Book Series I Finished In 2018

Hello everyone! 

How are you all? We are rapidly heading towards the end of the year with only 16 days left before we welcome in 2019. We all know what the end of the year means for us readers, all the wrap-ups! So today I will be wrapping up all the series I actually managed to finish this year. 

As many of you will know I am a big series reader, I much prefer them to stand-alone books. In some ways this is great as it means I get to really immerse myself in a new world, but on the flip side it means I am in the middle of a lot of different series and can get quite bogged down and distracted. I decided this year I would try to finish as many series as I could :-) I'll list them in chronological order and talk about my favourites at the end! 

1.  The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare - 5 Stars 
2. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare - 4.5 Stars 
3. Wintersong duology by S. Jae. Jones - 3.5 Stars 
4. The Illuminae Files by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman - 5 Stars 
5. Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan - 4 Stars 
6. Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan - 4 Stars 
7. Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo - 4.25 Stars 
8. The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix - 5 Stars

As you can see above I gave the series star ratings overall and hopefully most of you will agree with my ratings! I adored the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare and actually preferred them to the Mortal Instruments. Infernal Devices puts a whole new spin on the Shadowhunter world, placing our main characters in Victorian London. Clare manages to weave such a narrative spell, balancing plot twists, engaging story and heart-wrenching character relationships! I would recommend these to anyone who loves fantasy. 

I listened to the Illuminae Files on audiobook as I had heard they were good and man were they! There was a different narrator for each character and there were all sorts of sound effects, which made the case file format of the story so easy to digest and stay connected to. These books are a triumph of deep space adventure, featuring criminal organisations, deadly viruses, exploding planets and really witty characters. These books are for lovers of Doctor Who! 

It goes without saying that Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series would be a 5 star series. I have been loving these books for years and finally got around to reading the short story collections which accompany the main book series. The series follows a range of characters fighting evil spirits in an almost medieval magic setting. Garth Nix has a fantastic narrative style and can draw in old and young readers with these books. I really hope he continues to write stories set in this world! 

As a parting note, I just want to give a little nod to the adorable Percy Jackson! I really enjoyed diving (see what I did there!) into his world and am quite excited to be including more Rick Riordan series on my lists for 2019. 

What series have you guys wrapped up this year? Let me know your reading plans in the comments below :-)

xoxo

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Top 5 YA Fantasy Series

Hello everyone! 

This post is probably going to show my age, so let's kick things off with me saying that as a 24 year old woman I can sadly no longer class myself as a young adult. However, being a fully fledged adult does not mean I don't still enjoy reading YA as a genre. If you are old, like me, when you were a teen YA didn't really exist and all those books came under teen fiction. YA sprang to life when I had already passed into adulthood, so forgive me if some of these books blur into other age groups. 

Long intro aside, I am here today to give you a brief over-view of my top 5 YA fantasy series :-) They are in no particular order!

1. The Great Library by Rachel Caine

These books are for those of you who love books about libraries. They follow Jess as he integrates the Great Library of Alexandria on the orders of his book smuggler father. He was born into the brutal world of smuggling illegal books around the world, with no mercy shown to those who are caught by the library. Overtime the library has seized control of the world, rationing books and knowledge to only those deemed worthy. This provides and ideal environment for anarchy to grow. The anarchists like to burn: books, libraries, cities. They value human life above books. Now Jess is stuck somewhere between the two. His love of books makes him want to protect them, but his even fiercer love of his friends is tearing him in two. 

2. Abhorsen by Garth Nix

Sabriel is missing, I lent her to a friend :-)

The Abhorsen series has been going on for years, I read the first three books when I was still a teen! The book starts with Sabriel, the daughter of the Abhorsen crossing the wall into the Old Kingdom to find take up her heritage. As the Abhorsen-in-waiting she has to learn how to use the 7 bells to banish creatures returning from the rivers of death. This might sound a bit gruesome to some of my more squeamish readers, but I promise you these books are gripping. The next few books bring more main characters into play, creating a complex landscape of inter-woven stories. 

3. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke  

I love these books so much, Dustfinger was the first male character I ever truly fell in love with. This story follows Meggie and her father Mo as they run from the criminal Capricorn. Capricorn is no normal villain, he is the villain of a storybook, plucked out of his own story by Mo's silver tongue. Meggie has inherited Mo's gift, but she also has a gift of her own. Her written words can alter the story she is reading, but this comes with a price when she reads herself into a story she has rapidly lost control of. This series blurs the lines between the real and the written in the most fantastic ways :-) 

4. Tales Of The Otori by Lian Hearn 

Again, some books are missing! 

The Tales Of The Otori are loosely set in medieval Japan with elements of magic. Takeo was born in a remote village, worshiping a forbidden god. When his village and family are massacred he discovers he has mysterious skills, skills some may call magic. These skills mark him as a member of the Tribe, but his skills surpass even their levels of normal. He is the most powerful Tribe member for many generations, transforming him into a hunted man. Add to this his heritage as an Otori and a forbidden romance with the most beautiful woman in the empire and you have one hell of a good story! This book is for lovers of Game Of Thrones and The White Queen. 

5. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

This series being on the list will not surprise anyone. Cassandra Clare is well known as the queen of YA fiction after her Mortal Instruments series shook the world. Don't get me wrong, I love that series, but this one struck me more. Tessa is such an interesting character fighting between her feelings for two different men and her own strong morals. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, it follows Tessa, a young american woman arriving in London to meet her brother. Her brother never shows and she is kidnapped by the terrible Dark Sisters who torture her into revealing her ability to change into any person she chooses as long as she has access to a personal item of theirs. If this wasn't enough, she is drawn into the world of the Shadow Hunters, sworn to fight demons invading our realm. Among these are Jem and Will, two men as different as night and day, but both quickly staking claims on her heart. She must join their ranks to fight not only demons, but The Magister's harsh destructive automatons which threaten to over-run the world. 

I hope this hasn't rambled on too much for all of you! Please let me know your favourite YA fantasy series in the comments below :-) I'm always looking for new recommendations! 

xoxo

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