Sequels and Series Binging | Feb. '21 Wrap-Up

 Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!

Once again, February was a great reading month. I'm really starting this year off strong. Also, in life news, I picked up my puppy yesterday! She is sitting on my lap as I type this because she is so dramatic she whines if I'm not paying 100% attention to her. I named her Mochi. If you want to see a picture, go check out my last reading update. 

Alright, books! As the title of today's post suggests, this month was all about reading sequels and binge reading series. I read eleven novels, three graphic novels, and twelve manga volumes. Also I read a fair amount of my TBR books, so I applaud myself for that. Of course, I also bought a fair amount of books this month, so it probably cancels out, huh? Maybe I'll start balancing my books. I'm already keeping a spending log on my books, but I'm not doing it on a monthly basis. Would you guys be interested in me adding what books I bought per month in my wrap-ups? Let me know! 

Let's get into the 26 books I read in the month of February. 

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Novels

1. The Goblin King by Kara Barbieri (Permafrost #2)
Star rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Page count: 320 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 6 - Feb. 7
Goodreads thoughts: I don’t know if I enjoyed this book more or less than the first one. I appreciated all of the references to Nordic mythology of course, but I felt like too much was going on? Like the author tried to address too much all at once, so instead of answering all the questions, it just felt like it was a jumble of things that weren’t solved. But I’m interested in seeing how the next book will play out, because with that epilogue there’s no way there won’t be a third installment.

2. Great Goddesses by Nikita Gill (ONE DAY READ)
Star rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 256 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 8
Goodreads thoughts: The most beautiful.

3. The Deck of Omens by Christine Lynn Herman (The Devouring Gray #2)
Star rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Page count: 368 pages
Date(s) read: Fe. 8 - Feb. 9
Goodreads thoughts: *SPOILER ALERT* Ahhh that was amazing! And my ship sailed!!

4. We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire by Joy McCullough
Star rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 397 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 11 - Feb. 12
Goodreads thoughts: Absolutely phenomenal in every shape and form. The poetic interludes of Marguerite’s story so remind me of McCullough’s Blood Water Paint, and that’s where I really think her writing thrives. Though of course the prose is just as incredible and made me grit my teeth in righteous anger. I feel like no one can inspire such rage in me other than Joy, which sounds like the punchline of a bad joke when written out like that. She has an incredible way of bringing silenced women’s tales to light, or bringing these larger than life women down to earth, or perhaps both at the same time.

5. Achilles by Elizabeth Cook (REREAD)
Star rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 128 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 12 - Feb. 13
Goodreads thoughts: Truly a masterpiece, though the part at the end left something to be desired (by me, anyway). Cook does not shy away from the harsh, gruesome, and gory parts of Achilles’ life and that makes it all the more tragic, of course. Side note I wonder how he would feel knowing thousands of years later his story is still told.

6. The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson (The Storm Crow #2)
Star rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 352 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 13 - Feb. 16
Goodreads thoughts: Very good, though repetitive in some places and has a lot of plot twisty moments that I feel were supposed to be more dramatic than they came across. Also the ending was a little lackluster and felt a little too safe, as in there wasn’t really a whole lot of repercussions for the protag’s side of the war. The actual fighting maybe lasted a couple of hours and everyone important in Thia’s life made it out unscathed. They also managed to take down all of the big-bads that they needed to again, with hardly any casualties.

7. The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson (Truly Devious #3)
Star rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Page count: 369 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 16 - Feb. 17
Goodreads thoughts: A fantastic ending to a fantastic series! Honestly Stevie is too smart, I don’t know how she managed to think of all of that and come up with the conclusion she did. It reminds me of watching murder mysteries with my mom. Some episodes we would figure it out and some we would be sitting there with our mouths open trying to understand how the detective got from point a to point w. I’m so glad I finally read this book though, it’s been sitting on my shelf for over a year, waiting. And in a surprising turn of events, all of my questions were answered and every loose end was tied up. Well done, Maureen Johnson.

8. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Star rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 296 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 17 - Feb.22
Goodreads thoughts: tw: death, suicide

A masterpiece of love and grief and how they are the same. Something I particularly enjoyed was how easy it was to read, despite how heavy the topics were. I found myself flying through the pages. None of the hard stuff was written for shock value, but just as fact, something that kept me from being triggered (which I greatly appreciate, obviously). Although I can’t imagine myself or anyone I know of speaking and thinking the way these characters did, that didn’t make them any less real to me. I’m glad that I chose this as my first Murakami.

9. The Hollow Gods by A.J. Vrana (Chaos Cycle #1)
Star rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Page count: 409 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 21 - Feb. 24
Goodreads thoughts: A solid debut. Each of the three protagonists all had very unique voices and were easy to differentiate between. The writing was fast paced and the plot was something I hadn’t seen before and I’m curious about how the author came up with it. It was a little confusing at times but not enough to be frustrating to me. I’m excited to read the sequel.

10. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix (ONE DAY READ)
Star rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Page count: 400 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 24
Goodreads thoughts: That wasn’t scary, it was just gross? I really don’t think I enjoyed it? Which is super disappointing because I’d been looking forward to reading this book for months, but yeah, it really didn’t do it for me

11. The Devil's Thief by Lisa Maxwell (The Last Magician #2)
Star rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Page count: 704 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 24 - Feb. 28
Goodreads thoughts: As incredible as the first. I love how Maxwell talks about the nitty gritty of the times, like her Author’s Note about the Exposition and how it affected Indigenous peoples and POC. We have a Chinese POV character and a biracial POV character, and they each talk about the daily injustices they experience just for their race. I appreciate all of the research and effort that Maxwell has put into this series.

All that being said, the plot is amazingly crafted. I love how fast paced it felt even though it’s 700 pages. And that ending??? DAMN. Can’t wait for the third book.

Graphic Novels

1. Heartstopper vol. 1-3 by Alice Oseman (ONE DAY READS)
Star rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Total page count: 992 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 28
Goodreads thoughts: vol 1 - This was so soft?? I can’t believe it took me this long to actually read it. The art style is super simple with only one color, which I like, and also it’s very scribbly which makes it cuter.

vol. 2 - I love that it’s just fluff. Like yeah there are some heavier parts but there isn’t any angst between Nick and Charlie. It’s just two boys in love and that’s amazing.

vol. 3 - Some more heavy stuff, but plenty of cuteness to balance it out!

Manga

1. Black Butler vol. 1 by Yana Toboso
No star rating
Page count: 192 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 10
Goodreads thoughts: How I managed to keep myself from being spoiled for the series for thing long, I have no idea, but I managed it.

I don’t know if I’ll buy the rest of the series but I’ll most likely read them, that was pretty fun, and it feels very vintage in the art style which I find entertaining.

2. Fire Force vol. 1 by Atsushi Okobo
No star rating
Page count: 194 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 12
Goodreads thoughts: The anime completely took over my life so I’m glad I have the first volume of the manga! Also I love soul eater like a ridiculous amount so having another series by the artist makes me extra happy.

3. Ao Haru Ride vol. 2 by Io Sakisaka
No star rating
Page count: 184 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 17
Goodreads thoughts: Ahhh I love these characters so much, and I love the art style too!

4. Flying Witch vol. 2-9 by Chihiro Ishizuka
No star rating
Total page count: 1,348 pages
Date(s) read: Feb. 19 - Feb. 20
Goodreads thoughts: vol. 2 - Algernon is still my favorite, but I’m a little hamster biased

vol. 3 - I love all of their adventures! The whale is my favorite, it’s so cool

vol. 7 -  I love how we keeping getting more pieces of lore about the witches!

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Total pages read: 6,500 pages (holy shit!!)
Favorite book of Feb: We are the Ashes, We are the Fire by Joy McCullough
Least favorite book of Feb: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
DNF'd books this month: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Unfinished books this month: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Books bought this month: The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
                                             Saga vol. 9 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples

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Okay, that's all for this wrap-up! Now, I've got to go, because Mochi is getting restless. 

Until next time!