Books of July wrap up

During the month of July my book consumption numbers took a hit. I only finished four books. I know, I’m shocked too. With all KPIs related to tea, being towed behind watercraft whilst sitting in unicorn floaties, and wearing novelty sunglasses seeing massive spikes, it’s almost enough data to argue that I somehow managed to get a life.

Almost.

What it really means is that it'll be short work to wrap up this month's speed reviews. July's first book review was covered in a previous post, so that means I only have three left. So, let's get to it!

(Re-read of) Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha, #3)

Delightfully tense, with interesting world-building and tons of pseudo-Russian mythos, The Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo is an engaging adventure read. The book braintrust gave it a big old group thumbs up, despite consensus that the two main characters, Alina and Mal, are probably the most worthless and whiny protagonists ever.

Yeah, I said that. This series manages to be great DESPITE having seriously worthless main characters. But how is that possible? Somehow, through some powerful black magic, Bardugo manages to overcome the near fatal flaw of centering her story on whiny bitches by building a rich (and frankly engrossing) world, creating a first rate bad guy that somehow manages to give us all the feels until the very end, giving us a mystery worth solving, and building a badass supporting cast that we WANT to follow to the ends of the earth.   

Book one is a little juvenile, with its “Does he like me? Does he really like me?” romance subplot and a somewhat unremarkable "forgotten orphan turns out to be a very remarkable orphan” story arc, but it’s fairly enjoyable in a The Selection or Harry Potter Sorcerer’s Stone kind of way.

Orphan comes of age/manifests powers/gets chosen for the quest, gets sent off to mysterious school, and finds herself the key piece in some larger battle between good and evil. Rinse. Repeat.

Book two is when shit goes down. People choose sides. We question people’s motives and allegiances. We meet the best character in the whole she-bang-a-bang. A town gets torched. Evil is unleashed. 

Book three is where you forget entirely that book one was so juvenile. Everyone is in mortal peril and the best witty banter comes from a disembodied voice in the middle of a skirmish. Oh, and the ending… THE ENDING… It had Cynthia pinging me with urgent “NO…. This cannot be what’s happening” facebook messages and Kristina, who hit THE key "NOOOOOO. She did NOT do that! Tell me that she didn't do that..." scene while waiting for me to pick her up from the airport, might have asked me if I could take another lap around the parking lot so she could keep reading. That good.

So read it. Don’t judge the series by book one. As the book braintrust would tell you if they had their own blog, the work put in with book one has a fantastic payoff in book three.

The Kraken King, Part I: The Kraken King and the Scribbling Spinster by Maljean Brook (Iron Seas, #1)

The first installment in this serial was a total bust for me. 

My main complaints:

• Characters with confusing names and aliases. Ugh. How many times are you going to make me flip pages to make sure that I understand who goes by what name under which circumstances? Too much work. 
• Plot didn’t appear to be driven by action (find a thing, escape a thing, kill a thing) so much as by the author’s need to get characters to hook up.
• Broody warlord broods too much. 
• Just when there appeared to be a plot, the first installment ends. At which point, the author holds out her hand and asks full book prices for what will probably be another amuse bouche of content.

No. Thank. You.

No amount of sky pirates or kraken assaulting hapless coastline could make my buy another one of these books.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas (Lady Sherlock, #1)

My second favorite book app—the NPR book concierge—had some definite misses for me last month, so imagine my relief when they came back and redeemed themselves with this gem. With her Lady Sherlock series, Sherry Thomas hasn’t just put Sherlock Holmes in a dress, she has changed the game. And it is afoot... (See what a I did there?)

Great plot, good pacing, concise writing, clever manipulation of characters from the classic Doyle canon, the introduction of new and equally interesting characters, the subtle introduction of an un-Irene-Adler-like love interest, and an exceptional ability to deviate from classic Sherlock Holmes canon while still making me feel like this book could have been written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, made this book a big old WIN in my book.   

The name Moriarty is a mere whisper. {delighted shudder}

Sarah gets special credit for scooping me on this one. She listened to it first and practically hounded me until I acquiesced to move it to the top of my queue. She was insistent that I would love it and she was right.

Protip: Pick this one up in paper or electronic media if you have a hard time following complex plot lines or the movement of a large cast of characters. While the audio book had great narration, I found the first chapter (with all of the characters and a lot of moving pieces) hard to follow at times. I had to listen to the first chapter twice. I'm convinced that this wouldn't have been an issue if I had been reading with my eyeballs. Of course, once I learned the characters and grew comfortable with the voices, it was a delight. But if this is an issue for you, do yourself a favor and go with the method that helps you digest complexity most pleasantly. 

I’ve recently started the second book in the series, A Conspiracy in Belgravia, and half of the book braintrust are counting down the days until the release of the third book later this summer. Feel free to join us in suspense. Read the book and leave some comments!