What I Read: November

 

November hasn't been the greatest reading month I've had this month but it's been a busy month and I'm just grateful that I had enough time to finish what I actually read. And although I've read less than usual this month, what I have read has been phenomenal and I've been dying to tell you all about them.

The first book I finished was The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg. Centred around a very Disneyland inspired theme park called The Kingdom; it follows Ana one of seven fantasists who are very much designed around Disney Princesses, who's on trial for murder. And that's all I can say about the plot without spoiling it too much. But what I can say is that it was amazing and I loved how it was laid out throughout the book. Instead of just being straight up told, there are court transcripts, lawyer interviews, newspaper cutouts and transcripts of CCTV as it's watched. I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did. There are a couple of trigger warnings in this book, both that made me feel a little uncomfortable. Fair warning now there is a slight mention of animal abuse and sexual harrassment/assault in this book. Yet if you can push past that, this book is amazing. I was hooked and couldn't put it down. Each chapter built to the murder trial that starts at the beginning of the book and it wasn't until three quarters of the way through that I had an inkling of how it was going to end. Yet how the ending played out, I was still shocked. I didn't see it coming and I'm really hoping that Jess Rothenberg makes a sequel to this as she left it pretty open that would easily be written into a sequel.

And the second and last book I finished this month is one that's been sat on my TBR pile for a while. And that is Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Now this is one of the most hyped YA books on BookTube and Bookstagram and there's a reason for it. I went in a little dubious as I didn't want to be disappointed by a book that's so widely hyped by everyone else. However whilst it was slow to start, I was quickly hooked and every new twist in each chapter had me eaer to read more. Scythe follows a post modern world where everything from faminine to mortal death has been conquered and to keep population numbers even and fair, there is an institution called the Scythedom. Scythes are like the Grim Reaper and this book follows Citra and Rowan who are taken on as apprentices under the honorable Scythe Faraday. And what starts as a friendly competition between two teenagers who's attraction to each other seems like the biggest problem, and until Chapter 15 that's how I thought this was going to play out. But oh boy did this twist quicker than an slippery seal. Each chapter has a new twist, a new shock and many had many WTF moments. The ending is possibly one of the best endings I've read all year and I'm itching to pick up it's sequel Thunderhead now. However I've got Elton John's new autobiography to read and I've been dying to read that since it was announced. If you read one book between now and the end of the year I highly recommend you pick up Scythe. Fast paced, shocking, twist and easy to get lost in, this is the perfect book to pick up and lose yourself in after a long day at work.