I don’t know what I was expecting. June-July is usually a tough time for me, and I knew it would be worse this year since I now have an actual job. My school offers free classes to anyone who meet the requirements, so obviously I never pass that up. The con is that summer classes go fast- like, five-eight weeks fast, depending on what track you’re on. I’m currently taking two eight week classes, and these things are HARD. These days, I wake up, go to work, come home late and do school until it’s time to go to bed. In other words, I did not get time to read pretty much at all, except on the weekends whenever I had nothing to do. To make things worse, I picked a really bad time to do my reading challenge. If you remember my challenge, it was to only read Brandon Sanderson books. But the thing about Sanderson is that his books are THICK.

I had started with Elantris, which was another mistake on my part. Not only is Elantris over 600 pages, but it is his debut novel and…well, it’s different than his other books. I had expected that a little, but I didn’t expect it to be so dang hard to get through. I find it hard to like the characters, and while the plot is actually really interesting, it kind of disturbs me a little, haha! At this time, I can’t remember if I even reached 50 pages yet. But that is not to say that I didn’t read anything! Upon realizing this just wasn’t going to work, I switched over to Arcanum Unbound, which is just a collection of short stories by Brandon Sanderson. This worked out better, because many of them were about characters I already knew and loved. Also, they were shorter.

That being said, these are all short stories. It feels a little like cheating, I guess, but I actually have a thing that I can’t read more short stories than novels in my reading challenge. After I finish Arcanum Unbound, I probably won’t allow myself to read anymore short stories or manga.

Anyway, this introduction is taking longer than I thought it would, so let’s just get on with what I read this month!

The Eleventh Metal by Brandon Sanderson

Genre: Fantasy

This was was the shortest of the Cosmere stories, I think. I was happy to find it was about Kelsier three months after he escaped the Pits of Hathsin. Kelsier was my favorite character in The Final Empire, so it was really nice to read him again. It also showed how he came up with his plan to take down the Lord Ruler, and what it was like for him to start his training as a Mistborn. One thing I wasn’t expecting was how nostalgic this was! I didn’t know that it had only been three months since his escape- which would also make it three months after his wife died- so I wasn’t ready for all the feels, haha!

All in all, it was a great story that gave another look at my favorite character, so I highly recommend, especially if you’re a Mistborn fan!

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania by Brandon Sanderson

Genre: Drama/Western/Fantasy

Another short from Arcanum Unbound… I thought this one was pretty funny, especially with the annotations from one of the characters, which I think is a unique writing idea! This one was only a bit longer than The Eleventh Metal, though I still got through it quick enough and was able to start the next short story (which is more of a novella, as it’s well over 100 pages). It was nice to be back in the world of Alloy of Law, and that was honestly the part I liked best. As unique as this story was, I still like the other Sanderson stories better.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

I was in the middle of getting through Mistborn: Secret History when I decided that I was going to do what it took to have homework-free weekend this week, which meant I was doing school constantly this week. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get it done (it’s a bit longer than the other short stories), but since I pretty much got my school done, I can spend the next four days reading! I hope to get quite a bit done before it’s back to the grind, so wish me luck!

What did you read this month? Let me know in the comments below! And as always, God bless y’all and have a wonderful weekend!