May Wrap Up

Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of The CW Torch! Today, I will be talking about all the books I read in the month of May. I read a total of five books, and found some of my favorite books of all-time. So, I can definitely say that this was a much better reading month for me, than April was. I have a lot of books to talk about, so let's get into the Wrap Up! 

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater Genre: Paranormal Fantasy (YA) Format: Paperback Dates Read: April 26th-May 8th, 2018 Final Rating: 5/5 Stars 

Synopsis: The Raven Cycle series follows a girl named Blue Sargent, who has always been told by her clairvoyant family. That she will cause her true love to die, and on St. Mark’s Eve, she see’s her true love or the boy she will kill. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby. Blue has a policy of staying away from the Aglionby boys, known as the Raven Boys, because they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. While he seems to have everything, he is looking for so much more. On a quest to find a dead Welsh King, who will grant you a wish if you wake him up. Along with his quest are Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. The Dream Thieves is book two of the Raven Cycle series, and closely follows Ronan. My Thoughts: I instantly fell in love with the second book of this paranormal series, and even loved it more than the first book. That was in part due to the character we were closely following, Ronan Lynch. I fell in love with the bad boy of the Raven Boys, and thought he had the most development out of all of the boys. He has so many flaws, but he cares so much of his friends, and would do anything to save them. We got to learn more about his family, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Maggie Stiefvater knows how to write strong and well-developed families, which are honestly my favorite parts of this series. Another aspect I really enjoyed of this book, was getting more development of Ronan and Adam’s friendship. I thought their friendship showed human flaws, and that not every friendship is perfect. But, some friendships are so incredibly strong, that you would be willing to do anything for them. If there was one thing that I felt kind of lacked in this story, it would be the plot. I thought it was very drawn out, much like the first book. Not a whole lot happened in this book, and I wasn’t really sure what direction it was trying to go in, until the last half of the book. This is definitely a more character-driven series, which I don’t mind at all, especially since the characters are all extremely well-developed and thought out. However, I did think we got to learn more about the dead Welsh King, which was really interesting. All in all, I absolutely loved and adored this book, and I can’t wait to get into the third book of the series! The Magician King (The Magician’s #2) by Lev Grossman Genre: Fantasy (Adult) Format: Audiobook Dates Read: April 24th-May 9th, 2018 Final Rating: 4/5 Stars The Magician’s Land (The Magician’s #2) by Lev Grossman Genre: Fantasy (Adult) Format: Audiobook Dates Read: May 16th-31st, 2018 Final Rating: 3/5 Stars  

Synopsis: I won’t go into too much detail of the synopsis for both of these books, because they are the follow-ups of a three-part series. Hopefully, I’ll have a full-length review for this trilogy, up on my blog soon. The Magicians follows our main character, Quentin Coldwater, who is a high school senior, but he’s secretly obsessed with a series of fantasy novels he read when he was little. These novels were about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, everything in his real life just seems gray and colorless. That changes when Quentin finds himself admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of Magic in upstate New York, were he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. But magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure and meaning he thought it would—until he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. My Thoughts: Book Two: I actually really enjoyed Book two of this series, which I know might be kind of an unpopular opinion, since many people didn’t like this series at all. However, I really enjoyed this book, mainly because I liked the world it was set in. I thought the magic system was interesting, and thought we got more development of the world of Fillory in book two. I liked that we got more of Julia’s perspective in book two, because we didn’t get much of her in the first book. She is one of the most interesting characters in this series, so I was really pleased that we got more in her perspective. I know a lot of people don’t like the characters in this book, and some of them are quite annoying, especially, Quentin and Alice. However, I love characters who have flaws and aren’t the perfect heroins of a story. The only thing I missed from book one, that we didn’t get in book two, were two of our main characters, Elliot and Janet. Besides, Julia, Elliot is one of my favorite characters, and I felt like he was definitely missing in this book. While I didn't particularly like Janet as a character, I think she is a very important character in this story. This story was definitely focusing on Julia and Quentin’s relationship, and Julia’s progression in the series. There was one quest in the second book, that I thoroughly enjoyed, and definitely added to the plot. Book Three: While I enjoyed the first and second book of this series, I unfortunately didn’t like the third book as much. I felt like not a whole lot had happened, and I thought a third book wasn’t really necessary. I found myself zoning out a lot, because the plot was extremely drawn out. In fact, nothing really happened, until the last 80% of the book. I also didn't really like the new characters of this third installment, making me miss the old characters a lot. I can’t really go into depth of this book, because a lot of it will spoil the second book. But, overall, this was my least favorite book of this series, and I thought we could've done without a third book. Part of the reason why I didn’t like this book as much, was because of the end. I felt like it didn’t really wrap up or conclude the series, and definitely ended on a cliffhanger. I have no idea if Lev Grossman is thinking about writing a fourth book, but I really think it would be necessary to do so, in order to find conclusion with the series. On another note, if you are looking for a new audiobook to listen to, I would highly recommend this series. The narrator, Mark Bramhall, does an amazing job, and provided much entertainment! Scythe (Arc of A Scythe #1) by Neal Shusterman Genre: Science-Fiction/Dystopian (YA) Format: Paperback Dates Read: May 10th-20th, 2018 Final Rating: 5/5 Stars 

Synopsis: Thou shalt kill. A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only one who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the art of taking life, knowing that the consequences of failure could mean losing their own. My Thoughts: If you are interested in hearing more of my thoughts on this book, definitely check out my in depth-review, already up on my blog. Scythe Review Diaries Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows Duology #2) by Leigh Bardugo Genre: Fantasy (Young Adult) Format: Hardback Dates Read: May 21st-May 31st, 2018 Final Rating: 5/5 Stars  

*Full length review coming soon! Favorite Book: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo and Scythe by Neal Shusterman Least Favorite Book: The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman  Thank you all for reading my May Wrap Up, this was definitely a much better reading month for me, than April was. I loved almost every book I read this month, hopefully that won’t put me in a slump, lol! Hope everybody else had a wonderful May reading month! TTFN and Happy Reading, Chynna Williams @TheCWTorch