Review: Three recent reads
Looking for a new read? I’ve got three!
January 11th, 2022
Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well, and staying warm! This January has proven a cold one here in Western New York--it was only nine degrees outside when I woke up this morning! The coming of this new month and new year has me reflecting on what I've read in the past couple months. There have been some great, some good, and some not-so-good reads over the past few months, over a range of genre. I've put together a list of of my top three recent favorites, with a small review for each. I hope you enjoy, and I hope you're inspired to pick up one of these titles yourself!
Without further ado, here are three wonderful books straight from Hanna's Bookshelf:
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke--This novel is nothing short of amazing, and for a couple reasons. The book starts in media res, or "in the middle of things," and there is a sense of interest right from the start because of that. Piranesi, a man who lives in a magical realm made of endless rooms and marble statues, seemingly navigates the world alone, save for his only friend, The Other. As you go further into the story, Clarke introduces new tidbits of information that give you a better sense of what is really going on in Piranesi's strange world. Clarke allows the readers to discover the huge (and rather dark) secret behind everything Piranesi knows simultaneuously with him, and the reveal is nothing short of astounding. Laced with plenty of references to Greek Mythology, with an interesting Magical Realist twist, this novel is one you will not easily forget. It is hard to write a review on it, because I feel like I can't possibly do it the justice it deserves. Overall, I'm giving it an 9/10.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow--This is another Magical Realism novel (I really like that genre, if you hadn't guessed already) that is so beautiful, so timeless. It is a testament to the power of stories, which is what attracts me to it the most, I think. Storytelling is an art form that has the power to connect us in ways nothing else can. The novel follows the young January Scaller, who at the book's start, lives in a mansion as the ward of Mr. Cornelius Locke. January's father, Julian, works for Locke, and travels constantly finding him special objects for his private collection. January's world is flipped on its head when she discovers a book entitled, "The Ten Thousand Doors," about a young woman who enters a different world through a magical door, and falls in love with a boy from that world. While she initially assumed the work is fictional, after a series of bad happenings January has to rethink everything she knows about her own world, and the people she loves who reside in it. Honestly, this book really astounded me. Not only is the prose stunning, but the plot itself is so intricate and well thought out. It is both heart-breaking and heart-warming all at once. Of course, the inclusion of magic is always exciting to me, and it serves as an important source of power in the novel--it brings people together, but destroys them, too. Overall, I'd give this book a 10/10.
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides--I chose to initially read this book for two reasons: I wanted to get into a different genre, and I had heard great things about the author. This is a Thriller, through and through. But it is rather smart, and as someone who watches way too much crime drama and can always guess who the killer is, I was suprised to find I did not see the twist coming. I was impressed. The story follows a psychologist named Mariana, who haunted by tragedy of her own, goes to stay with her neice at Cambridge when a series of murders occur on the campus. I don't want to say too much about the plot in fear of giving anything important away, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it's good. There's a lot of Greek Mythology immersed in the plot, and I thought that was really fun to see in a thriller. It gave the story a really unique twist, and gave the characters depth. Overall, I'm giving it an 8/10.
That's all I have for today's post, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope I've inspired you to pick up one of these reads!
Sincerely,
Hanna