Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On

A weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

For this week's TTT I only came up with seven sequels that I can't wait to read. Usually if I find a series that I adore, I read them all in a quick row, marathoning the series to the end. However, in the past few years I have been really bad about picking up the first book in a series, and then neglecting to finish the saga. I really hope to start getting deeper into a lot of sequels soon. Here are the seven that immediately come to mind:

7. The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness. Book 2 in the Chaos Walking Series.
I finished book 1: The Knife of Never Letting Go, this month. Even though I didn't enjoy it at first, the ending really took me by surprise and made me want to read The Ask and the Answer.


6. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Book 2 in the Caster Chronicles.
I read Beautiful Creatures in March of this year in preparation for the movie (which I really hated). Though I did not absolutely 100% love the book, I am excited to see what happens next.


5. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. Book 2 in the Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy.
I read Shiver back in February which was the perfect time of year for a snowy, cold setting in a book. I liked the first book alright. Since it is only a trilogy, I do hope to sometime soon finish the next two books- maybe this winter?


4. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. Book 2 in the Mortal Instruments Series.
I read City of Bones in May of this year and I enjoyed it. I hope to finish this series and then get started on the Infernal Devices Series.


3. Prodigy by Marie Lu. Book 2 in the Legend Trilogy.
I read Legend in June of this year. I remember reading the entire second half of the book on G's parents couch one afternoon while he and his dad worked on the car outside. I liked this book quite a bit and I am really excited for the next two books. The last book of the trilogy just came out (or is just about to come out this week) and it is pretty highly anticipated in the YA book blogosphere so I need to hop on this bandwagon and get it done quickly!


2. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin. Book 2 in the Game of Thrones Series.
I LOVE GAME OF THRONES!

1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Book 2 in the Divergent Trilogy.
I am so excited to finish this trilogy I can't stand it! This is the only book on this list that I didn't read book 1 of in the year 2013! I read it in March of 2012 so I really need to get going and finish this series up!

What sequels are you excited for? Have you read any of the ones on my list? Which ones do I need to read ASAP?

Happy Tuesday, readers! Yallfest is only 4 days away!!!

Review: City of Bones

Title: City of Bones (Book #1 in The Mortal Instruments series)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publication Date: 2007
Publisher: McEldery Books
Number of Pages: 485
Where I Got It: Work Library (SMS)
Dates I Read It: May 17 - June 3, 2013
Number of Stars: 3.5/5
Read it For: Just for fun!

Clary Fray is our main female protagonist in the series and one night while out at the Pandemonium club with her BFF Simon she witnesses an altercation that leads to a stabbing between a group of Shadowhunters (Nephilim (1/2 angel, 1/2 human entities)) and a demon. As a human, Clary shouldn't be able to see these beings since all humans are under the influence of glamour which keeps them blind to the magic world that these beings live in. Clary's mom is then kidnapped by the bad guy demon so naturally Clary has to hook up with the Shadowhunters to fight demons, vampires, werewolves, fairies, and each other in order to rescue Mom and to obtain the Mrotal Cup and discover why Clary is immune to the glamour.

I was drawn to this series because of the covers. The covers are beautiful and colorful.I kept shelving these books and each time the books circulated I would think to myself how awesome the covers look. Finally towards the end of school I checked out City of Bones and started reading the series. Good timing too since the movie is coming out in August!

One of my favorite things about this book was the characters. Each character is fully fleshed out and serves his/her/its purpose perfectly- almost, at times, to a fault (unfortunately, sometimes I found the characters a little too predictable). I didn't have a character that I did not like and that I could not relate to, which is rare for me in books, especially lately for some reason. I liked each character for who they were and I connected to each character. Each character is believable and each character has their strengths and weaknesses which definitely added to their believable-ness (not a word). Clary is so immature at times, I get infuriated with some of the decisions Jace makes and I was sympathetic towards Simon and Alec. I am hoping for some extreme development and growth throughout the series, especially in regards to Clary's character.

This book revived my enjoyment of YA books. The dialogue can get a bit odd at times and sometimes it was not very true to nature. At times the book became too lengthy and the 485 pages might scare off some readers, especially younger teen readers. I am more excited for the Infernal Devices series but with the City of Bones movie coming out soon I decided to read this series first. After finishing this book I turned to the BookTube community for reviews and most people recommend readers to read this one first as it addresses and explains several elements of the downworld that the characters inhabit. 

I enjoyed the story, overall. However, I have to say that I am so over the whole paranormal love triangle bit that is plaguing YA literature lately. I am getting a little bit tired of the werewolves and vampires, etc. I did enjoy the fast-pace of the story and I liked how the characters got themselves into some funny, sticky, tricky situations. There was an air of mystery to the novel as we were never really sure what was going on or where Clary's mom really was. The series was only supposed to be a trilogy, but now there are six books. I wonder if this will make the story get messy in books 3-6? One super plus with regards to the story was that it was not confusing and was well explained which doesn't always happen with paranormal fiction. 

The story is set in NYC which was neat as it allowed us to get away from the dystopian setting for a bit. I liked that there was a paranormal story happening in a real life place while the real world spun on. As someone who works with teens I kept getting distracted by wondering how Clary and Simon were able to literally just disappear for days on end? Was this book supposed to be set in the summer when no one would notice that the characters were gone for days at a time? Did they not have to check in to school? I guess I just need to let the teacher in me suspend her disbelief for a bit and flow with the go!

Overall I really did enjoy this book and I am very excited for the next installment in the series, The City of Ashes. I am also pretty excited to see the movie, even though it is coming out in August right when school starts back up- ugh!