[Top Ten Tuesday] Books I DNFed too Quickly

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish but is currently being run by That Artsy Reader Girl. A prompt is given each week, and I hope to do it every week so I always have something going up on Tuesdays. This week I am talking about books that I maybe DNFed (did not finish) or gave up on too quickly. These books have stuck with me after DNFing them and I definitely want to give some of them a second chance.

Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan  McGuire 

I actually did end up giving this a second chance and ended up absolutely loving it! Originally when I borrowed it from the library for the first time I only had a day to read it because I waited too long and it was due soon. I am not sure if it was the pressure to finish it mixed with the slower beginning of the story or if I just wasn't in the mood but I ended up DNFing it pretty early. I am so glad I gave it a second try. I even have the second (well, the prequel) on my desk waiting for me to read it before it's due back at the library!

Synopsis:

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky 

I DNFed this ages ago when my fiancé Matt told me he thought I'd like it. I wasn't in the mood for a sci-fi dystopian. But we recently both picked a book for each other to read, and he picked this one. I am slowly getting through it because it's a slower story for me but I am actually really enjoying it. It's so creepy and spooky! 

Synopsis:

The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. The half-destroyed cities have become uninhabitable through radiation. Beyond their boundaries, they say, lie endless burned-out deserts and the remains of splintered forests. Survivors still remember the past greatness of humankind. But the last remains of civilisation have already become a distant memory, the stuff of myth and legend.

More than 20 years have passed since the last plane took off from the earth. Rusted railways lead into emptiness. The ether is void and the airwaves echo to a soulless howling where previously the frequencies were full of news from Tokyo, New York, Buenos Aires. Man has handed over stewardship of the earth to new life-forms. Mutated by radiation, they are better adapted to the new world. Man's time is over.

A few score thousand survivors live on, not knowing whether they are the only ones left on earth. They live in the Moscow Metro - the biggest air-raid shelter ever built. It is humanity's last refuge. Stations have become mini-statelets, their people uniting around ideas, religions, water-filters - or the simple need to repulse an enemy incursion. It is a world without a tomorrow, with no room for dreams, plans, hopes. Feelings have given way to instinct - the most important of which is survival. Survival at any price. VDNKh is the northernmost inhabited station on its line. It was one of the Metro's best stations and still remains secure. But now a new and terrible threat has appeared.

Artyom, a young man living in VDNKh, is given the task of penetrating to the heart of the Metro, to the legendary Polis, to alert everyone to the awful danger and to get help. He holds the future of his native station in his hands, the whole Metro - and maybe the whole of humanity.

 Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor 

I loved Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy but when I picked this up it was just too slow, dare I say too boring. However, everyone seems to be giving it such rave reviews and it makes me want to give it another try. Maybe I DNFed it too soon? Maybe it's not for me. but I want to get further and give it another shot. Now that I know it's a slower paced book  I will be more prepared going into the story. 

Synopsis: 

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Welcome to Weep.

Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen 

I was so bored by this book that I ended up DNFing about a hundred pages in. I was definitely disappointed because I heard good things. However, since then I have seen some reviewers have similar thoughts as mine. So maybe I am not as on the outside as I thought. I would consider reading it again at another time. It's on my kindle waiting for a rainy day.

Synopsis:

Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler—and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her.

On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.

But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend . . . if she can survive.

This book will be a beautifully designed package with illustrated endpapers, a map of the Tearling, and a ribbon marker.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman 

I actually just tried reading this one again. I ended up getting about 150 pages in before DNFing again. There isn't much about the plot itself that has me invested but I am in love with the world Hartman has created, and that is what has me hesitant about giving up entirely. I am enjoying it, but my audiobook ran out and without the audiobook it seems like the story cannot hold my attention. I am hoping to finish it maybe sometime this year. 

Synopsis:

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

This was the first book I read this year (2018)! I picked it up years ago and tried reading it but wasn't feeling it. Once I discovered that most readers described it as a slow paced story I kind of put it on my shelf and forgot about it for a handful of years. One thing that most reviewers all agreed on was that although it was a slow burn, it rich, beautiful, and certainly worth the read. So I finally decided to read it. And I am happy I did because it was worth the read! 

