Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Bought/Borrowed Because of the Premise

Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme originally created by The Broke and The Bookish and currently run by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Hello again, Tuesday! I must say, this week's prompt was pretty fun to put together. I decided to go with books I bought or borrowed because of the fantastic premise. Because, let's face it, sometimes an amazing premise can be the deciding factor in book buying.

1. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Bought or Borrowed? Borrowed

Status: Read, loved

Thoughts: I'm so glad that I borrowed Illuminae! All I really knew about it going in was that was a young adult science fiction novel, told in a multi-media format. And I loved it. In fact, I'm planning on buying the entire trilogy in the near future, because I can totally see myself reading these books again. They're also addictive to read, and while 600+ pages does seem like a lot, the pacing is so superb that it flies by almost without you noticing.

2. Fawkes by Nadine Brandes

Bought or Borrowed? Bought

Status: Read, enjoyed

Thoughts: I bought Fawkes for two reasons. One, I wanted to read a book by Nadine Brandes. And two, I thought the premise -- a historical fantasy reimagining of the Gunpowder Plot -- was fascinating. It didn't disappoint. While I do feel like the book has its problems, it's overall a fantastic, engaging story that definitely lives up to the premise.

3. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

Bought or Borrowed? Bought

Status: Read, loved

Thoughts: All of Victoria Schwab's books have amazing premises, but this one especially intrigued me. Basically, I knew there were monsters, and two teenagers on opposite sides of a conflict -- one a human, the other, one of the monsters. And I knew there was something to do with music.
Imagine my utter joy when I found out that one of the main character's plays a violin -- a skill that is vitally important to the plot!
This is one of my all time favourite books, and I just want everyone to read it because it's fantastic.

4. Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell

Bought or Borrowed? Bought

Status: Read, okay

Thoughts: I bought this half because of the cover, and half because Les Miserables in outer space totally sounded like something I would love. While I didn't hate this book, it did leave a lot to be desired. Part of that might be because of my high expectations -- after all, Les Miserables is one of my favourite ever stories, and so I probably came to the book with unrealistic expectations for it.
But it did disappoint me, and that makes me sad, because I really did want to love this book.

5. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Bought or Borrowed? Bought

Status: Unread, better be amazing

Thoughts: What I know about it as of right now: there's a lost city, a librarian, and something about forgotten gods. And magic. Sign me up. 










6. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Bought or Borrowed? Bought

Status: Unread, please be worth my money

Thoughts: Another Laini Taylor book (why do so many of her books sound so amazing?) that I'm really hoping will be awesome. All I know about it right now is that there are angels and demons and an angel and a girl raised by demons fall in love... and I know there's more to it than that, but that's all I know.








7. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Bought or Borrowed? Borrowed, then bought

Status: Read, loved

Thoughts: I've read this series... close to three or four times? So that should give you some sense of how much I enjoyed it. This was one of the first YA books I ever read, and I borrowed it because of the fantastic premise -- what if Cinderella was a cyborg?
And from there, I was sucked down the rabbit hole of The Lunar Chronicles fandom, and then the wonderful world of YA.








8. Everless by Sara Holland

Bought or Borrowed? Borrowed

Status: Read, enjoyed

Thoughts: This book was great. Not the best, by any means, but genuinely enjoyable. The execution of the premise was by far the best part about it -- blood equals time equals money. The politics of how time is used in the world and the whole idea of being able to use your own time as currency was absolutely fascinating. I didn't enjoy the second book as much, but Everless was fully satisfying.






9. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Bought or Borrowed? Borrowed

Status: Read, hated

Thoughts: I don't want to sound mean, but I don't really know how else to say it... The Cruel Prince is one of the worst books I've ever read. I liked the premise a lot -- a human girl living in the faerie realm
-- but the execution was not my favourite. I never connected with any of the characters, and combined with a slow plot and some very sketchy morality (don't even get me started on the abusive relationships in this book), it just ended up not being a book I could enjoy at all.





10. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Bought or Borrowed? Bought

Status: Read, didn't like

Thoughts: I loved the idea of a superhero dystopia of the sort that The Darkest Minds' premise gave me. But the book never lived up to it, despite the cool idea. Instead of being an interesting dystopian, it ended up being one long superhero road trip. Which... wasn't what I was really hoping for. So while this wasn't the most awful book I've ever read, it definitely left much to be desired.








And that about wraps it up! Bookworms, now it's your turn! What are some books that you bought or borrowed for the premise? And what did you think of them? 
Let me know in the comments!