scijessreads

October. The month of pumpkins, stirrings of fall, and an unhealthy obsession with jump scares and sugar comas. And books. Here is the list of books I finished in October. Plus one DNF (The Vampires of El Norte).

As noted above, there was one DNF book this month in The Vampires of El Norte. It’s not on my list above, but is in my DNF list on StoryGraph. I tried, gave it 70 pages, and then just had to put it away. The premise sounded so good, vampires and vaqueros and re-found love, but none of the characters or the tone hit for me. I just felt irritated at everyone from the jump, and it did not get better.

Almost all of the audiobooks this month could be classified as “rereads,” as I had previously read the books, but this was the first time listening to them. And the audio for Carnage Island was so damn good. There is a whole post coming up about that one. It changed a good book to a great one, with that narration.

Finished a few ARCs as well. The Fate Philosophy and On the Plus Side were both excellent! The Fate Philosophy is out now, and On the Plus Side comes out in late December.

Honestly, there were a lot of smut-filled novellas this month. It was busy, and novellas are my go-to when I want to read something quickly, not have to put a lot of effort in, but still get a chance to relax with a book.

And the two five-star reads this month were both emotional, but for VERY different reasons. They Both Die at the End made me cry. This was the line that broke me first, not even a third of the way in:

Malcolm stares out the window, wishing he could glimpse Rufus on his bike turning a corner, and finally he cries, these loud, stuttering sobs, not because he’ll now have a criminal record, not because he’s scared to go to the police station, not even because Rufus is dying, but because the biggest crime of all tonight was not being able to hug his best friend goodbye.

They Both Die at the End (Adam Silvera)

The Hurricane Wars was a fantasy that spun a complex, fascinating new world and magic system, and was probably one of the better enemies-to-(at this moment still sorta enemies) tropes that I have read. It definitely codes as Reylo (I read that somewhere and it fits so damn well for Talasyn and Alaric). But the tension and the conflicting emotions and the exploration of war and how both sides can think that they are in the right… it is so damn perfect and I can’t wait for the rest of the series. When I can give 5 stars to a book that ends on a cliffhanger (mostly), it definitely has struck a nerve.

I told you once that vengeance isn’t justice, and I hold to that. Whatever better world you think you’ll build, it will always be built on blood.

The Hurricane Wars (Thea Guanzon)