In the month of October I read a total of 8 books, yay! 6 physical books, 1 e-book and one audiobook. I had a blast!

5 stars:

4 stars:

3 stars:

All my reviews are posted here and also on my Goodreads.

Did you read anything particularly good in October? Let me know!

Thanks for reading,

Line.

U4 is a post-apocalyptic novel taking place in Europe, mostly in France. A virus decimated 90% of the population and the survivors are mostly teenagers. We follow four characters trying to survive in this dangerous world and maybe trying to save the world.

U4 is a series of four books telling the same story from four different POv’s (and by 4 different authors). I found the concept really interesting and read the one about the character Jules a few months ago. I decided to pick up the one about Koridwen next. What is really interesting about this series is that you can read the books in any order you like. I immediately picked up the one about Yannis next, because it was the last one I had on my shelves (still need to buy the one about Stéphane).

Yannis is the weakest character in these four books in my opinion. At least at the beginning of the story. But Yannis' journey is maybe also the most impressive; he grows so much during this book, especially since the events take place during less than two months. I still have to read the one about Stéphane, but I think she is a strong badass (who has a weak spot as well and I can't wait to read about her!)

Yannis is coping with his heritage, we don't precisely where his parents come from but he mentions the fact that his father cannot write French properly and that her mom used to sing to him in Arab. This heritage of him will actually have an impact on how he is seen by the kids from the poor areas in Marseille. These gangs of poor kids will make the rich kids pay for the lifestyle they use to have and Yannis will be saved thanks to that, because they think he is "one of them"… because of what he looks like. I think this part was really interesting.

The writing style of this book was amazing, I really had a lot of fun reading this and I could not put it down.

U4 is a post apocalyptic novel taking place in Europe, mostly in France. A virus decimated 90% of the population and the survivors are mostly teenagers. We follow four characters trying to survive in this dangerous world and maybe trying to save the world.

U4 is a series of four books telling the same story from four different POv’s (and by 4 different authors). I found the concept really interesting and read the one about the character Jules a few months ago. I decided to pick up the one about Koridwen next. What is really interesting about this series is that you can read the books in any order you like. I picked Koridwen because she is more present in Jules’s story than Stephane or Yannis.

Koridwen is from Bretagne, a region in the north of France. She lives in a farm and continues to take care of the animals after all her family died of the virus. She used to play this game online called WOT (Warrior Of Time), and before losing the internet connection, she received an e-mail from the creator of the game, telling her to go to the oldest tower of Paris on December 24^th in order to go back in time and save the world. All the “experts” of the game also received this e-mail and Koridwen decides to go to Paris (with her tractor!) to meet the other.

I totally enjoyed this one! Kordiwen is a really interesting character. She is a badass without even knowing it (I had some Katniss’ vibes from time to time) but she is also just a teenage girl who has some teenage girls’ interests (let’s be honest, I’m talking about sex here). I liked that. She is quite solitary but she likes taking care of other people, she has her cousin Max, who is a bit older than she is, but who has some mental deficiency. She sees him as a younger brother and feels like she needs to take care of him. She also meets other people but she always prefers to be alone. I preferred reading about Koridwen than about Jules, maybe because it was easier for me to connect with this character.

Another really interesting thing about this book was Kordiwen’s heritage. Her grandma (her mamm-gozh) was a kind of guerisseuse (a kind of healer), but mostly people says she was a witch, and she wants Koridwen to take after her and be a witch just like she was. Koridwen does not really believe in this magic at first, but after seeing all the signs, she can’t ignore the fact that some magical force is in action. All the little details about her heritage were really interesting. Bretagne is not really far from where I live and I don’t know a lot about its culture and its really particular language. I liked to learn more about it through this book.

I am currently reading the book about Yannis and I can’t wait to read more about him. He meets Koridwen at some point, and I am really excited about reading their common scene from his POV’s.

I definitely recommend this book to lover of YA post apocalyptic. It is a really honest book about what happened and what to do when the world as you know it totally disappear.

I read this book in French and unfortunately, I don't think it has been translated into English (but maybe I'm wrong)

I finished Three Dark Crowns at the beginning of the month and I really wanted to see what was going to happen next. So I picked up One Dark Throne and read it quite quickly. It was really good!

Again, I really love the atmosphere of this book. All the characters are so interesting; I still really love Queen Katharine in spite of what happened to her. She is different from what she used to be and I was really curious about why. Queen Arsinoe is more developed in this one and I start to like her a lot. And about Queen Mirabella well… I don’t really know what to think of her. She is great sure, she has a great heart and everything, but her personality is too flat in my opinion.

It is difficult to talk about this book without spoiling the first one but many interesting things happened here. I just feel like we did not really get anywhere before the end of the book. The ending was fast-paced and really intense; the middle part was just a bit too slow to my taste. Still, it was amazing.

Now I just want to get my hand on the next book, can’t wait for this one to be out!

I read an Ember in the Ashes last year (in november 2016) and I discovered an amazing new world. I felt in love with Elias, Laia, Helene and all the other characters. It was one of my favourite read of 2016. It took me quite a long time to pick up A Torch Against the Night, and I was not disappointed by it when I finally did.

I was a bit confused at times; there are many new developments that I did not see coming and that I did not know how relevant they were to the plot. Some of them were revealed during the book, but some other elements left me perplexed and I can’t wait to learn more about in the next book.

I love Laia, she must be one of my favourite female character of all time. She is strong and independent, but tend to rely on other people sometimes, before realizing she can control her own destiny and do what the hell she wants to do. She is sometimes conflicted between those emotions, and as I said in my review of the first book, it made her so realistic, I liked that a lot.

Elias can be annoying because he is really stubborn. I just want to slap him sometimes. But he has such a great heart you cannot help but love him. Elias struggles between two identities, he is trying to understand what defines him. He will also do anything to protect those he loved, which is good, but he never thinks about himself and that can be pretty destructive.

Helene is an amazing character but I did not get enough of her and it was a bit sad. I really enjoy this character and her struggle between being loyal to the Empire and saving her best friend’s life. Just like Elias, she tries to protect everyone and it is not always working… I can’t wait to see what is going to happen to her in the next book.

I really enjoyed the events of this book and I can’t wait to read more about all these characters in A Reaper at the Gates (April 2018).