Going to BEA both hindered and helped May as a month for reading. It really hindered it in the beginning since I was so busy getting ready to go, but taking the bus from Maine to New York and back gave me a lot of time to make up for it! Because of that, I finished 2 books in the last week and saved the month from having only 2 books read. Once again, I’m going to give some brief thoughts on each book in case you don’t want to read the whole long review. Plus I haven’t reviewed any of these yet except for one book – but I am at this moment taking a break from working on a review of one of the other books to write up this quick post!
Eona by Alison Goodman
This is the sequel to Eon, which I enjoyed but felt I could have enjoyed more, largely because I didn’t love the characters (review). This completely changed for me in Eona. I thought the character’s situations were more complex, and the villain I thought was sort of one dimensional in the first book was much more complicated and even kind of likable in his own way. This was one of those books that I couldn’t put down and couldn’t stop thinking about when I did have to put it down. It kept me up until 3 in the morning because I could not sleep until it was finished!
The Fear Principle by B. A. Chepaitis (Review)
This was one of those books I really wanted to like but didn’t quite manage to. The future scenario in which crime was handled by making people face their fears was compelling and the story was decent with some action, a scifi setting, and a smidgen of romance. However, the writing style and dialogue just wasn’t for me with lots of grammatically incorrect dialogue (which I know is how people often speak, but it’s still not something I personally like to read).
Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy
This debut science fiction novel was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, and the sequel Children of Scarabaeus is now out. This book had action, space opera adventure, and just a little bit of romance (much less than I was expecting – I’m not sure why I expected it to be more of a science fiction romance than it was). The part about terraforming planets and the ethical questions it brought up was very interesting, and I liked the science fiction/space opera adventure aspect of the book a lot. I wasn’t quite as invested in the characters as I wanted to be, but it’s a good debut novel and I’m very interested in checking out book two!
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Thanks to BEA, I got a copy of one of my most anticipated books of the year. And I loved it for all the reasons I’ve always loved Laini Taylor’s books – the writing, creativity, story, the little bit of humor that completely works, and characters. For a little while I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like the love story part of it since it’s more sudden than I normally like, but it’s also a bit more complex as you learn more. Now if only it didn’t end with “To be continued…”
Favorite book of the month: I am torn. It was definitely the month of YA fantasy for me because I absolutely loved both Eona and Daughter of Smoke and Bone to the point where I can’t decide which I love more. These two books both made it to my YA favorites along with Fire by Kristin Cashore, Lips Touch: Three Times (another Laini Taylor book!), and The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. Once I actually review them both, I might actually be able to choose a favorite since writing about books helps me figure out more about what I thought of them, but for now it’s a draw.
What did you read in May? Anything good?
