Mid Year Freak Out Tag

I saw this tag last year but I never took part myself so this year, after seeing the little book owl’s post I decided to give it a go myself.

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Reading Challenge Update

A Book A Week With The Pingel Sisters

Reading Challenge Update

It’s now half way through the year so it’s time for another update on one of my reading challenges.  I’m still completely on track and I’m having a lot of fun picking books for these prompts.

Medieval-A-Thon

I’ve never done a read-a-thon.  I either hear about them too late to participate or I can’t think of any books to fit the prompts so I never bother.  However, I saw this one hosted by Holly Hearts Books on Youtube and I thought it looked fun.  It runs from 1-31st July and the upside is that most of the books I’ve already chosen for my July re-read and various challenge prompts fit perfectly for this read-a-thon.  Here’s the Twitter account

Review: The Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams

The Stone of Farewell

Tad Williams

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn #2

Hodder & Stoughton

852 pages (minus appendix)

4/5

I’ve found that the key to enjoying this series is to just accept that it’s never going to go anywhere at a very fast pace and just sit back and immerse myself in it.

Review: All Systems Red by Martha Wells

All Systems Red

Martha Wells

The Murderbot Diaries #1

149 pages

4/5

Any book which includes a protagonist that refers to itself as Murderbot is immediately worth a read.

Review: The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley

The Last Mortal Bond

Brian Staveley

Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne #3

Pan Macmillan

878 pages

4/5

Sometimes you read the last book in a series and it absolutely blows you away and sometimes you finish a series and you find it really disappointing.  Then there are series that you finish and you just think ‘that ended ok’.  The Last Mortal Bond was that.

Review: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City

K.J. Parker

Orbit

350 pages

4/5

I’ve never read any Tom Holt.  My dad owned some of his books when I was little but I never read them.  I also didn’t know that he wrote under the pseudonym K.J. Parker.  I also didn’t know that K.J. Parker had written quite a few fantasy novels before picking up Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City.

Review: Lord of Ashes by Richard Ford

Lord of Ashes

Richard Ford

Steelhaven #3

Headline

341 pages

4.5/5

I once again have to thank The Tattooed Book Geek for making me aware that this series exists.  It is a hidden gem of a trilogy and Lord of Ashes rounds off the series in an exciting, satisfying and rather bloody way.

Review: Twelve Kings by Bradley Beaulieu

Twelve Kings

Bradley Beaulieu

The Song of the Shattered Sands #1

Gollancz

4/5

Don’t say that I don’t ever learn.  I’m taking on board the fact that it isn’t a very good idea to continue with series when I don’t remember what I’ve previously read and therefore, before I read the third book in this series, I am re-reading books one and two.

I now remember the story a lot better.

Review: Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker

Mindhunter: Inside the FBI Elite Serial Crime Unit

John Douglas and Mark Olshaker

Arrow Books

409 pages

3/5

I don’t read true crime, it’s not something that I’ve ever really been into but I needed to read one for a book challenge prompt so my brother suggested Mindhunter.