Synopsis: 
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon and Groot Steal The Galaxy by Dan Abnett 

I love Guardians of the Galaxy SO MUCH! Although my favorite Guardian (Gamora) is not the focus of this story, I am really excited to give this book another try. When I tried it last time I wasn't into how sci-fi heavy it was for me. I wasn't in the mood for it and found myself distracted a lot. I'd love to give it another try. 

Synopsis: 
Marvel's first original prose novel, featuring the stars of Guardians of the Galaxy! These are not the Avengers or the Fantastic Four -in fact, they're barely even famous -but Rocket Raccoon and the faithful Groot are the baddest heroes in the cosmos, and they'e on the run across the Marvel Universe! During a spaceport brawl, the infamous pair rescues an android Recorder from a pack of alien Badoons. Everyone in the galaxy, however, including the ruthless Kree Empire and the stalwart Nova Corps, seems to want that Recorder, who' about as sane as a sandwich with no mustard. Join Rocket and Groot on a free-for-all across the stars while they try to save all of existence -again!

Battle of Kings by M.K. Hume  

I bought this book right after finishing Merlin, the BBC show, and my heart was still healing from that series finale. I was weak, in no shape to be left alone in a bookstore. But there I was. And when I saw that this was about  Merlin I had to pick it up. I tried reading it, but I think it was too soon after watching Merlin but too different from the show to fill the hole in my heart. I remember enjoying what I was reading so I'd love to try it again. 

Synopsis: 

In the town of Segontium a wild storm washes a fugitive ashore. He brutally rapes the granddaughter of the ruler of the Deceangli tribe, leaving her to bear his son, Myrddion Merlinus (Merlin). Spurned as a demon seed, the child is raised by his grandmother and, as soon as he turns nine, he is apprenticed to a skilled alchemist who hones the boy’s remarkable gift of prophecy.

Meanwhile, the High King of the Britons, Vortigern, is rebuilding the ancient fortress at Dinas Emrys. According to a prophecy, he must use the blood of a demon seed—a human sacrifice—to make his towers stand firm. Myrddion’s life is now in jeopardy, but the gifted boy understands that he has a richer destiny to fulfill. Soon Vortigern shall be known as the harbinger of chaos, and Myrddion must use his gifts for good in a land besieged by evil. So begins the young healer’s journey to greatness . . . 

The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss 

I tried reading this book ages ago when I finished the first two books in the series and I heard about this novella. I would like to read it before book three comes out, but I just haven't had the motivation. It's focused on a side character we see very little in the original plot, and when we do see her it's brief. She's a bit of an odd character but I would like to try again. Especially since it's so short.

Synopsis: 
Deep below the University, there is a dark place. Few people know of it: a broken web of ancient passageways and abandoned rooms. A young woman lives there, tucked among the sprawling tunnels of the Underthing, snug in the heart of this forgotten place.

Her name is Auri, and she is full of mysteries.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a brief, bittersweet glimpse of Auri’s life, a small adventure all her own. At once joyous and haunting, this story offers a chance to see the world through Auri’s eyes. And it gives the reader a chance to learn things that only Auri knows...

Empress Of A Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza 

I feel like I didn't give this book a real shot and I want to try it again sometime. I borrowed it from the library so I would have to do that again. Maybe sometime this summer I will give it another try. I hear great things from a lot of reviewers I trust. 

Synopsis:

Crown Princess Rhiannon Ta'an wants vengeance.

The only surviving heir to an ancient Kalusian dynasty, Rhee has spent her life training to destroy the people who killed her family. Now, on the eve of her coronation, the time has finally come for Rhee to claim her throne - and her revenge.

Alyosha is a Wraetan who has risen above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of a DroneVision show. Despite his popularity, Aly struggles with anti-Wraetan prejudices and the pressure of being perfect in the public eye.

Their paths collide with one brutal act of violence: Rhee is attacked, barely escaping with her life. Aly is blamed for her presumed murder.

The princess and her accused killer are forced to go into hiding - even as a war between planets is waged in Rhee's name. But soon, Rhee and Aly discover that the assassination attempt is just one part of a sinister plot. Bound together by an evil that only they can stop, the two fugitives must join forces to save the galaxy.

Thanks for reading!