BUY or PASS? Goodreads Provides a Winner for #FridayFiveChallenge

 

Welcome to the ‘Friday Five Challenge.’

Would you BUY or PASS if you had only a thumbnail image and five minutes to decide?

Welcome to the #FridayFiveChallenge. The original idea comes from Rosie Amber, and you can join up at https://rosieamber.wordpress.com

The rules are laid out at the end of this post if you fancy having a go.

Here is my contribution for this week:

I normally use Amazon to do my search for the Friday Five Challenge, but this week I spotted a book while reading the Goodreads newsletter. It practically leapt off the screen!

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine (YA)

BLURB:

In an exhilarating new series, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.…

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.

When he inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn.…

My Analysis:

I love the cover; it instantly captured my attention. The typography is beautiful, the dusty books image gives me that warm glow that all avid readers experience and the colour palette is refreshing (YA books are normally black!).

As I scanned the information on Goodreads, I noticed that it was only published on Tuesday (7^th July 2015). It has 122 reviews on Goodreads so far – the beauty of being a New York Times bestselling author eh! There is a 4* average. The reviews are very positive. From what I could see, the majority are from book reviewers who were sent an ARC by the publisher. There was obviously a lot of hype prior to publication as some Goodreads members have it ‘marked as up-coming’, with a string of happy-faced emoji in their comments.

According to the reviews I did read, this book is part fantasy, part dystopian and part alternative-history. One reviewer compared it to Harry Potter, another to The Book Thief.

I clicked through to the Amazon link, via Goodreads, to find out the cost and if it had any reviews on that platform. At 352 pages, Ink and Bone is £4.68 for a Kindle copy. There are no reviews on Amazon yet.

When I scrolled down Amazon’s page, I came to the ‘customers also bought’ section and found my favourite author’s (Sarah J.Maas) book listed. If Ink and Bone is along the same lines as Sarah’s books, then this will be a winner for me. Even though it’s at the top end of my budget for a Kindle copy, I would BUY. Perfect YA fantasy for my holidays.

Take a look at who else is doing the #FridayFiveChallenge

Rosie Amber – https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/would-you-buy-or-pass-fridayfivechallenge-handbags-and-poobags-by-alice-wright/

Cathy @ Between The Lines Book Blog – https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/friday-five-challenge-3/

Liz Anne Lloyd – https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/friday-five-challenge-5/comment-page-1/#comment-135

 Terry Tyler – http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/would-you-buy-or-pass-7.html

 

What is the Friday Five Challenge?

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions on small postage stamp size book covers (thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

The Challenge is this… IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES…

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description of this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)