#BeatTheBacklist 2018 Reviews - Cal Leandros, The Kane Chronicles, The School For Good And Evil, Six of Crows, & Stalking Jack the Ripper

Happy Thursday everyone!  It's been a while (April, oopsie!) since I've shared about my progress for #BeatTheBacklist 2018, which is hosted by NovelKnight, so I thought we'd play some catch up.  Okay, initially I had fifty books on my challenge TBR and since I was focusing on working my way through series that includes books from twenty-five separate series.  So far I've completed a grand total of twenty-two titles off my list and managed to meet my goals for getting caught up (at least to an extent) on nine series.  Anyway, today I'm going to share my thoughts on the series I've met my goals on since my last update.  Read on to see my thoughts on finally completing my goals when it comes to the following series - Cal Leandros, The Kane Chronicles, The School For Good And Evil, Six of Crows, & Stalking Jack the Ripper:

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I absolutely love this this series! Nine books in and I think this one might be my favorite of all of them. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the reincarnation thing until now. Downfall totally sold me on it. It became one of my favorite aspects of the story actually, on top of everything else that's going on with Cal, Niko, Goodfellow, and company. I loved getting alternating chapters from Cal and Goodfellow's perspective - that's what made me get on the bandwagon. I also liked seeing consequences of Cal's Auphe genes coming to the surface more than they ever have before, which also begins to tie into the reincarnation aspect of the brothers.

I read this from March 30 - April 12, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.

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I've been addicted to this series since the beginning and I'm finally caught up. Nevermore is the tenth book and it still manages to keep things fresh. This time we get to see 26 year old Cal time travel eight years into the past to prevent a psychotic Vigil experiment/ assassin from killing his younger self and everyone he cares about before they can truly become a threat to the organization. It's fantastic seeing him interact with his 18 year old self and 20 year old Niko. I have to admit it was fun seeing them, especially Niko, at a loss. He also decides to go to Goodfellow a year before the brothers first met him regardless of the consequences. I particularly enjoyed that and how Cal convinced Goodfellow to trust them. Unfortunately, this installment ends on quite a cliffhanger and the next book, Everwar has missed it's publication by nearly a year and a half, and no one seems to know what's going on with it or the author. I desperately hope it's still coming in the future because Cal, Niko, and Goodfellow's story can't end like this.

I read this from April 19 -May 1, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.

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Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles isn't my favorite series from him tackling mythology.  Still I can't resist Egyptian mythology and either way this author's take on it is entertaining either way.  I couldn't help but devour these last two books in the trilogy.  I have to admit how much I enjoy how all of his mythology worlds interconnect in some way or another.  Overall, Serpent's Shadow is a great wrap up to the series as a whole.

I read book two from May 7 - 10, 2018 and book three from May 19 - 20, 2018.

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I feel like this series doesn't get the attention it deserves, but then again I would consider it more of an older MG series (or perhaps younger YA series).  Either way, this series is so much fun and offers such creative spins on classic fairy tale-esque stories and character types.  It's compulsively readable - I didn't want to put either book down - and they both manage to pack more of a punch than you would expect.  If you're a fan of fairy tales and fantasy this series is a total must read regardless of your age.  I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the companion series The School for Good and Evil: The Camelot Years, beginning with Quests for Glory.  

I read book two from June 3 - 5, 2018 and book three from June 5 - 8, 2018.

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Crooked Kingdom is the absolutely marvelous conclusion of the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. I don't think I could have asked for anything better. I easily could have just sat down and devoured this in a few sittings but because I love this series so much I wanted to savor it as much as possible. I read it over the course of approximately three months - just small parts here and there until I got closer and closer to the end that is. The closer I got to the end, the more I realized I couldn't restrain myself quite that much and just wanted to finally see how it all ends for these characters. I don't know what this says about me, but Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Matthias, and Nina are totally my squad goals. I know my review doesn't do my love of this story justice, but regardless when I this novel I believe I actually applauded I was so thrilled with this masterpiece. Anyway, I hope that someday we'll see these characters again in the future. In the meantime, I still need to complete the last two books of The Grisha Trilogy.

Check out one of my new favorite pieces of fan art for this series from Davood Diba (he did the cover art for Cassandra Clare's short story called "Son of the Dawn"):

I read this novel from May 24 - August 30, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.

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Hunting Prince Dracula (Stalking Jack the Ripper #2) by Kerri Maniscalco had a lot to live up to as the sequel to one of my favorite reads of 2017. I shouldn't have worried, though, because it is a brilliant and more than worthy sequel to Stalking Jack the Ripper. I thoroughly enjoyed being back with Audrey Rose and Thomas Cresswell. Plus, the setting here is so cool and quite creepy - I mean, it's Dracula's castle as a school of forensic science! You can't get much better than that for atmosphere! This time around we also get introduced to few great new additions to the cast of characters. Daciana, Thomas Cresswell's sister, totally steals the show in my opinion. Anyway, aside from the characters, one of my favorite aspects of this story are all the twists and turns - and here there are quite a few doozies. Let me tell you, after that ending I'm dying to see some of my favorite characters return in Escaping from Houdini. I don't know how I'll be able to wait until September. Overall, if you haven't started in on this series and enjoy brilliant characters, great twists, and a tight central mystery, you absolutely need to begin Kerri Maniscalco's Stalking Jack the Ripper series.

I read this novel from April 26 - May 7, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.  My review also appeared in this post featuring five star reviews.

Congrats for making it through this far!  I'm currently working my way through the last two books in the Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger and next up I'll be working my way through more of the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher and The Hollows by Kim Harrison.  So far I'd say I'm making pretty good headway and luckily I've enjoyed the the books I've tackled so far.  Have you read any of the books in these series or are you planning on picking them up?  Are you taking part in #BeatTheBacklist this year?  What books have you tackled so far?  Anyway, as always thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!