Recent Reads #1: Some new favourites and some disappointments

Hi everyone! So I wanted to start writing wrap-ups of some of the books that I've read recently and have more to say about. I want to start from the beginning of this year but as I read quite a lot in the first few months of this year I am probably going to split this into more than one post! I'm going to give a summary, a few thoughts and my rating for some of the books that I have read. I hope that you enjoy this post!

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising is set in a world where there are people who live on Mars and mine for the people on Earth. They believe that they are making Mars safe for humans to live on but this is a dangerous job and there are secrets behind the more powerful in society.

This book sounded really interesting and I was in the mood for some sci-fi. It's a really popular book but unfortunately I didn't really like it. I liked the concept but I didn't like the characters. I found the main character and even parts of the plot irritating.

3/5 stars

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime by 
Fuse and Taiki Kawakami

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is a manga that follows this man who is killed but wakes up as a ball of slime in another world (think like slimes in Dragon Quest). He finds that he can intake materials to gain special abilities and there is a voice that he can hear and speak to.

I liked this manga, the idea felt unique but the book felt sadly slow-paced which ultimately led to me not enjoying it as much as I could have done.

3/5 stars



Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

I absolutely loved this book! Jurassic Park is the book that the movie was based on but with way more detail. For anyone who hasn't seen the film, Jurassic Park is a new type of theme park where scientists have found a way to bring dinosaurs back from extinction. A team of experts are brought in to see the park, as well as the grandchildren of the owner and businessman but companies have been trying to create dinosaurs for years and there's a traitor in their midst...

If you like science, or dinosaurs, or both, then I would highly recommend this book. It includes scientific talk but not so much that you need to be an expert to understand it. The characters are well developed and individual. The characterisation of the dinosaurs is great and the plot is creepy but exciting. I listened to this book on Audible and I would highly recommend it, it helped to get past the more slow-paced elements. Even months after reading this book I still think about it sometimes. I am intending to read the sequel, The Lost World, as the book left off on a cliffhanger for the next one!

5/5 stars


The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Last Wish is the first book in The Witcher series. It is technically a prequel filled with short stories, introducing us to Geralt, the witcher. In this book Geralt is charged with destroying monsters, which is the role of a witcher but things aren't always as they seem and Geralt uses his own morals to decide their fates.

I didn't love this book. Not much seemed to happen and I just wasn't really interested in it. Perhaps that was because it was a collection of short stories rather than one main story but I did watch the Netflix adaptation and preferred that so I will probably end up just watching the future series. I know a lot of people have loved these books though!

3.5/5 stars

Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki

The last books that I am going to talk about are Parasyte volumes 1-10. I started this manga series last year and finished it this year. This is a horror manga, which I haven't read many of but I want to find more of them because the ones I have read I have really enjoyed. 

In Parasyte, alien creatures suddenly found themselves on Earth, they don't know exactly what happened or why they are there. These creatures kill humans and inhabit their bodies, they can stretch their limbs and create different shapes. They kill and eat other humans. Our main character, Shinichi is attacked by one of these creatures but Shinichi doesn't die and the creature doesn't fully take over his body so he ends up inhabiting Shinichi's hand. Shinichi calls the creature Migi, Migi wants to kill but is affected by the morals and wants of Shinichi so Migi ends up becoming something new. But there are other parasytes out there killing humans and Shinichi, using Migi has the ability to fight them but he cannot defeat them all. This series follows Shinichi and Migi as they learn to work together, become friends and find out more about the other Parasytes that are on Earth. We also see a blossoming relationship between Shinichi and his friend. 

I loved this series. I became so heavily invested in it and by the end it was emotional. It was so interesting seeing Migi and Shinichi's development throughout the volumes and their interactions with other parasytes, as well as the reactions of the humans that found out about their existence. Overall, I would rate the series as 5 stars although I didn't rate the individual books all at this level, I would highly recommend it.

So those are some of the books that I have read this year. Have you read any of these books? If you liked this post, check out some of my book reviews for other books here.