50/50 Friday is a meme hosted by Carrie @The Butterfly Reads and I and focuses on the opposite sides of books (best/worst, differing opinions, etc). Every week will have a new topic and several advance topics will be listed in the tab labeled 50/50 Friday!
Favorite:
Graceling Realm #1
Blurb:
"Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight - she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. And now she is forced to work as the king’s thug. But she never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po...
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.
She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po.
She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace—or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.
With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more."
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.
She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po.
She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace—or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.
With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more."
This is my only 5 star rated book this month. I have three 4.5 stars (The DaVinci Code, Something in the Water, and A Long, Long Sleep) this month as well. Graceling is actually a reread for me but I seem to love it more after every time I reread it. I seem to go through phases where I reread this series and the His Fair Assassin series. It's always a good time of year!
Least Favorite:
The Healer Series #3
Blurb:
"The final installment of the Healer Series comes to a spell-binding close as Willow journeys to find the Gemstone Dagger and save her sisters. Battles have broken out everywhere and threats have been made to unleash the army of the Deadlands to conquer all magical races on Earth. It’s a race to the finish as Willow comes face to face with the evil that has threatened her happily ever after with Declan. Confronting a bitter enemy, a Vampire Lord, and winding up through a deadly labyrinth in a sky castle forces Willow to make a deadly choice. When it comes to choosing between the one she loves or saving her sisters, which will she choose? Can she truly save the world and bring balance back to nature? Sacrifices will be made, friends will be lost, and a mind-blowing secret will be revealed that changes Willow’s life forever."
I started rereading this series last month and I finished it out this month with the final installment. I just really don't like this series as much as I did when I originally read it. I'm going to write a whole post on my new opinions and what changed but for now I'll just say that after I've been exposed to more YA, I'm more able to spot problematic behavior which this book is full of. While there is a female MC, she's utterly useless and relies on her male counterpart to do all of the heavy lifting for her while she takes all the credit. She's also an incredible whiney MC which I found very irritating. I may be tempted to change my rating to 1-2 stars for the whole series.
Have you read either of these? What did you think of them? What are your favorite and least favorite books from November? Make a post and link up down below!
Next Week's Topic: Newest/Oldest Book You Own
I’ve been in the mood for rereads and Graceling is one I want to reread desperately.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely should! I don't know why, but it's just such a great reread book. Thanks for stopping by, Jenny!
DeleteI have Graceling on my shelves- I'll have to give it a try soon. Oathbringer is my current fantasy read and I like it, but it's just so huge (1000+ pages).
ReplyDelete~Litha Nelle
I keep meaning to put the Stormlight Archive series on my TBR but I keep forgetting! Thanks for the reminder, Litha. Good luck finishing Oathbringer and hopefully you'll enjoy Graceling as much I as do! Thanks for stopping by :)
DeleteConfession: I've still never read Graceling and I hate myself for it so freaking much. I hear nothing but great things about it.
ReplyDeleteYou must read it!! It's so lovely :) Thanks for stopping by, Carrie!
DeleteI haven't yet gotten around to Graceling, but I'm glad to see it standing the test of rereads! Pandora's Box, though, is an example of how rereads open our eyes to many, many things we fail to notice the first time around! It sucks, but it's still amazing to see how much we've matured as readers since we first read a book!
ReplyDeleteIt's such a great book! They're both from the early days of YA but Graceling definitely worked out more than Pandora's Box.
DeleteThat's for sure! I was much younger when I first read Pandora's Box and I think I was still caught up in the whole 'I'm reading books' thing. Thanks for stopping by, Ruz!
I've heard so many great things about Graceling - I need to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteFor sure! I'd love to hear what you think of it! Thanks for stopping by, Lauren!
DeleteI want to try Graceling again. I didn't love it when I read it a little while ago.... I've heard the second one is better but I need to reread the first because I remember nothing!
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't enjoy that reread! :(
The second one is definitely better; it's actually my favorite of all three! You could actually just read the second one because they're only really tied together in the third novel; the first and second are pretty much entirely separate from one another.
DeleteYeah, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes :/ Thanks for stopping by, Di!