How to Save a Life by S.D. Robertson | The shot of positivity I desperately needed!

For my second book of June, I went with «How to Save a Life» by S.D. Robertson and I’m so glad that I did! After picking up several books and not really feeling any of them, I craved something light, fast-paced but meaningful at the same time. And that’s exactly what I received. 

«How to Save a Life» was the shot of positivity I so desperately needed. I just wish this book had a little bit more editing done to it, as it reads like it’s meant for an older generation while the message it carries is meant for everyone, and the sooner you learn it the better it will be.

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Starsight (Skyward, #2) by Brandon Sanderson | Continuing my journey through Brandon Sanderson YA books!

Here we go again, talking about yet another Brandon Sanderson book! 2020 is going to be a very Sanderson heavy year and I’m loving it so far. I’m yet to dip my toes into the Cosmere world, but I will be starting «Elantris» very soon as I want it read before the live show of Cosmerealong, which should take place sometime mid-March. 

I have now successfully read and loved all of his YA Sci-Fi books, starting with the Reckoners trilogy and finishing with the 2nd installment in the Skyward series. It feels good to finally be able to cross these books off my never-ending TBR list. 

This review might contain minor spoilers for the first book – «Skyward», so if you haven’t read that one, I’d recommend reading the book (and my review *cheeky self-promotion included*) first and then come back to this post! 🙂

Skyward (Skyward, #1) by Brandon Sanderson | M-bot & Doomslug are my favorite non-human characters!

I wouldn’t have started this book in January if it wasn’t for Rafaella @The Portuguese Bibliophile. Thank you, for suggesting to buddy read this book with you, and also thank you for going along with my crazy idea to start it immediately and read 100 pages per day to finish this book in less than a week!

This was my first ever time reading a book with someone else. I’ve never participated in book clubs before, I never did buddy reads. I guess I’ve done some read-a-thons, but most of them have prompts to follow, so everyone was reading different books for the same prompts. And I had so much fun! To be able to discuss the “spoilers” was a lot of fun (and also quite weird in the beginning, as my mind kept saying – those are spoilers! you aren’t supposed to say them out loud!). 😀

Saving Missy by Beth Morrey | Is it really for readers of «Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine»?

This happens every single time! The publishers pitch the book as “perfect for readers of…” and I immediately fall for it, especially when they reference it to «Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine», which was my favorite book of 2018.

Will the readers of «Eleanor Oliphant» find similarities and love «Saving Missy» just as much?

My answer is No. BUT! (there is always a “but”, isn’t there?) «Saving Missy» has the same feeling of warmth and wholesomeness as «Eleanor Oliphant» did. So if you loved it because of how attached you grew to the character and how much you wanted her to do well, «Saving Missy» will be perfect! However, don’t expect any mysteries or funny moments. 

The Hive by Barry Lyga, Morgan Baden | Not as good as I expected it to be.

I wish I could say that Barry Lyga swept me off my feet with his recently released new novel «The Hive». I wish I could say that it was the most amazing sci-fi I’ve read in a very long time. At least, these were my expectations going into this book. But it didn’t deliver. 

We all know that creating too many expectations can go very wrong sometimes, and this was probably the case. While I loved the somewhat dystopian world created by Barry Lyga, I didn’t care for Cassie and believed her character to be very shallow and undeveloped.

IGIST by L.S. Larson | Download free App and experience this new immersive sci-fi!

«IGIST» by L.S. Larson is a new YA Science-fiction with the most unique reading experience!  You can read this book as a normal physical copy that contains a few images that can interact with the IGIST app (at least that’s what the book states in the beginning). Personally, I switched between my Kindle, as I got a copy from NetGalley, and the IGIST app, that is free for download for Android and IOS. The app is quite impressive and I don’t know why more people didn’t think about this concept before. 

In the app, as you progress through the story you unlock achievements and gain points. I didn’t finish reading the book in the app, as I prefer to read on my Kindle, but for someone who has more advances phones with big screens, this app will be perfect, and it makes the reading experience very unique, you feel like you are achieving something as you read. Which is amazing! And I already can see this concept attracting the younger generation.

download the app

Limited Wish (Impossible Times #2) by Mark Lawrence | Paradoxes and some more D&D campaigns!

