Recent Reads | March 2021
Because I've been much busier this year than last year, whenever I'm free I just want to sit and mindlessly watch something, which hasn't been great for my reading. I'm still managing to read about a book a week, but I completely lost whatever reading routine I had and constantly feel like I'm in a slump. I am, however (hopefully) finding some kind of balance between work and reading, and have read some great books in March.
1) The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #1)
From all that talk of feeling like I'm in a slump and not reading that much, I did decide to reread a 700-page book 😂. I read The Final Empire last March and got the other books in the series immediately, but due to *gestures at the world* they only arrived in October. And because The Final Empire was one of my favourite reads of last year, I decided to reread it before jumping into the sequel. This is a fantasy series following a group of criminals trying to overthrow the Final Empire and defeat the Lord Ruler, its God-like emperor. We also follow Vin, the newest member of the crew, as she's exploring her Allomantic abilities. I still remember most of the book, but I loved being in this world again. It was just as good as when I first read it (maybe better) and I adored every bit of it. The characters are amazing, the magic system is brilliant and I just bloody love this story. 5/5 ⭐️
2) An Indelible Day, Cairo Marques
I was kindly sent this book by the author, in exchange for an honest review. This is a short story following a single day in the main character's life, and three encounters that shape his day and send him into some deep contemplation. If you want to read my full review, you can click here, but I'll just say I wasn't the biggest fan of this one. I did enjoy the writing, but I'm generally not particularly fond of short stories, because I like to have more times with my characters. This was especially true with An Indelible Day, since I felt like its main purpose was to make the reader create a deep connection with the main character, and that wasn't the case for me. 2.5/5 ⭐️
3) Heatstopper Vol. 1, Alice Oseman (Heartstopper #1)
Yes, I finally bought into the hype and read possibly the most beloved graphic novel of recent years. This tells the story of Nick and Charlie as they become friends and start developing feelings for each other. It was really adorable, but I'm not as in love as everyone else seems to be. I just feel like, if we had the full story in one massive volume, it'd become one of my favourite books. But because I got through this so quickly, I haven't had enough time with these characters yet. I do plan on reading the rest of this series though since this was pretty cute and I liked the characters individually as well as in a relationship. And it took me 20 minutes to read the whole thing and I had a good time doing it, so there's no harm in carrying on. 3.5/5 ⭐️
4) His Last Bow, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes #8)
I've been reading the Sherlock Holmes stories for about a year now, and it pains me that I only have one left. I loved this one so much, and I've adored being with these characters for so long. His Last Bow was probably my favourite out of the short story collections, but I still prefer the actual novels, since the cases tend to be more complicated and intriguing to solve. I've been listening to them in audiobook and loving it, and I stand by the fact that they are incredibly approachable classics if you want to delve into this "genre". 4/5 ⭐️
5) The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #2)
It pains me to say this, but I was so disappointed with this book. Like I just said, I adore The Final Empire, but I felt like this lacked all of the excitement of the first one. What annoyed me the most was the writing, which makes no sense. I get re-explaining stuff on the second book, considering they come out at least a year after the first one and people can have forgotten a lot. But this felt like the readers had never been introduced to the magic system before. Every time someone used their powers, we'd get an explanation of what they were doing. Not only that, but Vin lost so much of her previous personality. I wrote a full review on Goodreads but I do talk about the events of the first book, so if you've read them and want to know more about how I feel, you can read it here. But to me this book dragged so much, nothing really happened until the last 100 pages and if I had to read another fight scene, I would've thrown this across the room. I painfully gave this 3.5/5 ⭐️. I still love these characters and will definitely finish the series, but this felt like it was written by a completely different person and it bugged me so much.
6) Not My Ruckus, Chad Musick
I kindly received an eARC of Not My Ruckus through BookSirens, in exchange for an honest review. This is a very twisted story following 14-year old Clare as she's discovering herself, exploring friendship and seeing that maybe family isn't everything. This was one of those books that are so heavy and deal with such strong subjects that, once you finish, you feel like you can't even say if you enjoyed it. I have a full review of this right here if you want more in-depth thoughts, as well as a full list of content warnings (there are a lot). I really liked the writing as it kept me wanting to read more, and this has autism and epilepsy representations that I believe are pretty well done, considering the author himself has both of them. I will say, the autism is never full specified though, only in the author's note. Definitely read this if you like books that keep you thinking and make you lose all hope in humanity. 3/5 ⭐️
I feel like I've been reading so many middle-of-the-road books recently, and I just want to get sucked into a brilliant book and forget that time is passing. Let me know in the comments what you read in March and give me some recommendations of the best books you've read recently!
Love,
N.
Xx
