What did you read in April 2019

[ScarletBea]

Here it is: The what did you read this past month thread.

Come share your list and what you thought of the books you read last month. We're not looking for full out reviews, just a brief couple of sentences that sum up your impressions.

This is also not a contest for who read the most books, I know some of us struggle to find time to read one book a month, and others manage a dozen. That doesn't matter, so don't feel reluctant to post if you have read less books (or way more books) than others. This is all for sharing, and if you read anything, come let us know what it was and what you thought of it.

[ScarletBea]

April was Echoes of the Fall trilogy month for me (Adrian Tchaikovsky)

I read book 1, The tiger and the wolf, and book 2, The bear and the serpent, and started 3.
I really enjoyed these books, but I fear that book 2 for me suffered a bit with expectations and plot paths (I'm liking 3 much better, though).
The premise is very good, people who Step into animals, organised into tribes, and we meet those that don't fit in neat categories. Great character relationships!

I also read a non-fiction, Decisive (Chip and Dan Heath), about mistakes done when trying to decide on big things, and tips to circumvent them.

[Bender]

The Traitor God
The Heir of Eyria
Holy Sister
As Fire is to Gold

[Elfy]

As a result of going to Tasmania for a holiday, got a little less read in April than usual, but here goes:

A Crystal of Time by Soman Chainani, this is the latest in the School of Good and Evil series. which subverts fairy tale tropes. The story and the characters are interesting enough to make up for Chaiani's short comings as an author, he gets a bit too descriptive at times and some of his word choices to use speech are just odd.

The Dark Deep by Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs, a fun and fast moving YA horror story. Had elements of Scooby Doo and Stephen King in it. Fun, without being too dark.

Cold Days by Jim Butcher, yes still going with the Dresden Files. This is a big one, but I tend to feel it hit its peak with Changes and hasn't quite been able to get the mojo back since.

The Near Witch by V. E. Schwab. This was her first book, reissued. Has definitely grown as a writer. I felt this was a bit confused and not totally explained. The world she built was a little sketchy and as a result frustrated me.

[cupiscent]

I am starting to shove my way back into an actual physical reading habit. In April, I managed:

• American Hippo by Sarah Gailey, which I think I would've enjoyed more if I liked cowboy / crime caper stories more, and also if the two novellas (River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow) were interwoven or expanded or something into one big novel. Each alone was a little thin and/or hurried for me. But I love the concept, mostly because I love hippos in all their brutal uncaring herbivorous murderous glory.
• Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor, being the sequel and conclusion to Strange the Dreamer, which was one of my highlights of 2017. This wasn't quite as magnificent as the first volume, but gave a really satisfying conclusion and a whole lot of wondrous story along the way.
• A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland, which did so many interesting things, and did them in first person from the POV of a grumpy old man locked in prison for most of the treason-and-conspiracy-and-revolutions book. I really enjoyed the voice, and I thought the world-building was masterful; a somewhat underwhelming conclusion doesn't detract from a great reading experience.

[Elfy]

I am starting to shove my way back into an actual physical reading habit. In April, I managed:

• American Hippo by Sarah Gailey, which I think I would've enjoyed more if I liked cowboy / crime caper stories more, and also if the two novellas (River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow) were interwoven or expanded or something into one big novel. Each alone was a little thin and/or hurried for me. But I love the concept, mostly because I love hippos in all their brutal uncaring herbivorous murderous glory.
• Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor, being the sequel and conclusion to Strange the Dreamer, which was one of my highlights of 2017. This wasn't quite as magnificent as the first volume, but gave a really satisfying conclusion and a whole lot of wondrous story along the way.
• A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland, which did so many interesting things, and did them in first person from the POV of a grumpy old man locked in prison for most of the treason-and-conspiracy-and-revolutions book. I really enjoyed the voice, and I thought the world-building was masterful; a somewhat underwhelming conclusion doesn't detract from a great reading experience.

I read the American Hippo books as separate novellas and I personally liked River of Teeth more than Taste of Marrow. I adore caper/heist things so that helped. The first one was just glorious, bloody flat out fun and the second felt more like the sequel we had to have.

[cupiscent]

I read the American Hippo books as separate novellas and I personally liked River of Teeth more than Taste of Marrow. I adore caper/heist things so that helped. The first one was just glorious, bloody flat out fun and the second felt more like the sequel we had to have.

YES, I very much agree. Taste of Marrow felt like it was the tidying up / consequences coming to call after River of Teeth, which I think is what made me wonder about whether they couldn't be more satisfyingly melded together into one novel, and given a little more space to really explore the characters and setting. Mostly nitpicks, though. It was muddy good fun with some marvellously larger-than-life characters.

[Peat]

I read...

The Deep - John Crowley: A Sci-Fantasy novella of incredible scope; its like someone condensed SoIaF down into 140 pages. Very rich dense prose too.

Jingo - Terry Pratchett: Disturbingly topical right now. Still very funny.

King of Assassins - RJ Barker: A masterpiece. Girton's tonal shift over the series is the most jealous I've been of another writer in some time. But also a wonderful brooding adventure-mystery in its own right.

Up To The Throne - TA Frost: Fun mix of revenge and political intrigue set in not-Renaissance Italy.

[DrNefario]

I've had a good month of reading, but a few too many acquisitions. My TBR is heading in the wrong direction again. 8 books read (5 main books and 3 extras).

Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel - I didn't want to waste a fantasy book on the Reddit Bingo transition period, so I finally read the second Wolf Hall and met my lit-fic target for the year. It didn't go well for Anne Boleyn. (It's always a weird thing in historical fiction how much you are spoilered by your own general knowledge. I'm still not sure whether I prefer to read stuff I know about or not.)

Melodies of the Heart - Michael Flynn - An SF novella I had hanging around, about an old woman who hears music. I really enjoyed it, although the kindle formatting was terrible.

Black Wolves - Kate Elliott - I really enjoyed this. It's a while since I read the Crossroads trilogy and I really loved the way this developed the world and explored the consequences.

Holy Sister - Mark Lawrence - Solid conclusion to a highly enjoyable series.

Ordeal by Innocence - Agatha Christie - My monthly murder. A decent non-series book.

Speed: The One Genuinely Modern Pleasure - Mat Oxley - Non-fiction about the early days of motorcycle racing and speed records, pre-WW2. Interesting.

Elite: Docking is Difficult - Gideon Defoe - A chance pick-up I happened to spot at the library while I was grabbing another book. It's pretty short, so I read it in an afternoon. Not very serious and quite good fun.

The Gods of Men - Barbara Kloss - SPFBO finalist. Pretty enjoyable. Writing so-so, but the story carried it.

[isos81]

I read NK Jemisin's Inheritance and Broken World trilogies.

1st book of Inheritance: I enjoyed this book. Mainly different from all other books I read. I'll give a 6.5/10
2nd book of Inheritance: This was not as good as the first one but I didn't throw the book away. This one is 6/10
3rd book Inhertance: Unfortunately, this book was a nightmare. I had trouble finishing the book. This one is 4/10

Then I read the first book of Broken World. It was 6/10 and I stopped reading other books.

Sorry for not remembering the book names