books i read in aug! 📚☀️
didn’t realise i’d read mostly fantasy this month till i started making this post! august was a slower reading month for me, but i read some decent books, here are my thoughts!
1. the floating word (by axie oh) 💨
- a YA fantasy about a girl, ren, who wields silver light. she goes in a search for a cure for her uncle after he gets attacked by a monster. her path collides with an ex-soldier from the underworld, who was sent to kill her
- reads very YA! i enjoyed it; i liked the story behind the monsters and the different worlds were pretty interesting. the bond and trust built between the two main characters felt believable. i feel like ren didn’t have as much urgency as she should’ve though!! did not know this was part of a series! but i do want to read the next book
- ⭐️: 4/5
2. the kites (by romain gary) 🪁
- historical fiction set in WWII about a french boy ludo who falls in love with a polish girl. we follow his adventure of steadfast love and longing
- this book is the definition of yearning! i loved the historical setting, loved the uncle character with his kites, loved how much ludo lives in his imagination. really enjoyed this one, though i imagine much nuance must’ve be lost with the translation :-(
- ⭐️: 4.5/5
3. a deadly education (by naomi novik) 📖
- a fantasy about a very dangerous magical school where most of the students don’t survive, and our unwilling main character who just wants to make it out alive. part of a series
- the main character has such a strong personality it was like a breath of fresh air. it took me a while to get through but it was humorous here and there, and the last bit was pretty surprising..! i’m not sure how i feel about the romance (i feel like this is controversial though, seems like people really like their dynamic!)
- ⭐️: 4/5
4. rewitched (by lucy jane wood) 🧙🏻♀️
- cozy fantasy about a witch who has to go through trials to prevent her magic from being taken away from her
- i really wanted to like this! the cover is so cute and i usually love cozy fantasy. but it was so hard to get through—i didn’t like the main character, she just truly wasn’t acting her age and struck me as quite irresponsible.. and her suddenly deciding she wants her magic out of nowhere when she had been perfectly fine ignoring it for ages also didn’t make sense to me. it felt like if she didn’t have to go through these trials she would have been perfectly content going about her life continuing to neglect her magic.. and the romance between the two? really unbelievable. i don’t even know why or how they ended up liking each other, they barely interacted and when they did they weren’t nice to each other, nor did they get to know each other in any significant way. the whole concept of the trials also felt honestly a bit strange—why do you suddenly need to re-evaluate your magic at thirty and why is the deciding factor going through your memories in public instead of making you actually use your magic..? the twist at the end was appreciated though and i didn’t see it coming. but i still felt it wrapped up a bit too hurriedly
- ⭐️: 2.5/5
those were my unsolicited opinions of the books i read in august! thank you for reading my rambles and lmk what books you’ve been reading! 📖
#BookReview #bookrecommendation #readwithme #readwithlemon8 #fantasyreads
