I managed to read 6 books in April. I'm hoping to read more in May, so I've set a few goals for this upcoming month... but first, let's get into what I read last month!

Saga Volume One by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples
5 stars
Saga has gotten a lot of hype on Booktube lately, and for good reason. This first volume was wildly entertaining and the illustrations (it's a graphic novel, FYI) were phenomenal. I wanted to reread this as soon as I had finished, and I can't say I feel that way about a lot of books. Recommended for adult readers who enjoy fun fantasy/sci-fi. Emphasis on the adult, because this series has a lot of gore and sex and the illustrations do not shy away from showing that.

Divergent Thinking by Various Authors

4 stars

I was sent Divergent Thinking for review by BenBella Books, and will have a full review up soon. Divergent Thinking is a collection of essays from a dozen YA authors addressing various topics in the Divergent series, from the factions to the biology of fear. As with all anthologies, some parts were stronger than others. Recommended for fans of the Divergent series who are looking for more insight into some of the ideas the series encapsulates.

Saga Volume Two by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples

5 stars

After reading volume one, I had to get my hands on volume two. While I liked volume two slightly less than volume one, it still warranted a five star rating. Seriously guys, PICK UP THIS SERIES. 

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

5 Stars

With the release of the final book in this trilogy, Dreams of Gods and Monsters, being released this month, I felt a need to play catch up. I finally got around to reading this and I'm so glad that I did. I had given the first book in the series 4 stars, and had some serious issues with the ending... but none of those issues cropped up in this second installment. And it made the parts of the first book that I really didn't enjoy feel necessary. Taylor's writing was as dark and beautiful as ever, and while I didn't end up reading the third book this month, I'm hoping to read it soon. I'll be sad when this series is over, which is something I didn't expect after being slightly disappointed with the first book. 

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy

4 stars

I've felt a need to read more feminist works this month, and this was the only book that I managed to finish. (I did get pretty far into others, but didn't end up finishing them in April.) This was recommended to me years ago and I finally got my hands on a copy and read it immediately. Because it was published around 10 years ago, it does feel quite dated and some of the references it makes feel irrelevant at this point in time (Is Girls Gone Wild still a thing? Because that was basically a whole chapter). I'd also wished it addressed more topics than it managed to. I do think that this is a good book for anyone who is looking to read more feminist works but are not familiar with a lot of feminist terms. Some feminist books read as very academic and inaccessible, but this was an easy read.

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

4.5 stars (rounded to 5 on Goodreads)

I'd been gifted Furies of Calderon for my birthday by Regan from PeruseProject, who has raved about this series for as long as I can remember. Seeing as I've yet to read anything she's recommended and not thoroughly enjoy it, I had to start this series. And it was glaring at me from my bookshelf. Ultimately I thought this was an incredible start to what I imagine is a fantastic series, and I'm really looking forward to reading the next books in the series. I would have had the second book finished by the end of April if I wasn't still, to this day, on hold for it at my local library.*sigh* Regardless, the world-building in this book is great, the characters set the stage for the developments of the next five books, and I thought the pacing was mostly well done - which a lot of people seem to disagree with for some reason. It didn't feel as long as it was when I was reading it, so if you're afraid of this book because of the size... just give it a go! 

I'm not usually one to make TBR lists, but this month I wanted to make some goals for myself...

May TBR

Dune by Frank Herbert

I'm currently reading Dune and will definitely be finishing it this month. Dune is a sci-fi classic that laid the foundations for later sci-fi works, so as someone who is trying to get into more adult sci-fi... this is a perfect place to start. I've really enjoyed what I've read so far! 

Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher

I'll be reading this whenever I get my hands on it. I'm 7th in line for it at the library, but if I don't end up with it soon I may just have to buy it... I'd also like to read the third book, Cursor's Fury, if I can get a hold of that this month too. My plan is to read as much as I can of the series ASAP. I'm not allowed to start any other big fantasy series (mainly Mistborn and The Kingkiller Chronicle) until I've finished the Codex Alera series. 

