Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge - August Update: Retribution Rails & Who Fears Death

It's already the end of August - meaning 16 of the 24 tasks for Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge are complete!  The tasks I completed required me to read a western and a book of colonial or postcolonial literature.  For the tasks, I selected Retribution Rails (Vengance Road #2) by Erin Bowman and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor respectively.  Read on to see my mini reviews and what's next for September:

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Retribution Rails, a companion piece to Vengeance Road, is fantastic and I'd even say it's better than the original. It has everything I could have asked for in a gritty western adventure from train robberies and stagecoach chases, shootouts and gunfights, to outlaws and bad men. Plus, I love that Bowman does her own thing with thing with the genre - it's so much more than just those tropes. Her world-building is absolutely outstanding - as far as I'm concerned i was really there in the Arizona Territory of 1887. She also does a marvelous job creating two very distinct characters with Charlotte and Reece and you can't help but root for the both of them along this ruthless journey. I was also so pleased to see Kate and Jesse feature in this companion ten years on down the line. I definitely need to try more of Bowman's work in the sci-fi and dystopian genres, but I would love to see her write another western. I think I'd just love to see more YA Westerns handled as deftly as this to be honest.

I read this book from August 16 - 23, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.

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Who Fears Death is the first book I've ever read by Nnedi Okorafor. I don't know why I've never read her work before now, but I'm glad I finally tried her work. I can officially say now that I need more of this author! This is a complex yet straightforward, harsh, and unflinching story set in an incredibly vivid post-apocalyptic dystopian world. The world building and the characters are incredible. If you haven't read this yet, I highly recommend it.

I read this book from August 23 - 29, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.

Next Up For September:

An assigned book you hated (or never finished) 

My choice: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison - I didn't exactly hate this assigned book, but my high school teacher didn't do a good job of presenting it to our class.  This was actually my first Morrison book, and I'd love to give it another shot now since I've tackled more of her works.

An Oprah Book Club selection

My choice: A Million Little Pieces by James Frey - Remember all the controversy surrounding this "embellished" memoir?  I sure do - and that's mostly because of the author's connection to my college alma mater.  Anyway, I've been putting this off for awhile now, and this challenge gives me the perfect excuse to check it out.

Are you taking part in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, or have you ever in the past?  Have you read any of these books that I read this month, or plan to read next month?  As always thanks very much for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!