discussion post – A Bookish Life

With the big finale of a certain TV show a couple of weeks ago I’ve been thinking a lot about endings and how much I both love and hate them. I can’t wait to find out how things finish but either don’t want it to be over or fear that it won’t live up to expectations.

I think this may be why I’ve developed this bad habit of not finishing series’ of books. I will faithfully read every book released, will add the final book to my most anticipated books list, will even pre-order it and count down the days to publication but once I have that shiny new copy in my hands I just can’t bring myself to read it. This seems to be particularly true of fantasy series for some reason and the more excited I am about it the less likely I am to read it any time soon.

There are a lot more than the seven listed below but these are the most recent cases where I’ve read every book in the series but the last one. I also have a bad habit of reading the first book in a series and going no further, but that would be a MUCH longer list.

Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence

So I absolutely adored the first two books in this series and have been going on and on about how much I can’t wait to read this ever since I finished Grey Sister. There has been so much foreshadowing of what’s to come I need to know how it ends but this is one of those cases where I don’t want it to be over. I have no doubt that the ending will be phenomenal but I have a bad feeling some of my fave characters won’t make it and I’m not sure I can take that.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

This series has been a little up and down for me, I was a bit meh about Caraval but I absolutely loved Legendary (Tella made a much better MC for me). I’ve therefore been a bit wary about the third and final book. It could be brilliant or it could be meh… and the reviews I’ve spied so far haven’t exactly been glowing

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Similar to Caraval, it’s the reviews that have been putting me off reading the final book in this trilogy. I’ve very much enjoyed the first two but despite owning book three since it was released over a year ago I’ve not quite managed to read it yet.

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

Umm… unpopular opinion time but I’ve just never really gotten into this series. I loved The Mortal Instruments (well most of it – let’s not talk about a couple of incidents) but the first couple of books in this trilogy kind of bored me. Not sure if it’s because it’s steampunk (I rarely get on well with steampunk) or if the whole love triangle thing is getting dull (just pick someone Tessa) but other than a few moments the first two books were a hard slog. I do think though that as I have slogged my way through most of the trilogy I should just finish the bloomin thing. Plus it seems that The Dark Artifices is full of spoilers for this and the Mortal Instruments.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

For some reason a lot of people seems to hate on this series but I’ve enjoyed pretty much every book. OK yeah there’s been some stuff I haven’t been so keen on but I do want to know what happens to Mare (stupid name) and the others. In this case it’s the fact that it’s a big giant hardback that’s stopped me from reading so far. It’s too heavy to carry about… and ok that’s a rubbish excuse and if I really was desperate to read it I would have read it by now but umm I still haven’t read it.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

I loved Strange the Dreamer but given how heavy it is on description I didn’t find it the easiest read. That style of writing and me just don’t mesh well, I need to be in the right kind of mood and have enough time (and peace and quiet) to give it my full attention. Needless to say that hasn’t happened as yet so Muse of Nightmares is still sitting patiently on my bookshelf. I will get to it, just not sure when…

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

This is probably another unpopular opinion but for me this series peaked at book two and it’s been downhill ever since. It feels to me like Maas is trying to make them too big and putting in all this unnecessary stuff (and characters). I’ve technically not finished Tower of Dawn, for some reason I gave up ten pages from the end, but I do think I’ve made it this far so should just bloomin read it. If only it wasn’t sooo big.

I actually made a bookish resolution that this year I would finally finish off some of these series but so far I’ve failed miserably. Maybe this post will encourage me to just do it… although it seems unlikely.

Have you finished any of these? Should I just read them? Do you ever put off finishing a series?

Happy reading

Ax

OK obviously I do review books, I’m a book blogger so it’d be a little odd if I didn’t post any reviews or express an opinion on what I’ve read, but if you follow my blog regularly you may have noticed that there’s a bit of a disparity between the number of books read and the number I’ve posted reviews for. I do try to review almost every ARC I receive, someone was kind enough to give me it for free so I feel I should, but there are quite a few occasions when I just don’t want to review a book. Here’s why.

I can’t find the words

This most commonly happens with books I love, I literally can’t find the right words to express how a book made me feel in any kind of meaningful way. A Monster Calls (or pretty much any Patrick Ness), ADSOM, Six of Crows are all books I haven’t been able to review for this very reason.

Honestly if I did attempt a review there would be some serious fangirling going on. Loved the author, loved the story, loved all of the characters (where’s that thesaurus I can’t keep using love). Other times I just can’t pinpoint what it was that made me feel that way, so describing it is nigh on impossible.

It’s all been said before

Does anyone really want to see my review of ACOTAR or A.N. Other book which is super popular and everyone in the whole wide world has read?

Personally I love reading reviews of these books as I want to know how other people’s opinion compares to mine but I get the feeling there are many out there who are getting a little fed up with reading the same reviews of the same books over and over and over again. I also feel like I don’t have anything original to add and anything I would say has been said before and by someone much funnier or more intelligent than me.

F.O.A.R.

Also known as Fear Of Author Reading (OK I totally just made that up). I’m fairly certain the big popular authors are probably never going to see the reviews I write and if they did I doubt they’d care, but they might. The lesser known authors however will almost definitely see it. As someone who’s kind of in awe of authors and very self conscious about my own writing this terrifies me. What if they think I’m criticising and take offense? What if my review’s poorly written and they see it? Or, even worse, what if it’s my favourite author and I didn’t love the book? What if I meet them or know them? It’s all just too scary.

I don’t feel qualified

I’ve never even written a short story never mind a book, I have no qualifications in English Lit or Creative Writing so am I really in a position to review someone else’s work. Most authors do say they want people to leave reviews even if they’re just a few words but there are certain books, generally the classics, which I feel I don’t really have a right to post a review of. Academics and experts have spent years studying these books and many of them are taught in schools. Any opinion I had would be decidedly amateur and uninformed.

Spoilers

Psychological thrillers, murder mysteries, sequels these can be almost impossible to review. You probably can’t say much about the storyline, you may not be able to talk about the characters without giving something away so what’s actually left. It was good???

There’s literally nothing to say

There’s nothing wrong with it but nothing I particularly liked either. The whole thing was just meh and I don’t care enough to want to spend the time trying to figure out what to say about it other than it was ok.

It’s not blog appropriate

I generally try to make sure my content is suitable for all ages so while I do read adult books I don’t tend to post detailed reviews (I’d probably self-combust from embarrassment if I tried anyway). There will be a quick liked it or didn’t and that’s probably about it.

I don’t want to hate on a book

I started my blog because I love books and want to chat to other bookish people. I don’t really want to write a review slagging off a story an author has spent months or years creating particularly if it’s just not for me. Don’t get me wrong if there’s something in a book I find really offensive and wrong I’ll quite happily post a big rant but generally if I don’t like it, it’s a quick “not for me” and move on.

I just want to enjoy the read

Yep sometimes I just want to read for the joy of reading without the pressure of having to write a review.

I read somewhere that a good review should be objective, unemotional and that you should provide supporting evidence for your views. I’m pretty sure this means that none of my reviews are actually any good (not qualified remember) but when I do write one I think through all of my points. What did I like or not like and why? How was the writing? Were the characters well defined or stereotyped? How was the pacing? Basically I analyse it and let’s face it even the best books will struggle to withstand scrutiny so if I loved a book I don’t want to analyse it. Partly because it may turn out to be not that well written or a little cliched but mostly because I want to just bask in the way it made me feel.

So that’s my reasons for not reviewing every single book I read. Is it wrong not to review all of the books I read? Do you?

I’d love to know what you think so please, please comment below.