2020 Reading Challenge Wrap-up

Back in late December of 2019, I wrote a blog post about my 2020 reading goals.  My main objective was to read some of the books I already owned at that time.  I own hundreds of unread books, so setting aside around 40-50 titles seemed the least I could do to tackle the overflowing TBR.   

I picked paperbacks and a hardcover. 

I picked ebooks from my Kindle Cloud. 

I did a fairly good job of reading from these pre-selections, but I definitely didn't read them all.  And I definitely strayed!  I read some newly purchased titles and some library loans. For a full accounting of my reading year, you can visit my 2020 Goodread's Reading Challenge page.  

One of the bigger challenges I set for myself this year was to finally read some of the trilogies or series I've been slowly collecting over the years.  This meant that I needed to not only read the one or two titles already sitting in my TBR, but that I needed to procure the other titles so that I could mark that trilogy or series finished. Also, if you've never read a fantasy or science fiction trilogy, they really cannot be read out of order. So, if I had book 1 & 3, I would have to find book 2 before moving on to book 3. This meant I had to purchase a number of books in order to get through a few series.

Take Hade's Daughter by Sara Douglass, for instance.  It's the first in a tetralogy (or quartet, if you prefer).  I only had the first book on my TBR shelf, but knowing the series was complete, I wanted to finish it. I'm glad I did, too.  It actually got better with each book. So much so that I went from thinking the characters were hopeless one-dimensional placeholders to being impressed by the amount of character growth each displayed by the end of the final book. They felt like actual people by the final book, complex like most humans are.  

I also had The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan sitting unread on my shelf.  It was not in my 2020 physical TBR picks, but for some reason I picked up that first book and then proceeded to read up through book #7. I'm not sure I'll finish this particular series in 2021, but it's something I'd like to try.  This is, after all, one of the most well-recognized series in the genre, second only to The Lord of the Rings. How I'm only now picking it up and experiencing it for myself isn't really a mystery, though.  I love fantasy, but this series with its fifteen books was a tad bit intimidating.  I knew a lot of time, energy, and money would have to be put into reading the entire series.  

So...in just these two series alone, I added a total of ten paperback books to my original picks.

Considering how thick those books were, I'm pleased that I was able to still get through so many of the other books I had put on the 2020 physical TBR.  Let's take a look at how I did. 

I read the three Mistborn books I already owned; I just learned there are more books in this series. However, Mistborn The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of the Ages work as a stand-alone trilogy. The next book, from what little I've read, is set 300 years later, so there's no rush to hurry up and buy it. 

I also read the Star Wars trilogy. That was an interesting experience. I've seen those movies so many times.  As you might imagine, I was a bit nervous about reading the books.  I am happy to report they were better than I had anticipated even if there were a few discrepancies that took me out of the story from time to time. 

The other three books pictured above were fun, light reads meant to serve as palate cleansers between my science fiction and fantasy binges.  They served their purpose.  I liked some more than others. You can read those reviews over on Goodreads if you wish. 

After several years of avoiding his stuff, I finally picked up some new Terry Goodkind. Yes, I'm aware of his love of Ayn Rand and that his ego was oversized. That doesn't change the fact that I really enjoyed the first four or five books in the Sword of Truth series and had high hopes for a new spin-off series. I won't go into detail here, but let's just say I didn't rush right over and pick up Shroud of Eternity as soon as I finished Death's Mistress.  Don't get me wrong, I still plan on reading the second book in the Nicci Chronicles, but I need some space first.  There's only so much heavy-handed moralizing I can handle at one time. 

A more pleasant read was Anne Bishop's The Invisible Ring. While set in the Dark Jewels world, this read very much like a stand-alone book. Dreams Made Flesh, by contrast, was a short story collection that I think is best read after the original trilogy as it features the main cast of those books.  

I also really liked Firefly: Magnificent Nine.  If I can't have new episodes to watch, I can at least visit these favorite characters in the books.  

The Moon is a Hard Mistress was first published in 1966 and it read like a science fiction tale created in 1966.  Once I got past the technology and focused instead on the characters and their plight, I was reasonably entertained. Not my favorite Heinlein book, but I'm glad I read it. 

The Best of All Possible Worlds was an interesting little book.  It wasn't perfect, but I think it was worth the time and effort I invested.

So...those were the physical books I hoped to read in 2020.  I think I did fairly well.  I mean, I only have two that I failed to complete and those will both be moved to my 2021 TBR.

Let's move over to my ebook collection and the TBRs I created there.  Yikes. 

On the bright side, I managed to complete two complete trilogies on my Kindle.  The first was The Bone Witch trilogy by Rin Chupeco, which was comprised of The Bone Witch, The Heart Forger, and The Shadow Glass.  I really enjoyed this story and will definitely pick up more of Chupeco's work. I enjoy her writing style and storytelling approach.

The next trilogy I completed was Penryn and the End of Days.  This trilogy had been sitting in my cloud for a crazy long time and I figured it was time to actually check it out. I was intrigued by the idea of angels massacring mankind and pushing humanity into a post-apocalyptic scenario where they struggle to survive against God's merciless winged warriors.  My only concern was that it was Young Adult, which can overuse certain tropes that drive me a little crazy.  Luckily, this trilogy was actually really entertaining and deserves more love than it gets.

 

Unfortunately, that means I did not finish these other trilogies or series from my Cloud. I think this means they should automatically be moved to the top of my 2021 list, don't you?

Since we're still talking about my Kindle books, I guess we should take a look at the stand-alone titles I had selected.  I did a fair job of reading through these books, but there were quite a few that will be moving to my 2021 TBR as well. Of the 20 titles I set aside, I managed to read twelve them. Reviews can be found on Goodreads.