6 Degrees Of Separation: Outsiders and Assassins

6 Degrees Of Separation is a monthly meme hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavouriteandbest

On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

This months starting point is The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Although it’s a cult classic, and definitely one I’ve heard of before, it’s not one I’ve read (there’s a running theme with me and this meme… XD). The Goodreads ratings are really high, so I should probably give it a try sometime. Have you read The Outsiders? Still, I think I know enough about it to make the first connection, so let’s see where we end up…

The Outsiders is about a conflict between rival gangs, the Greasers and the Socs. Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody also revolves around (three) rival gangs, but with added magic. Games of luck, specially cards, are important to the characters in Ace of Shades.  As I pointed out in my Top Ten Tuesday: Books You’d Mash Together, another fabulous card player is Tesara from The Sisters Mederos. I think Levi, Enne, Vivi and Tesara would make a hell of a gang together.

Obviously, the sisterly relationship is crucial to The Sisters Mederos. Another memorable relationship between sisters — although far less supportive — is in Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake. Where Katherine, Mirabella, and Arsinoe are all vying for the same throne, in Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte four queens share the ruling of a kingdom, splitting the districts between them.  Three Dark Crowns was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I have high hopes for Four Dead Queens.

Another book I’m highly anticipating (and which comes out in February 2019, like Four Dead Queens) is Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers. I read the first trilogy in this universe – His Fair Assassin – this year, and it just kept growing on me. Courting Darkness takes us back to my favourite of the POV characters, Sybella.

The His Fair Assassin trilogy revolves around three different initiates in an Abbey for assassin nuns to the god of death. A point on which the series disappointed me was the lack of assassin training. If you want to see some ruthless, bad-ass assassins training at a horrifyingly deadly school Nevernight by Jay Kristoff is well worth a look.

 

Have you read any of these books? Where did your six degrees end up this month?