Mini - Comments

I brought both these books from the library the last time I went there. Both are by writers whose books I had previously read and I had good expectations about how much I'd enjoy these too.

Offering to the Storm by Dolores Redondo is the final installment in a trilogy I've started months ago and now I finally had the chance to finish. The story is centered on inspector Amaia Salazar who, throughout the three books, investigates a series of crimes and some are very much connected, as we discover here. At the same time we follow her personal life and the challenges she faces, especially since she is a recent mother. To spice things up, the stories are very set on local legends and mythology, which is fun and sometimes a little creepy. 
I liked this story and I've liked how things end, in terms of plot. I cannot say that the real mastermind of everything was a surprise, and perhaps the author could have linked the final explanations better than she did, but a few decisions this character did caused enough trauma, that's a fact. I also liked the experience of reading, even though I wasn't always happy with the main character, because the whole mythology and many little references to countless details made me curious. I think this final book was done well enough and one day I'll try to see the streaming series that was based on these books.
Grade: 8/10

Inventário da Solidão by João Tordo could be translated into "inventory of loneliness" and it is the tale of a man, a psychologist, who travels back to England to attend the funeral of an old college friend. While this happens, he reminiscences a lot and lets us know what made him do certain things and make certain decisions.
As all the books by this author seem to be, also this one is very rich in cultural and literary references, which I bet is the author's personal little game in having fun writing his books. I like going through them, as well as the philosophical questions, the psychological concepts... I think this is the author's strongest point. As always, the narrator is a man, whose voice we follow on first person and this, sometimes, seems great, but others makes the story seem a little annoying because while all the narrators this author wrote are clever and incredible, they are also irritating and I sometimes wish they could make better options, such as in this specific book.
In spite of this, I'll certainly keep on reading his books...
Grade: 7/10

Mini - Comments

Here is another summarized post... I suppose I could write more about each of the books but, to be honest, there isn't that much I feel like writing, so a small post it is.

These two books are each part of a different series, which I had started before. They have in common the fact they were written by Spanish authors and are set somewhere in Spain, but the content and style are quite different.

I got both at the library, just as I had gotten the others in the series I had read previously.

The Legacy of the Bones by Dolores Redondo is the second installment in the Baztan trilogy. The plot of this story begins a few months after the end of the first book and follows most of the threads we had followed there. Now, some deaths are happening in very similar ways, which means the killer must be the same and it seems whoever it is, has a specific goal in mind, namely provoking detective Amaia. However, when she finally realizes what is behind the whole thing, those she cares about are already in danger... 
I liked this book, it has interesting scenes and a captivating enough development, and I think the web between the crimes, the victims, the culprit was quite engaging, even though there were times I was a little confused on how they went from point A to point B. I would say that I got this impression because there are way too many details to think of and lots of apparently random situations taking center stage. I'm specifically thinking about the huge amount of details related to all the characters, which are interesting, no doubt. But it's also a little distracting because.. will these details have any relevance in the end, will the information be pertinent for us to have closure on why this was shared? I hope so, otherwise it will be very frustrating. I'm still curious so I will certainly read the last installment to find out.
Grade: 7/10

A Nina is the Portuguese translation of this third installment in the Elena Blanco series by author Carmen Mola. One could translate into English as "the child" I suppose. The plot of this book annoyed me to no end, let me tell you. It is focused on Chesca, a secondary character from the books, who is kind of kidnapped at the beginning of the book and from then on things get weird and annoying and her police friends try their best to find and rescue her. 
I won't go into spoilers but I will say that it felt as if the authors decided to go all the way in into bizarre and shock factor. I kept wondering in my head if they sit down somewhere and just randomly gave ideas on how to shock the reader the most and then agreed on this plot, probably collecting other similarly distressing ideas for the next books. Sadly, I quickly lost interest and actually skipped a few paragraphs here and there. I thought about not finishing but admit I was curious to see how things would end. Well, it wasn't in any way that gave my any hope for what might come next, and this means I won't read the next books.
Grade: 3/10