Another long overdue wrap-up! In May, I read no less than 20 books, 11 of which were written by Rick Riordan. I’m sure certain people will be proud (they know who they are), and I had a lot of fun reading them! #readriordan, people!
Sarah J. Maas – A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3)
This series has been quite a rollercoaster of events and emotions, and I really like how Feyre’s story was concluded! She finally went through some much needed character development, and some of the other characters did as well. Furthermore, the plot was highly enjoyable, if not a little too predictable at times. Maas clearly tried to add more diversity to her book, but to do so, she resorted to harmful stereotypes regarding LGBTQ+ people. This definitely ruined part of the reading experience for me, because I hate to see people get hurt over this.
Nicci French – Zondagochtend breekt aan (Frieda Klein #7)
This was definitely an intriguing new story in the Frieda Klein series, but it was too predictable to really get suspenseful. The characters in this series are quite fascinating though, and I really like Frieda herself. I’m very curious about the endgame in the next and last installment!
Rick Riordan – The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus #3)
Read my review of the Heroes of Olympus series here!
Rick Riordan – The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus #4)
As I said, you can read my review about this awesome series here!
Rick Riordan – The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus #5)
To read my review of Heroes of Olympus, you can click this link!
Ted van Lieshout – Schuldig kind
Read this book as a part of my thesis research, so I didn’t write a review. But I still think it counts, so I’m listing it!
Rick Riordan – The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles #1)
Find my review of The Kane Chronicles here!
Marjolijn van Heemstra – En we noemen hem
This was a fascinating and honest portrayal of how facts get rewritten over time and how families only want to remember what they want to remember.
Frederique Schut – Met Muijs
Another book I read for my thesis research.
Shira Keller – M.
An another one.
Rick Riordan – The Throne of Fire (The Kane Chronicles #2)
My review of The Kane Chronicles can be read here!
Marissa Meyer – Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5)
The most fascinating thing about this book is that Meyer wrote an origin story that doesn’t really make you feel sympathy for the villain. Levana is an interesting and troubled character, and it was nice to get to know more about her. I’m especially curious to read more about Winter now, though!
Rick Riordan – The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles #3)
To read my review of The Kane Chronicles, click here!
Donna Freitas – Unplugged (The Wired #1)
I heard quite a lot of good things about this book, so maybe my expectations were too high. Anyway, this book was down-right disappointing. The writing was cringy, and the main character barely went through any growth. The virtual world is introduced as something that’s supposed to be superior to the real world. To make sure there would be no unfair treatment based on looks (read: discrimination/racism), all inhabitants of the virtual world got a ‘caucasian’ skin tone and the same basic features concerning length and weight et cetera. This might have been interesting, should it have worked. But of course it doesn’t, because it’s not true. There’s still a ton of discrimination, now based on how rich people are and thus how many apps/upgrades they can afford to make themselves look better. Because of that, this whole virtual world, including the main character, is entirely superficial. The main character doesn’t have parents in the virtual world, but her best friend considers herself to be her sister and her parents claim to consider her ‘almost’ family. It’s the ‘almost’ that bothered me, because their additude towards the main character is compared to adoption/foster care, but the main character still lives in a special house for kids without parents (basically an orphanage) and the way she’s treated by her supposed foster family is not at all as accepting as you would wish. Her best friend dismisses all concerns for her real family and only seems to like her if she acts the way she wants. Even more harmful is that almost all girls love the popular playboy, including the main character, even though she claims not to and he proves to be untrustworthy and flat-out horrible multiple times throughout the book. Another cliché: when the main character returns to her real body, she finds out she’s absolutely beautiful. Of course. All in all, this was a really cliché dystopian. Reading this book, it felt like a harmful ode to immature bullying, toxic friendships and insecurities. The virtual world could have been a lot more interesting as well, would it have been described more in depth. But the reader gets no answers on how, why, when, or any basic questions like that.
Rick Riordan – The Demigod Files
This book includes three fun Percy Jackson stories, like the one about how the titan Iapetus turned into Bob the janitor of the Underworld. There’s also a ton of cute little extras!
Rick Riordan – The Demigod Diaries
These stories were again really fun and they provided more insight into some of the characters. It was nice to read more about Luke, for example. I wasn’t sure if the story by Haley Riordan would be any good, but it was a pleasant surprise and it definitely showed potential.
Rick Riordan – Demigods and Magicians
It was really fun to see these characters meet, but the storylines lacked some suspense and originality.
Rick Riordan – Camp Half-Blood Confidential
This was such a fun little read! It cracked me up multiple times and it was fun to read more about the characters and Camp Half-Blood when there’s no epic battles going on. I loved the scenes with Apollo, and especially the start of the book, where Nico di Angelo sings.
Rick Riordan – The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide
This book doesn’t provide a whole lot of new information, but it was fun to read and the art was a nice extra.
J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7)
Sad that my reread came to an end, but I guess I’ll pick these up again sooner rather than later!
Conclusion
So I guess May was Rick Riordan month! If you haven’t read his books: please do yourself a favor and start reading them, because you’ll be in for a real treat! And the bonus: he wrote a ton of books, so the fun never ends!
Anniek's Library 
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