What’s this? A book post? Yep, I was getting antsy about all the books I’ve read since my last Reading Lately post so I decided to do a mid-month one in addition to the end of the month one.
Blade’s Edge by Virginia McClain: This book follows two girls growing up in a Japanese-esque culture where men are the only ones that are supposed to have magic. The few women that do have a bit of magic are indoctrinated into thinking they are second class and to do terrible things. The two girls have magic and are broken apart and follow completely different tracks. They end up together again to help take down the governing body that has put the anti-magic women doctrine into place long ago. The one thing I struggled with this book is that there were jumps in time and it was difficult to figure out. The chapters had dates as the titles, but when you are reading an ebook, you can’t flip back easily to see how much farther you have jumped in time. Plus there were a few times that the next chapter would jump ahead over something pretty big and then a few chapters later we would actually learn what that big thing was. It got sort of confusing if you happened to stop reading at that chapter. But this was still an interesting book.
Rating 3.5 out of 5
c/o Netgalley
Arena by Holly Jennings: The premise of this book intrigued me. Video games have become completely immersive and instead of guys sitting in the basement of their mom’s house, these gamers are total athletes as their strengths in the real word are the same in the virtual one. It focuses on a team of players that are in a gladiatorial type game of capture the flag (or tower in this case). The difference in the team is that is has 3 women and 3 men, where most teams maybe have one. It follows the team through the tournament, training, and even the extracurricular things like parties (drugs and drinking) and photoshoots (have to keep the sponsors happy). But it also focuses on the interpersonal relationships of the team and the people around them and the issues that the industry has. Unfortunately, it got a little preachy/eye rolling at the end. I could of done without the last chapter or so. But I would still recommend this book.
Rating 3.5 out of 5
c/o Netgalley
Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder: I’m still working my way through this series. And this one might of been the most ridiculous of them all so far. I seriously want to just shake Opal. Get it together already! But I still can’t stop reading this darn series. I. Must. Finish.
Rating 2 out of 5
Stronger Than Magic by Melinda VanLone: This book tried to tie together “old-school” magic organizations with “current-world” setting. It fell flat. The main character Tarian is a brat that is heir to the throne but doesn’t want it. She gets herself in trouble and her friends and family have to practically tie themselves to her help her. Of course at the end she figures it all out *insert eye roll*
Rating 2 out of 5
c/o Netgalley
Shadow Study by Maria V. Snyder: Yep, another one of these. This is the first one to have different points of view and that was enjoyable. We also got a history lesson of Valek, which certainly helped figure him out a bit more. There didn’t seem to be any conclusion of the plot line though, so that definitely took away from the book. Here is to hoping the next one can start wrapping things up.
Rating 2 out of 5
If you enjoy book linkups, be sure to come back to Puppies & Pretties on the last Friday of every month (in April it is the 29th) for the Reading Lately Linkup!
Linking Up: Jana Says for Show Us Your Books
I’ve never read any of these but I’m looking for a new book so I will check them out!
Hope you find one you like!
I have been wanting a little more adventurous to read and I think that these books would do that for me! Thank you for sharing your reading list!!
Good luck finding something a but different 🙂
Ooh these all sound so great! Adding them to my GoodReads now.
xoxo, Jenny
Hope you end up enjoying them!
Blades Edge and Arena sound really interesting! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! 🙂
You are welcome Crystal!
Blade’s Edge sounds interesting! I totally understand how difficult it is when you’re stuck on a series. I hope you find the courage to finish it! Thanks for the recommendations. 🙂
I definitely feel I HAVE to finish it now. Good thing the library has had all the books 🙂
What always strikes me about your posts is how you absolutely KNOW what kinds of books you like and you stick with it. There’s something to be said for that.
That I do!
A solid string of books for you!
It wasn’t too bad at all!
Stronger Than Magic really catches our attention. Would’ve not know about this book w/o your post. THANKS.
No problem!
You’ve read a lot so far! I’m trying to get through the same book since the beginning of March, but I’m not giving up!
You can do it!
hmm blade’s edge sounds super interesting, and so does the video game one (but i could do without the preachy stuff too so i am not sure if i will pick it up).
I would say if you can get it from the library, give it a try!
I’ve been wanting to read Shadow Study. Too Bad it wasn’t very good. I might push it back on the TBR list now 🙁
Sarah
The Midwest Darling
If you have read the previous books in the series, I would pick it up. But you do need to read the previous book for it to make sense.
Haha I was reading that Poison Study series a while back. It’s been so long I can’t remember where I left off but it seemed like the first couple books were good.
The first two or so were quite good. But they go downhill from there. However, they are sort of addicting!
Looks like perfect picks, going to add them to my list. I wish I could be more like you when it comes to reading books, I am soooo behind.
xx, Kusum | http://www.sveeteskapes.com
I did go a little crazy this month with reading 🙂 But you can do it!
Blade’s Edge sounds interesting, but those jumps might drive me crazy! Haha.
Ha, in a paperback it wouldn’t be as bad. It didn’t help that I didn’t really pay attention to the numbers either 🙂