Date Read: February 24
Author: Blake Crouch
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 3/5
While I loved the multiverse-centered premise, I found it hard to enjoy the rest of the book due to the writing style. The sentences felt choppy, and so it was difficult to become immersed in the story for long.
We all live day to day completely oblivious to the fact that we’re a part of a much larger and stranger reality than we can possibly imagine.
– Dark Matter
Date Read: February 23
Author: VE Schwab
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
I really enjoyed the Darker Shade of Magic trilogy, and I was not disappointed by VE Schwab’s debut novel. It was enjoyable to read, and the story is full of witches, magic, and secrets.
Funny how when we start to tell a secret, we can’t stop. Something falls open in us, and the sheer momentum of letting go pushes us on.
– The Near Witch
Date Read: February 21
Author: Paula Hawkins
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3/5
I’d heard good things about this book, but something about it just fell flat for me. The characters were overdramatic, and the plot was lacking. The book seemed to rely on pulling out a dramatic twist at the end of each chapter, and the mystery was entirely reliant on confusing, constantly changing information. I wanted to enjoy this book, but it just ended up falling short.
The horrors conjured up by the mind are always so much worse than what is.
– Into the Water
Date Read: February 21
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
Carve the Mark takes place in a solar system of connected worlds, where everyone has a gift from the Current, an interstellar force. I found the worldbuilding interesting, and the characters complex enough to keep my attention throughout the plot.
That was the problem with being so convinced of your own awfulness – you thought other people were lying when they didn’t agree with you.
– Carve the Mark
Date Read: February 19
Author: Virgil
This is another book for my English class. I enjoyed it more than reading philosophy, but I do not enjoy poetry very much, and so reading The Aeneid was too much poetry for my taste.
Date Read: February 18
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5
A book that I enjoyed. It’s written mainly from the perspective of a young Nigerian woman who moves to America for school, and eventually returns to Nigeria.
There are many different ways to be poor in the world but increasingly there seems to be one single way to be rich.
– Americanah
Date Read: February 17
Author: Christopher Paolini
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
This was one of my favorite books when I was younger, and I still love the series.
It’s amazing that a man who is dead can talk to people through these pages. As long as this book survives, his idea lives.
– Eragon
Date Read: February 16
Author: Patricia A. McKillip
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
I enjoyed The Riddle-Master of Hed more, but it was still an enjoyable sequel, and I am looking forward to reading the final book of the trilogy.
The light seemed to fashion the shadows, valleys, granite peaks that formed the Pass into the walls of some beautiful house lying open to the world.
– Heir of Sea and Fire
Date Read: February 15
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
Three cousins in Bacho Raro, Colorado, all belong to a very special family: they perform miracles. While many seek their miracles, few are prepared for what it will take in order to achieve one. It is a good book, with a fast-paced plot and interesting characters.
By relegating the things we fear and don’t understand to religion, and the things we understand and control to science, we rob science of its artistry and religion of its mutability.
– All the Crooked Saints
Date Read: February 14
Authors: Dacre Stoker and JD Barker
Genre: Horror
Rating: 5/5
Dracul is inspired by notes written by Bram Stoker, and written by his great-grandnephew. An absolutely gripping novel that had me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole story. I have to admit, I have never read Dracula, but now I will have to put it on my list of books to read.
Sometimes our deepest fears are the ones we keep closest to our hearts.
– Dracul
Zoey's Year in Books 2020