May 2021 | What I’ve been reading
I can’t say May was a very good reading month for me. I just didn’t have the energy, and have been gradually getting out doing things more, and losing a few hours in the evenings due to early wake ups from my children, who categorically don’t believe in staying in their own beds. Basically I think I’m in a bit of a book slump, despite reading some quite great books. That said, I have hit 30 books read of my 60 book reading target, with a month in the balance too.
As it stands today, I’m halfway through Six of Crows, and 25% through Glass Sword on my Kindle, and bought a bunch of new books in the Kindle Deals release on Tuesday. I’ve also joined Beth’s Book Club, and am looking forward to finding some new reads that I very likely would not have picked up otherwise.
1 | Siege and Storm | Leigh Bardugo
I didn’t love this book as much as Shadow and Bone. It’s a decent read, but I just didn’t get along with the Alina and Mal relationship ups and downs (although they are teenagers so it is sort of expected) and I missed having the Darkling feature more heavily. However I did very much enjoy Sturmhond and Nikolai. There characters are brilliant and the dialogue with them made me laugh, which ultimately turned the book around for me. I think I really just persevered with this book because I wanted to read the series as a whole.
2 | Ruin and Rising | Leigh Bardugo
I enjoyed this book better than the last. Again I’m just not really here for Alina and Mal. I almost feel like most of the secondary characters deserved more and had better stories. I’d have liked more of the Darkling again, though his parts were great. Same for Nikolai, so I’m very glad he has his own series. Leigh obviously knew which characters readers love as the King of Scars duology focuses on him, Zoya, who is also excellent, and Nina from Six of Crows, who again is a great side character. Anyway, I enjoyed this book and the twists of this one far more than the second book, and the ending was decent and tied everything up quite nicely, with good set up for KoS. I really liked the dialogues in this story, more so than the actual plot I think, with the interpersonal relationships and development being a key in making this book so well liked.
3 | Red Queen | Victoria Aveyard
I’ve seen this series on Instagram a lot over the years, so when it came up on Kindle deals a while back, I decided to go for it. It’s a YA dystopian vibes fantasy book about the Reds and Silvers. Those with red blood and no abilities, and those with silver blood and magical abilities. The story follows Mare Barrow, who discovers her own abilities by accident and gets pulled into the political world of the Royal Family. It’s a twisty plot, particularly near the end, with a love triangle/possibly a square going on. I love the Royal brothers and was so conflicted throughout on who I actually liked more and who was going to win Mare’s heart. Not a huge fan of Kilorn, a friend/maybe possibly love interest for Mare. This book is basically everything I love in YA fantasy with the dystopian vibes of countries fighting and an unfair class system that segregates the people down to the colour of their blood. Like Divergent but with magic and a fighting arena ala the Hunger Games.
In my April update, I said I was reading Legendborn, which I have since put down (virtually as it’s an eBook) because I’m just not feeling it yet. It is a very hyped book, so I’m quite surprised that I’m not into it yet, though the magic system seemed quite interesting. I think I’m going to revisit it in a month or so, if I can pull myself out of this book slump. I have a couple of Kindle reads that I’m really excited for, so what to get through those first.
Read my previous 2021 book reviews below:
