2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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Cassandra | 125 Books in 2017
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Sorry for the super late response - you're fine to use anything from my thread for your own! My star ratings are my own.
Book #24The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished April 15, 2017 (or thereabouts)
409 pages.
This story was a lot more coming-of-age and a lot less fantasy than I expected, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it did make me wish I read this book when I was in high school. The best characters for me in this book were the side characters - the main characters, while interesting on the surface, started to seem a little one dimensional. Generally, I was a bit disappointed by this book - it's good, but it's not great.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader.
Book #25Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick.
Rating: 2 stars.
Finished May 1, 2017
393 pages.
This book would have been better if it was half as long. I was familiar with Kevin Mitnick before reading this book, and the beginning was super interesting. His style of social engineering reads like an espionage novel, but it quickly falls into a pattern - a successful one for hacking, but not necessarily exciting to read about over and over again. His life follows a pattern too. He hacks, realizes someone is on to him, and then covers his tracks and gets a new identity... Then he starts hacking again. Kevin is also a weird person (unsurprisingly) and gets fixated on showing how clever he is or criticizing people who he feels betrayed him. In 200 pages or less, all of this could be interesting, but it just went on for too long.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Popsugar, Sun Songs.
Book #26The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished May 4, 2017
623 pages.
This is one of those sweeping epics that has interesting politics, but reads like a history book. The characters don't feel like real people, they read like long-ago dead people. I really love the asian cultural influence and mythology - it makes for some really interesting worldbuilding. Unfortunately, the worldbuilding took up too much space that should have been dedicated to the story and characters. The pacing is uneven and the time jumps jumble the story even further. I feel the same way about this book as I do Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt - super interesting story, but I just didn't care about any of the characters.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Popsugar, Sun Songs.
Book #27A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab.
Rating 5 stars.
Finished May 6, 2017
624 pages.
While A Gathering of Shadows was an interlude book, this is the sequel I've been waiting for. There was so much I loved about this book, but my favorite part was Holland's backstory. He's been the odd antihero of the series, and it's great to finally learn more about him. But it wasn't just Holland - suddenly Rhy, Alucard, Emira, and Maxim felt like real characters and I cared about all of them so much more in this book. I loved the developing relationships and friction between the characters. The ending felt the right amount of complete for the series and it actually got me crying a bit, in a bittersweet sort of way.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Popsugar, Serial Reader, Sun Songs.
Book #28Stories: All-New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio.
Rating: 2 stars.
Finished May 7, 2017
448 pages.
This was a pretty odd mix of stories. A couple I really liked, several were pretty good, but many were unmemorable or actually bad. Short story collections are always hit or miss, but this one seemed more miss than I expected from a collection edited (in part) by Neil Gaiman. I did get introduced to some new authors, but I'm not sure that this is enough for me to check any of them out.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.
Book #29Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished May 17, 2017
676 pages.
This story gets off to a slow start, but builds steadily as you get to know the characters and their world of politics and magic. The prose is beautiful if sometimes too flowery to the point of being confusing, but I got used to that quickly and it helped to build the atmosphere of the provinces. The characters are likeable for the most part, and even the tyrants have some shades of gray. There are some criticisms, for sure. The novel reads like a history book sometimes, with the action scenes cut short and then explained rather than shown, but generally I really enjoyed this almost-historical fantasy.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Genre Bingo, Sun Bingo.
Book #30Ice Trilogy by Vladimir Sorokin.
Rating: 2 stars.
Finished May 25, 2017
694 pages.
This is such a bizarre trilogy of novellas, and it never came together for me as well as I hoped. At the beginning of the first book, I really enjoyed learning along with Bro about the Ice. It was okay that it was weird, because it was interesting. The second novella was also reasonably interesting, but by the third novella it became clear that there was no good ending coming. I actually wish I'd read the second book by itself - I think it would have captured the creepiness super well, but in a shorter form it's okay for things to stay weird. 700 pages is much too long.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Popsugar.
Book #31Alex + Ada, Vol. 2 by Jonathan Luna.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished May 30, 2017.
128 pages.
This volume redeemed this story for me a bit. I was getting concerned with the first volume that the story was too paternalistic and weird - not treating Ada like a real person with agency, even as we believe she has true intelligence. This volume brings that out into the central conflict, which was interesting and much less problematic than I expected. I'm definitely curious to see how Ada continues to develop.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader.
Book #32Ms. Marvel, Vol. 6: Civil War II by G. Willow Wilson.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished May 31, 2017
136 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader.
Book #33Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street by Warren Ellis.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished June 3, 2017
144 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Popsugar, Serial Reader.
Book #34Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished June 3, 2017
168 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Popsugar, Serial Reader.
Book #35Preacher, Book 1 by Garth Ennis.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished June 3, 2017
352 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader.
Book #36Wonder Woman, Volume 3: Iron by Brian Azzarello.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished June 12, 2017
176 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader.
Book #37Alex + Ada, Vol. 3 by Jonathan Luna.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished June 12, 2017
136 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader.
Book #38Scott Pilgrim, Volume 2: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by Bryan Lee O'Malley.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished June 12, 2017
200 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader.
Book #39All-New, All-Different Avengers, Volume 1: The Magnificent Seven by Mark Waid.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished June 12, 2017
168 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader.
Book #40Hawkeye, Volume 2: Little Hits by Matt Fraction.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished July 17, 2017
136 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader, Triathlon.
Book #41Locke & Key, Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished July 22, 2017
152 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader, Triathlon.
Book #42Paper Girls, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished July 22, 2017
144 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader, Triathlon.
[Out of order]Book #43
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished June 30, 2017
623 pages.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Listopia, Popsugar, Serial Reader.
Book #44Memory Man by David Baldacci.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 5, 2017
416 pages.
The origin story of Amos Decker, a former detective with total recall, is completely unbelievable, but if you can suspend your disbelief, it makes for a great story. It's been a little while since I read a full-length novel, and this was a great book to get started with. Exciting and quick-paced, but still interesting. There are some definite problems with the plot, but nothing too out-of-place for the genre.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Genre Bingo, Popsugar, Serial Reader, Triathlon.
Loving all the comics you're reading, Cassandra! =)
Thanks! They're the perfect thing when I don't feel like reading a full-length novel, or even when I do. I requested a bunch more from the library - mostly continuations of the series above.
Most of the ones you've begun are on my list, as well, so I've enjoyed reading your ratings. Thanks for sharing. =)
Book #45Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 8, 2017
1006 pages.
I have no problem reading long books, but this one is unnecessarily long. The writing is reasonably captivating and as you read the many side plots and tangents, you wonder whether they'll all come together in some fantastic way. The ending is great, wrapping the story up nicely but not too prettily, but there was no woven masterpiece of all of the threads. In fact, the ending seemed paced much too quickly compared to the rest of the book, although I would have preferred the entire book to be paced more like the ending. It's not that I didn't enjoy reading it, but the concept was so interesting that I'm bummed that it's only "good."
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Listopia, Popsugar, Triathlon, Famous TV Neighbors.
Book #46Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 16, 2017
454 pages.
I'm having a hard time writing this review. I liked this book in some ways more than Cinder. I thought it was less predictable, or at least more interesting along the way. It was another super fast reads that I tore through in just a couple days. In some ways, though, it was less interesting than Cinder. I expected to know a lot more about both Earth and Luna by now, and the worldbuilding has really stagnated. The characters are endearing, and even though Kai was a very minor character in this book, I sympathized with him more than the previous book. It definitely feels like Scarlet was a set up book for Cress, so I'm hoping that most of these threads get picked back up there.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Genre Bingo, Popsugar, Serial Reader, Triathlon, Famous TV Neighbors.
Book #47Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 20, 2017
432 pages.
