Happy Monday everyone! Here are a few books that I read this month that I wanted to tell you a bit about, but not do a full on review. Most of these have been out for awhile, but I would certainly recommend you seek out a copy as they were all excellent reads!
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
Publication Date: March 2011
I so loved the Murderbot series, that I decided one day to check out the author’s other books. And I am so glad I did! This is the first book in an epic fantasy series, and it is just amazing. It has great world building, wonderful creatures, and a main character that you will just love.
Moon has been alone most of his life, but when he finally finds others like him he doesn’t know how to act or at times even understand them. He is just a lost soul that you want to hug. But he finally starts to connect to the others and finds that he can belong with them. I really liked all of the other characters in the book to.
The amazing world building is what really sets this series apart though. The Raksura are a species of shape shifters, but only some of them look like humans when they shift. They have a very intricate society with hierarchies similar to insects. Only a few of them can fly as well. There are other intelligent species in this world as well as humans, and I think we only saw a small portion in this first book.
The story was well done, with great writing a fast pace and adventures and fight scenes that will keep you turning those pages. The evil creatures that try to overtake the Raksura were very nasty, but also very interesting. I also like some of the tech, that was almost magical, that some of the humans and other species have. It was all very imaginative and fascinating.
A great start to a high fantasy series. I hope to continue as I really want to know what happens to Moon and Jade and the other Raksura.
Proof of Guilt by Charles Todd
Inspector Ian Rutledge Novel #15
Publication Date: January 2013
This one has been sitting on my physical TBR shelf for years! But when I read the most current Inspector Rutledge book this winter, A Fatal Lie, I was reminded about how much I like these books and decided to dust this one off and finally read it. Now I am in the process of figure out which ones I haven’t read and hope to squeeze a few more into my reading life in the future. Luckily you don’t need to read them in order as they are all their own story, but I do recommend that you start with the first one, A Test of Wills, as that sets up who Ian is and his backstory as well as who Hamish is and why his death haunts Ian.
There are a lot of murders and mysteries going on in this book, and unlike some of the other books in the series, there wasn’t a surprise twist at the end. But I was okay with that because even though we know who the murder is about half way through the book, how he did it and then finding the proof became the challenge. But Ian is able to prevail and the right man is finally brought to justice.
The one thing I really like about these books is the setting. I love post WWI London, and Ian often travels out to the country side in many of these books. Also, I appreciate that Ian has ghosts and what we would now call post traumatic stress disorder, but is able to use his job as an anchor and actually excel at it.
If you enjoy historical mysteries that are exceptionally well written with lots of twists and surprises, this is a series you should consider picking up.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Publication Date: September 2018
I remember there being a lot of hype around this book when it was first published and it was well deserved. This book is a lot of things, but typical isn’t one of them.
I did have a bit of a struggled with the start of this book. I think that had to do more with just being a bit confused with the different perspectives and with the main character Aiden not really knowing what was going on. Also there were a lot of characters to keep track of, not just Aiden’s host, but all of the other characters as well. But once I started getting into the story and the characters, things started to clear up a bit and I really enjoyed the mystery and the Groundhog’s Day type of story.
The mystery was well done, with lots of twists and turns and some major surprises. I did have some of it figured out, but not all of it. Then of course there was the whole purpose and reasons why Aiden and the others were going through this, that was a bit of a surprise as well. While I did find the ending to be satisfying, I am curious as to what happened after Aiden left Blackheath Manor.
The setting of Blackheath Manor was perfect. Such a creepy sounding place. Also, I really enjoyed spending time with the different hosts. They were all so different from each other, yet Aiden’s personality was able to overcome some of the least desirable aspects of them all. The writing style was also good, though it does take a bit of getting used to. Hard to believe this was a debut book!
If you like twisty murder mysteries with a lot of other genres mixed into it, this might be a book you want to give a chance. But do be aware that the start is a little bit hard to get through, but once you do you will be in for a really good story.
I hope you enjoyed these mini reviews. Have you read any of these? What did you think? Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear from you.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 