What I'm Reading Now

written by Betsy Flak on 2017-03-27

Over the last three months, I've been busy reading (and writing and editing of course). Of the six books I read over this time--which is a lot for me, though I know it's peanuts for a lot of you out there--I picked my three favorites. You can find all my reviews on my Goodreads page.

Side note: The first book is an anthology of short stories from different authors, set in the same village. I got the rest of the books from Instafreebie. Both of these (anthologies and Instafreebie) are strategies I use to find new authors and new books. For other tips on finding new books, click here.

Without further ado, here are my three favorite books that I read between January and March 2017 (plus an honorable mention):

• First Place: Thieves' World, anthology edited by Robert Asprin
  • In a nutshell: Collection of short stories set in a magical, medieval town called Sanctuary. Each story is written by a different author and told from the perspective of a different character. Characters can cross over between stories.
  • Read if: You enjoy high fantasy and short stories.
  • Skip if: It annoys you to try to keep track of minor characters in one story that become major/main characters in another (not that you have to keep track of who's who to enjoy each short story).
  • Disclaimer/Notes: I really enjoyed this book overall, although I found some short stories to be more fun or interesting than others. But that's one of the positives of an anthology of short stories: if you don't like one, pretty soon you're done with it and on to the next!
    
    
• Second Place: Soul Survivor by Susan Faw
  • In a nutshell: High fantasy where four godlings live on Earth. Together, they take care of it and its creatures. That is, until sibling rivalry gets in the way, and one decides to take over.
  • Read if: You like high fantasy with an artistic writing style (note: this does not mean it was overly descriptive).
  • Skip if: You need a fast pace to stay interested and/or you don't like books told from different perspectives.
  • Disclaimer/Notes: First, you can get this book for free on Amazon right now -- so you know, go do it! Secondly, it did start off a little slowly, but it was worth it for the way the different storylines came together at the end. I will definitely read the next book in the series.
    
    
• Third Place: The Harvesting by Melanie Karsak
  • In a nutshell: Zombies! With a kick-butt heroine killing them left and right. Plus some magic. Plus a bit of a love triangle.
  • Read if: You want a fast, easy, exciting read.
  • Skip if: You prefer a more artistic writing style.
  • Disclaimer/Notes: While the writing style wasn't my favorite, the exciting storyline mixing apocalpyse survival with zombies and magic more than made up for it, although the romance sub-plot felt a little clunky. Regardless, I'm going to read the next book in the series. Side note: there were proofreading errors, but not to the point where it was difficult to read. They might be constrained to the Instafreebie copies.
    
    
• Honorable Mention: Academia of the Beast: A Dark Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by K.N. Lee
  • In a nutshell: Like the title says, Beauty and the Beast, retold. In this case, Beauty is a witch, and the Beast and his family hunt witches.
  • Read if: You like fairy tale retellings.
  • Skip if: You like detailed world building.
  • Disclaimer/Notes: This was a cool premise, and I think I enjoyed the book primarily because of that (and I'm a sucker for fairy tale retellings). Outside of that, the world-building was confusing (I think it's set in the future? After a big war? Maybe?). The pace was also not quite right. For me, the first two-thirds were enjoyable, gently building to the end. Then the end was over in a blink of the eye. So, while I enjoyed the book overall and wouldn't hesitate to read another book by the author, I'd rather continue searching for other new authors. Side note: there were also several proofreading errors, but that could be constrained to the Instafreebie copies.

Want more book reviews? Check out my Goodreads page to see what I'm reading and all my ratings and reviews.

And that's it. Now I'm off to continue reading Gates of Heaven by Pamita Rao. I've hardly started, so no early thoughts yet.