What I Read in July 2018 - and my Goodreads Ratings
- A Book-Bound Girl
- Aug 5, 2018
- 9 min read
July this year saw me read 15 books, which is about what I need to read to achieve my Goodreads Reading Challenge target of 150 books for 2018. Goodreads informs me I'm currently 12 books behind schedule, because the year got off to a busy start, but I'm determined to catch up!
So, without further ado, here is what I read in July 2018, and my Goodreads ratings.
1. The Mermaid by Christina Henry
"Once there was a mermaid who longed to know of more than her ocean home and her people. One day a fisherman trapped her in his net but couldn't bear to keep her. But his eyes were lonely and caught her more surely than the net, and so she evoked a magic that allowed her to walk upon the shore. The mermaid, Amelia, became his wife, and they lived on a cliff above the ocean for ever so many years, until one day the fisherman rowed out to sea and did not return. P. T. Barnum was looking for marvelous attractions for his American Museum, and he'd heard a rumor of a mermaid who lived on a cliff by the sea. He wanted to make his fortune, and an attraction like Amelia was just the ticket.Amelia agreed to play the mermaid for Barnum, and she believes she can leave any time she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he's determined to hold on to his mermaid."
I really enjoyed the 'Little Mermaid'-esque idea behind this story, but with a totally different twist. Although Amelia chose the land for her husband's sake, she has never really moved away from it until she ventures to find Barnum and become part of his museum; once there, she finds she longs for the ocean she left behind. I especially loved the characterisation in this story - there were so many details which made the characters feel real to me, like Amelia's confusion around and distaste for Victorian clothing styles. 4/5 stars
2. Still Me by Jojo Moyes
"Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the superrich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life. As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places? Funny, romantic, and poignant, Still Me follows Lou as she navigates how to stay true to herself, while pushing to live boldly in her brave new world."
I'm not usually a big fan of romance novels, however I originally saw the film adaptation of Me Before You and loved it, so had to go and read the book as well. I found both the original book and it's sequel to have a slightly more melancholy overtone than the film, and I was captivated by Louisa's story and her heartbreak. This is one of those books I picked up hoping beyond hope that it would provide me with Lou's happy ending, and had me sobbing into my pillow at 3am about halfway through because it tore my heart out. Any book which can create that depth of emotion is worth reading, in my opinion. 4/5 stars
3. Smoke and Iron by Rachel Caine
"The opening moves of a deadly game have begun. Jess Brightwell has put himself in direct peril, with only his wits and skill to aid him in a game of cat and mouse with the Archivist Magister of the Great Library. With the world catching fire, and words printed on paper the spark that lights rebellion, it falls to smugglers, thieves, and scholars to save a library thousands of years in the making...if they can stay alive long enough to outwit their enemies."
Rachel Caine is an author who I have enjoyed for over a decade - I started out reading her Morganville Vampire series when I was about 15, and I was delighted to discover the Great Library series earlier this year. Having binged the three preceeding books, I waited impatiently for the release of Smoke and Iron, and I wasn't disappointed. I loved how this book has been split into different POVs for some of the main characters since they aren't all together anymore; this provides you with an overarching understanding of what each group is going through and planning, as well as providing a deeper insight into characters who, until now, we had only seen through Jess' eyes. I also absolutely love the genre/setting of this book, it's a slightly odd but interesting mix of historical fantasy/dystopian future, and I love Caine's imagining of what the world would be like if just a few key points in history had been slightly different. 4/5 stars
4 & 5. Awakening & Redemption by Brandon Sanderson
"Trained from birth in swordplay and combat, a young knight named Siris has journeyed to the Dark Citadel with a single purpose: fight through the army of Titans to face the tyrannical God King in one-on-one combat. This was his father’s sacred mission, and his father’s before him, going back countless generations in an effort to free their people from enslavement. But when Siris somehow succeeds where all those from his bloodline previously have failed, he finds himself cast into a much larger world, filled with warriors and thieves, ancient feuds and shifting alliances, Deathless immortals and would-be kings."
