I have not updated my blog in a very long time. This is mostly because of my super busy schedule and also lack of motivation to almost anything worthwhile.  However, I have finally gotten myself out of the part-time job and my school is almost over (finishing up my master degree thesis). Now, I have loads of time to kick-start this blog again and I am so thrilled to write again!!

Moving forward, I will make my blog posts more streamlined and recurring. That is one of the things I promised myself to do in this year.

So, this series is called Books I read recently. This is something I have been seeing everywhere within the book reader community. I think it is a very efficient way to read the books and talk about them without having the pressure of a TBR or monthly book count! It has been working out very well for me and I want share some of the books I read recently with you!

I started up the year with the Scythe trilogy and it was such an amazing read. This is a story set in a Dystopian society but in a good way. The world as we know it today has ended and a new era of AI,immortality and human stupidity rose to light. In this society death is not such a big deal as it is now. Everyone living are immortals and they can set their age back how many ever times they want! However, you can’t let the society grow without bounds, that is why Scythes are present. Their duty is to kill. When a person is killed by a scythe they can’t be bought back to life.

The story of the first book starts with Citra and Rowan two kids from different walks of life. One day honorable Scythe Faraday decides to have an apprentice – because he grew old and tired of killing people! However, he finds two people whom he likes to give the opportunity but only one can be the apprentice. Therefore, he decides to make them earn the position. He takes them into his wing and gives them scythes training. This is particularly stressful and deals with both Citra and Rowan’s emotions. Killing people is not normal, and what do you do when that will be your new normal if you win the competition?

Now you can see why these books are so awesome. Both Citra and Rowan are teenagers and they were given training to kill – different ways to kill I might add. This can be psychologically disturbing and we see this throughout the book. I especially felt the tone of the book was very well set. The author talks about ethics and dilemmas. This is very interesting to see. Also, there is a lot we can compare to our current state of the world. It was so amazing for me to read these books and I am only wondering why it took me this long to get to them. I mean the first book of the series was sitting in my shelf for a year! .HAHAHA. I highly recommend this series, if unique and different books are your cup of tea!

The diviners by Libba Bray is the first book in the four book series. This series is set in 1920 New York where the society didn’t have the same notions and ideals as we do now. First of all, this was a great read for me. I won’t say it is a five start read but it is definitely a solid 3.5. Since this is not a review blog, I won’t be talking too much about the analysis.

So, the story begins with Evie O Neil getting kicked out of her boring hometown and to stay with her uncle in New York. Evie is so excited for this opportunity – mainly to go party at a speakeasy or got to a mall or theater or hundread other New York pleasures. However, she gets tangled up with a very cool occult murder mystery which she tries to solve along with her Unc. She meets a swell guy, Sam Loyd – has a complicated relationship with Evie. Jericho, student of her uncle, might have some secrets of his own – by the way amazing. Upon coming to New York she also reunites with her best friend Mable Rose, which leads to her meeting Theta (mysterious but amazing gal). Evie runs along with this crew of Mable, Theta and Harvey (theta’s supposed brother) to enjoy the life in New York. However, the fun is vert short-lived – because there is a serial murderer loose on the streets of New York. We also follow Memphis Campbell, a black kid running numbers. He is experiencing very strange dreams and seemed to have a power of his own. How it is all related – unravels in this very swell 1920’s occult mystery book.

I am so glad I picked this book up. I really liked the vibe of 1920 New York and the culture is so much more different! Though it was a huge book it didn’t take up a lot of time. It was very fun to read what Evie’s next adventure is.. Very interesting plot that keeps you at the edge of your seat. I might add that this book might not be for everyone but if you like 20’s and have a penchant for anything occult.. this is a great read!

The Guinevere Deception by Keirsten White is not a great book, but definitely worth a read if you are into Arthurian Legend. I was very into Merlin Tv show in Netflix so I had to pick this book up. In this book, Arthur marries a southern princesses Gunievere. However, you come to know very shortly that Gunievere is not really the original Gunievere. You will discover that she is a witch and knows how to use magic. It is very surprising because Arthur has done everything in his power to eradicated magic from Camelot and even drove Merlin away because of the very reason. So the story is about protecting the King Arthur from the looming darkness around the edges of Camelot. Merlin sends in Guinevere to protect Arthur. Now it is her duty to learn the ways of Camelot and make sure Arthur is safe from danger.

However, the story is a re-telling so Kiersten White did take some liberty in changing some of the story to fit in. I like that aspect because most of it did follow the original plot. This book is set after Arthur was made King of Camelot. I would have really liked to see the real fight with the Dark Queen. Throughout this book you do know that the Dark Queen exists but you never really get to see the actual fighting. Basically I expected a lot of sword fighting. Hahah. Overall, I would say this is decent book but not her best one! So, if you are very into this sort of Kings and knights and magic, may be you could give it a shot. For me, I would say the book was a miss. It was well written, the story is great.. but I don’t know, something about it didn’t make sense. hahah

So, these are the books that I read recently. Some of them I liked and some of them I didn’t. Overall, I would say it was pretty good reading sprint!

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XOXO

Sritha Bandla