April 2022 | Wrap-Up

Hello! And welcome to my April 2022 wrap-up featuring The Orilium Magical Readathon. Below are some small, spoiler-free reviews of the books I read this month along with star ratings. I ended up reading 16 books this month, with a total of 5735 pages, which means I completed every prompt for the Magical Readathon! A couple of the books I read were different to my original TBR and I also read a couple of extra books.

 So without further ado here is my April Wrap-Up.

April Wrap-Up and Reviews!

 1. The Comfort Book by Matt Haig ★★★★.5

This is one of Matt Haig's non-fiction books about depression and anxiety. I've already read his other two non-fiction books and loved them so I was looking forward to this one as well, and I was not disappointed. The book itself is split into very small chapters/bitesize chunks that can be read in or out of order. It's mostly a lot of feel-good affirmations and lists, but overall it's just a lovely comforting book (as the title promises), and it's so useful for people who are suffering with a mental illness. I highly recommend this if you've ever had anxiety or depression and just need a pick-me-up.

2. The River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty ★★★★

I didn't expect to pick this up this month as I hadn't even realised it had been released, but since I read The City of Brass trilogy last month, I thought I may as well finish it up with this book. This is a collection of short stories set in the Daevabad World from The City of Brass. I can't say too much without spoilers, but it follows a few characters previous to the first book, and it also shows some perspectives of characters we haven't seen from before. It didn't add too move to the story overall but it was enjoyable being back with these characters so I'd still give it a 4 star and I recommend it to anyone who's read the original trilogy.

3. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (re-read) ★★★★

I read this book for the first time in 2015 but never read the sequel, so I decided to give this a re-read to see if I still enjoyed it and to refresh my memory. This is a fanfiction from a story in Rainbow Rowell's other book Fangirl (which I also really loved), and it's basically a parody of the magic school/chosen one trope. We follow Simon Snow (the Chosen One) and his best friend, Penelope, and their adventures saving the world of magic. But Simon is apparently the worst Chosen One that's ever been Chosen, and he has to share a room with his worst enemy and vampire roommate, Baz. But are Baz's and Simon's feelings for one another purely hatred? Or is it something else? This is primarily a fantasy romance and, to be honest, I found it as enjoyable on re-read as I did the first time around. Once you embrace the obvious clichés and absurdity, you can see that the story and characters themselves are really well done. Overall, an enjoyable read, but, as you'll soon see, I don't recommend picking up the sequel and it should probably be read as a stand-alone.

4. Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell ★★

After enjoying Carry On so much, I thought it was time to finally pick up the sequel after owning it for years. Unfortunately, this was a huge miss for me. I understand the importance of showing the trauma of the characters from the previous book, but it felt like all of the development from the first book had just vanished. The characters were also more unlikeable in general. The road trip aspect was interesting in theory, but again, it ended up falling flat. It felt like nothing happened in this book: driving, they get captured, they escape, driving, they get captured, they escape, etc. etc. It was just that on repeat and it got so boring I was tempted to DNF it. The only reason I didn't was because it was such a short book. Agatha's plotline also felt weirdly tagged on and I really disliked the new character that was added midway through the book (who was an obviously inserted love interest for one character). I definitely won't be finishing this series and I'm just going to pretend that Carry On was a standalone because it really didn't feel like it needed a sequel.

5. The Hope of Elantris by Brandon Sanderson ★★★★

I picked up this short story since I'd already read Elantris a few years ago and just never got around to this before. This is a story set in the world of Elantris and it's only 25 pages long so I can't say much about it. I will say that if you've read Elantris then I recommend picking this up as it's an enjoyable and fun little read.

6. Book Lovers by Emily Henry ★★★★.5

I received an arc of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley and I have a full review of the book here.  I loved this book. Nora is a wonderful character - she's incredibly witty and I loved her dry humour. I also really liked that we got to see this badass, powerful woman and how good she is at her job, but we also saw her insecurities, especially about how others perceive her. Sadly, the book didn't quite get 5 stars like her previous ones but that's because I felt like we didn't see quite enough of the love interest to get as fully invested in him as we did with her previous books. That might just be a me thing though! The romance overall was still well done and I did really like the way Nora and Charlie interacted with one another when they were together, I just wish we'd seen a bit more of it.

7. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North ★★★★.5

This book shocked me so much. Before reading it, I really though this would end up being a DNF or a 2/3 star read but I ended up loving it. This is a sci-fi novel that follows Harry August, a person who is reborn and lives the same life again and again and remembers everything from his previous lives. This happens 11 times until something finally changes. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. This is the story of what Harry does next. Honestly, this was very reminiscent of Blake Crouch's writing and the repercussions of how you could change the world if you already knew what would happen. Don't let the historical fiction aspect of this put you off at the start, the plot is so thrilling and has so many twists that it keeps you turning the page to find out what happens next!

8. Circe by Madeline Miller ★★★★★

Again, this is another book I wasn't sure if I'd actually enjoy, but for different reasons. Mostly because I only have a basic understanding of Greek mythology so I wasn't sure if I'd have enough context to enjoy the book. Thankfully, Madeline Miller does a fantastic job of telling Circe's story and I was so invested the entire time I was reading this book. The book itself is a retelling of Circe's story from The Odyssey. In the original tale, Circe is portrayed as a terrifying witch and is only seen for a few pages. However, in this book we see so much more of her character and the things she went through. Circe is a strange child - not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power - the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. Miller's writing is so beautiful and this story is so well told; I highly recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in Greek mythology.

9. Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson ★★★.5

This is my second Leah Johnson book and she is a great YA contemporary writer. The book follows Olivia, an expert at falling in love... and being dumped, and Toni, who is one week away from starting a college she doesn't want to to and reeling from the loss of her father. When the two meet at a music festival, they team up to win two competitions, but it becomes so much more complicated than they bargained for, and Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other, and music, more than they ever could have imagined. I did really enjoy this book and the way it was told, but I just wasn't the right audience for this book sadly. I'm not hugely into music so the festival aspect didn't really appeal to me very much. However, the character diversity of queer black girls was incredible to see, and I loved the friendships between all the characters. Olivia could be quite selfish and unlikeable at times and, while it's refreshing to see realistic characters, it can be frustrating to read from their point-of-view when you see them make huge mistakes. Overall, this book has a lot to offer and it's a fantastic addition to the YA world.

10. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire ★★★★★ (re-read)

This was a solid 5 star re-read. Seanan McGuire is one of my favourite authors and I decided to re-read this book because I received an arc of Seasonal Fears - the sequel to Middlegame - and wanted to make sure I didn't miss/forget anything. Middlegame is a pretty complex book so it's hard to explain it easily so I think I'll use the Goodreads summary for this one: 

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

As with all McGuire's books, this is beautifully written and the characters are so rich. She delves into so many important topics through her fantasy and interweaves them flawlessly. Roger, Dodger, and Erin are so interesting to read from and I loved the math/language divide and how it all comes together in the end. 10/10 recommend this to everyone.

11. The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

I've genuinely been putting off reading this series for years, and I now have no idea why. After I finished the Mistborn trilogy in 2015, I bought this book, which is the first in a trilogy that follows Mistborn. But I'd heard this was set 300 years in the future and was more of a Western and, while that's true, it's also so much more than that. Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice. One such is Waxillium Ladrian. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks... 

This book has a brilliant mystery to it and I was immediately hooked by Sanderson's writing from the moment I started. I loved being back in this world with this magic system. Wax and Wayne are both hilarious and the Steampunk vibe was on point. If you've been hesitant to pick this book up after reading Mistborn, I recommend just starting it. You'll soon see that Sanderson has outdone himself with yet another epic plot and brilliant characters.

12. Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff ★★★

This is a YA sci-fi written by the same authors who wrote the Illuminae Files, so I decided to give it a go. It's not mixed media like the Illuminae books, but their sci-fi plots are usually very good. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. While the worldbuilding wasn't great, the characters and representation were very well done. I love sci-fi's with found families and this covered that so well. The only downside was that a lot of characters were introduced very quickly and I don't feel like we were given enough time to get to know them as well as I would've liked. In this book, it's 2380 and the graduating students of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Tyler Jones has been a star pupil who hopes to recruit the squad of his dreams but ends up with a mixed and volatile crew. And Ty's squad isn't even his biggest problem – that'd be Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, the girl he's just rescued from inter-dimensional space. Trapped in cryosleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler's squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy. Overall, it's a fun sci-fi, if that's what you're looking for, but it just lacked some depth for me. I probably won't continue with the series but it was a fun read.

13. The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo ★★★ 

I hadn't actually planned on picking this up this month, but I saw it on Scribd and decided to give it a go. This novella was beautifully written and it really read like a fairytale. The biggest downside for me was just how short it was; I would've loved a longer story to get to know the characters and world even better. This is a fantasy novella set in an empire reminiscent of Imperial China. A feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece. Overall I thought this was so well written and I do recommend it for fans of novellas.

14. Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire ★★★.5 

I received an arc of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. You can see my full spoiler-free review for this book here so I'll keep this mini review very short. I adored Middlegame so I had really high hopes for this sequel. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to the first book. I think it was a combination of the different characters, their relationship, the over-explanations, and the ending to this one that brought it down for me. I do still love this world and McGuire's writing but this sadly wasn't a favourite of mine. Again, more thoughts can be seen in my review. 

15. Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★ 

This is the sequel to The Alloy of Law which I read earlier in the month and I absolutely loved both of them. I can't say much about the plot of this one without spoilers, but I will say that I really liked the mystery aspect of this book and, although I saw the twist coming at the end, it was still spectacularly well done. Wax and Wayne are just brilliant characters and I adored seeing the tie in to the previous books. I highly recommend this series to fans of Mistborn. 

16. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman ★★★.5

This was another book I hadn't actually planned on picking this up this month, but my friend lent it to me so I thought I'd pick it up sooner rather than later. This book took me completely by surprise. I was under the assumption that this was a stereotypical contemporary novel about a woman in her thirties. While this is partly true, it also explores much deeper and darker topics (I recommend looking up a full list of trigger warnings but off the top of my head they include: mental health - PTSD/Anxiety/Depression, death, fire, scarring, abusive parents, fatphobia, physical abuse, animal abuse, attempted murder, attempted suicide, alcoholism, etc.). At first I didn't think I would like the book at all because Eleanor seems to be deeply unlikeable in the first few chapters. However, the more we see of her and learn about her past, the more we realise how she became who she currently is. I loved that this didn't really feature any romance and instead focused on the loneliness people can suffer in their thirties, and the friendships that can still be made. Overall, this book ended up being heart-warming and the exploration of mental health was very well done. 

So those are the 16 books I ended up reading in April! Let me know if you've read any of them and what you thought about them. How much did you read in April? Let me know below. I hope everyone had a good reading month!