So, earlier this year I made three blogs posts regarding my reading goals
for 2022. Today I want to talk about the first of those posts and whether I
successfully completed the goals or not. The first post was '20 Books I have to Read in 2022'. These were a lot of backlist titles that I'd owned for a long time and
wanted to finally get to this year. So, did I complete or unhaul all of
these books? Let's see...
1. Wool by Hugh Howey ★★★★.5
I'm happy to say I read this whole trilogy and loved it. This is a sci-fi
dystopian book where thousands of people have lived underground their whole lives in a Silo.
They've lived there for so long, there are only legends about people
living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are
things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you
might like going outside. Or you'll get what you wish for.
In this first book, we follow someone who gets sent outside of the Silo as
a punishment, and they discover something they didn't expect. I don't want
to say much else about the plot because I feel like knowing less going into
this book really makes the impact of the discoveries so much more
interesting. I really enjoyed this first book, but I will say that the second book was easily my favourite as we get to explore an entirely
different perspective. I felt like the third book dragged a bit, but I still
liked the way some of the books alternated between the past and present.
This is a very solid adult dystopian trilogy and I recommend it to anyone
looking for that genre.
2. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire
North ★★★★.5
Another 4.5 star read for this sci-fi. I enjoyed this a whole lot more than
I thought I would. 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!
3. Night Shift by Stephen King ★★★
This book has been on my TBR for years. If you've read my blog posts over
the past few years, you'll know I try to read a few Stephen King books a
year to try and make my way through his backlog. I've read a few short
story collections by King before, but usually each book only contains 4-6.
This collection of short stories contained 20 and they were all a lot
shorter. I rated all the short stories and averaged those ratings to give
the overall book 3.5 stars. I really loved some of the stories, while
others I was bored or now struggle to remember. They all felt very
reminiscent of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected which I felt
similar about as well. I'll give a star rating for each story below but I
won't go into too much detail as I think we'd be here forever!
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1. Jerusalem's Lot - 4 stars. A great prequel to Salem's Lot that I
previously read. Very gothic.
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2. Graveyard Shift - 3 stars. Relatively interesting.
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3. Night Surf - 2 stars. I found this quite boring.
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4. I am the Doorway - 2 stars. I found this quite boring.
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5. The Mangler - 4 stars. Very dark but I liked the premise of this
one.
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6. The Boogeyman - 4 stars. Loved the ending of this one.
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7. Gray Matter - 3 stars.
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8. Battleground - 2 stars
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9. Trucks - 3 stars
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10. Sometimes They Come Back - 5 stars. A terrifying idea.
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11. Strawberry Spring - 4 stars
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12. The Ledge - 5 stars. This felt very Dahl-esque
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13. The Lawnmower Man - 3 stars. Mostly very weird.
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14. Quitters, Inc. - 5 stars. So very twisted.
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15. I Know What You Need - 4 stars.
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16. Children of the Corn - 3 stars. (I can't be the only one who could
just see the South Park episode in my head, right?).
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17. The Last Rung on the Ladder - 4 stars.
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18. The Man Who Loved Flowers - 4 stars.
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19. One for the Road - 4 stars.
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20. The Woman in the Room - 2 stars.
4. Insomnia by Stephen King ★★★★
This was the oldest book on my TBR so it was about time I read it. I've
read around 20 other Stephen King books so far and I am trying to get
through his back-catalogue as I've enjoyed the majority his books so far.
I wasn't sure about the premise of this one when I started, but I ended up
really enjoying it. This book follows Ralph, who starts waking up earlier.
And earlier. Then the hallucinations start - the colours, shapes and
strange auras. Not to mention the bald doctors who always turn up at the
scene of a death. That's when Ralph begins to lose a lot more than sleep.
When he begins to understand why his hitherto mild-mannered friend, Ed, is
getting out of control - dangerously so. And why his home town is about to
become the new Armageddon.
