Two Incredible Series

 I don't want to say too much about either of these two books since both are #3 in their respective series, but what I do want to say is that if you love fantasy, complex characters, and powerful female main characters, please go start the Ember in the Ashes series and the Throne of Glass series.

I read Ember the year it came out and have waited patiently for each of the next two installments.  Laia of Serra's life changes when her brother is imprisoned and her grandparents killed.  She runs, but eventually starts working as a servant for the Empire to try to find a way to locate and free her brother.  Torch Against the Night follows up wonderfully to the first book, and Reaper - good grief!!  I don't even know where to start.  I wish that I had had time to reread both of the first two books before I read Reaper, but I just didn't have the time.  I was able to pick up ok.  This third book was all action.  I had a hard time keeping track of every group and what they were doing, but I held on enough.  It was very good, and even if I couldn't always keep track of the minor characters and new people, I enjoyed continuing with Laia, Elias, and Helene.  I was pretty wrecked at the end of the book, and am very interested to see how Tahir wraps up the series.

I read Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight over Christmas and never got around to continuing the series since I had so many 2017 and 2018 new books to get to.  This series was recommended to me by one of my favorite students and I loved it immediately.  As a kid, I read Terry Brooks (my dad's entire Shannara series) and this series brings back some of what I loved about those books.  Sweeping settings, fantastical creatures, lurking evil, and characters trying to figure out who they are and what their powers can do.  I love Celaena's story and so far, each book in the series has been complete on it's own.  They each leave you wanting to continue, but have their own satisfying endings, which is nice.  I am going to start Queen of Shadows soon.  This third installment was probably my favorite so far.  I really liked the Celeana/Rowan plot line.  It's a really cool world and an epic story.  I love these and can't wait to keep reading!

It's also super nice to read a series with all of the books out!!  I struggle with this a lot, because I pick up the first book in a series and then wait for the second and third installments.  It's nice to be able to just keep on reading.  Even though it's a pain for me, it's nice when a series is complete and my students haven't read it - because they can just keep on going!

Well, these two are great fantasy reads.  I am going to keep going with both series.  I think I'd like to do a reread of all three Ember in the Ashes books before the fourth books comes out.