Originally published at midureads.wordpress.com on February 1, 2018.

 

 

 

Blue Dragon by Kylie Chan

 

This is the third and last book in the series, Dark Heavens. It has problems, I admit. All the books are in severe need of editing. For instance, the author describes the characters as stiffening at least hundred times. If they do replace the word, they go for rigid. That is the extent of the expressions these characters show! The story doesn’t flow smoothly from event to event either. It is chunky, which puts off many people. The protag does something extraordinary on every page. I mean, she can’t even poop without gold nuggets coming out (not literally but you geddit). Then the books have a bad case of deus ex machina, as well.

 

But I find them enjoyable reads!

 

I don’t know why I like reading these books though. Well okay, the humor is good. I like the characters too. So, maybe those are the things that keep me reading. You’d have to find out for yourself, if this is your cup of tea or not!

 

 

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

 

Harry Dresden is a sexist piece of shit. Besides that fact, the books in this series are a lot of fun to read! This is the 6th installment and while it wasn’t as enjoyable as the others, I still didn’t wanna put it down.

 

Two quotes:

 

 

“I’ll talk you through”, Kincaid said. “Dresden, better take her gun and cover us.”

“Hey,” I said. I’m in charge here. “Kincaid, talk her through it. Murphy, give me yoru gun so I can cover you.”

 

 

The Beast by J.R. Ward

 

The 14th book in the series, Black Dagger Brotherhood, is a replica of the thirteen that came before it. Since I voluntarily torture myself by continuing, when it comes to criticizing the books’ many faults, I don’t have a leg to stand on. Cheers!

 

 

 

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

 

The 4th book from the series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, was darker. The books have been going down that road for a while now. But, I like it! Unlike, Grisham in Theodore Boone, Riordan understands that kids deal with a lot of shit. Parents getting divorced, drugs, sex, peer pressure, and god knows what else. Most of the time, their innate resilience kicks in, and they even make it. So, why wouldn’t they be able to deal with the ending of the world? This series shows that if the bad guys win, there will be serious consequences.

 

Another thing I love is how the protag, Percy, is written. He makes mistakes but he does his best to learn from them. He acts like a kid and then makes up for it by dealing with it in a mature way. He manages to stand out like a sore thumb — even at a camp for demigod children who routinely fight monsters — yet he fights with and for them anyway. I’d say, he makes a good role model.

 

Also, he might have a thing with Annabeth, the daughter of Athena. I found some cool fanart to go with that theory:

 

 

A fun quote:

 

 

 

 

 

Bad Yeti by Carrie Harris

 

This was a short story that I read so I could say I’d completed the series. A boy rescues magical creatures from a mad scientist…

 

 

 

The Abduction by John Grisham

 

The 2nd book in the Theodore Boone series is a letdown. Grisham puts another pair of kid gloves over the ones he was already wearing while writing for kids! There isn’t even a “bad guy” that we are supposed to be scared of. There was barely a mystery and the language has been oversimplified. It needs more oomph, if it is to attract kids to reading it is all I’s saying!

 

 

 

Autumn Duchess by Lucinda Brant

 

The previous book might have been similar to Ms. Heyer’s work but this one was on a level all by itself! Check this out:

 

It featured a heroine who had had her HEA in a previous book.

 

 

Who married an older reformed rake who died because well…he was OLD!

 

 

Who falls in love again.

 

 

And that too, with a man younger than she was.

 

 

The man she likes understands that she will never stop loving her first husband and acts like a mature adult about it!

 

 

 

Need I say more?

 

 

Warriors by Various Authors

 

You can find my review here.

 

 

 

By Blood We Live by Glen Duncan

 

All the negative things from the first two books came together to make this one! Each character sounded exactly the same. Werewolf, human, or vampire — they all ranted. They all wanted the same thing i.e. to describe sex as graphically as possible. And the ending was so bad that it made me want to hit Talulla!

 

On the plus side, here are some things that stayed with me:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the covers in this series! This book was much better than the first one. After reading Etiquette & Espionage, I had begun to think the razor sharp wit and the amazing sense of humor was just a one-time thing. I’d loved the Parasol Protectorate series so much but the first book ruined it all. This one brought back the stifled giggles and the snorting of liquids at inappropriate times. I loved it!! Here are some parts from the book:

Since the protag was a spy-in-training, she would be using all the weapons at her disposal:

 

 

Asked by a bewildered suitor:

 

Sophronia’s wit:

 

Sidheag’s vast knowledge of the male sexual apparatus:

The sarcasm, oh the sarcasm!

 

The unflappable yet crippled by anxiety Dimity:

 

 

A simple murder mystery of a book that I enjoyed reading. It described the heartbreaking poverty and widening the chasm of class distinction in Accra beautifully. Here are some things that stayed with me:

 

The mention of Ananse or Anansi took me back to American God’s Anansi. What an entrance, eh? I also found this cool sketch of the deity:

 

 

A surprisingly unsurprising omission from the western history books:

 

 

 

A unique way of reporting murder:

 

The country’s reputed emergency numbers 1-91- and 1-9-2 could be so unreliable that it was sometimes more effective to call a radio station, which would then broadcast the emergency in the hope that the appropriate personnel were listening.

 

 

Brief review of the first book here.

 

 

Less funnier and original than the first one but since this month was all about catching up on the many series that I’ve started, I finished it.

 

 

Read my review of the first book here. It’s clear that the first book made an impression. The second one was okay. One of the things that I liked about the main character was how he behaved towards the inevitable ending of the world. Since he had no control over that, he focused on a task that was manageable…mostly. He continued solving his case. The repercussions of there being no law were described well too. People losing their shit and going “bucket list” was another thing that made the story more real to me.

 

What I didn’t much like that every time the protag needed saving or something, it appeared magically. Like sisters arriving in helicopters to take him to the hospital, former cop rescuing him in the nick of time, and an internet connection when he needed to search for a guy.

 

I’ll let you know how I fare with the last book.

 

 

Again, while I remember liking the first book in this series, the second one was meh. Some of it is just me because I really don’t know how to deal with teen angst. Another thing that turned me off was talk about protected sex in the story while the rest of the book read like a YA. The main character can get really annoying in places even when you know that she is just learning how to be a monarch. Even so, there are so many things that are obvious to the reader yet she remains oblivious of them.

 

For instance, the identity of the secretive adviser to one of her opponents at court. Anybody with half a brain could figure out the guy was an assassin at the very least. But not the queen, not her. She is basically TSTL because she keeps taking walks in the garden or the catacombs when half the world is trying to kill or kidnap her. She also gets healing powers when she needs to save someone and then promptly loses them.

 

Lastly, at first we are told that the magic power stems from a special gate that can only be found by someone in possession of a stone. The queen risks everybody’s life to get there and then destroys the gate. Suddenly, she realizes that the power is everywhere and the destruction of the gate doesn’t matter. I was like dude, would that be the gate that people have tried to find for millennia so they could take over the world? How could it not matter!?

 

So yeah, not too crazy about this one!

 

As you can see, all my January reads were about continuing the many series that I’ve already started. It is safe to say, the trend continues into February. See you then!