I love how intertwined Steph King's novels are. At first, I thought of
them as 'just easter eggs' to look out for, but this book actually sets up
so much of The Dark Tower series, it's incredible. It's really good,
because you don't have to read his other books to enjoy his standalones,
but it just adds an extra layer to the enjoyment. I really like Ralph and
Lois, although I wish Lois had been more involved in the plot earlier on.
The villains were done well and very sinister and creepy - did they remind
anyone else of The Gentlemen from Buffy? I also loved the descriptions of
the auras - I felt like I could picture everything happening so
vividly.
I think there were two big things that stopped this being a 5 star. One
is that it could've been a lot shorter and achieved the same amount. The
first 400 pages did set things up well, but we probably could've had less
and still had the same impact. The second (which is true of most Stephen
King books), is that certain views/phrases are used but are not often
contradicted by the main character, so it's hard to see if the author
actually agrees with what the characters are saying - which is mostly
worrying when it's racist/homophobic/sexist. I think if the things that
were said were challenged then it would feel easier to read, but some
things were said that left a very bitter taste in my mouth. It's also
worth saying, a huge trigger warning for abortions in this book, as the
legality/morality of abortions is a pivotal plot point throughout.
5. Lifelike by Jay Kristoff ★★★.5
I bought this book when it first came out in 2018 and it's taken me so long
to finally read it. I did really love
the Nevernight trilogy by the same author, but I wasn't
sure how I'd feel about his sci-fi books. This book follows, Eve. When she
finds the ruins of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls
home, her entire world comes crashing down. With her best friend and her
robotic sidekick in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of
irradiated glass, battle cyborg assassins, and scour abandoned megacities to
save the ones she loves and learn the dark secrets of her past.
I did enjoy this book, but I didn't love it as much as I hoped. I think
that's mostly because I guessed the twist about 30 pages in and it became
more and more obvious the further along we went. The other this was that I
wasn't very invested in the romance - the main love interest felt kind of
boring and their relationship was a bit weird (for many
reasons). However, I loved the found family aspect. As always, Kristoff is
great at writing these. The characters were all really unique and it
was so easy to distinguish between them. I adored Lemonfresh and
Cricket - they were so witty and and Lemonfresh was just a great
badass character. Also, no-one has said in ANY reviews I can find
about the Anastasia retelling in this?? I loved those aspects and I
really liked that you could see the parallels between them from really
early on. I'm definitely intrigued by this book and where the
cliff-hanger ending will go, but I probably won't continue the
series unless I get them from the library..
6. The Reviver by Seth Patrick ★★★
So I gave this book 3 stars in February, but honestly, I actually remember
very little of this one, and I mostly remember not wanting to continue the
series. This is a crime/thriller/sci-fi following Jonah Miller. He is a Reviver, able to temporarily revive the dead so
they can say goodbye to their loved ones—or tell the police who killed
them. Jonah works in a department of forensics created specifically for Revivers,
and he’s the best in the business. For every high-profile corpse pushing
daisies, it’s Jonah’s job to find justice for them. But while reviving the
victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Something is
on the other side watching. Waiting. His superiors tell him it's only in his
mind, a product of stress. Jonah isn't so certain. Then Daniel Harker, the first journalist to bring revival to public
attention, is murdered. Jonah finds himself getting dragged into the hunt
for answers. Working with Harker's daughter Annabel, he becomes determined
to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Soon they uncover
long-hidden truths that call into doubt everything Jonah stands for, and
reveal a sinister force that threatens us all. Overall, I just found this to
be a very meh book.
7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (DNF/UNHAUL)
I've read other Daphne du Maurier books that I really enjoyed, however, I
ended up unhauling this classic rather than reading it. I had started it a
few years ago, but I really just didn't feel like this was a classic for me
despite it being called a gothic mystery. Sadly, the writing style didn't do
it for me and I didn't feel intrigued enough by the mystery to continue. I
might give this another chance one day, but for now I don't need this on my
shelves.
