Book Check-In 11/3/20

This week I read 2 books, both of which I mentioned I was reading in my last check-in. I read The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, and finally finished Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

The King of Attolia is 3rd in the Queen’s Thief series. I talk about the first book here, and the second book here. Large spoilers for both ahead.

Reviews (& spoilers!) below the cut!

The King of Attolia focused on Gen from an outsider’s perspective, which was an interesting change. Gen was able to marry Attolia at the end of the last book, so this book is focused on him dealing with the change - namely that he’s now king and has to be in the public eye. The Attolians hate him for being an Eddisian and for taking the power, in some ways, from their queen. He deals with their pranks and disrespect and insults. His wife and advisors wish he would act more kingly and take the power he has been given, but instead he prefers to act a fool - sleeping in meetings and allowing the insults to pass, and acting like he cannot fight.

The book is told from the perspective of a soldier, Costis, who in a fit of rage punches the King in the face. He begins by hating the King and not knowing anything about him. I really liked the way we as audience members know more about Gen’s character than Costis does. It’s very fun to watch more of Gen’s character be slowly revealed. Some of the book had me questioning his perspective and whether or not he did want to be king and take on the power.

4/5 stars! A lot of fun!

I didn’t like Outlander as much unfortunately. It’s about a woman, Claire, who was a British nurse in WWII and while on holiday in Scotland after the war gets transported in time back to 1743. Now alone in the Scottish highlands at a very vulnerable time she has to try and survive, and see if she can return to her own time. I had watched like a season and a half of the show and thought it was interesting. Half of the problem I think was that this book was just so long. It was 32 hours as an audiobook!! That’s longer than Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, which I both thought were pretty long! It also had a lot of sex scenes, which felt unnecessary. I thought the plot was interesting, and at first it kept pretty closely to the show, but it diverged a little. I liked some of the differences in the book, and other differences in the show. I didn’t love it enough to read the sequels I don’t think, or at least not right away.

3/5 stars! I liked the plot and story a lot, but it was quite long, and too many sex scenes.

I’ve started two new books! A Conspiracy Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (book 4 of the Queen’s Thief series) and Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (as an audiobook).

As always, you can see all the books I’ve read on my reading list.