Date Read: March 20
Translated by Alan Boucher
Genre: Folktales and Mythology
Rating: 4/5
I really enjoyed this book. If you can find it, it’s always fun to read folktales that are new. The Icelandic folktales definitely have a strong focus on changelings, and there are elements that are similar to more well-known stories, but it was a fun, quick read.
Date Read: March 18
Author: Rachel Kadish
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
The Weight of Ink is set in London, but in the London of two different centuries. The story switches between modern-day historians examining letters and the story of when the letters were written. I enjoyed the format of the book, and the story was engaging.
Our life is a walk in the night, we know not how great the distance to the dawn that awaits us. And the path is strewn with stumbling blocks and our bodies are grown tyrannous with weeping yet we life our feet. We lift our feet.
– The Weight of Ink
Date Read: March 17
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
The final book in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, Ruin and Rising brings the story to an exciting finale. I thought the ending was good, and the book is exactly what you would expect after reading the first two books of the series, Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm.
Maybe love was superstition, a prayer we said to keep the truth of loneliness at bay.
– Ruin and Rising
Date Read: March 16
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
The sequel to Shadow and Bone, the second book of the series continues to follow Alina Starkov and her friends. As I mentioned in my post about the first book, it’s been a few years since I first read the series, and I am thrilled to discover that I still enjoy it now.
Weakness is a guise. Wear it when they need to know you’re human, but never when you feel it.
– Siege and Storm
Date Read: March 16
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
I waited for several months to check this book out through my public library, and I think it was well worth the wait. Silvia Moreno-Garcia weaves together Mayan mythology in order to create a complex, magical story, which is new and refreshing compared to all of the books that rely on Greek or Roman mythology.
The things you name do grow in power, but others that are not ever whispered claw at one’s heart anyway, rip it to shreds even if a syllable does not escape the lips.
– Gods of Jade and Shadow
Date Read: March 15
Author: Elly Blake
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2/5
If you’ve read any other young adult fantasy novels this year, then you’ve basically read Frostblood. Nothing about the plot felt surprising or even really interesting. Ruby, the main character, is boring. Overall, I doubt I will be continuing with the next book in the series.
Face them all like a warrior, whether you are one or not.
– Frostblood
Date Read: March 14
Author: Peter Clines
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Technically, The Fold is considered the second book in a series, but I didn’t discover that until I finished it, and there was nothing in the book that would indicate reading the first book in the series is necessary. I enjoyed the book – it’s always fun to read about overconfident scientists that cause trouble.
I think that a person can always find what they’re looking for, whether it’s there or not. They’ll just see what they want to see.
– The Fold
Date Read: March 13
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Horror
Rating: 5/5
I always enjoy books by Stephen King, and The Stand was no exception. If you decide to give it a try, set aside a lot of time for it. The book is over 1000 pages long, but it’s well worth the time that it takes to read.
If we don’t have each other, we go crazy with loneliness. When we do, we go crazy with togetherness.
– The Stand
Date Read: March 9
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
The Fates Divide is the sequel to Carve the Mark. I thought the pace was slower than the first book, and so while the book was still enjoyable, I liked the first book of the duology better. However, if you enjoy Carve the Mark then The Fates Divide is worth a shot.
Why do you have this expectation that life will make concessions for you? We are not promised ease, comfort, or fairness. Only pain and death.
– The Fates Divide
Date Read: March 8
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
I first read Shadow and Bone at the beginning of high school, and after reading a few of Leigh Bardugo’s more recent books I decided to reread the trilogy. It’s about the same as I remembered, and it’s interesting to see characters that pop up in later books.
People, particularly big men carrying big rifles, don’t expect lip from a scrawny thing like me. They always look a bit dazed when they get it.
– Shadow and Bone
Zoey's Year in Books 2020