March 2024 Reading Roundup | Fiction
Happy April, and happy Bank Holiday! I hope your Easter has been filled with happiness, rest, and of course chocolate 🫶🏻
My March roundup was originally one post, but I ended up listening to a lot of non-fiction audiobooks on which I have a lot of thoughts and my word count quickly got out of hand! So, I’ve decided to give those their own post which will be coming on Thursday.
For now, here’s a rundown of just the fiction books I read in March in chronological order. It’s been a fantasy-heavy month, with one historical fiction thrown in which, sadly, became my latest DNF…
Piranesi — Susanna Clarke
Library Book | 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
Bloomsbury
I went into Piranesi pretty much blind, based on a friend’s recommendation. From the cover and title, I was almost expecting some kind of mythological retelling. I was very much incorrect, but I’m not mad about it — I loved this book!
Piranesi takes us into The House: an endless maze of halls lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, experiencing tides that thunder up grand staircases. Clarke’s descriptions of the labyrinthian house are wonderful and I could picture the world she’d created so vividly. The story is told through the journals of the titular character, so we experience the world in the context of his innocent naivety and grow along with him, completely immersed in his headspace.
I think going into Piranesi with no prior knowledge played a huge role in my enjoyment if it, so I won’t go into too much more detail here — try it for yourself!
Hamnet — Maggie O’Farrell
Library Book | DNF at 44%
Tinder Press
I was so excited to get my hands on Hamnet, and so disappointed to end up DNFing at page 166 (44%).
In Hamnet, O’Farrell fictionalises the story of William Shakespeare’s son and family as they deal with the death of his son, the titular character.
My main gripe with Hamnet is how heavily it focused on Shakespeare himself. From the description and reviews, it seemed like the story was going to decentralise Shakespeare, exploring the lives of his family members while he worked away in London. Instead, the vast majority of what I read focused on Shakespeare’s youth and marriage — O’Farrell just doesn’t refer to him by name. To me, having Shakespeare as the only unnamed character in the story almost had the opposite of the intended effect, drawing almost all of my attention towards him, and away from his family.
We spent so little time with the titular Hamnet that I couldn’t envision how enough time could be dedicated to the aftermath of his death, which was promised to be the central theme of the story.
Of course, reading on may have answered my concerns, but I was simply too bored to continue by the midway point. There were a lot of words to describe, well, not very much at all — which can work in some contexts, but didn’t for me this time. I can totally see why people love Hamnet and O’Farrell’s prose, it just wasn’t for me!
Jade War & Jade Legacy — Fonda Lee
Library Books | 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
Orbit
This is the point at which my TBR went completely off the rails. I’d had the remaining books in The Greenbone Saga on hold at the library since I finished Jade City in January, and I wasn’t expecting them to come in until late April. Fate had other plans, and I dropped everything to run and pick them up as soon as I got the notification that they were available in mid-March, and swiftly read them back-to-back.
I adored the world Lee built in Jade City and it only got stronger as the series went on. Lee expands the story into new parts of her world, develops the complex characters we’ve already come to know and love (/hate), introduces new and intriguing characters, and shows us how their actions will have effects for generations to come. The story wraps up beautifully and devastatingly by the end of Jade Legacy. I’m not a massive crier when it comes to books, but this got me.
The only teeny, tiny complaint that prevented me from me rating the series 5 stars is that I wanted more. Jade Legacy in particular takes place over several years, so we’d often experience a hugely impactful event followed by a long time skip. I would have happily read 4 or even 5 books not only to spend more time in Lee’s incredible world but to dive deeper into the ramifications of these events and how they affected the characters.
The Way of Kings — Brandon Sanderson
eBook | 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
Tor Books
Remember when I said I wouldn’t be finishing this one until April? Lol. I was steadily progressing through the chapter-a-day read-along, but when I hit about 65%, I ended up finishing the rest of the book in two days over the Easter bank holiday — the Sanderlanche* real, folks.
The first book in The Stormlight Archives, The Way of Kings takes us to Roshar, a world where deadly highstorms rage and kingdoms are at war. Roshar was once ruled by the Knights Radiant — long gone, but their mystical swords and suits of armour remain, able to transform ordinary people into near-invincible warriors. Easy to see why they are fought and killed for.
It’s a slow build, which is to be expected when you have a 5000+ page series to set up. But slow doesn’t mean boring — I never once found myself pushing through a chapter or forcing myself to read on. The world-building is second to none, the magic system is fascinating and the cast of characters has stolen my heart.
Safe to say, Sando’s done it again, retaining his title as my favourite author. I’m thrilled that I get to read four more novels in this world, plus two novellas. I’m trying to get through a palate cleanser or two before jumping into Words of Radiance, but it’s proving hard to resist! If you’re a fan of high fantasy and have yet to try the Stormlight Archives, bump it up to the top of your list.
*A term coined by Sanderson’s fans to describe the final sections of his books; the last 20% is usually filled with heart-racing action sequences, jaw-dropping revelations and expertly tying up loose ends.
April Fiction Hopefuls:
Yellowface — R. F. Kuang
The Poppy War — R.F. Kuang
Words of Radiance — Brandon Sanderson
Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir