Kylie Reads: Percy Jacks & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Can we talk about why on Earth it took me this long to read this series!? Not only did it take me forever to even buy the first book (Sophomore year of college), but I’ve had the first and second books in my library for 3 years now, they even moved to South Korea with me! I decided to finally pick the book up recently because I wanted something similar to Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Nick to take my mind off the fact that my husband was at a temporary duty station for two weeks. I wanted something set in fantasy but wasn’t super involved and was light and fun to read. I am SO glad that I did! I absolutely loved it and I understand now why there is a whole huge fandom centered around the series.

Percy Jackson is a 12-year-old with a history of getting kicked out of schools and is the son of the Greek God Poseidon. After getting kicked out of his most recent school, he finds himself at a summer camp for kids who all have a Greek God as one parent. Quickly after that, he is thrust on an adventure to try and stop a war amongst the gods.

For a short book, I loved the amount of adventure in it. There was enough to keep me glued to the book but it wasn’t over the top. I also liked that since it’s a YA book, that the adventure isn’t gory or crazy. It’s just nice clean adventure. I was also surprised that for Percy being 12, it doesn’t read like he is. I often forgot that this is a 12-year-old boy going across the United States to save the world, he could very well have been an older teenager. I’m really excited to read the rest of the series. I looked on Amazon and there’s a box set for 25 dollars with beautiful covers. So I plan on adding that to my library soon. I can also feel this series quickly becoming an all-time favorite of mine and one of my series that I get Funko Pop Figures for haha.

Overall, I loved this book and I highly recommend this series. If you like YA books with a lot of fantasy, a nice amount of action without much gore, and if you like Greek mythology then I think you would like this book. I know that the series starting out with such a young character seems off-putting for older people, but it’s not very noticeable once he leaves school. Also, if you like series such as Harry Potter then I think you would enjoy this.

Book rating: 4.5 out of 5, I absolutely loved it!

Have you read or do you plan to read the Percy Jackson series?

See you next week :)

Kylie <3 

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo Review

I finished a series… er, trilogy! This is very rare for me. I have a very hard time finishing series. Not because I don’t like the series, but because I like the series so much I don’t want it to end. I definitely have series that I have been reading for many years that have ended but I still haven’t finished reading. I’m working on it though. I started the Grisha, or Shadow and Bone trilogy, this year and finished the third and final book: Ruin and Rising, this month. I feel accomplished haha.

I thought that the third book was a wonderful end to the series, writing a review about an end of a series is difficult as I don’t want to spoil anything. But anyway, everything, and I mean everything, was tied up very nicely, there were no loose ends and I wasn’t left with any questions. It also had a nice twist near the end. While it ended very nicely and in a positive way, I can see people not liking the ending because there were many ways it could have ended. But I am overall happy with the ending and the little twist that I wasn’t expecting. While I never had many expectations for how the series should end, there was one particular element that took me by surprise. I was also, just going along with the love interests. There wasn’t one I was particularly drawn to. I did like all of them though and rooted for each one in turn as the story moved through them. To be honest, I would have been happy with any of the guys she could have ended up with.  Maybe that would be a draw back for some, but with the amount of romance in non-romance YA novels, I stopped caring and I just kind of go with it; unless I really dislike one of the characters. Character wise, I am particularly happy with the development of the Darkling. I enjoyed learning about his past and how he got to the way he was and how that influenced the world in general. Overall, it was an entertaining read and that’s what matters to me. With all that is going on in the real world, I want a novel that flows and is entertaining. 

As for the series itself, I recommend it. I loved that the series has a different magic system. That is something in fantasy that will instantly catch my attention. I love a unique magic system and the Shadow and Bone series delivers. I enjoyed that it was an easy and quick fantasy world to get into but didn’t feel underdeveloped. Whether you’re a seasoned fantasy reader or new, it’s sometimes nice to be able to jump into a world and not have to read 500 pages of world building before any real action begins. Leigh Bardugo also has the Six of Crows series which is apparently set in the same world as the Shadow and Bone trilogy. So I will definitely be picking up that series in the future and seeing how the world she built evolves. 

