, and she just took advantage of them instead. I started getting pretty annoyed with Leah/Faith by the end of the book. And it ends pretty poorly. If there was a sequel, that'd be one thing, but the ending didn't actually resolve anything at all.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, finished 5/31. I knew from the moment that I saw Fangirl at B&N that I wanted to read it. It was really my first time reading about a character that I felt I could entirely relate to. I've never really written any fanfiction, especially not anything as nearly as popular as Carry On, Simon supposedly is, but the absolute adoration for a series (dressing up, release dates, walls covered in posters and fanart) was something that I loved seeing printed in an actual book. And Fangirl had a lot more than just fandom-related problems -- there was the issue of adjusting to college life, and family problems, and relationships (which thankfully did not involve a triangle / V at all). I do wish that a little more attention had been put into Cath's reluctance to write original fiction instead of fanfiction, and her eventual finished final project, instead of her just putting it off. Also, it was really cool to have excerpts from the Simon Snow series and Cath's fanfictions. I would probably read the Simon Snow series, to be honest;; And I would probably also buy my own copy of Fangirl if I found myself with enough extra money to.
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