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

In the spirit of needing to finish series that I've started, I'm hoping to read DoGaM this month and have the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy finished. Not to mention the fact that it's much easier to evade spoilers if you read a book closer to its release date... Spoilers are a ticking time bomb and I'd like to avoid them at all costs.

Those are all of my set-in-stone plans for May! Let me know if you guys have read any of these books, or what you're planning on reading in May.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people. But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Standalone novel

YA/Retelling/Fantasy

 4 out of 5 stars
Cruel Beauty is one of the books that are incredibly hard to thoroughly review without being spoilery, so I'll have to leave some points alone for the purpose of not ruining the book for those who haven't read it.

Cruel Beauty takes place in the most unique world that I've read in YA fiction, and possibly in fiction in general. This is both a strength and a weakness for the story, and the way it will be received depends entirely upon the reader. A lot of readers go into this expecting a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and there is much more to it than that. The additional inspiration for the plot and the world-building is drawn from numerous sources and, as such, may be confusing or jarring for some readers. While the aspects of retelling are not confusing (where we reference Beauty and the Beast, Rumpelstiltskin, Bluebeard...) as you don't need to understand or recognize the source to know what's going on, the world-building is largely built on information that is not common knowledge and may be hard to digest for readers unfamiliar with the source material. 

The world and magic system is built upon two major things: Greek mythology and Hermeticism. The world itself seems to be an alternate version of a Greco-Roman world, and works as if hundreds of years ago, something happened that made it differ from what we would see today. This world is cut off from the rest of the Earth and isolated, and the gods of Greek mythology are part of the traditional belief system. While I'm not the most knowledgeable of Greek mythology, I did think Hodge did a decent job of explaining what everything meant while incorporating it into the story. I'm not sure I think the handling of Hermeticism was as good, however. I'm familiar with Hermeticism and the Hermetic principles as they stand in our reality, and Hodge uses Hermeticism as a magical system. There are a lot of principles just outright said but not explained to the reader, and while I understood what was going on, I think it might be more than some readers can handle. A lot of readers seem to not know that Hermeticism is something that actually exists, and those who are unfamiliar with it may be confused by it. I would say that readers will get the most out of Cruel Beauty if they have some understanding of Hermeticism or Greek mythology, otherwise the amount of world-building may seem daunting and confusing. 

The plot drifted enough from the original story that I didn't feel like everything was completely predictable, as I've found with some retellings. It wasn't entirely unpredictable however. There was what I think was an intended plot twist that I saw coming in the beginning, but as it was something that I was hoping would happen, I didn't mind the predictability. (It was a bit of a relief to see I was right, actually.) The best part of Cruel Beauty, for me, was the romance. The chemistry between Nyx and her love interest was to die for. I think some readers may be troubled by the romance in the beginning, for reasons I cannot explain because of spoilers, but all I will say is hang in there before giving up on it.

In the end, Cruel Beauty is dark, strange and beautiful. I would recommend it to those willing to spend a bit of time wading into a bizarre other world, and ready to read through lots of romancy bits.

Not every fairytale has a happy ending. This is the story of a princess who became a villain. As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.

Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes

First book in a trilogy (?)

Young Adult/Retelling/Fantasy 

 2 out of 5 stars

Queen of Hearts is an Alice in Wonderland retelling that feels very distant from the original source material. Alice in Wonderland is a delightful and nonsensical read, while Queen of Hearts is incredibly dark. It's also strange to see the Queen of Hearts given back-story, because she was a ridiculous character in the original text. I love stories that flesh out villians (like Wicked did for the Wizard of Oz's villain, the Wicked Witch) but I think the Queen of Hearts is not the best villain to receive this kind of attention. Oakes did do a decent job of pulling it off though, despite my reluctance in believing that it could be done.

I believe this is meant to be the first book in a trilogy, and unfortunately I felt that this is one of those series that should have been a standalone. Queen of Hearts is around 200 pages, so it's not very long in itself, and the novel stops just when it starts getting exciting. There wasn't enough story in this installment, in my opinion, to warrant a single novel. I also felt that the writing was excessive at times, with description in particular, so a lot of those 200 or so pages felt like they had a lot of 'filler' material.

