2023 Year-End Reading Check, Part 1

I’m carrying on the tradition! This month and next month, I’ll be sharing all the fiction books I read in the second half of this year (see June and July for the first half).

Well, let’s get to it!

Hostage Run and Game Over by Andrew Klavan
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These are the second and third books in Klavan’s YA cyber-thriller Mindwar trilogy, and they were just as good as the first book! The premise is that Rick, a recent high-school grad who was too injured to accept his college football scholarship, gets recruited by a secret government agency to help them fight a war in cyberspace. An ev*l Russ*an genius is trying to take down the U.S., and Rick (along with his kickass maybe-girlfriend and various government operatives) must stop him! I breezed right through the trilogy and enjoyed every heart-stopping moment!
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The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

This is an Indian retelling of Hades and Persephone (a myth I really like). It’s gorgeously written with many lyrical lines that lingered in my mind. I did find, though, that the pacing was a bit slow at times. (The fact that I’d just read the cyber-thrillers above didn’t help, I’m sure . . . heh.) But I finished the book and don’t regret it! The pacing issue is the only one I had; everything else was great. I also really liked the demon horse, Kamala. She cracks me up!

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal

This book. THIS BOOK. . . . I LOVED this book!! It’s sad and funny and SUPER relatable to anyone who (like me) has a chronic illness. Priya and Brigid have such a cute, sweet relationship, and Spencer is so funny! I thought this novel was going to be a lot like mine, but it’s got significant differences. For one thing, it’s full of text messages, Discord chats, and has a very Gen Z feel—whereas an Elder Millennial wrote my book. Plus, it’s a horror comedy with plenty of laughs and silly situations, and my book is heavier on the suspense and—okay, I’ll admit it!—angst. O’Neal uses lycanthropy as a metaphor for chronic illness like I do, though, so you could definitely lump our books together in a themed gift bundle or something. I mean, y’know, like for someone’s holiday present . . . ;)

The Gem of Tagath by Jason Dorough

This is a novella and a prequel to Akithar’s Greatest Trick (a book I absolutely adored). It’s a heist story starring a jaded teen girl thief, and it only has one of the characters from Akithar in it—and not my favorite character. But the story is well-written and entertaining. It’s a look at Dorough’s awesome world of Teshovar from a different angle, and it expands the world/lore a little more. I hear the next full book (Lizandra’s Deepest Fear) is coming out soon, and I can’t wait!! It seems like it might be helpful to read this novella to gain some background information before reading the new book. I didn’t need it to understand Akithar, though.

Lore Olympus vols. 1–5 by Rachel Smythe

I LOVED these graphic novels!! You’ve probably heard of them and/or seen the webtoon—well, I’ve seen it everywhere—and the library finally got the books in for me; the wait list was huge! More Hades and Persephone, yay! And kudos to Smythe for giving Persephone the “correct” birthday . . . which is mine too! Anyway, these books are cute and sweet but also kind of dark and gritty at the same time—by that, I mean there are many unhealthy relationships. (It is the Greek gods, after all!) There’s a content warning in the front about that. It’s a modern spin on Olympus; Hades is like a CEO and works in a high-rise office building, they have computers and all that stuff, and they often dress in modern clothes but sometimes appear in togas. It’s kind of a quirky-girl-and-broken-boy pairing and I’m TOTALLY HERE FOR THAT. <3
 

I’ll stop here—stay tuned in about a month for the rest of the list!