Book rating: 3.5 to 4 out of 5 – I enjoyed the book and the ending to the series. It was entertaining and closed the series well.

Series rating: 3.5 to 4 out of 5. The series was enjoyable and fun to read. The world was wonderful and well-built for a short YA series. 

Have you read the Shadow and Bone Trilogy? Do you plan to?

See you next week :)

Kylie <3

Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Long time no talk! Life is so crazy right now. I did not expect joining a sorority would require so much time, but it’s so fun! The last two weeks were test and essay week and it was so stressful, but guess what! I got an A on all of my exams, I’m starting this year off right :) If you’re in school, do you guys have weeks where you won’t have any tests or essays due and then all of a sudden in the same week you’ll have a bunch of tests and essays due? That’s what happens here. I need to get better at time management, maybe I’ll make a post about it so I can get myself in check. Well, anyway, let’s not babble on for forever. I am back today with a review of Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

Summary: Cinder by Marissa Meyer, is a book based on the Disney fairy-tale Cinderella set in a future, New China. The main character, Cinder, is a cyborg, a race that is discriminated against who works as a mechanic to help make money to support her step mother and two step sisters. Like Cinderella, the step father takes in an adoptive daughter and dies leaving the step mother to take care of this unwanted child. There are many similarities to the Disney Cinderella fairytale, but there are differences that I think will come into play when the author ties all of the stories together to help fight the Lunars. This is also a utopian/dystopian style novel, where we are in a future that’s supposed to be grand after a war but there are still kinks that need to be worked out.  

My thoughts: It was good but not amazing. I didn’t have that high of expectations so I wasn’t that disappointed in the novel. I am excited to see how the author ties all the books together but I’m not in a hurry to read the next ones. (I don’t binge read series. I’ll read a book in a series, buy the next one if it’s in paperback and then wait to read it until the next book is out in paperback. Does anyone else do something similar?) I did like how the book was loosely based on Cinderella, it wasn’t an exact replica but you could pick out themes from Cinderella. I wonder if the other books in the series will be in the same city or if they will be different…hmm.

Recommend: Yes, although I didn't think it was amazing, I do think it was a good, easy read. Being so busy with school, reading something that is quick and easy is nice to have sometimes. I also think that if you like futuristic novels, this might also be a good read for you; as well as if you like to read different versions of fairytales. Utopian/dystopian books are really popular these days and this novel would also go into that genre, so if you like those style books you may also like this book.

Have you guy’s read this book? What are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading!

Kylie

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson Review

Hello guys, I have finished Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (I finished it a few weeks ago but I can still write a review, right?). Well this is my first book summary/review so bear with me, I’ll improve.  

Summary: Sanderson has created a world covered in ashes for as long as the population can remember, being ruled by an immortal ruler. There is extreme poverty along the general population and extreme riches among the nobility, the only common trait is a fear of the swirling mists that cover the world at night and of the Lord Ruler who as far as they know is immortal. One day, an unlikely hero stands up to rebel against the Lord Ruler with his team of Alomancers and hopefully they will succeed in overthrowing the empire.

My Thoughts: I loved it! It took about a hundred pages to fully get into, which is not uncommon when it comes to fantasy novels but once I got into it I was hooked. I fell in love with the characters, even ones who aren’t the “main characters”, I feel we could still learn more about all of them but the character development I thought was really thought out. Vin, the protagonist, grows immensely during the novel while the others characters do experience some development. I also really enjoyed the magic in this novel, it was unlike any that I have ever heard or read of and it really helped keep me interested as I wanted to figure out more about this new kind of magic. The world that Sanderson created is awesome, he gives you enough history to understand what is going on but not so much that it bores you and continues to develop the world as the book goes on.  There was not a single part that I was disappointed in. I am honestly not ready to leave this world yet.

Recommend: Yes, I definitely recommend this book! I loved that it was different from other fantasy and non-fantasy that I have read and recommend to anyone who loves, or has yet to try fantasy novels. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. I should state that this isn’t a full on action fantasy book; there is a lot of talking and a lot of political stuff throughout the novel but there is action, particularly until the end.