Mid Year Freak Out Tag

Hi guys, I hope you are all well. Since it’s roughly half way through the year I thought I’d do this tag and talk about the books I’ve read so far this year. I’ve done this tag around this time for a couple of years now and I think it’s a good way to look back at the last six months of reading. This tag was co-created by Chanmi and Ely. Let’s get started.

 

Best Book You’ve Read Yet

This would have to go to Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay. This book was fantastic and it went straight onto my favourites list once I’d finished it. I have a full review of it if you’re interested in more of my thoughts.

 

Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far

I’m going to cheat a bit with this one and talk about three sequels, because I loved them all. The first one I’m going to mention is Wrath of Empire by Brian McClellan, which is the second book in the Gods of Blood and Powder trilogy. The second one is The Bitter Twins by Jen Williams (full review), which is the second book in the Winnowing Flame trilogy. I loved the continuation of the plot and the character development in this sequel. I cannot wait for the third and final book to be released. The third sequel is Revelation by C. J. Sansom, which is the fourth book in the Shardlake series. It was probably my favourite book of the series so far and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

 

New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To

I have so many I could talk about. I feel like I haven’t been that great at reading new releases so far this year. So some of the new releases I haven’t read yet but want to include Iron Gold by Pierce Brown, A Veil of Spears by Bradley Beaulieu, Age of War by Michael J. Sullivan, Circe by Madeleine Miller, King of Ashes by Raymond E. Feist and The Hyena and the Hawk by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

 

Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year

Empire of Ashes / book 3 in the Draconis Memoria series / Anthony Ryan / 5th July

Redemption’s Blade / Adrian Tchaikovsky / 26th July

A River of Stars / Vanessa Hua / 14th August

Bloody Rose / book 2 of the Band series / Nicholas Eames / 30th August

Salvation / Peter F. Hamilton / 9th September

The Ember Blade / Chris Wooding / 20th September

Tombland / book 7 in the Shardlake series / C. J. Sansom

The Consuming Fire / book 2 in the Interdependency series / John Scalzi / 18th October

 

Biggest Disappointment

Well I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a disappointing but one book that just didn’t work for me was The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. I had heard so many great things about this book and the whole trilogy, but I got over 100 pages through and it just wasn’t working for me.

 

Biggest Surprise

I could pick Under Heaven for this one too but since I’ve mentioned it already I’ll share a different book. The first one that comes to mind is The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi. I was initially drawn in by the cover and the blurb sounded interesting so I picked this one up on a bit of a whim and I am so glad I did. I loved this book. I hope more of her books are translated into English.

 

Favourite New Author (Debut or New To You)

This has to go to Guy Gavriel Kay. I’ve only read two books by him so far but I loved both and I want to work my way through all of his books. High up on my TBR list of his books is Tigana but as I’ve said I want to read all of his books so we’ll see what I read next :).

 

Newest Favourite Character

Wei Song from Under Heaven, Shuyan and Nishima from the Initiate Brother duology and Elin from The Beast Player.

 

Book That Made You Cry

I don’t have an answer for this one, because I don’t really cry when reading books. So onto the next questions.

 

Book That Made You Happy

Any of the amazing books I’ve read so far, I guess.

 

Favourite Book to Film Adaptation

Well I’ve only seen one this year, which was the adaptation of Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer and it was fantastic. The film definitely took some different approaches to things and deviated from the book a bit but it was a fantastic film. I thought the acting was great, the cinematography was so good and I just thought it was really well done.

 

Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought This Year

Probably the hardback edition of Circe by Madeleine Miller. It is seriously pretty and I love the details on the naked hardback.

 

What Book Do You Need to Read by the End of the Year

To be honest any book sitting on my bookshelves… which includes The Ice by Laline Paull, Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak and The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie.

 

That’s it for this tag. What are some of your favourite books you’ve read this year? I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa