August Wrap Up

Hi folks!

Another month passed, so I’m back with my monthly wrap up. In August I got to read 11 books, 3148 pages.

The first book I read this month was Csontszüret (The Bone Season) By Samantha Shannon (as you can see I read this in Hungarian). This book follows Paige Mahoney who is a clairvoyant in this world’s London. She gets taken by Rephaite – who are the “aliens” of this world – she is assigned to the Warden who is essentially her master but of course she wants to go back to her old life and will do anything to get to it. This is a fantasy-scifi book, in a sort of utopia of our known world. I didn’t like this book, what-so-ever, I have a slightly spoilery-not-so-spoilery rant up here that you can read here.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Next up I read The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan. It was a fun little book with plus informations and short stories added to Percy’s whole story, there were even interviews in it, which were quite funny. It’s definitely good for those who love the Percy Jackson series.

Rating: 4 stars

I had a re-read this month, Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I got and read this book 10 years ago for the 1st time. I loved it as a kid. And fun fact, I never got to read all 4 books, because when I started to learn English I bought the 4th one in English but I couldn’t speak it well so I never read it. It’s been so long, I forgot so long so I wanted to start and re-read the whole series and finally get to the 4th book as well. I read other reivews that were very negative, that it basically copied The Lord of The Rings and all this stuff. I’m biased with the book, since it’s an old favourite. I can see that it does take elements from LOTR but I think it stands in its own perfectly. I might put up a review for it later on.

Rating: 5 stars

The next two were actually re-reads. My dear friend Ana sent me the English versions of Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo, along with Ruin and Rising. Earlier this year I read the first two book of the trilogy in Hungarian but I wanted to re-read them before getting to the last one in English.

So the trilogy takes place in Ravka, where we follow Alina Starkov, an orphan who discoveres that she is in fact a Grisha. And not just any kind of Grisha but a very rare one. Things take off there, she is the one who can save Ravka from the Fold/Unsea that another powerful Grisha had created hundreds of years ago and which separates West Ravka from East Ravka. It has a great villain, great character developments, great story, and an even better magic system. For the first book I only have my Hungarian review, which I might eventually translate to Goodreads at least. For the second book here is my Goodreads review. And here is the review for the last book. Also bound up into Ruin and Rising there was the short story about the Darkling, The Demon in the Woods, it was a 30 something pages long little novella. It was quite interesting to read about the Darkling’s past.

Rating:
Shadow and Bone: 4 stars
Siege and Storm: 4.5 stars
Ruin and Rising: 3.5 stars
The Demon in the Woods: 4 stars

Since I finished Ruin and Rising and The Demon in the Woods around the 28th I decided that I won’t start any big book but rather re-read some of the manga volumes that I own (I have around 70 from all different kinds).

The first re-read was Desert of the Stars: Talsha’s Night by Yuya Aoi. I’m gonna be honest I don’t know if it’s published in English. Probably it is, not sure, I had to put it on Goodreads in Hungarian so you see. The story is about a girl, Kizaki Manami and her twin brother Kenji. They live their lives when a gem called Talshas changes their lives. Honestly it’s very confusing, even for the second read it was confusing to me. The drawing is beautiful, the characters are interesting, the story is interesting. But still, to me it’s hella confusing.

Rating: 3.5 stars

This re-read is kind of the same situation like the other, I’m not sure if it’s ever been translated to English or anything. This manga volume is Fallen Moon Toui Hasumi. It’s about fallen angels, it’s gay, you should read it. If they have it in English or something. On another note I didn’t like the drawing all that much, it took back from the stories kinda to me, some felt like they were too rushed but in all it was entertaining.

Rating: 3 stars

At least I re-read the two volumes of Darker Than Black by Okamura Tensai. The Hell’s Gate materialized in the middle of Tokyo, along with it people appear with ssupernatural abilities but with those they give up their humanity. These people are called the Contractors. In the two volumes we follow one of them, his name is Hei. In the first volume we also follow Kana, a high school student, whose father died and a year later she sees him on the street. She starts searching for her father and that attracts dangerous people to her. In the second volume an MI6 agent arrives to Tokio to revive a secret project.

Back then I first saw the anime and later on, in 2013 in Hungary they started to sell the manga volumes. It’s been 4 years since I read these but I still love them very much, although Kana’s character is rather annoying. I like the drawing though it might not be the prettiest you find out there. Hei’s been one of my ultimate favourite anime/manga characters. I’m sad that the series only has two volumes, when the anime has such a nice and well rounded story. The second volume’s ending still leaves a few questions behind that are not answered, but I’m sure every reader would love to know the answers. I can only suggest to watch the anime after reading these two volumes, or watch before. Or just watch it without reading these. I’m really biased about it okay.

Rating:
Volume 1.: 5 stars
Volume 2.: 5 stars

In all, August has been an exceptionally good reading month, I don’t think I ever read this much in a month before. Though it’s true that the manga volumes help a lot with the numbers and that they are easier to read, but still I’m pretty happy with how I could finish August reading vise.