I like to think of myself as an avid reader. When I was younger, I practically lived at the library. Hell, I even got grounded from reading when my mom found me past midnight reading Goblet of Fire in my room on a school night. I was in fourth grade.
The past few years has seen a large decline in my habit. I barely reached my Goodreads challenge of 20 books last year, and I am only on book 11 of 30 for my current year challenge. It just seems like I am out of energy whenever I sit down to read or that I am forcing myself to read because I think I should.
Now, there have been a few books that get me back into that “OMG I LOVE READING” mood. Most of them are from the Star Wars expanded universe (pretty much anything having to do with Thrawn. He is one of the best characters ever.), but there has been a couple other books that caught me by surprise.
One was a book that caught my attention at Barnes and Noble because there was a comparison to Wheel of Time on the cover. It was A Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington, and the comparison has actually proven to be true. Most of the time those blurbs are there just to trap readers, and I have fallen prey to many a book I did not finish because of those little “if you like Harry Potter, you’ll love this!”
I am not a young adult book fan (for the most part).
Anyway, A Shadow of What Was Lost is the first book of a trilogy. It has magic. It has action and adventure. It has that “I really like this girl but my duty is to saving the world” plot line. The characters are intriguing and well written, and I found myself devouring it within a week. It was a great change of pace. I have the sequel right now, but I have been in a slump, so I am hoping my vacation next week will change that.
The other book that I have absolutely loved this year was Wall of Storms by Ken Liu. Now, this one started really slow, especially compared to the first in the series, but once it got going it was great. I am really glad I stuck it out, because everything came together perfectly and I am looking forward to a third novel, if there is to be one.
I hope that the rest of 2018 will include a return to feeling the joy of reading more consistently. I am thinking about getting a Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Unlimited to see if that will help (plus, all seven Harry Potter books are on unlimited which means my gorgeous, never read, hard back books will continue to look magical while I fulfill my need to reread the series).
Please, feel free to send me any recommendations for books and authors. I am always looking for new adventures. You can also add me on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/Karissabrust.
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