8. Contagion by Teri Terry ★★★
This is the fifth book I've read by Teri Terry and, while I really enjoyed Mind Games and Book of Lies, I didn't enjoy her earlier Shattered trilogy which I
DNF'd after book two. This book follows Kai whose sister is missing. When Kai meets Shay,
a girl who saw Callie the day she disappeared, his hope is reignited.
Their search leads them to the heart of a terrifying epidemic that is
raging through the country. Will they both survive?
While I still find her a compelling writer, I think the pacing of this
one felt a bit off towards the end of the book. The first half of this book I really enjoyed, and found very compelling and
interesting, but the second half felt a bit dragged out and, after seeing a
real global pandemic, this one felt oddly unrealistic. I found Shay and Kai
to be interesting characters, but they sometimes made very frustrating
decisions. I get it, they're teenagers, but it's still annoying. I also
found it weird that Kai could just go from Newcastle to Edinburgh on any
random day without his Mum knowing (or caring?). Another problem I had with
the characters was that neither seemed too affected by character deaths;
especially when one character finds out someone else is a ghost and they
just don't seem that bothered? Callie really made me angry by the end with
her decisions and I've since read some reviews that say those decisions
don't get resolved in the second book which makes me not want to read on. I
also guessed most of the plot twists, and the pseudo-science was kind of
boring by the end. This book was just fine for me but if you're interested
in YA apocalyptic sci-fi then you should pick it up and give it a
try..
9. City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty ★★★★
I'm happy to say that I read this high fantasy trilogy and really enjoyed
it as a whole. Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has
power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of
unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she
uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of
hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman
nobles. But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn
warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the
magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the
warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with
creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of
once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks
are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city
to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
I really like the worldbuilding throughout this series; it's incredibly
unique and it's so refreshing to read a fantasy with a different
culture/mythology to the typical western fantasies (as much as I enjoy
them). I will that I found Nahri to be quite a frustrating character at
times, and I really didn't buy into the romance in the trilogy at all, which
is why the star rating is lower for me. Overall though, this is a very
enjoyable fantasy trilogy that I recommend to anyone that enjoys that
genre.
10. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (DNF/UNHAUL)
This is another book that ended up being a DNF and an unhaul so it's no
longer on my shelves. I started reading this, but soon realised it was
probably too slow and not the right genre for me. Plus I know this book
would make me cry and I just wasn't feeling like deliberately reading sad
books this year. This is a novel of the cruelty of war, and tenuousness of life and the
impossibility of love. Richard Flanagan's story — of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted
by a love affair with his uncle's wife — journeys from the caves of
Tasmanian trappers in the early twentieth century to a crumbling pre-war
beachside hotel, from a Thai jungle prison to a Japanese snow festival, from
the Changi gallows to a chance meeting of lovers on the Sydney Harbour
Bridge. This book is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a
Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific
climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of
his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story
unfolds.
11. The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★
I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this trilogy and
really loved it. 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. Oathbringer Part Two by Brandon Sanderson ★★★★.5 prediction
I am currently 200 pages into this book and I'm really enjoying it. This is the second part of book 3 in The Stormlight Archive and I'm so happy I managed to get to it this year (because for a while there, I really thought I wouldn't!). I wanted to get this blog post out before Christmas, but I'll definitely finish this book in the next week so I'm happy to call this a win! For anyone that doesn't know, the first book in this series follows several characters (but mostly Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, and Adolin) in the world of Roshar: a place of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilisation alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soil-less ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armour that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars are fought for them, and won by them. One such war is about to swallow up a soldier (Kaladin), a brightlord (Dalinar) and a young woman scholar (Shallan).
13. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King ★★
Sadly, this is one of the Stephen King books I've enjoyed the
least. Twenty-five years after saving a Down's-syndrome child from bullies,
Beav, Henry, Pete, and Jonesy - now men with separate lives and separate
problems - reunite in the woods of Maine for their annual hunting trip.
