Ponderings of a Bibliophile

  Author: Marissa Meyer Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Dystopian  Age Group: Young Adult Number of Books: 3     Book #1: Renegades     Book #2: Archenemies     Book #3: Supernova Sixteen-year-old Nova despises the Renegades--a group of superheroes who protect and run Gatlon City--because they failed to come to her family's aid during a break-in. She is an Anarchist now and intent on bringing down the Renegades, so she joins them as a spy for the other Anarchists. She didn't expect herself to become close to her Renegade team. As someone who liked but didn't love Marissa Meyer's other series, the Lunar Chronicles, my expectations for Renegades were mediocre. Boy, did this series surprise me! With great writing, realistic emotional conflicts, strong characters, and an interesting plot, Renegades astounded me on so many levels, in a good way. That being said, this book did have a few weaknesses. First, it was kind of hard to remember which character ...

  Title: The Devouring Gray Author: Christine Lynn Herman Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy Age Group: Young Adult Number of Books: 2 The Devouring Gray is about a girl named Violet who moves to a small town after her sister's death. But when Violet finds a body in the forest near her house, she starts to wonder if the town is normal after all and becomes determined to find out what is causing the murders and disappearances. The sad thing about this book was that it had potential. The characters were intriguing, at least on the surface, but as I read on it became clear that they weren't very developed, with the possible exception of Harper. The backstory of the founders was very well thought out, but the world building felt forced and plastic. This made it hard to get into the book. However, Christine Lynn Herman's writing was so good that it had me shivering. Her tone and style match what's happening in the story perfectly. My overall rating is four out of ten stars. If you...

Author: Leigh Bardugo Genre: High Fantasy Age Group: Young Adult Number of Books: 2      Book #1: Six of Crows      Book #2: Crooked Kingdom In the dangerous city of Ketterdam, six outcasts join together to attempt a daring heist. Success means becoming rich beyond their wildest dreams. Failure means death. Whether you're looking for action, antiheroes, or romance, Six of Crows  has it all. Between love triangles, Mary Sues, and special snowflake protagonists who aren't like other girls, I was starting to lose my faith in YA literature. That was when I picked up  Six of Crows , the book that changed everything. The characters rival those of the Harry Potter series, the writing flows, and the the plot is a masterpiece. Leigh Bardugo takes all the cliche elements of the YA genre and laughs in their faces with her originality and world-building. My biggest problem with the book? I couldn't hate any of the characters! Normally, when I'm reading a seri...

 I saw this on another blog and thought it would be cool to do something similar. A: Author you've read the most. For me, that's Emily Rodda. No one's heard of Emily Rodda, but I'd highly recommend her Three Doors Trilogy and her Deltora Quest series. Her Rowan of Rin books are also really good! B: Best sequel ever. Without a doubt, Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. No second book slump at all--in fact, I'd say it's even better than Six of Crows . C: Currently Reading. Masterminds by Gordan Korman.  D: Drink of choice while reading. Pink grapefruit flavored sparkling ice drinks. E: E-reader or physical books. Physical books for sure. F: Fictional character to date. I don't really want to date anyone, so I'm going to choose a fictional character to be best friends with. Probably Hazel Levesque from The Heroes of Olympus . Or Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. Or both! G: Glad you gave this book a chance. Six of Crows ! I wasn't going to read it because ...

  Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Author: Alan Bradley Genre: Mystery Age Group: Middle Grade The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie  by Alan Bradley is a murder mystery novel about an eleven-year-old girl named Flavia who decides to solve a crime.  When a dead bird with a stamp impaled on its beak is found on Flavia’s doorstep, she is instantly curious. Later, when she watches a man die in her yard, she decides she needs to figure out  how these incidents are connected , not trusting the inspector to do so.   Do not read this book if you value your time. It is peppered with big words that are obviously just for show, like the author went through his manuscript and used a thesaurus to make himself seem smarter. While the plot is excellently planned, it’s not enough to make up for the biggest mistake  of  the book: Flavia herself. Mr. Bradley has clearly gone out of his way to make her “quirky” and “unusual.” Well, here’s a newsflash, Mr. ...

Author: John Flanagan Genre: High Fantasy Age Group: Middle Grade Number of Books: 12     Book #1: The Ruins of Gorlan      Book #2: The Burning Bridge     Book #3: The Icebound Land     Book #4: The Battle for Skandia     Book #5: The Sorcerer of the North     Book #6: The Siege of Macindaw     Book #7: Erak's Ransom     Book #8: The Kings of Clonmel      Book #9: Halt's Peril     Book #10: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja      Book #11: The Lost Stories      Book #12: The Royal Ranger In Araluen, fantasy version of medieval England, Rangers have a shady reputation. Viewed with a mixture of fear and awe, they are rumored to have powers ordinary people can only dream of, so when the fifteen-year-old orphan Will is chosen as a Ranger's apprentice, he isn't sure what to expect. Does he have what it takes to join this clandestine society? The first book,  ...