February Reading Wrap Up

Typically, it felt to me as though January lasted forever this year and then February passed in the blink of an eye. I did read some good books though so it wasn't all bad.

Avalon High: The Merlin Prophecy by Meg Cabot

A friend with a mutual love of Avalon High bought the first part of the manga style sequel for me at the start of the month and I read it the same day. This first instalment is very short and mostly just the set up for the rest of the story but Avalon High is one of my favourite books and I've been thinking about buying these sequels for years. So now I have to buy the next two, obviously.

★★★☆☆

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I knew I would love this when I eventually got around to reading it. I would have read it sooner if I hadn't been reading all the Jane Austen books last year but it was well worth the wait. My one complaint, and the only reason this is five stars instead of four, is that there was a lot of exposition regarding the backstories of the many characters and, although it was interesting and necessary, I felt it distracted me from the main plot at times. But you know, not enough that I didn't immediately jump straight into the next book...

★★★★☆

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

I liked this one even better than the first. Now I knew all the characters and their backstories, I could just concentrate on enjoying the story, which I loved. Also, this book focused on Jesper more and he is my absolute favourite, so that might have been a contributing factor. Either way, I raced through both of these novels and seriously did not want to put them down. I highly recommend them if you want some good old fashioned adventure stories!

★★★★★

Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton

After reading Rebel of the Sands last month I couldn't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series. Although I loved Rebel of the Sands I felt a little bit as though it started off as one book and unexpectedly became something else half way through. Traitor to the Throne on the other hand, is firmly in the vein of the second half of Rebel of the Sands and I actually loved it even more than the first book. Now I'm just annoyed I can't have the next one straight away.

★★★★★

Beginnings, Middles, & Ends by Nancy Kress

I have a lot of books about writing. Probably more than most people would deem advisable. I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of them this year while I work on re-drafting my novel. Currently the plot is bringing me down big time. I found this book useful for thinking about conflict and how events in the plot should influence character arcs but it didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, just reminded me of some things I tend to forget.

★★★☆☆

Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

Another book about plot. I'm really struggling, guys. I did find this book more useful than the last one though. Whereas Beginnings, Middles, & Ends reminded me of things I really already knew, Plot & Structure made me think about my story in ways I hadn't before. Which is great! But it means I have a lot of work to do now...

★★★★☆

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