Dinah, our main character, I unfortunately didn't like. I felt that there was this massive attempt by the author to make me like her, but it didn't work. The King, Dinah's father, is also purely evil which is always boring. The King had no depth and seemed to only exist to make Dinah miserable and force readers to pity her. It felt contrived, so it didn't make me feel very bad for Dinah at all because it felt unrealistic. Dinah herself is a rather mean character, and while she becomes idealistically nicer throughout the book, I wasn't a fan of her. She felt rather villainous to begin with, so the idea that she is some innocent princess who becomes a villainous queen feels false.

The other characters borrowed from the original Alice in Wonderland include the Mad Hatter, who is Dinah's insane younger brother. The Cheshire Cat, who's actually a man, a very powerful and menacing man, who is rumored to be able to shape-shift into a cat. The White Rabbit, who serves as Dinah's tutor and mentor. I was slightly uncomfortable with the way that all of the characters seem to be in the royal family or involved in the royal affairs, and I felt like the most interesting characters got the least amount of attention in the plot.

The world-building was probably my favorite aspect of Queen of Hearts. From the ever-changing constellations in the Wonderland night sky to the menacing and enigmatic Black Towers that begin to haunt Dinah's dreams. It definitely retains the ridiculousness of the world-building from Alice in Wonderland. Snow is pink. Why? Because it's Wonderland.

Ultimately this was an interesting concept that I felt could have been executed better.

I was provided an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

January was a fantastic reading month for me. I'm way ahead on my Goodreads reading challenge, and have managed to read 11 books. Let's get onto what I thought of them!

Books

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
5/5 Stars
I did both a video review and a written review for The Demon King, if you'd like to check those out! The Demon King is the first book in the Seven Realms series, which has been highly recommended to me since I made my Booktube channel. I finally picked it up at a semi-inconvenient time (right before I was about to participate in a readathon, in which the goal is to read as many books as possible... and 500+ page fantasy books are not ideal for that) but absolutely loved it. Would recommend to YA readers looking to read more epic fantasy, or just any readers who enjoy reading fantasy. Or just anyone, in general. It's great.

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

4/5 Stars

V for Vendetta is one of my favorite films, and I finally got around to reading the graphic novel from which the film was based! The novel is much more focused on grey mortality, and less concerned with getting the reader onto anyone's side. In the film, V may be a bit sinister, but you're rooting for him. The novel makes everything much more ambiguous, and touches more on the lives of some of the characters that are more minor in the film adaptation. My favorite aspect of this novel were the monologues that the characters often had, where they essentially spew their beliefs in likely eloquent ways. Very different from the film. They're both fantastic in their own right.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
4/5 Stars
One of my goals for 2014 is to read more classics. The goal is rather ambiguous and unfocused, but it seems to be going well so far since one of my first reads of the year was a classic. The Giver is a really short novel, but it has a lot of heart. Unfortunately my reading of it was interuppted by my brother vomiting when I reached the climax of The Giver, and then I had to spend time mopping up grossness and tending to him rather than finding out what happened. The main reason that I gave this 4 stars rather than 5 was because it was so short and the ending felt so abrupt! 

The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima

4/5 Stars
The second book in the Seven Realms series, which I HAD to continue reading. This was my least favorite book of the series, but it was still amazing. My main frustrations with this were that one of the POV characters seemed to be getting more attention than the other, and I didn't like that. Again, I really recommend this series. 

The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima

5/5 Stars
The third book in the Seven Realms series, and my FAVORITE of the four. I tend to measure how much I love a book by how many tears I shed over it, and I cried A LOT while reading The Gray Wolf Throne. So many feels.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

5/5 Stars

I did a full video review and a written review on Steelheart, if you'd like to check those out! One of my goals this years was to read more "big" names in the fantasy genre, and Sanderson was the main person I was thinking about. Steelheart is one of his shorter novels, and is new and well-liked, so this was the first one I picked up. Sanderson did not disappoint. I'm looking forward to reading more of his work in the very near future, specifically his Mistborn trilogy. As I said in my review, Steelheart reads like an action film and is an absolute delight. Can't wait for the next installment in this trilogy, which will likely be coming out towards the end of this year.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

4/5 Stars

I did a full written review on Vicious, if you'd like to check that out! Regan and Jesse were raving about Vicious, and because I've mentioned being interested in books with grey morality, I had to read this. I was not disappointed. I read this while I was feeling under the weather, so my enthusiasm for reading was not exactly peaked... but I still enjoyed it immensely. Recommended for people who like stories populated with delightfully evil characters. 