I didn't realise when I set out to read these books that they were based on a video game, but once you know that, it makes a lot of sense. I absolutely adore Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive and Mistborn books; I came into Awakening expecting something similar, and was immediately aware of a very different tone to Sanderson's writing. These are not in-depth, world building books; they are really more novellas than anything else, and I didn't feel that the character building and general storyline were up to par with Sanderson's usual work. However, they're still enjoyable books; I would just recommend leaving your preconceived notion of the author's work at the door, and let yourself enjoy this more simplistic style. 3/5 stars
6 - 12. The Black Wings Series by Christina Henry
"As an Agent of Death, Madeline Black is responsible for escorting the souls of the dearly departed to the afterlife. It's a 24/7 job with a lousy benefits package. Maddy's position may come with magical powers and an impressive wingspan, but it doesn't pay the bills. And then there are her infuriating boss, tenant woes, and a cranky, popcorn-loving gargoyle to contend with. Things start looking up, though, when tall, dark, and handsome Gabriel Angeloscuro agrees to rent the empty apartment in Maddy's building. It's probably just a coincidence that as soon as he moves in demons appear on the front lawn. But when an unholy monster is unleashed upon the streets of Chicago, Maddy discovers powers she never knew she possessed. Powers linked to a family legacy of tarnished halos." I absolutely loved the concept behind this urban-fantasy series by Christina Henry - What if the grim reaper is actually an organisation tasked with collection souls, a mantle passed down through the generations, and one which you somehow need to fit around your day job? The series has a very different style to The Mermaid, but I really enjoyed Maddie's narration as well as the fast pace of the books. Not to mention Beezle, because who doesn't love a staunch, sarcastic, junk-food loving gargoyle companion? I didn't realise when I finished Black Spring that it was the final book in the series, and when I spoke to Christina Henry in Edinburgh a few weeks later I was dismayed to hear that they cancelled the series 4 years ago. However, I didn't feel it was left unfinished, and I would definitely recommend it for fans of urban-fantasy, and sassy companions. 4/5 stars
13. The Wild Dead by Carrie Vaughn
"A century after environmental and economic collapse, the people of the Coast Road have rebuilt their own sort of civilization, striving not to make the mistakes their ancestors did. They strictly ration and manage resources, including the ability to have children. Enid of Haven is an investigator, who with her new partner, Teeg, is called on to mediate a dispute over an old building in a far-flung settlement at the edge of Coast Road territory. The investigators’ decision seems straightforward — and then the body of a young woman turns up in the nearby marshland. Almost more shocking than that, she’s not from the Coast Road, but from one of the outsider camps belonging to the nomads and wild folk who live outside the Coast Road communities. Now one of them is dead, and Enid wants to find out who killed her, even as Teeg argues that the murder isn’t their problem. In a dystopian future of isolated communities, can our moral sense survive the worst hard times?"
This is the sequel to Carrie Vaughn's Bannerless, about a dystopian future in which households have to earn the right to a banner in order to be allowed to conceive a child. Our narrator, Enid, has the very important job of investigating potential stockpiling or underproducing - which are both considered to be unacceptable crimes after the excesses of their forebears - and, very rarely, the birth of a bannerless child. Enid is a strong, determined character who nevertheless shares her frustrations and doubts with the reader; her new partner, Teeg, not so much. I really enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot of this book, as well as the conceivable route which Enid takes to uncover the truth; there are no ridiculous assumptions, nor crazy leaps of logic which leave you feeling that the author was unable to aptly reveal the solution. Both a great fantasy novel, and an intriguing mystery. 4/5 stars
14. Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin
"Nell Crane has always been an outsider. In a city devastated by an epidemic, where survivors are all missing parts—an arm, a leg, an eye—her father is the famed scientist who created the biomechanical limbs everyone now uses. But Nell is the only one whose mechanical piece is on the inside: her heart. Since the childhood operation, she has ticked. Like a clock, like a bomb. As her community rebuilds, everyone is expected to contribute to the society’s good . . . but how can Nell live up to her father’s revolutionary idea when she has none of her own? Then she finds a mannequin hand while salvaging on the beach—the first boy’s hand she’s ever held—and inspiration strikes. Can Nell build her own companion in a world that fears advanced technology? The deeper she sinks into this plan, the more she learns about her city—and her father, who is hiding secret experiments of his own."
Somewhat Frankenstein reimagined, Nell is perhaps one of the most selfish characters I have ever encountered in a story, and yet, somehow, I didn't dislike her. Griffin does an amazing job of creating an incredibly intelligent, isolated, and self-centred main character, who somehow manages to provoke empathy in the reader. It's very hard to make an innately self-absorbed person likeable, and yet I found myself rooting for Nell and her cybernetic creation, and anxiously awaiting the moment when we found out if he was even possible, and how people might react to a hyper-intelligent computer in a world which has been devastated by an unnamed epidemic caused by the internet. 4/5 stars
15. Alice by Christina Henry
"In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood… Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice."
Alice is far more in the vein of The Mermaid than it is Black Wings. A reimagining of Alice in Wonderland where the mad hatter is a broken murderer and Alice herself is a victim of a violent assault which left her presumed insane. I enjoyed the rawness of this story, and the unflinching exploration of Alice and Hatcher's mental health and morality, however, I felt that the ending was somewhat rushed and problems and conflicts were solved too easily. There was never really a point in this book where I felt that they might actually not achieve their goal; everything simply fell into place a little too simply for my liking. However, it was still an enjoyable read, especially for people who like to explore a different take on the classics. 3/5 stars
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