You know those kinds of books that just grab you, shake you like a wet dog, and force you to read them at every possible opportunity? Yes, I know those kinds of books, too, and I’ve read my fair share of them, but you never know which one might fit the bill until you actually start reading it and you’re hooked. And those books don’t have to be the most well-written, or have the most well fleshed out characters. The plots don’t even have to be rock solid. They just have to move along swiftly and have enough somewhere in those pages to arrest and hold your interest.
I thought Allegiant might be one of those books. But it wasn’t, and it isn’t. That’s not to say it’s a bad book. It’s just that I could take it or leave it. The plot is okay, the characters are relatively interesting, but somehow I’m not really invested in the story. It’s not like Requiem, where I devoured each page, waiting for the next one, wanting to know how the entire saga ended. Which is very sad for me, because I like finales. I was a huge fan of Inheritance, too, because it followed the same format of endless adventure and it instilled in me a love of its characters. I wanted to know what happened to them, how it all played out. That’s what a final book in a series is supposed to do.
So, needless to say, Allegiant is on hold, for all intents and purposes. It will be due back at the library soon and I’m thinking about not renewing it. My problem is that there are just too many books that I’m actually interested in that I know I would keep interrupting Allegiant for. I would have never set aside Divergent or even Insurgent, but oh well. I have other books to keep me warm.
Here’s what I have Checked Out this week…
- Without Fail, by Lee Child. This is the sixth book in the Jack Reacher series, and it’s the one I described in my opening. It’s not the most well-written series, but it moves quickly and it holds my attention like the Eragon series did, even though it has absolutely no magic or fantasy aspect to it. It’s all about the quick adventure, and it makes me think. I’ll take it.
- Allegiant, by Veronica Roth. I haven’t checked it back in yet, and I do plan on continuing it once I’m done with the Reacher book, unless something else I’m interested in comes in to the library. It’s just sad to me that a series that held so much promise has honestly been reduced to an “If I have nothing else I’m reading” thing.
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling. It has been a little while since I’ve read any nonfiction, but I am a fan of Mindy Kaling’s humor from back in her Office days, and followed her into her Mindy Project writing. I had heard about this book a while ago, but hadn’t gotten my hands on it, then I saw it again available as an eBook through the library and I jumped on it. This is the next book I’m reading.
That of course makes me realize that I’m reading my fewest number of simultaneous books in a while. Generally I have four going at once, but it feels good to focus on one or two instead of a whole bunch. Maybe I might start doing that from now on. I’m fiddling with a huge playlist to listen to while reading the Mindy Kaling book because I love my music, and I’ve been thinking it might be cool to see how that would turn out.
And I’m waiting to get my copy of City of Heavenly Fire, too, at which point I think everything I’m reading at the time will be shunted aside. Because I have a feeling that will be one of the books that I mentioned in the opening as well. Cassandra Clare has never failed me in that respect before, and I sincerely hope that will also be the case this time. I need to be able to count on my serial authors again!
As always, happy reading to you too.
Sam
Sam's Online Journal 