Reading: Top 5 Books of 2011

I haven't had a whole lot of time to read this year (because of a killer college semester), but somehow, I did manage to stuff quite a few books into these last few weeks of the year (though I unfortunately wasn't able to get all the most popular ones). So, without further ado (seeing as how New Years is tomorrow), here are my top five reads of 2011!

5.) The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa- Though its ending was predictable, I really liked the plot of this book. It had my favorite characters from the entire series, all journeying toward the equivalent of the edge of the Earth, and finding some pretty awesome and terrifying things along the way. Good way to top off a decent series, I thought.



4.) Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr- I've always liked Marr's depiction of faeries, and while (yet again) I found the ending contrived, I found the novel as a whole a great ending to the Wicked Lovely series. All the characters' conflicts seem to explode at once into this fantastical all out war zone that existed right beneath ignorant eyes of the human world.

3.) City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare- I was hesitant at first to read this, if only because an "extension" of what was originally supposed to be a trilogy rarely works out well. But I found that Clare did a damn good job with it. The story makes sense, is dramatic, and picks up right where the trilogy left off without a single hitch. I especially like this book's focus on Simon, as he's been one of my favorite characters throughout, and I'm highly interested in seeing where the last two books of The Mortal Instruments takes him.

2.) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- Ha, this didn't come out in 2011, but I, unfortunately, just got around to reading the series. I wasn't sure what to expect, and the first person, present tense through me for a loop, but I think that it does indeed hold up to its hype, and I'm very excited for the March-release movie. I'm currently reading the second installment of the series, Catching Fire.

1.) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare- Had I finished more of the books in my current to-read stack (like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Daughter of Smoke and Bone), Clare probably wouldn't have had two entries on the list. But even then, Clockwork Prince would likely have still been number one. There is really no getting past how far Clare has come since City of Bones. This book is a dramatic wonder, and despite the fact that there's only one real battle scene in the entire novel, it still came off as one of the most exciting stories of the year. The writing, the plot, the character dynamics...everything has been ramped up in this book, and I've never been more exasperated by a book-release wait time than I am for the final installment of The Infernal Devices.