Mid Year Book Freakout 2021

My Goodreads Reading Challenge is doing very well this year. So far I’ve read 81 books and therefore I am 34 books early for my usual goal of 100 books per year.

The difference between this year and last years challenges is that none of the books I’ve read until now are graphic novels, which I read much faster than novels. I have surpassed my goal of 100 books the last four years, but usually around 20 – 40% of the books in my reading challenge are graphic novels. This year though I have another reason for my successful reading speed, Audiobooks and a service that allows me to stream as many Audiobooks as I like, Storytel.

Now, let’s get to the tag I found in the YouTube video of BookswithEmilyFox https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3PBTwX1nw0

_____ Questions _____

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2021

This is a tough question, but if I really have to choose the prize goes to Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2) by Brandon Sanderson. You know you loved a book when you feel like rereading it as soon as you finished it.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2021

My favorite book in this series so far, The Lost Plot (The Invisible Library #4) by Genevieve Cogman was something special in a excellent series that I plan to finish still this year.

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I’m just waiting for the paperback to come out because the e-book version and the hardback are way too overpriced.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which is planned to be released on 7th of September. I’ll probably buy a physical copy for my “Silvia Moreno-Garcia” shelf.

5. Biggest disappointment.

This has unfortunately to be Sorcerer to the Crown (Sorcerer Royal #1) by Zen Cho. I had high expectations for this book after hearing so much about it. I gave it a fair chance by hearing 50% of the audiobook, but the plot development was too slow, so slow that I thought there wasn’t really a plot and if there was one that I didn’t care anymore. What also tired me in the audiobook were the way too often repetitions of character names when all these repetitions were completely unnecessary and when I knew the scene was in that character’s POV most of the time. I can only hear “Zacharias” so many times before getting completely bored.

I also can’t forget to mention the Audiobooks of White Sand Vol. 2 and 3 by Brandon Sanderson. The GraphicAudio version was very well done, but the plot flopped and finished without fulfilling its premise at all after an interesting start on Vol.1.

6. Biggest surprise.

The five star Novella Emergency Skin (Forward Collection #3) by N. K. Jemisin. Awesome, with a so well done theme! This is one of my favorite reads of this year. And the narration of the Audiobook was five stars perfect too!

7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)

Michael R. Underwood with his Genrenauts series and the space opera Annihilation Aria. These are very entertaining reads, full of action and light banter. Perfect if you just want to escape into a fictional universe during lock down.

8. Newest fictional crush.

None that I can remember right now. I’m usually not into mainly romance books or fictional crushes and of the books I’ve read this year that have a side plot of romance in them, none stroke me as being developed as something remarkable and more than an entertaining side plot.

9. Newest favorite character.

Mary Bennet from The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow, because of her heroine journey after having an abusive mother and growing up in a family where she was the weird, ugly duckling outcast. There was a romance, but it wasn’t the best in this book since it was wrapped up way too fast and without enough fleshing out. For me the most interesting thing was Mary’s journey into coming to terms with her own nature and loving herself.

10. Book that made you cry.

I didn’t cry, but attention: *Spoiler Alert*

The Hero of Ages (The Mistborn Saga #3) by Brandon Sanderson

This was such a heart wrenching finale for this first trilogy. I was so sad about this beautiful and tragic third book.

And I was also so sad about a character in Warbreaker (Warbreaker #1) by Brandon Sanderson, because he was so original and redeemed himself into sacrifice. Again something that elevated this book in a beautiful, transcendent way.

11. Book that made you happy.

The Vampire Knitting Club cozy mystery series by Nancy Warren. This is an entertaining, perfect series to binge read.

12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)

The paperback of Psychic Witch: A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick & Manifestation by Mat Auryn. Because it has such a beautiful black cover with an owl.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

I have a lot of unfinished reading challenges and 26 NetGalley ARCs I want to get to, but I mainly want to read the book I mentioned in my previous answer.

So these were my answers, and now I have a question for the patient readers who read this post to the end:

I was thinking of writing a blog post comparing Audible and Storytel services but I’m not sure if you would be interested in that or if it would be just another drop of information in the ‘interweb’ ocean. Let me know in the comments.

And otherwise, if you decide to do the Mid Year Book Freakout tag, post a link in the comments too.