2019 Reading Challenge Reviews: Books 59 & 60

Hello readers!

I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts. 

Both of the books reviewed in this post were for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge.

Here are my book reviews for my 59th and 60th books of 2019:

Book 59: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

This prompt for this book was: "A book set in Scandinavia."

This is the conclusion to the (original?) trilogy of Salander books by Stieg Larsson. There is now a 4th book by a different author. I highly recommend all three of the original. I have not read the new book yet.

I don't want to give too much away about the prior books, but basically, if you have no knowledge of the trilogy, they follow a man named Blomkvist and a woman named Salander as the two form an unlikely friendship and ultimately try to take down a corrupt system that involves, among other things, violence against women.

Overall, I enjoyed how this book wrapped up the story of Blomkvist and Salander and their relationships with other friends, lovers, enemies, etc. However, there were some side plots to the main story line that seemed a bit unnecessary in my opinion, though they did create more character details. Although I haven't read the first two in years, I felt that this one was more focused on Salander herself than the first two (though I'm not going to lie, I may just have misplaced some of the details of the earlier books in my mind. Guess I'll just have to reread them.)

Book 60: The Game of Life: Interlude Brandon by Terry Schott

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

This prompt for this book was: "A book revolving around a puzzle or game."

This is actually also the third in a series. This series follows some different characters as they enter a virtual reality simulation that in many ways reflects life as we know it. There, they live out full lives (while a much shorter time passes in their real world) while being watched on tv by others in their society. The more popular they are, and the more they accomplish (though not necessarily in the way we would think), the more of their realms currency they receive when they leave the simulation. The only thing is, while in the sim, they don't know it isn't real life. And, oh yeah, the sim is dying.

This book gives a bit of back story onto the world that created the simulation and why they did it by following it's creator, Brandon, from when he was a child until the present day.

I just really love this series so far. It really makes you think about what's really important in life, and just how short life is.

I'm really interested in getting my hands on the rest of the series when I can to see if it continues to be as interesting and thought provoking.