November Wrap Up
The books...
In November I finished 7 books:
- Arctic Zoo by Robert Muchamore
- Torn by Carian Cole
- The Man with All the Answers by Luke Smitherd
- A Town Called Discovery by R.R. Haywood
- The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
- The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard
- Extracted by R.R. Haywood
The stats...
The Reviews...
From best to worst:
A Town Called Discovery by R.R. Haywood
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Sci-Fi
Read via: Kindle Unlimited
Summary: A man falls from the sky with no memory of who he is or what has happened to him. He finds himself stuck in a loop, facing a series of tests which leave him dying and falling from the sky again, and again, and again, until he is able to adapt and survive.
Opinion: I wouldn't want to give much more away in the summary as the descriptions you'll find online don't reveal much more, and I sometimes find it better to go into books without knowing too much! A mild spoiler - I almost didn't continue reading this after the first couple of chapters due to how violent it was (I don't think it'd be a stretch to categorise this as a sci-fi/horror) but the plot does slowly start to reveal itself and develop. One of the more unique time travel related stories I have read.
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Young Adult (Contemporary)
Read via: Borrow Box
Summary: This book follows the story of teenagers Georgia (from the UK) and Julius (from Nigeria). Georgia is a high performing student at secondary school whose world is shattered when her sister commits suicide; through meeting people within her sister's social circle, Georgia finds herself joining a group of activists who are keen to make a difference. Julius, on the other hand, is priveliged to be a part of a wealthy family due to his uncle's position of Governor, but this privelege can be restrictive, particularly around the company that Julius wants to keep. Arctic Zoo is ultimately a book about fighting for what you believe in, and involves discussions around protest, mental health, sexuality, politics, and family.
Opinion: To start with it's unclear about why we are following these two characters with completely different lives and how they will interlink later in the story (if they will at all), but both stories were captivating. I did however feel the book was very long for what it was and I wasn't overly satisfied with the conclusion, or the way in which Georgia's storyline was handled.
Torn by Carian Cole
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Romance
Read via: Kindle Unlimited
Summary: Torn is a taboo romance between Kenzi and her musician father's best friend, Toren.
Opinion: On reflection, this was probably more of a 2 star read as I did end up skipping most of the flashback scenes, but to be completely honest, I don't hold romance stories up to the same level of critique as I do with other novels...maybe I should, but really, I'm looking for a quick and fun read with a half decent plot from a romance, which is what this gave me.
The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Read via: Physical copy
Summary: The Secret Commonwealth is the second book in the 'Book of Dust' series - this novel takes place 20 years after the events of La Belle Sauvage and follows Lyra as an adult, as she and her daemon Pantalaimon find themselves on another adventure that takes them far away from home.
Opinion: Overall I enjoyed this volume much more than La Belle Sauvage, and as always it was great to be back in this world; however, I was so disappointed in the ending! I was fully expecting the plot to head somewhere, but ultimately it ended up feeling like 693 pages of filler material for the final volume. This could have been much more concise and tied up at least one or two of the storylines, and it would still leave enough intrigue for the final book. This could have been a 4 star read if not for the ending.
The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Read via: Kindle Unlimited
Summary: 10 years after Dublin's 'Canal Killer' has been caught, a new body is found following the same pattern as before. When the police turn to the Canal Killer to support their investigation into what they suspect is a copycat, they are forced to involve the killer's girlfriend of 10 years ago - Alison - as she is the only person the Canal Killer will agree to speak to.
Opinion: Fast-paced and engaging, though at times a little unbelievable.
Extracted by R.R. Haywood
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Sci-Fi
Read via: Kindle Unlimited
Summary: In 2061, a time machine has been invented to fix a past tragedy; however, the creation of the machine has led to the discovery of the end of the world. Three elite individuals are extracted from history at the point of their death to be recruited into saving the world.
Opinion: After reading and loving 'A Town Called Discovery' by R.R Haywood, when I came across this on Kindle Unlimited I instantly downloaded it. It does have some similarities (mainly, time travel) but it's definitely a little more flawed in how it approaches certain characters. Without giving too much away, while this book does include some action it's predominantly a character driven set up for the next in the series, which I didn't mind at all, but Extracted has faced criticism from others for being a bit pointless. I felt the first half or so of this book was really strong, and while I still got through the story quickly it did lose me a little towards the end. I wanted a bit more explanation, to see how and why the side plot tied in, what it had to do with the overall mission - which I assume we will get in the next book. It's not quite 'A Town Called Discovery', but I did enjoy this.
The Man with all the Answers by Luke Smitherd
Rating: 2 stars
Genre: Sci-Fi (Novella)
Read via: Kindle Unlimited
Summary: Rachel and Dan seem to have a fantastic relationship, until Rachel notices that Dan seems to know more than he should. To start with, these discrepancies can be explained - surely Rachel just forgot that she told Dan that particular story about her past? But eventually, Dan has to admit that he seems to have all the answers due to a bizarre event that happened to him a few years ago. This bizarre ability does come with a catch however, one that will either bring Rachel and Dan closer together or break them apart.
Opinion: I intially rated this three stars but to be completely honest it took a bit of mental digging to even remember what this was about, so I had to drop it a notch; maybe it's because it was such a short book (142 pages), but novella's can be just as impactful as longer stories. The Man with all the Answers feels like a very realistic sci-fi, and in fact the science involved is interesting, but maybe it was just a bit too 'normal' for me? I can't put my finger on why else this wasn't for me!
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