So it's been, um, about 3 months since I posted here... sorry, guys! All is well, I've just been super busy with school (and now my final internship)! Which means I have had little to no time for either reading (for fun) or blogging. But I have read a few books that I haven't reviewed, and I'm not sure if/when I will get around to writing up a review. I did put short blurbs of my thoughts up on Goodreads, though, so I figured I would post those here too.
Without further ado...
Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
Very slow start to this one – things didn't really get going
until about halfway through the book, but once they did my interest was
caught. Sydney does not have the sort of bold personality/voice that
Rose of the original VA series did, but I think her character could grow
on me as the series continues. Plus, interested to see where things go
with the Sydney/Adrian potential...
Verdict: 3.5 stars.
Rivals in the City by Y.S. Lee
Sad that this was the last Agency book! I liked that some of the characters from the first book were brought back, and overall it was a pretty solid conclusion to the series. Plus, James is adorable. But there was very little of the usual Mary-James romantic banter in this one! :(
Verdict: 4 stars.
Dark, and weird, and tangled... Despite this book being utterly fantastical in some ways, Neil Gaiman manages to touch upon very real thoughts and emotions. Interesting exploration of the adult/child power dynamic in particular. I kinda wish we'd seen more of the narrator's life in the present, to compare with the past. Also, I am left with a few questions, one being, whose funeral was he attending?
Verdict: 4 stars.
Nightspell by Leah Cypess
I still have a lot of questions about this one, especially why the author chose the ending she did. Unfortunately I found it rather anti-climactic after all that build-up. Also, the characters seemed to follow leaps of logic and come to conclusions at a pace that left me going, "huh?" Interesting, though, that the focus in this book is really on sibling relationships (rather than romance), and it certainly raises some thought-provoking questions about life, death, and being "undead." (I do still wish we'd been given Kestin's POV, however! I think that would have been fun.)
Verdict: 3 stars.
Yeah, I found it hard to transition from Rose to Sydney too. But, the Bloodlines gets stronger; I still need to read the final book though.
ReplyDeleteHow are things with you, Danya (besides being super busy)?
Oh good, glad to hear the Bloodlines series gets stronger! The first part of Bloodlines just seemed very typical 'high school drama' sorts of stuff without much of the actual vampire-related plotline, and pretty much zero action. But it did pick up for me through the second half so if the other books in the series are more like that, then I'd definitely be into them!
DeleteThanks for asking how I'm doing :) I'm really glad to have all my regular classes behind me now, and just have this last internship left to complete. It's been such an intense graduate program and I still feel super unprepared to actually go out and start practicing as a speech-language pathologist, but at the same time I'll be glad to finish with school and start earning some money :D I'm also hoping at some point to have more time for reading!
How's everything with you?
yay glad to see you posting! Mini-reviews is what I've had to do to cope with busy non-blog life as well. But it works, because since I'm too busy to write long reviews, I'm also too busy to READ long reviews and so I'm appreciating the smaller reviews that have been popping up lately. Too bad about Nightspell. I have it on my shelf and I'm determined to finally read it this year (but, we'll see...)
ReplyDeleteaw thanks! Even just dipping my toe back into blogging has reminded me how much I enjoyed it, and everything feels kinda "fresh" to me now that it's been so long since I've been immersed in the blogosphere. (Like, there are SO many books that are being released this year that are new to me! I'm like, ooooooh what's that one about? and that one? and that one?) I totally hear you on the mini-reviews. I think that may be all I will be able to manage for a while...
DeleteYeah, personally I didn't like Nightspell as much as I did Mistwood. Deathsworn looks pretty awesome, though, so I'm going to give that one a shot. *crosses fingers and hopes for the best*
Bloodlineis like everywhere!! I really need i!!!!
ReplyDeleteOooh you should definitely read the rest of the Bloodlines series, it is amazing!
ReplyDeleteI agree about Bloodlines! I've yet to read the second book, though I've heard the series gets better as it goes on. Also agree about Rivals in the City - enjoyed it, but probably not my favourite of the series.
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