I finished Endurance: Shackleton's Incredunle Voyage by Alfred Lansing. It was a well written account but the story really made me dislike Shackleton.
I also read Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson, a novella in the Stormlight Archive universe. Now I'm on Oathbringer (Stormlight book 3). Only just started but already enjoying it immensely. I feel like with where book 2 left off, this will be the book where I really start to see payoff of everything that's been built up.
I finished The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It's a historical fiction taking place in occupied France during World War II. It was a very well plotted story, but the writing felt so distant and some scenes felt very unrealistic. It felt like a story I should have liked more that I did.
Now I've started Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 2). Far too early to have opinions, but I'm excited for this one.
I finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 1). Massively enjoyed this one. Spent more time than I should have during the holidays reading it.
Now I'm reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It's a historical fiction novel set in occupied France during World War 2. I'm finding it ok so far. It's easy to read and the plot is fine, but I'm not very emotionally invested and don't love the writing style.
Edit: I want to clarify that the topics and themes visited in this book are very emotionally heavy. However, the writing feels like an emotional stiff arm to me. It's just so distant and impersonal, that it reduces the impact of the difficult topics.
Dreary is a good word to describe The Hero of Ages. I still love it, but the hopeless feeling is wearing.
I finished Age of Assassins by RJ Barker and I loved it! It does have a bit of a debut author feel, but was well-plotted, with fascinating characters and world building. Some twists were predictable, but some I did not see coming at all. I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy.
But the rest of the trilogy may have to wait a while because I started The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. My friend has been hounding me to read Stormlight for months so I finally gave in. I'm only about 100 pages in so far, but I can already tell this world is massive and well thought out. I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes!
How are you liking The Well of Ascension on reread?
I finished Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Overall a solid book with some good commentary on modern poverty, foster care, and the opioid crisis. The first half stuck too close to the plot points of David Copperfield, but thankfully it stood more on its own in the second half. The ending felt a bit rushed.
Now I've started Hex Education by Maureen Kilmer. If it wasn't such a short read, I would not be finishing this book. Almost every character is unlikeable. I was hoping for a campy witchy book where I want to hang out with the characters, but instead I got a suburban mom who married rich and can't stop humblebragging about it.
I'm reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It's essentially a modern retelling of David Copperfield and I think that actually hurts the book. So many times I've been enjoying the commentary on poverty cycles and foster care only to be brought completely out of it by the author trying to shoehorn the next David Copperfield plot point in. I think this book would really be shining if it was just told its own story instead.
I finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It follows two friends and video game devs from childhood into adulthood. This author did some really interesting things and I intensely loved parts of the book. At the same time though, parts of the book really frustrated me, pulled me out of the story and made we want to stop reading it entirely. I've never been so conflicted about how I feel about a book.
Now I'm continuing to read Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 3). It's been very slow going but I am really enjoying it.