My past 5 books: YA, a classic and fantasy

1. A Sky in the Deep, by Adrienne Young. This is a book I got in an OwlCrate a while back. I started reading not expecting much, but it turned out to be really good. I wouldn't say that I love it and the plot is pretty simple and common, but it's a plot that works. It really works even though an attentive reader sees pretty much every twist coming from a mile away. Even so I really enjoyed reading this book and it was one of those reads that I just didn't want to put down.







2. Thérèse Raquin, by Émile Zola. I read this as an old Swedish edition that I got from my grandmother. I thought I had read it before, but I mixed up the title with Thérèse Desqueyroux. This book was a lot less "classic French" than I expected. Not so much melancholy, but more about moments and actions. I could draw parallells partly to Thérèse Desqueyroux, partly to Madame Bovary and partly (actually) to Le Père Goriot. It's this whole piece of life writing that makes it seem like so many classical French authors drew inspiration from each other. Anyway, I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. French literature was so ruined for me when I studied French literature, that I just expect everything to be a hard read that the author has made more complicated than necessary just for sport. But this book was really good and I could actually see myself reading it again.

3. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. I've seen the movie more than once, and I really wanted to read the book. And I loved it. Just like I love the movie. Death is a great storyteller and the random tidbits throughout the book just struck my fancy rather than being annoying. I just really enjoyed this book.










4. Half A War, by Joe Abercrombie. Finally got around to reading the last book in this series! The funny thing with this series (and with Abercrombie's writing in general) is that you keep discovering that you don't really know this character liek you thought you did. In the first book I liked Yarvi and felt for him, in this third book I'd just rather he wasn't. Or didn't. Anything he did throughout this book I'd just rather he didn't. Yarvi is so ruthlessly ambitious and clever that he never once stops to consider what consequences his actions might have. Princess Skara was the main character of this book (like Yarvi was the main in the first, and Thorn Bathu was the main in the second) but Skara seemed so... flat. I actually had to pick out the book and read the back cover to remember her name. And Skara just kept giving me Elizabeth Swan vibes throughout the whole story. Thorn Bathu was consistently the best character in this book, just like she was in the last one. I also really liked Raith.

5. Sharp Ends, by Joe Abercrombie. Abercrombie's first collection of short stories. They all tie in to the books in the First Law universe. Same places and mostly familiar names, cities and characters. My favourite stories were the ones featuring Shevedieh. There's something romantic about thieves in fantasy settings that I just really enjoy. And if you add the obtuse Javre and the douche Carcolf to the mix you have a romantic comedy! Yes, really. Anything featuring the Northmen was also good but for an entirely different reason. I just love how blunt they are and how simple they make life seem even though they're surrounded by war and death. This was a really enjoyable collection. The stories I didn't enjoy reading were properly distanced between the really good stuff so when I was done with it the feeling was that it was really good. But there are some stories that were a drag. Like the very first one.