October 2018 Wrap-Up

Hello everyone! It’s Ariel, here with another thrilling monthly wrap-up.

I’m pretty proud of the reading that I did this month, especially when you compare it to the grand total of two books that I read last month. During the month of October, I successfully managed to double that by reading four entire books and most of two other ones. However, out of those six books, five were by the same author and more or less in the same series, and all of them were fantasy novels. So in terms of reading from a varied group, I didn’t do that great.

Still, I think I successfully redeemed myself with this reading month. Let’s get into the books I read.

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The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

October was, for the most part, a month of rereads for me. The first of those rereads was this series: the Mistborn trilogy, which consists of Mistborn (sometimes called Mistborn: The Final Empire, sometimes just called The Final Empire), The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. I actually started reading the first book before October, but I finished the majority of it in October, so I figure that it counts.

If you haven’t heard of this series before, the Mistborn trilogy is an amazing epic fantasy series set in a world unlike anything I’ve ever read before, with great, relatable characters and a plot that constantly keeps you guessing. The magic system is called Allomancy, and in order to use it, an Allomancer has to swallow a piece of metal. They can then “burn” that metal, releasing its power and allowing them to do things like increase their strength and endurance or manipulate others’ emotions or practically fly by pushing or pulling on metals. Each metal gives its users a particular ability, and most users, called Mistings, can only burn one of the metals, meaning that they can only use one of the powers. Some people, however, can use all of the powers. Those people are called Mistborn, and they are very rare.

At the beginning of the first book, we follow a young girl from the streets who discovers that she is Mistborn. She joins up with a thieving crew of Allomancers who want to try to overthrow the immortal tyrant, known as the Lord Ruler, who has ruled over the land and subjugated its people for a thousand years.

Unsurprisingly, these books were an easy 5 stars for me. I was rereading them, so of course I already knew that I loved them.

Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake

After I finished the Mistborn trilogy, I jumped almost immediately into this book, which happens to be the only book I read this month that wasn’t by Brandon Sanderson. This is the third book in the Three Dark Crowns series, which I believe is going to be a four-book series. It came out in September, I think, and I bought it relatively recently.

This series is set in a fantasy world where there is a magical island with a lineage of queens. Every generation, triplet queens are born, and when they come of age, they have to fight each other to the death to claim the throne. Each of these queens is born with one of several powers that are represented on the island—there are elementalists, who can control things like water, fire, and weather. There are poisoners, who have the ability to ingest deadly poisons and not die, and who are also pretty good at mixing poisons and antidotes. There are naturalists, who have the ability to control nature; they can make plants grow and manipulate animals. There are oracles, who can see the future. And, finally, there are warriors, who have supernatural fighting abilities and can make weapons fly through the air.

The politics and the lore of this world is super interesting. The more I read about it, the more I want to know. I’m really excited for the last book to come out.

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

Up until this point, I was following my TBR for the month pretty well. After I finished Two Dark Reigns, though, I looked at the TBR I had planned for the month, and I really wasn’t that interested in reading any of them. I wanted to read Brandon Sanderson instead.

So I picked up this book, which is the first book in the Wax & Wayne series. It’s set in the same world as the Mistborn trilogy, but 300 years after the events of the last book. Perhaps the coolest thing about these books, though, is that the world has moved forward technologically (there are now electric lights and skyscrapers, and to me, it has a very 1920s America sort of feel), but the magic is still very much a part of the culture, and in fact shapes some of the ways in which the society develops. I think it’s super cool.

I had actually read this book (and part of the second book) before, but I remembered almost nothing about it aside from the names of some of the characters, so it was basically like reading it all over again. I think I ended up liking it much more than I did the first time I read it. Maybe that’s because I’m riding the high of reading a bunch of amazing books this month or maybe that’s because it’s actually incredible, but whatever the case, I loved it.

Immediately after finishing this book, I jumped into reading the second book in the series, Shadows of Self, but I didn’t end up finishing it during October, so I can’t include it here.

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In the end, I read 4 books in their entirety and a good portion of two others, which, considering the amount of things I had to do this month, is pretty good, and it’s certainly much better than the two I read last month.

That’s all that I had for this post today! Normally I try to post my wrap-up on the very last day of the month, and then post my TBR the next day, on the first of the next month, but I wasn’t able to write this post in time to put it up yesterday, so this time around my schedule is a step behind. So hopefully I will see you tomorrow with my TBR for November!

Thanks for reading! Let me know down in the comments what you read this month, and what you thought about those books!

-Ariel