What I’m Reading Right Now

I’ve always been a big reader. Well, I shouldn’t say always because we certainly don’t know how to read for a few years. Let’s just say for most of my life then since that would be accurate. While I have dabbled in some non-fiction, my overwhelming preference is for fiction. And I tend towards action/thrillers and fantasy with some mystery tossed in for good measure.

I’m not sure if I fit the target demographic for fantasy and a lot of people do look down on the genre but something like Lord of the Rings fits and those are generally acknowledged as sort of classics. I admire the creativity of any author who can create a whole new world and a society to live there. That’s one of the main draws for me because I like to imagine what it would be like to live in these worlds. 

So right now, I’m about two thirds of the way through House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah Maas. If you are at all familiar with the fantasy genre, I’m sure you’ve heard of her. I did read the entire Throne of Glass series but I skipped her Court of Thorns and Roses series. Not sure why but the short plot summary of the first one didn’t strike the right chord so I decided not to pick that one up.

There are good and bad parts of her books. I tend to prefer my books to be to have a lighter tone but there are serious dark parts of the worlds she has created. I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much because Lord of the Rings was similar in some respects. Evil ruled the world and there were times when the situation was really bleak for the good guys before they triumphed in the end. 

But she has long sections where characters are placed in situations that appear hopeless. And maybe I’m just able to channel those emotions because you can really start to feel the despair as a character spirals deeper and realizes just how bad things really are for them. Those are hard to read especially if it is a character you’ve bonded with earlier in the story. 

Actually, the books kind of become roller coasters because, after a particularly low point, there is usually some kind of rescue or something that provides a real emotional lift as the characters overcome some obstacle. Usually, though, it just means they uncover a bigger obstacle or there is some other set back that just brings everyone back down. But it keeps me turning the pages. 

And, at least in this series, there are a number of bad guys – evil to various degrees. So she can kill of a couple of them mid story which you cheer for but still leave the big bad to be dealt with. Plus, many of the characters have somewhat ambiguous pasts. Heroes who were once villains so you get redemption arcs and character growth. Can be hard when you’ve been sold someone as a particularly nasty person for so long and then you find out that the situation was more complicated then you thought.

In other words, there are very few, if any, one dimensional characters and, to me, that just makes the story far more interesting. On the down side, her books are long and that gives her an opportunity to introduce lots of different characters. Creates a problem when you go two years between books so a lot of the time I’m just trying to remember who was who and what they did in the last story. Or what happened in the last books that triggered certain things. Doesn’t help that I read a lot of these types of stories so I have far too many thread running through my mind.

I pick up a book like this and there are conflicting emotions. I don’t want to finish it too quickly because there is something of a let down when you get to the end of the story. I want to keep reading about these people. But, if the book is well written, then it can be hard to put down and so I end up going quicker than I would like.

But it also makes the cat happy because I’ll spend about an hour or so before bed reading and he uses that time to sleep on me so its a win/win. Things will be a little different though because I am going to the studio tonight for formation practice and as I go out more nights, it will cut down on my reading time and his chair time.