Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week they provide a topic and you are free to use that topic and/or variations of that topic to make your top ten list. You don’t have to do all ten. Instead you can do three, five, fifteen, whatever you want. A full list of the weekly themes can be found here.
This week’s theme is Books That Surprised Me (in a good or bad way).
Legendary by Stephanie Garber – If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times, I really disliked Caraval, the first book in this series. I was bored and annoyed the whole time and I expected more of the same with Legendary. However, instead I got a magic filled world that fueled my imagination. Positive
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo – With as much hype as surrounded this book I expected to be swept away into a land of sea creatures and enchantment. I opened it 100% prepared to fall in love…instead I was bored and kept rolling my eyes. Review to come 3/16. Negative
The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy #1) by S.A. Chakraborty – This was a book I picked up not knowing what to expect. I’d heard a lot of good and bad things about it but in the end I fell in love with so many of the characters in this story. And that ending! I can’t wait to pick up the next book. Positive
The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black – Here is another book I expected to be swept away by. Faeries, political intrigue, morally grey characters, it promised things I know I love…but I just felt like it didn’t deliver in the slightest. Negative
Roar (Stormheart #1) by Cora Carmack – When I picked up this book I didn’t really know what I was getting into. I knew that there were strong romance elements which, unless they are carefully done, aren’t usually up my alley. But everything in this book was well done and I can’t wait for the sequel next year! Positive
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – Like I was going to get through this post without mentioning this book? Hah! This series has so much hype, then there is the TV series, and so many of my friends love everything about Clare. I thought that I would feel the same. Instead I hated it and it was my most disappointing read of 2017. Negative
There are so many more books that have surprised me in one way or the other but these are the ones that made a lasting impression over the last year or so. Did these books surprise any of you? What books gave you similar feelings?
Literary Weaponry 
Clockwork Angel is on my list this week because of how much I did like it despite expecting not to! I’ve heard good things about The City of Brass but I haven’t read any of the other books on this list!
My TTT: https://arubunwritten.wordpress.com/2018/03/13/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-surprised-me-in-a-good-or-bad-way/
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I admit, the middle of City of Brass was a little long winded but it was completely worth it for the pulse pounding ending.
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Interesting list! I haven’t read any of these, but I’ll be looking a few of these up. Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.
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now i want to read legendary but I don’t want to go through caraval to get there?????? xD
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Isn’t it a pickle? Caraval was just shy of being insufferably terrible but Legendary was wonderful. How Garber pulled that off I will never know.
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You’re one of the first I’ve heard who didn’t like To Kill a Kingdom! I haven’t read it, but I’ve been interested in reading it for awhile.
I loved Clockwork Angel, but I never understood the hype around the main series: The Mortal Instruments.
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For most people, To Kill a Kingdom works. You’re right, nearly everyone seems to love it! Wish it had worked out that way for me because I had been really looking forward to it. I hope you enjoy it, though!
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I haven’t read any of these yet, but a few are on my TBR so I’m interested to see how they work for me!
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You are the first person I know who didn’t love The Curse Prince :O
I haven’t read it myself, but I was most intrigued by it as well =)
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I went into The Cruel Prince fully expecting to love it so for it to have been a let down was pretty major for me. I do seem to be on a lonely island in that opinion though.
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Yeah, after visiting your blog I found it in a lot of others TTT and they all loved it. But being an island is cool 😉
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Whenever I see Clockwork Angel in any lists talking about disappointing books my heart always hurts a little bit because I love this book so much! And finally, someone who didn’t love To Kill A Kingdom! Those are some rare people to come by!
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I enjoyed Caraval, so hopefully, if you didn’t and loved Legendary, then I’ll love Legendary even more! It’s a shame you didn’t like To Kill A Kingdom though 🙂
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/13/top-ten-tuesday-150/
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Honestly, if you liked Caraval then Legendary should absolutely blow you away. It built on the ideas that had been planted in the first book in such a way that they stunned me, in the best of ways, when I had hated Caraval. I know the trend is that a writer’s sophomore book isn’t as good but Garber went the complete opposite direction.
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Well that’s great to hear! I’ve preordered a signed copy, so i hope I love it as much as you!
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I loved our Tweeting about To Kill a Kingdom and you may have convinced me to try Legendary since it surprised you so much 🙂 awesome list!
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I got on such a rant about To Kill a Kingdom to you and Sweta. Should have heard me at home, I was verbally abusing that poor book. My husband kept peaking at me wondering what the heck I was doing. If the cover wasn’t so darn nice to look at I’d take that book and donate it to the library.
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Yep lol. It’s crazy how emotional you can get (good or bad) when it comes to books
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I haven’t done Cruel Prince yet but I’m glad to see when it doesn’t live up to the hype. Even if I do end up liking it, I wont go in with extreme expectations and it makes the experience generally more enjoyable.
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Most people absolutely adore that book so I’m certainly in the minority on my opinions. But, if you go in giving that hype the side eye, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it even more.
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