What we’re reading this week! “A Thousand Pieces of You,” “Codex Alera,” and more!
This week I read A THOUSAND PIECES OF YOU, by Claudia Gray. I kept hearing great things about it, and the cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the plot (travel between parallel universes and how they change) sounded amazing. So I had very high expectations for this book.
And it definitely didn’t disappoint! I was a bit wary at first because the romance was shaping up to be a love triangle (no spoilers, it’s fairly obvious from the beginning) and I’m not a big fan of romance as the central focus of a book, much less a love triangle. But I thought it was done well, nicely interwoven with the story, and it didn’t detriment the plot itself. The book is just one big adventure that rarely stops, with very good pacing with the occasional, very rare lull. But in those occasions you have great character development as well as a really interesting story. The writing is also good and very easy to read, and I found it a very, very enjoyable read and I could barely put the book down.
This is a definite recommendation to science-fiction (and YA) fans. Can’t wait for the sequel, and to see what Claudia Gray is going to do with the Star Wars franchise this year!
This week I managed about 2.2 things! I tried reading Jim Butcher’s SKIN GAME for the Hugos, but I haven’t read any of the other books in the series and had to give it up. I really like Butcher’s CODEX ALERA, and I enjoyed the little of this story I read as far as tone and characters. It just doesn’t really stand on its own.
I did however finish MIME ORDER – another book that doesn’t stand on it’s own! This time I’d read the preceding book, BONE SEASON, and I felt that MIME ORDER did an extraordinary job of continuing the saga. As Paige Mahoney’s story continued to unfold, I felt like the entire series finally clicked for me. The first book just never quite shook the Harry Potter/Divergent feel, but as author Samantha Shannon unfolded her world more and more in MIME ORDER, I began to fall in love with the story and characters in a way I hadn’t during BONE SEASON.
I also read a short story collection called KALEIDOSCOPE which comes out of a small independent Australian press. Even though KALEIDOSCOPE is marketed as YA, it’s probably the best anthology I’ve read so far this year. Often in books like these, I consider it a win if I read 50% of the stories, but I didn’t skip a single entry in this collection!
This past week’s book was a re-read for me: SERAPHINA by Rachel Hartman (I did the audio this time, which was a cool change). This series is the book club series for the month of April, and I wanted to go into the sequel, SHADOW SCALE, as fresh as possible (You should read along with us, and submit your questions for me to ask Rachel in the interview at the end of the month!). At least 4 different times I said out loud, “man, I forgot how much I loved this book!” It really is a wonderfully creative, well-written book with interesting characters and a really cool world. I’m about half-way through the SHADOW SCALE audiobook right now, and so far it’s also great. It’s getting creepy, which is a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. Next up on the docket? I think I’m going to do the audio of RED QUEEN by Victoria Aveyard, which I’m excited about. Stay tuned!
This week we’re lucky enough to have some input from the lovely Erica Cameron, author of SING, SWEET NIGHTINGALE. I’ve had the pleasure of spending some time with Erica this week, and when I told her what I was doing she happily added her recent reads into the mix. Enjoy!
Right now I’m reading Beware the Wild by Natalie Parker. This lyrical, wonderfully creeptastic, Southern Gothic story grabs you from the first sentence, digs in its claws, and drags you toward the finish. I’m still in the middle of this book but I cannot wait to see how it unfolds. I’m expecting a brilliant finish and I’m pretty sure I won’t be disappointed.
Also, I’ve recently been trying to get myself into audiobooks because of how much time I’m going to be spending on the road this year. So far I’ve listened to the BBC production of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Neverwhere was extremely entertaining and imaginative (which is to be expected from Gaiman’s brilliant mind) and I loved listening to the fantastic cast recording. With Verity, it seemed as though the intensity was heightened by listening to the talented narrators. Since the story is told in the form of journal entries, it really was like being inside these girls’ heads while events were unfolding. Kudos to the author and the performers of both books for a job extremely well done. I’d give both audio versions five stars. Highly recommended.