My last 5 books: Three YA fantasy, one dystopian future and one classic

1. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. People have talked so much about this book that I wanted to read it. And it was amazing! Best book of the year so far. I think the best part was how she made the whole thing seem believable by referring to the "before times" so often, making the reader see the connection between how Gilead could rise up out of the US. The Japanese tourists early in the book certainly made it believable and cemented the fact that this book is set in the real world, not some fantasy, but in a potential not-so-distant future. I liked that and it gave the whole story a creepy factor that it wouldn't have had otherwise. Offred is demure, compliant and deferential, which would've bothered me if it weren't made so apparent how she had ended up that way. She remembered the before times with longing, but was also appalled by them, which only shows how quickly people can get used to a certain state of being. This book is brilliant, not just because it's brilliantly told, but because she makes it believable.

2. Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard. I had heard a lot about this book and so I decided to read it. It's been a long time since I've disliked a main character this much. Cal is much too good for her. The author really did try to make us believe that the bad guy was a super good guy, but all my warning bells were going off every time he was mentioned. I found very few likeable things in this book. I liked Julian and Cal and Kilorn (the author writes very agreeable boys), but Mare is a selfish douche who doesn't think about how she and her actions affect others until it's too late and all she can do is to apologise. She does it over and over and over again in the book and she's so frustrating! None of the plot twists came as surprises because obvious story is obvious. This book gave me nothing and seeing how the reviews decline with each following book I won't be picking up the sequel.

3. Grace and Fury, by Tracy Banghart. I got this one in an OwlCrate. The story is about two sisters: Serina and Nomi. Half the story is told from Serina's POV and the other half from Nomi's POV. The two sisters can't be more different, but they end up in situations that none of them were prepared for. This results in huge character growth for both of them, with the slight problem that as they both grow as people they also grow more similar as characters. I was probably a bad idea to read this book immediately after Red Queen, because the Nomi part of the story is extremely similar. Like remove the magical abilities in Red Queen and you have the Nomi part of Grace and Fury. Same setting, same bad guy, same plot for revolution. When I first started reading I didn't like Serina one bit, but as the story went on she became my favourite sister and her parts became the ones I looked forward to while I read about Nomi making the exact same mistakes as Mare did in Red Queen. It was actually pretty hilarious when I think about it. In the end I liked this book and I want to see what happens next, and especially if my dear Malachi survives.

4. Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo. Give me thieves in a fantasy setting and I'm a happy girl! I absolutely loved this book and I loved Kaz to bits. Nina and Matthias had me sighing "Just kiss" at the book. Inej broke my heart when she turned down Kaz even though I absolutely understand her reasoning. It took me two chapters and then I didn't want to put the book down. The twists and turns came by so quickly that I didn't have time to anticipate them all and the fast-paced plot kept me on my toes. I adore every single one of Kaz's crew, but Kaz is the glue that keeps it all together. Kind of like Kelsier in the first Mistborn book, although I'm afraid to make that comparison; if something happens to Kaz in the next book I'll be so mad. As soon as I finished this book I went online and ordered the sequel as well as the other three books in the Grishaverse. I'm in love.

5. En attandant Godot, by Samuel Beckett. This book cracks me up. I first read this while studying French at uni and it was one of the few books we read back then that I actually enjoyed reading. It's easy, funny, witty and surprsingly deep. We spent a whole class analysing this book and discussing whether they were actually waiting for a person or whether they were waiting for God to come and take them away from this life, and I'm not going to get into that here. This book was well worth a re-read and I'll be keeping it for a few more years.