Saturday, January 25, 2014

2013 Combined Reading Summary (ft. Born of Illusion, Something Strange & Deadly, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Shadow and Bone, The Princess Bride)


Hello all! We've decided we're going to summarize a handful of our combined reading books from 2013 and only individually review a few.


Book: Born of Illusion by Teri Brown

Heather's micro-review:  I wasn't too impressed with this one, sadly.  I was hoping to like it better because of all the lists that contained both it and The Diviners (I'll eventually shut up about that book).  It was okay for the most part and then around 50%, Anna began annoying me and doing silly things.
* Kaniesha didn't read this one.
Heather's Rating: 3 stars

Books: A Dawn Most Wicked + Something Strange & Deadly by Susan Dennard

Heather's micro-review:  I LOOOOOOOVED this book!  I was kinda eh on ADMW, but then I read SS&D and flailed.  I cannot wait to start the next book.
Kaniesha's micro-review: I liked this one a lot! I was more interested in it during the prequel (Heather and I are opposite!) but the book itself was very nice too. I just couldn't get attached to the characters. It felt a lot like following them around but I hope it'll be better with the next! I plan on reading the sequel.
Heather's Rating: 4 stars for both.
Kaniesha's Rating: 4 stars

Book: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Heather's micro-review:  I really liked this one as well.  I was really impressed that the cast featured POC and there was no white savior character.  I've put the next two books on my to-read list.
Kaniesha's micro-review: I really, really liked this one. But I didn't quite like it as much as I thought I would. I went into this thinking I was going to read something mind blowing but it fell flat with the writing style/prose that I found awkward a lot of the time.
Heather's Rating: 4 stars
Kaniesha's Rating: 4 stars

Book: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo


Heather's micro-review:  While I didn't like this one as much as the previous two, I definitely liked it more than BoI.  It's an okay book, but I found myself a bit exasperated with all the Deus Ex Machinas every time Alina needed to overcome an obstacle.
Kaniesha's micro-review: I actually read Shadow and Bone in 2012 a while after it was released. It's fascinating! I don't necessarily love the main character but I'm a sucker for the Darkling like everyone else. The ending was too anti-climatic for me and I ended up rating it 4 stars. But the way the magic is handled and that you grow stronger when you use them is fantastic!
Heather's Rating:  3 stars
Kaniesha's Rating: 4 stars

Book: The Princess Bride by William Goldman


Heather's micro-review:  My feelings about this book are similar to Kan's, honestly.  It was good, in some places great, but it lacked something, there was this disconnect, that kept me from rating it five as well.  It's a very high four stars though.
Kaniesha's micro-review: This was a very interesting book, at the same time that it felt very monotonous it was also very exciting. A lot of the time I didn't want to put it down! Granted, it was still also detached which kept me from rating it a full 5 stars.
Heather's Rating:  4 stars
Kaniesha's Rating: 4 stars

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