To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini | Part 1 & all the reasons why I want to read this book!

What a journey! I’ve never read the Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini, although I did hear about it quite a lot, as I’m sure most of you did. «To Sleep in a Sea of Stars» is his new Sci-Fi and essentially a “come-back”, as it’s the first one he publishes in almost 10 years! [The last book of the Inheritance Cycle was published in 2011!]

Even though I have no point of reference to his previous works, I still wanted to be part of the hype and see what this new Sci-Fi is all about. And let me tell you, Christopher Paolini delivered an incredible, well-planned, and emotional science fiction novel!

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The Test by Sylvain Neuvel | The most mind-blowing novella!

If you haven’t read «The Test» by Sylvain Neuvel, what are you doing with your life?! It’s incredible! Mind-blowing! Astounding! And many other positive adjectives that I can’t think of right now! 

The best way to experience this novella is to dive into the story blindly. The less you know the more surprised (and shocked!) you’ll be. The blurb for this book is very precise and I think it’s perfectly on point. How many times have we encountered long blurbs that spoiled half of the story? That’s why I tend to avoid reading them at all costs. (I’m the same with movie trailers, btw. Recent trailers are just a summarized version of movies and I don’t like watching them! 😀 )

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.

Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell | “Travel with wonder!”

The main reason why I love watching booktube videos so much is the opportunity to discover new amazing books! «Wonderscape» by Jennifer Bell is a new middle-grade sci-fi / fantasy that I first heard about from Jade @Jadeyraereads, and I was so excited to find it on NetGalley and also getting my request approved!

Currently, on Goodreads, this is not listed as part of a series, but I’d love to read more about Arthur, Ren, and Cecily, even their school and normal life shenanigans. I just miss them and want more of these characters, and hopefully more Wonderscape worlds (?!).

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 1 | A Spooky Graphic Novel for Adults!

Are you a fan of Graphic Novels? I love the idea of graphic novels, comics, and manga, but I can never enjoy them to the fullest potential. Graphic Novels are a lot more than just a story. They convey their message in a different way than books do, often relying on the art style and colors. While I like looking at the beautiful art, I often find that it’s not enough to substitute the storytelling of a novel.

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! 🙂

Elevation by Stephen King | One of the best short books!

I’m slowly dipping my toes into Stephen King’s works. Last year I tried his dystopian novel «Cell» and this year I decided to start with one of the shorter books – «Elevation». I’m still avoiding his horror books, even though «Elevation» is classified as Horror and even won Goodreads awards in the horror category (shocking!) you’re safe to read it because it’s nothing more than a Fiction book with elements of fantasy? sci-fi? something out of the ordinary. 

This was an outstanding story and it instantly made it to my “favorites of 2020” list!

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!). 😀

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker | “Isn’t the future always an imaginary thing before it comes?”

If you go into this book hoping to get a thrilling science fiction world setting, you’ll be disappointed. This is a Literary Fiction with just a little bit of a dystopian element that helps to propel the plot forward. This is a book that focuses heavily on characters’ choices, believes, their wishes and dreams. 

«The Dreamers» by Karen Thompson Walker isn’t a book for everyone. Surprisingly, after a very “rough” start, I slowly fell in love with the story and many beautiful quotes.

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.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo | The book that pulled me out of a reading slump!

«Shadow and Bone» by Leigh Bardugo is the first book in the acclaimed Grisha world that surpassed all of my expectations! And yes, it is still the usual YA fantasy with cheesy lines, the fake “flawed” main character with big emphasis on the romance. But however cliché it was, I loved it! 

As I will be writing this review, there might be more and more “negative” things that I will think of, but I don’t even care about them anymore. I enjoyed reading this book from the moment I picked it up until the very last page, and nothing can change that. So be aware that my rating is solely based on my enjoyment of the book.

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.

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Kill Code by Clive Fleury | Action-packed adult dystopian for fans of the Divergent and the Hunger Games!

Ever since the Divergent series and the Walking Dead TV show, I fell in love with dystopian settings. There is something fascinating about the Earth crumbling to pieces and the need to survive. I’d probably be the first one to die if something would actually happen to our Earth, but that doesn’t mean that I cannot prepare myself in the only way I know – reading as many dystopian novels as I can. 

«Kill Code» by Clive Fleury is a fast-paced, action-packed adult dystopian novel, about an ex-cop joining the NSC (National Security Council) forces. The book isn’t long, a little above 200 pages, and the only reason I didn’t finish it in one sitting (even though I really wanted to!) was that I started reading it very late at night and kept falling asleep at around 70% of the book.

Three Beach Reads | Quick Reviews!

The summer has officially begun on the 21st of June, and you might be looking for some new Women’s Fiction / Chick-Lit to bring with you to the beach. Earlier this year, I was in the mood for some quick, light reads and picked up these three novels. Not all of them lived up to my expectations, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t like them!

Let’s begin with the one I liked the most and leave the one I didn’t enjoy for last.

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.