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

5/5 Stars
I'm pretty sure I've read Alice in Wonderland before... but I received an ARC for an Alice in Wonderland retelling, so I figured I'd pick this up. It's a short read, so it took no time at all to read and had me smiling through out. Wonderland is just such a ridiculous place, populated by nonsensical people, and it's hilarious to read about as long as you aren't taking it too seriously.

Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes

3/5 Stars

I'll have a full written review of this up on its release day (February 14th). This was the Alice in Wonderland retelling that I mentioned in my thoughts on Alice in Wonderland. It's a prequel, and shows the Queen of Hearts ascent into becoming the evil queen she is in the original story. I had some issues with the writing and the characters, but the world was really interesting. Again, I'll have a review of this up soon and thank you to Netgalley and BookSparks for sending this to me! 

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

4/5 Stars

I'll have a full written review of this up soon! I read Cruel Beauty in one sitting. I stayed up until 1am reading, crying like a baby throughout over the romance in this book. This has some of the most unusual and interesting world-building I've read in YA (or just books in general, honestly) and the romance was phenomenal. Again, my full review will be up very soon!

There are no heroes. Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills. Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.  He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

First book in The Reckoners trilogy

Young Adult/Post-Apocalyptic/Superheroes

 5 out of 5 stars
I also have a video review for Steelheart, if you'd like to watch instead of read this review.

Steelheart reads like a novelization of an action film. This makes it a quick and entertaining read. The main character, David, is that (possibly archetypal) character who obsesses over a group or organization and finds himself trying to weasel his way into it. This organization is The Reckoners, the group which lends its name to the title of the series and obviously plays a pivotal role in the story. David and the Reckoners are quite possibly the only people to stand up to the Epics in this post-apocalyptic world. At least, the only people still alive.

The first-person narration from David's POV makes this a hilarious book. This provides a bit of "comic relief" from the heavier aspects of the novel. David has a thing for metaphors, even though he's absolutely terrible at coming up with them (and he knows it). Here's an example;

"Even a ninety-year-old blind priest would stop and stare at this woman. If he weren't blind, that is. 'Dumb metaphor,' I thought. 'I'll have to work on that one.' I have trouble with metaphors."

The characters were all introduced in an easily digestible way, but Sanderson does flesh them out more throughout the story. When we're introduced to a new character, they typically had a bold personality offsetting them from the rest so as to resist confusion about who's who. Everyone has layers and backstory revealed throughout the novel, however, so we don't stick with the more cookie-cutter personalities that were introduced to us. And, of course, there is always room for surprises about who some of these characters really are.

I was left with no complaints when I finished Steelheart. Everything came together perfectly at the end, and sets us on a mysterious and fascinating path for the next installment in the trilogy. Would highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for an action-packed book! 

Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Standalone, but a sequel is possible
Adult/Science Fiction/Super Heroes
Summary:

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. 

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

On Goodreads | On Amazon | On Book Depository

 4 out of 5 stars
More like a 4.5, but let's just go with 4.

Finding righteousness where only evil truly lies. Working to a "happy ending" with a less-than-honorable set of methods. Morality that teeters only within a spectrum of grey, approaching black & white standards only when seen through the veil of a delusional mind. This is the core of what Vicious is - and where its appeal lies. There is no great act of goodness triumphing over evil. There is no clean-cut hero or villain. You're thrown into a tale bending to the hungers of two men - whether they desire revenge or righteousness - ultimately, their hungers leading to the other's demise. This is a story of two nemeses, who were once friends, and now want nothing more than to see the other dead.

