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I can't even remember what I last posted about as having read, but it must have been a number of books ago...
In general, November's been a little less disappointing than September and October were. My last dozen reads (half of them still in October):
Rick Riordan - The House of Hades: I've not been as enthusiastic about the Heroes of Olympus series as I was with the first Percy Jackson series, but still great fun. Four stars.
Jason M. Hough - The Exodus Towers: second in the Dire Earth Cycle, scifi action/adventure with zombies and aliens. This is the kind of stuff I have to be in the right mood for, but fortunately I was, so I ended up enjoying it as much as the first book (The Darwin Elevator). Four stars.
Derek Landy - The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage: Tenth Doctor short story in Puffin's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary set of short stories. Very, very enjoyable. (I admit, I'm biased. By this point, I think Landy could write a phone book and I'd read it and give it five stars.) Five stars.
Veronica Roth - Allegiant. Meh. Major disappointment; I loved the first two books but that was me counting on getting some serious answers in the last book, and while we get an attempt at answers, I thought those answers sucked (not in a "I didn't like them" way but more "made no sense whatsoever" way). Two stars.
Louisa May Alcott - Little Women. I tried to like this, and there was quite a bit I did like about it, but overall, disappointing. Three stars.
Seanan McGuire - One Salt Sea. The October Daye series is one of the rare urban fantasy series I've persisted with (most I've given up on after one or two books, or not given up on but just keep putting off reading the next book), and I think it's been getting better with every book. This one (the fifth one) was definitely my favourite of the lot. Four stars.
Eoin Colfer - The Opal Deception. I've mostly been reading the Artemis Fowl books whenever I am really tired and need something very easy but still moderately enjoyable; I actually rather disliked the first book but the next ones have been better. I think I'd need to be a nine-year-old boy to appreciate all the bodily excretion and fart jokes, though, which are in abundance in these books, so that will always make me wince and decrease my enjoyment somewhat. Three stars.
Jonathan L. Howard - Katya's War. I loved the first book in this series (Katya's World) and this one was very good at all. Good, solid, "gritty" YA sci-fi with zero romance, in spite of starring a 16-year-old female protagonist. Four stars.
Neal Shusterman - UnSouled. Third in the Unwind series; dystopian YA. I thought the first book was decent (even if it reminded me a bit too much about Kazuo Ishiguro's superior Never Let Me Go), but the series has really grown into its own with the second and third book. Five stars.
Diana Pharaoh Francis - Shadow City. Third book in a rather original (and quite dark) urban fantasy series; to me, this was the best yet in this series. Oddly enough, after some consideration (and looking at some reviews), I think I'm also done with the series - it ended at a good place and I'd rather leave it with good memories. Four stars.
Laurie R. King - The God of the Hive. The tenth book in her Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series; not my favourite out of the lot but this has become a truly reliable series for me - I can depend on getting a good, solid read, and I wasn't disappointed. Four stars.
David Gibbins - Pharaoh. Interesting mixture of present-day underwater archaeological treasure hunt and historical war fiction; I very much enjoyed the bulk of the novel, which was the story of a Royal Engineers officer during the Gordon relief expedition in the Sudan in 1885, but felt the framing present-day story was rather weak, especially in comparison. Three stars.
And now I'm reading Susan Ee's World After; Angelfall turned out to be one of my favourite reads last year and while I wasn't quite as eagerly anticipating World After as many others I know, so far I'm finding it pretty good.
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