The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles #1) by Melina Marchetta + 50/50 Friday

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.
4. Post it.
5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader.  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.

This week I'm spotlighting one of my current reads, Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles #1) by Melina Marcheta.  This is my fourth read of five for YALSA's Backlist Bingo Reading Challenge - it fulfills the Top Ten BFYA from the last five years option.  This book was released in 2011 - and I can definitely say that I should have read this earlier!  In a way, it reminds me of The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

Beginning:

A long time ago, in the spring before the five days of the unspeakable, Finnikin of the Rock dreamed that he was to sacrifice a pound of flesh to save the royal house of Lumatere.

56:

The voice came from behind him.  A strong voice, yet hoarse as if it were new to speech.  She spoke in the Lumateran language, and it sent a shiver through Finnikin's body.

This week I'm also taking part in a brand new linkup called 50/50 Friday, which is hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader and Laura @ Blue Eye Books.  Every week they'll have a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - this week the topic is Best/ Worst scene in a book.

I recently read November 9 by Colleen Hoover when I saw it arrive at the library.  I had never read a Colleen Hoover book before, but I am interested in something with a different format - my review will be coming soon.

Best - Hoover is great at writing characters and fleshing them out.  I'll also admit that the Crave app inspired illustrations were pretty interesting.

Worst - I did have quite a few issues with this novel, but one of the things that really got me was on page 95 where Fallon says that one of her least favorite things about romance novels is instalove because in writing it makes her roll her eyes and it's too cheesy and unrealistic. However, she and Ben have exactly that kind of relationship, and Ben points that out.  Honestly, instalove is one of my least favorite romance elements.