This was a really neat book. It really throws you in the deep end, and there isn't any reference material to refer back to. That's both terrifying and freeing as you struggle to understand the world that the characters live in. The style is kind of crazy, written like the 18th century when the events are 25th century. The reason for this doesn't become clear until about 2/3 of the way through the book, but it's interesting. This is one of the most ambitious books I've read in a long time, and I'm glad I did. I had to knock off a full star because of the horrendous cliffhanger ending - basically none of the threads get resolved, which is my least favorite kind of ending in a series. I'll definitely be reading the next book, though! One note for folks trying to decide if the book is worth reading: I highly recommend it, but if you start reading, get about 30 pages in, and still hate the style, it's not going to get better for you.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader, Triathlon, Famous TV Neighbors.
Book #48Paper Girls, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished August 20, 2017
128 pages.
This is a phenomenal series. Vaughn doesn't spoon feed the explanations to you, but things are making quite a bit more sense in this volume. It's still heavy on mystery and awesomely spunky young women, but I can see the elements coming together. There are certainly some execution bits that could be tightened up, but there's something super charming about the characters, the story, and the atmosphere.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader, Triathlon.
Book #49Transmetropolitan, Vol. 2: Lust for Life by Warren Ellis.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 20, 2017
208 pages.
This isn't so much a story arc as a collection of short stories, and once I thought of it that was I appreciated it more. The particular short story about a woman coming out of cryogenic stasis to realize that the world has no interest or room for her is shattering. Aside from that, Ellis' imagining of the future is wacky and interesting as ever.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader, Triathlon.
Book #50Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 21, 2017
304 pages.
What a great retelling of some of the more famous Norse myths. Some of the characterization in the dialog was so good I had to read bits of it out loud to my mom. The language is very simple and lends itself well to reading out loud. This definitely felt like a reread for me, because I'm familiar with a lot of the myths. It does make me want to hear Neil Gaiman try to reinvent some of the myths that have been lost over time, though.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Dewey Decimal, Triathlon.
Book #51A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 26, 2017
337 pages.
It took me a little bit to get into this, but once I did I was pretty hooked. The author has an interesting way of omitting details in favor of a big reveal a few chapters later that helps you understand Ove. The characters are caricatures in that they really only represent one thing (pregnant/family-oriented woman, curmudgeonly old man, young homosexual man, etc.) but they're incredibly charming.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Genre Bingo, Popsugar, Triathlon, Famous TV Neighbors.
Book #52Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 27, 2017
229 pages.
This short story collection is more cohesive than a lot of collections - the short stories clearly take place in the same future, and concepts carry over between the stories. Some stories were more futuristic for the sake of being futuristic, but there were a couple of standouts that make me rate this a solid four stars. My favorites were Openness and the title story Children of the New World. Both are deep looks at relationships in this new world where technology has dramatically changed the lives of the people who live in it.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Triathlon.
Book #53The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 5: Imperial Phase I by Kieron Gillen.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 27, 2017
144 pages.
This volume slows way down and we get to know some of our gods, finally. I complained in the previous volume that there was way too much action in a short space, so I appreciate the breathing room. This arc is obviously a setup for Phase II, and I have a feeling I'll appreciate it all the more for having seen the gods struggle to regroup after the big showdown.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Serial Reader, Triathlon.
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 5: Imperial Phase, Part I (other topics)Seven Surrenders (other topics)
Children of the New World (other topics)
A Man Called Ove (other topics)
Wonder Woman, Volume 4: War (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Kieron Gillen (other topics)Alexander Weinstein (other topics)
Fredrik Backman (other topics)
Neil Gaiman (other topics)
Warren Ellis (other topics)
More...
(Summary format borrowed from Jackie B - thanks!)
Reading Challenges
Yearly
Overall Reading Challenge: 8/125 (6%)
Let's Turn Pages: 3,044/45,000 (7%)
Listopia: 1/30 (3%)
Serial Re..."
Wauw, love this idea!! Gonna borrow it too if that's ok? Just one question: the star rating, is that the rating you have given the book or the star rating the book had when you started reading it? Thank you!