March Wrap Up!

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Hello, lovely people! I hope spring is treating you well.

If you’ve been following me for the past few months, you’ll know 2021 has not been the greatest reading year for me so far. I'm happy to say March was a breath of fresh air. I read four books this month, which I’m very proud of considering some of them were quite long.

Make sure to comment your favorite book you read in March, and let’s get started!

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I started this book mid-February and was super excited to dive into a classic. The characters in this book are masterfully written. The plot is quite simple, but there are many unique aspects that add a new layer of intrigue—the portrait, Dorian’s relationships with Lord Henry and Basil, and the secular and aesthetic themes the story explores.

Overall I thought this book was brilliant. There were some slow parts, and I struggled with the vocabulary, but I see why it’s such a classic. I don’t think this will be the last time I read it.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

This is one of those books I have a love-hate relationship with, and it seems that’s the case for a lot of people who have read it. I enjoyed a large majority of the stories—the characters were well developed, the plot was enticing, and it was neat to experience Panem in an earlier time period.

My problems with this book start with the writing itself. Collins' writing is not as good as I remember it being in the original trilogy, but I can often ignore average writing. The story went down hill three or four chapters before the ending. The Coriolanus and Sejanus incident (if you’ve read the book, you know what I’m talking about) was my first, “Really, Collins?” moment.

The ending took this book from a 4-4.5 to a 3.5. The ending felt rushed and the story was in dire need of a conclusive finish. There needed to be more foreshadowing throughout the novel as well. And yet, I don’t know why I was surprised by the ending. It’s Coriolanus Snow after all.

Anthem by Ayn Rand

I had to read this book for school, and my thoughts on it are similar to my thoughts on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: loved the beginning, hated the end.

Anthem is not only a fictional story, it is a story with a philosophical agenda. Ayn Rand’s Objectivism philosophy is at the heart of this book (the majority of which I disagree with). I’m not mad at books where the author has an agenda or wants to preach about something they are passionate about. What I disliked about this book specifically was the way Rand went about revealing her philosophy to the reader.

What I think Rand did absolutely right was her portrayal of an altruistic world. She showed the reader, not lectured, but showed the consequences of radical collectivist thought. This was genius on her part—if you want to get someone to subscribe to your philosophy, show them the consequences of the alternative.

From the beginning, I was hooked on the dystopian world and the dynamics of the collectivist society. It was terrifying, and it was even more harrowing to see some similarities between our world and this fictional nightmare.

The last quarter of the book was the part I disliked. As I previously mentioned, Rand did a brilliant job of selling the reader on the astronomical flaws of an altruistic society without interfering with the story…brilliant that was until chapter ten when she turned into a full on preacher.

The last three chapters were so full of philosophical jargon. Rand could have taken a better approach to revealing her philosophy than the route she chose. The ending did not share the tone established throughout the story or the skillful word choice of the previous scenes. The final chapters were distracting from the overall message of the story and definitely reduced the amount of enjoyment I derived from this book.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Let’s end this on a high note, and what better way to do that than with a Leigh Bardugo novel?

King of Scars follows Nikolai Lantsov and Zoya Nazyalensky from Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone series, along with Nina Zenik from her Six of Crows Duology. I enjoyed reading from Zoya’s and Nikolai’s points of view, but found myself a little bored with Nina’s storyline. (I’m so sorry Nina, I still love you.)

The Grishaverse is as great as ever, seriously one of the best fictional worlds out there, but why does Leigh make things so hard to pronounce! I may have to learn Russian to aid me in my pronunciation of Fjerdan words.

This book took such a turn at the halfway mark, and I was entirely surprised. Bardugo often has similar elements in her books. What she did with the second half of this book was something new and unexpected. Did I love it? Did I hate it? I’m not entirely sure.

The main problem I had with this book, other than Nina’s storyline, was the very ending. To avoid spoiling it, all I’m going to say is I think the ending of this book destroys the Ruin and Rising ending for me (not that I was incredibly fond of that book in the first place). We don’t need to re-open that storyline. We need fresh, thrilling, slightly creepy ideas. Let’s leave the Shadow and Bone series as it is and make King of Scars something different.

Even though I had a few issues with King of Scars, I’m coming for you Rule of Wolves.

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Thank you so much for reading this post! I hoped you enjoyed it. If you’d like to see more from me, subscribe so you don’t miss out when I post!

It’s been a pleasure writing for you, and until next time—stay weird and stay writing. - Lexi