A Gathering of Shadows
V.E. Schwab
Kell is plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, he is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila. As Red London prepares for the Element Games - a...
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Comment from [Reddit user] with 5 upvotes on /r/books/
I'm a teen librarian who mostly reads YA for review purposes and for reader's advisory.
Finished:
Somewhere Only We Know, by Maureen Goo - 4 Stars, cute rom-com type of book; reminds of Roman Holiday but in Hong Kong. Quite frankly, this feels more new adult than teen, as the guy is 18, lives on his own, has a job, and on his gap year and the girl is 17 but working full time as a K-Pop star and is basically treated like an adult.
Skyward, by Brandon Sanderson - 5 Stars, probably my favorite book I've read this year. It's got flight school and Doomslug, what more can I ask for in a book? It gave a lot of Ender's Game vibes but with more humor. I've actually never read Sanderson before but now I'm looking forward to reading all of his adult titles.
Romanov, by Nadine Brandes - 2 Stars, completely revises history and adds a pointless magic system that isn't explained until about 97% of the way through the book. It was just so meh and I couldn't move past how they made Nikolai the most humble, kind, generous, loving ruler in the history of ever and Rasputin into Nastya's personal hero. Gag me with spoon eye roll
Currently Reading:
We Hunt the Flame, by Hafsah Faizal - ARC I'm reading for review - I'm almost done (at about 85%) and I just feel meh about this. Too much purple prose, very dense, not as exciting as it thinks it is. It's not terrible and it doesn't make me angry, it just kind of bores me. I'll probably give it a 2.5-3 star.
Kingsbane, by Claire Legrand - ARC I'm reading for review - again, purple prose out the wazoo. I read the first book and thought one storyline was a 1 star and one was a 3 star. I was curious enough about what was going to happen, but now I just hate both characters and think the whole thing is just dumb. Also, the book opens with a character talking about period sex! Thanks, I hate it!(This is why we need new adult designations in publishing and libraries... this isn't teen in tone or content.)
A Gathering of Shadows, by V.E. Schwab - This is my audio book this week. About halfway through, really enjoying it, will probably be a 4-4.5.