My March Reading Wrap-Up

March was the month of re-reading. While I did read some new books tonight, the majority of my reading this month involved returning to old favourites. And I have no regrets - because I read more this month than I have done the rest of 2021 put together, and I feel I’ve actually read enough books to warrant a wrap-up? Wild.

Rather than going chronologically, I thought I’d start by highlighting the new reads I enjoyed this month.

I liked the mix of new reads I tried this month: a graphic novel, a middle grade book, and a teen fantasy. They were all fab - Lumberjanes Vol 6 I think picked up for me, after a few volumes that were a bit average: I rated this volume four stars. I also really enjoyed A Secret Of Birds And Bone by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, which was my first foray in to her writing for children, after adoring her adult book The Mercies last year. Review to come!

And finally for new reads, I read Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. I’ve been working on an Arthurian YA of my own for the past few years, and so I’ve avoided all Arthurian YA to make sure I’ve not been influenced while I’m writing. But my latest draft needs to spend some time in a drawer, so I treated myself to reading Legendborn. Impossibly small font aside, this was an absolute belter of a book, and I loved it! Full review to come - I have so MANY thoughts!

And so begin the re-reads! Off the back of Legendborn, I felt inspired to go full nostalgia and re-read The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland, which I adored as a child and enjoyed just as much this month! It’s a really beautifully written middle grade book written in tiny short chapters that follows the life of Arthur as he grows up on his family’s manor in the Welsh Marches. The way the myth is woven in to the narrative (set around the reign of King John) works so beautifully, and it has all the earnest joy that I feel middle grade should have!

I’ve also been re-reading the Old Kingdom series, which I consider a fantasy staple - they’ve not long been released with new, more modern, covers, but I couldn’t resist choosing a picture of what my battered old copy looks like. I’m considering doing a more in-depth review of books I re-read, so there may be more Old Kingdom content on the way soon!

And this month was when my Grishaverse re-read began in earnest. I vaguely remember reading Shadow and Bone (when it was called The Gathering Dark) when I was about thirteen, and feeling ambivalent about it. I thought I’d read the rest of the trilogy but to be honest - I do not remember anything from the final two books apart from very vaguely the end of the final book? But who knows if that was from reading it or just from an internet comment.

I did enjoy this series, although it felt very YA fantasy from the Twilight / Hunger Games era and so I think is reasonably open to a fair bit of criticism; I certainly didn’t adore it the way I did Crows, and it took quite a bit to get used to first person voice, too! I was really meh after the first book but I am SO glad I continued, because a certain Sturmhond in book two is my favourite character by a MILE. Single-handedly rescued the series from mediocrity, for me.

That said, I did enjoy learning more about the world of the Grisha beyond the basic understanding required to enjoy Six of Crows. I’m looking forward to returning to the Ravkan bit of the Grishaverse in the King of Scars duology!

I did also DNF one book this month: All The Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace. I’d heard little about it, and unfortunately it didn’t grab me quickly enough and I didn’t feel like I wanted to return to it. I have, however, donated my copy to our school library, so who knows - I might borrow it in future!

And that was all I read in March! What have you read this month? Are you doing a Grisha re-read before April 23rd?