A good mathematical proof is a gem. It sparkles in the same way, and like a diamond, it’s impervious to time. It takes and multiplies the light of understanding, refracting it through many facets.

Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence

I’m so glad that I had an opportunity to read the two books in the Impossible Times trilogy back to back. «One Word Kill» was an amazing “introduction” of the time traveling concept and the main characters, but «Limited Wish» brought the story to the next level, introducing even more dark and twisted moments.

You can read my review of «One Word Kill» here, but I will try to stay away from the spoilers and give a quick overview of improvements and things I enjoyed the most about the second book in this new Sci-Fi trilogy by Mark Lawrence.

One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence | Mind-bending time traveling & great D&D campaigns!

Being a huge fan of MMO RPGs and a World of Warcraft addict for over 6 years, Mark Lawrence’s new YA Sci-fi book hit all the right buttons!

Filled to the brim with mysterious events, science, and Friday nights D&D sessions,  «One Word Kill» is a perfect mix of Stranger Things, Dark Matter and The Fault in Our Stars, with a very unique presentation of time traveling.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman | Immortality and Political Intrigue in the Utopian world where “murder” doesn’t exist! Or does it?

Neal Shusterman created a world where technological advances brought humanity to the point of immortality. There are no illnesses, no disease or viruses. The human system is equipped with smart nanites that can battle every natural cause of death. They provide the painkillers when necessary, they repair organs in case of damage. And if you happen to be “deadish”, the Thunderhead (the Artificial Intellect) employees will revive you in 3 to 4 days, without any consequences, and even offer the best ice cream you’ve ever had.

In this utopian world, where people can live for thousands of years, marry multiple times, have many children, the population growth has to be controlled. And that’s why the Sythedom was created. Separate from the Thunderhead, Scythedom is responsible for “gleaning” people.

Mimic (#2 The Prodigy Chronicles) by C.L. Denault | My Guilty pleasure dystopian with the most unlikable main character!

There is a pattern that starts repeating itself over and over – I fall in love with the first book in the series, find the concept so interesting, and then get highly disappointed by the second book. Maybe my reading tastes are slowly changing, or maybe they keep suffering from the “second book syndrome”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I saw that happening with the 2nd book in the Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson. Also the 2nd book in the Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and the 2nd book in the Dark Artifices series by Cassandra Clare.

Whisper by Lynette Noni | A new favorite young adult Sci-fi!

There is something about Young Adult Sci-fi / Dystopian series like Divergent, the Hunger Games, the 5th Wave, that appeal to me more than anything else.

Whisper by Lynette Noni was an unexpected page-turner that kept me awake at nights. What can you not like in a book full of political manipulations, secret governmental facilities, special abilities, and hidden experiments?!

Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen | 5 Cool Things to use NYXIA for!

In this epic continuation to «Nyxia», following the events of the first book, Emmett Atwater and his crew have landed on the planet of Eden. But not under the circumstances they were hoping for. Their instructions were simple – play nice and extract Nyxia in great quantities, something they were trained to do on Genesis 11 spaceship.

Lies, intrigues, secrets, and betrayals continue in this sequel, as the crew tries to figure out their new alliances and set their allegiances.

6 Games you ought to know before reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I remember the first time I read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and how curious I was to discover and learn more about Art, Novels and obscure references used by the author.

This same feeling hit me when I was reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. When so much work goes into one novel, it is impossible to not want to learn more, to understand all of the references and to “educate” yourself on all of the 80s pop culture present in the book.

The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller | How dangerous your emotions can be?

There were a few books this year that I picked up because of their amazing-sounding Blurb.  New Earth and Old Earth, Sci-fi and Dystopian, this new perfect life where noone can ever harm you, where there are no crimes, no illnesses, no hunger. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations.

This keeps happening to me over and over again, and I’m starting to doubt my ability to choose good books for myself. Maybe I’m being particularly picky or maybe I am making poor choices. Or the blurbs tend to lie more often than not!

Nyxia by Scott Reintgen | Simply one of the best Sci-fis I’ve ever read!

That is correct! I read what turned out to be one of the best Sci-fi books I’ve ever had a chance to get my hands on! Even though I read this back in June of this year (Thank you NetGalley and Crown Books for the ARC!), I still cannot stop thinking about it.