2012 December Reading List

Gravity by Melissa West – I kept comparing it to Insurgent while reading, thought Insurgent is darker and better written. Some parts of the plot were laughable and made little sense, but at least the present tense was less jarring and I got caught by the action. 3/5 stars

Iced by Karen Marie Moning – I picked this one up solely for the cover, I didn’t even bother to read the book description. I found it quite entertaining, though I’m still puzzled what’s the targeted age audience. Some mysteries are left untold, but this is the bane with the series. And I wish the lead character wasn’t 14, ewww. 3/5 stars

The Butcher of Anderson by James S. A. Corey – Interesting take on Fred’s past. 3/5 stars

Halting State 2: Rule 34 by Charles Stross – My first encounter with Mr. Stross’ prose did not go so well. The second person POV took a little to get used to, but the main problem where the characters and the disjointed plot that failed to held my interest. I abandoned the book after reading about half of it. 3/5 stars

Mistborn. The Fallen Empire by Brandon Sanderson – The length of the book intimidated me a little (I read like three big books this year that took a lot of my time and in the end I wished they had been much shorter), but it turned out to be amazingly good. Mr. Sanderson has a new fan! :) 4/5 stars

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan – I think this would have made a better impression if I hadn’t read Ready Player One recently. The way it was, it just wasn’t good enough. 3/5 stars

Gods of Risk by James S. A. Corey – I didn’t feel as invested in this story like I did with the novels. Maybe short prose doesn’t quite work for them. 3/5 stars

Dincolo de noapte. 12 fete ale goticului, edited by Oliviu Craznic – Gothic is not exactly my cup of tea, but I liked George Lazar, Liviu Radu, and Laura Sorin’s stories. 3/5 stars