Vicious is told in multiple POVs, in multiple time periods. We flip between the present, the near past, and the distant past. The back-story unfolds simultaneously with the present conflict. This works incredibly well. We are always given just enough information about the past as we need at any moment, and we're not only left curious about what is going to happen in the end, but what exactly happened 10 years ago that spurred all of this on. Towards the end, the multiple POVs felt more like a hindrance than a help - but I think this is a problem a lot of books have when attempting multiple POVs. The execution in the beginning and throughout most of the book was flawless, however.

The dynamics between the characters - specifically our two main characters, Eli and Victor, was phenomenal. Their relationship is incredibly fascinating and watching their friendship crumble into hatred is very entertaining. I was slightly disappointed with the characterization of Eli, if I'm being honest. In the beginning, he's an interesting and enigmatic character. He undergoes drastic changes to his personality (if you consider mentions of character development spoilery, skip the italics) and essentially becomes a religious fanatic - which felt strained and too reliant on tropes. While I mentioned the morality being very much grey, I still found it easy to relate to one of the main characters over the other. At first I thought it was perhaps because Victor is given more attention in the beginning, but it's mostly because crazy religious fanatics make me want to rip my eyes out. So no team Eli as an option for me. I would have liked if it had been harder to pick a side, since that was the main appeal for me.

My main complaints lie with parts of the book mostly leaning towards the end. Things began to feel generic, from Eli's characterization to certain fantasy elements in what powers various characters possessed. Some things felt like they needed more explanation or they felt too "convenient" for the story. Not huge issues, but they did put a damper on my enthusiasm. Ultimately I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it!

The Diviners by Libba Bray
Book 1 of the Diviners series
YA/Historical Fiction/Paranormal/Mystery
Summary:

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."   

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

 On Goodreads | On Amazon | On Book Depository
5 out of 5 Stars 

The Diviners was a unique reading experience. I've been reading quite a lot of painfully formulaic YA books lately, and this was the exact opposite. This was intricately plotted, original in its structure and filled with a cast of realistic and likable characters. Reading The Diviners was like watching one long film that kept me in its grip for days and days. When I finished, I was exhausted, relieved and sad that the experience had ended.

I'm convinced that Libba Bray has a time machine and spends her nights in NYC during the Roaring Twenties. The world-building (part research, part invention) was stitched into every page with great care. The dialogue may come off as a little too much for some, as it's built on many old-fashioned expressions like "the cat's pajamas," and "chin music." Even though the novel is filled with these expressions that people of our age are unfamiliar with, Bray makes it easy to pick up on the meanings without being too obvious about it.

The execution of The Diviners was phenomenal. I'd say that the writing is honestly just really done well, and that's not really debatable. But what really surprised me with this was the effect these words had. While I have a (sometimes obnoxiously present) imagination, this book was much more visual than most I've read. It wasn't a fast read. There were at least a dozen times where I had to set a book down at the end of a scene or chapter because I was still caught in its grip. I wouldn't be able to move on because the images put into my head by Bray were so strong and fascinating, that they had to be dealt with and thoroughly cherished before moving on to the next.

I will warn you, however, that this visual experience comes with a price. While our central character, Evie, is rather superficial and likes to get drunk and party, there are very dark scenes in this book. This is a book about murder, and not murders of the merciful kind. You will witness brutal deaths. I was haunted by scenes and had trouble sleeping one night after reading. I don't scare easy, but this had me spooked. If you have a weak stomach and low tolerance for violent images, I'd say The Diviners may not be the book for you.

With the wide cast of main characters, there was bound to be romance in The Diviners. And there was. Luckily this wasn't done in an archetypal way. Typically in YA relationships are either unrealistically grown at a fast pace or strained by a love triangle. While I think these elements linger ever so slightly in the background of some of the romantic interactions in The Diviners, it's still done well and in a more original way.

While at times this book could have used condensing, that's really the only complaint I have - and for me it's very minor. The Diviners has weaseled its way onto my favorites shelf.

This is a review I wrote last year, when I first read The Diviners.