Reading Resolutions

2013 is almost done and it’s that time for resolutions for the New Year! I am both going to make separate blog about writing and reading resolutions. This one is going to be about reading. But first, before I begin, it might be interesting to have a small conclusion about 2013 in books:

•  I have read 47 books this year, 20 more than last year
•   The best book I’ve read was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
•    I started 10 new series and finished one of them. Out of those series, there is one I’m not going to continue and another I’m not yet certain about.
• The books with the prettiest cover I bought this year are Green Rider series by Kirsten Britain, The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R. Tolkien, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and the 10 year anniversary edition of Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

Here you can find all the books I read last year!

The resolutions:

•    Read 55 books
•   Buy less books and keep track of how many books I buy
•   Finish more series
•    Read The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien in English. I have read the series almost ten years ago in Dutch.
•   Read more about mythology, which includes reading The Kalevala.
• Try to keep the to-read list to a minimum. I have 334 books on my Goodreads to-read list which is a bit overwhelming. I’m going to try to bring to remove the books I’m not super eager to read and keep it at around 100 or less.
•   Read more indie/self-published books.  Now that I have a Kindle, it is easier to get my hands on self-published books. I haven’t read any of them so far, though I have a couple on my Kindle that are waiting to be read.

These resolutions shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish. The 55 books will depend a bit of how much time I have besides school and writing. Although I consider reading a part of the writer’s job.

I hope to get the writing resolutions blog up soon as well, but right now I’m studying for exams. It will be up at the latest at the end of January! Happy New Year everyone! May there be a lot of reading and writing waiting for you in 2014.

Review: Green Rider (Green Rider #1) by Kristen Britain

Title: Green Rider

Series: #1 Green Rider

Author: Kristen Britain

Publisher: Gollancz

ISBN: 978 0 575 09985 2

 I came across this series when I picked up the fourth book a while ago.  While the summary on the back of the book peaked my interest, the main reason I bought it was because of the gorgeous cover. Only when I arrived home and looked the author up on Goodreads, I learnt that is was part of a series that was not yet completed. The fifth book is scheduled to be released in May 2014. I bought the three preceding books and eagerly started reading the first one.

The first couple of pages made me doubt about Green Rider. The protagonist was a girl at the end of her teenage years. The exact age is not mentioned. I prepared myself for another young adult fantasy book filled with love and typical strong females. I was positively surprised. There was not much love to be found and while Karigan was not a very original character, I really liked her. Her motives were interesting and her spunk is admirable. 

Source: Google Images

Karigan meets quite a lot of characters on her journey and every single one of them is interesting. They really bring the story to life and add a great touch of realism to it, even though it still remains fantasy. Through the secondary characters, Britain adds themes top the story that we deal with in our lives as well. One of the minor characters leads a group that questions monarchy. Living in a country where we still have a king, recently a new one came to the throne; I have question it as well. It made the story that more interesting. I hope this group, and other characters, will get more page time in the next books

The horses in the book were wonderful. Karigan’s horse is one of my favourite characters. Many fantasy writers do not put enough effort in researching horses and their behaviour, Britain did a wonderful job here. While Karrigan’s horse is a special horse, smarter than most, he still felt very real: he showed he was afraid of certain things, he was stubborn and could not keep going without proper food and rest at unbelievable speed for ridiculously long distances. 

What made this book stand out from all the other fantasy books I have read were not the characters, but the skilfully crafted plot. Everything was tied together. How the chain of events started and its outcome, are very ironic actually. A small, seemingly unimportant event can lead to something much bigger and more influential on a higher scale. Also throughout the whole story, a wonderful metaphor is used to reflect on what is happening: a board game.  I absolutely enjoyed this concept and it almost want to make me do something similar in my writing. The board game intrigued me. It is definitely words its name, Intrigue. 

The writing is fast paced and reads very easily. I had no problem getting absorbed into the world. There was just enough description to paint and imagine in my mind while I still had room to use my own imagination to complete it.  While the book left me with some questions, it could easily be a standalone novel. I am curious what will happen in the second part, but unfortunately it has not arrived yet. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.