Top Ten Tuesday

Posted March 29, 2016 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

This week’s Top Ten via The Broke and the Bookish is “recent five star books”. Annoyingly, I don’t enter my ratings on Goodreads immediately, so this was more fiddly than I expected!

Cover of A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan Cover of Carry On by Rainbow Rowell Cover of Vicious by V.E. Schwab Cover of The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope Cover of City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

  1. A Natural History of Dragons, Marie Brennan. No surprise here, really; the first time I read it, admittedly I gave it three stars, but I appreciated it far, far more this time.
  2. Carry On, Rainbow Rowell. Simon and Baz and Penelope, ’nuff said.
  3. Vicious, V.E. Schwab. Possibly my favourite of Schwab’s books so far (I found ADSOM enjoyable, but not perfect). Must make my partner read this one…
  4. The Perilous Gard, Elizabeth Marie Pope. Another reread; I liked this even more than I did originally. It tweaks the ballad of ‘Tam Lin’ and makes a new story — one I really enjoyed.
  5. City of Blades, Robert Jackson Bennett. Pretty much perfect, and possibly even stronger than the first book… Apparently I didn’t read anything worth five stars between City of Stairs and this sequel, because that’s actually the next one as I go back! Though I’m seeing a lot of fours.
  6. The Grey King, Susan Cooper. No surprises there: I normally do a reread around Christmas every year or two, and this was an on-year. Let’s just take it as read that The Dark is Rising and Greenwitch would make the list too…
  7. The Color Purple, Alice Walker. From vague reviews and such, I figured this would be really depressing and not my thing. I was wrong.
  8. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin. Another reread — and you wouldn’t be surprised to note that The Tombs of Atuan would make the list too.
  9. The Mirror World of Melody Black, Gavin Extence. Gets some stuff very right about mental illness.
  10. The Wicked + The Divine: Fandemonium, Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie. The final couple of pages were just evilly good, and the art was beautiful throughout.

1416949674.01._SX450_SY635_SCLZZZZZZZ_ Cover of The Color Purple by Alice Walker Cover of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin Cover of The Mirror World of Melody Black by Gavin Extence Cover of The Wicked + The Divine vol 2

Should be interesting to see what other people have! I had to go back to September 2015 to get ten. What about you? Do you give out five stars often?

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4 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday

  1. I don’t give out 5 stars often – I’ve scraped several years to get a full ten. I’m heartened to see Earthsea on your list – after TDiR last year, I think Earthsea will be one of my rereads this year, and I feel less concerned about what I’ll find there now 🙂

    My wishlist is getting quite a work-out today – I’ve been meaning to add A Natural History of Dragons for a while, but I think I’ll have to add The Perilous Gard too. I must get round to actually reading City of Stairs!
    imyril recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: top of the classMy Profile

    • I’d have had to go back further without rereads, I think! Earthsea is… well, the thing I enjoy most is that it evolves: Le Guin explores tropes she used unthinkingly in the earlier books (e.g. magic being a male thing).

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