But when a stranger stumbles into their camp, disoriented and mumbling
something about lights in the sky, chaos erupts. Soon, the four friends
are plunged into a horrifying struggle with a creature from another world
where their only chance of survival is locked in their shared past - and
in the Dreamcatcher.
This is a sci-fi, horror, alien invasion book. I knew that going in and
was really looking forward to seeing where King would take it. The first
200 pages or so were really intriguing - I loved seeing the four men's
different lives and the hints at what had happened in the past and how it
related to now. Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there for me.
About 50% of this book is vivid descriptions body horror and the rest is
just very slow pacing where not a lot happens. Even the last 50 pages of
action could barely hold my attention because I'd become so bored. The
animal thing was horrible too so I had to skip over that. I still didn't
really get how all the telepathy fit together with Duddits and some of the
deaths of characters felt incredibly underwhelming considering they were
main characters. Kurtz was also very weird and I still can't get my head
around what his motivations were. As always, there were some very
problematic parts of King's book (use of the n-word for one thing, and a
line that basically said men couldn't understand being raped - which was
really strange and made me pretty uncomfortable that King could think
that). I know King wrote this book while completely high on painkillers
after his accident and he doesn't like the book now, but that doesn't
really excuse it for those moments. Overall, a very meh book that seemed to rely on body horror for its
impacts on the reader.
14. Jade City by Fonda Lee ★★★★★
This book. This book is absolutely amazing and I can't believe I waited
so long to read it. I bought Jade City in 2018 when it first came out but I
just never got around to it (despite it being on about 20 TBRs), but it's
safe to say it's now one of my favourite books of all time. This
trilogy is an urban fantasy, gripping Godfather-esque saga of
intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and
kung-fu. Jade City follows the Kaul family, who are one of two crime syndicates that control the island
of Kekon. It's the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade,
which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman
abilities. The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the
island from foreign invasion, but nowadays, in a bustling post-war
metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the
Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday
upkeep of the districts under their protection. When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals
erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will
determine.
Firstly, Lee's worldbuilding is absolutely incredible. I really thought
this world and the amount of characters would be difficult to understand
or keep track of, but within 40 pages, I felt like I understood exactly
what was going on. That shows some incredible writing skill in fantasy
books in my opinion. I also loved every character in this book
(but I especially loved Lan and Shae); even the villains were done so well. One thing this book did
exceptionally well is that it felt so Game of Thrones-esque, in that no character felt safe and anything vicious could happen
at any time. I was constantly on the edge of my seat. And then THAT happened halfway through the book and left me a wreck. Lee also explores
women's places in this society and culture in such a well done way. I 100%
recommend this to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy/gangster-type films or
books. Lee is easily one of my new favourite authors and she made me want
to pick up the next book immediately..
15. 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.
16. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (DNF/UNHAUL)
This is another book that was a DNF and unhaul for me. I read around 80
pages of the book before I put it down. Unfortunately, I'd heard this was a
YA, but it read far younger than I'd anticipated. Not only that, but the
worldbuilding wasn't great and I really didn't enjoy the fantasy aspect of
the book. I'm really sad I didn't enjoy this, but I'm glad I was able to
make some more space on my shelves. If anyone wants to know what this book
is about it follows 16-year-old Jack who lives an unremarkable life in the small Ohio
town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar
above his heart set him apart from the other high schoolers. Then one day
Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more
confident than ever before. And it feels great—until he loses control of
his own strength and nearly kills another player during soccer team
tryouts. Soon, Jack learns the startling truth about himself: he is Weirlind, part
of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At their helm
sits the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is
determined by playing The Game—a magical tournament in which each house
sponsors a warrior to fight to the death. The winning house rules the
Weir.
17. Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell ★★.5
I'd heard a lot about the Disney Twisted Tales books and I
was really hoping I would love this. Unfortunately, I just found the book to
be very meh. This is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, but with
(you guessed it) a twist. I feel like this book would've had a lot more
impact if we hadn't been told it was a dream from the very beginning.
Knowing that, we spend the first 100 pages just waiting for Aurora to also
figure it out. Then the next 350 pages were just her and Phillip walking
through a wood. Aurora's character was very difficult to grasp as the reader
because she herself didn't know who she really was, so I was left feeling
kind of detached from her.
This was at least a quick read, but I feel like it's definitely for a
very young YA audience rather than an older one, which is what I was
expecting. The writing style was also quite simplistic and there were so
many ALL CAPS sentences that made it feel more like a fanfiction. Overall,
the plot was a clever idea but the execution didn't really have the
pay-off I was hoping for..
18. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty ★★★
I read Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty a few years ago
and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, this book was a real disappointment
to me. The blurb of this book basically says: Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death.
Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret -
something with the potential to destroy not only the life you have built
together but the lives of others as well. And then imagine that you
stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much
alive...
Moriarty's writing was still fantastic, as always. She writes in a very
compelling way and it never feels like a chore to pick up her book, even
when the story isn't as interesting. However, this book felt just a little
odd? It's marketed as a thriller, but there was no plot twist (the small one
we had halfway through the book was pretty obvious based on the blurb
alone). Tessa's story felt weirdly out of place with the other two women and
I felt like we got no real closure with what happened in her relationship or
with Felicity. Cecilia was interesting, but the majority of her chapters
were filled with 'should I open the letter' and then 'what should I do now
that I know what was in the letter', which got very repetitive. I also don't
really know why the Berlin Wall featured so heavily throughout the
book.
I did like the portrayal of actions having lasting consequences that you
can't foresee, especially with the Epilogue. I actually just wish we'd had
more of the Epilogue. Overall, this book was a quick read, but I just
didn't enjoy it as much as her other book. I think this is more of a dark
contemporary novel than a typical thriller, which is what I was expecting
and wanting when I picked it up. I still recommend trying Liane Moriarty's
books though and I'll definitely read more of her work in the
future..
19. Renegades by Marissa Meyer ★★★★
I hadn't heard great things about this book so I was pleasantly surprised
to discover how much I enjoyed it. I've loved all of Marissa Meyer's books
so far, but especially her Lunar Chronicles series. This
is YA sci-fi following superheroes. The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies - humans with extraordinary
abilities - who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and
established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of
justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone... except
the villains they once overthrew. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for
vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade
boy who believes in justice - and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a
villain who has the power to end them both.
My favourite thing about this
book was that everyone's motivations felt very realistic and I loved how morally grey
all the characters are. You see so much of the world from Nova (the
villain's) perspective, and it feels really good to see her discovering
that the world isn't necessarily what she thought it was. The found family
on both the 'villain' and 'hero' sides were great and I loved Nova's
relationships with them. Max was also a fantastic character - I just want
to look after him! The twists in this book were really interesting and you
can tell that more are coming in the next books. If you've watched/read a
lot of superhero media, then you'll probably be able to see a lot of
things coming, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of it. Overall, a
great superhero sci-fi book and I'll definitely continue the series..
20. The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green (DNF/UNHAUL)
And this final one was another unhaul. I didn't actually try to read it in
the end. In all honesty, the blurb sounded very similar to other YA
fantasies that I'd read and I knew I wasn't going to get to this any time
soon. Plus, the last Sally Green trilogy did leave a bitter taste in my
mouth after the whole 'bury your gays' trope appeared. That means I was able
to give this book away to someone who would really appreciate and enjoy it.
If I ever want to read it then I'll get it from my local library, but I
don't regret my choice to unhaul this one.
So, there we have it! I either read or unhauled every book on the list
this year and I'm really happy to say I succeeded in this challenge. Look
out for my future blog posts where I'll be talking about my challenges for 2023 and what I hope to achieve next year.
