Luke's Book Reviews #7: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Complex or high fantasies are always polarizing for readers like me. On the one hand, they could have great characters and an interesting world with hidden cracks for people to discover. On the other hand, they can be incredibly slow in terms of their pacing and not have the right elements in order to really make them pop. Series like Throne of Glass or A Song of Ice and Fire are great examples of this kind of genre, and while they can draw readers in, they can also turn them away due to their lengths.

Leigh Bardugo's debut novel, Shadow and Bone, was a shorter high fantasy novel that proved to be a disappointment. While the Grisha and the setting provided some interesting imagery and characters, most of the book felt cliche and incredibly underwhelming. The writing was all right but average, the main character was annoying, and the romance/love triangle was even more frustrating (don't get me started on AlinaxMal). For me, it felt like a stereotypical YA fantasy that was perfect for a crowd who wanted the same old tropes but repackaged.

Meanwhile, Bardugo's newest book did not seem to have the same problems. Six of Crows looked exciting and thrilling based on its synopsis, but it also looked much more complex, and based on the incredibly positive reviews coming in, people were enjoying it. I had my doubts, but mostly I was excited to see if Leigh Bardugo had improved from her first work.

So, was Six of Crows a disappointment? Or was it everything I was hoping for, and maybe even a little bit more than that?

Luke's Book Reviews #6: This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki

When I was growing up, I stumbled upon a graphic novel series called Babymouse in Barnes & Noble. This sparked a genuine interest in picking up the third book called Beach Babe, and I immediately became hooked. To this day, some of my funniest memories come from reading that pink, black, and white series, and because of Babymouse, I've picked up graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier and read manga ranging in genres from shonen to shojo.

My occasional thirst for graphic novels and manga still remains today, and sometimes I need a break from the occasional YA fantasy or realistic fiction book. That's why I decided to pick up This One Summer. I hadn't heard much about it going in, but I did see the Printz Honor and Caldecott Honor stamps, which meant that this book had been met with critical acclaim. Would that mean that I would like it? I decided to read and find out.;

So how was This One Summer? Was it a nice break from all of those novels? Or was it an ultimately forgettable experience?