Laura

Characters: ★★ Atmosphere: ★★★★★ Writing Style: ★★★ Plot: ★★★ Intrigue: ★★★ Relationships: ★★★ Enjoyment: ★★★Rating: ★★★The Dark Forest struggles with the same issues as its predecessor but ends on a high note.We continue our story throughout the next few hundred years with humanity trying desperately to come up with a plan to defend themselves against the ominous Trisolarans. In this second book, I found the plot lagging along and suffered from a distinct lack of dehydration. We primarily follow Luo Ji, a sexist astronomer who has never felt true love. It's fine to have an unlikable character, but nearly all of the characters in The Dark Forest are hard to read about. We spend far too long learning about Luo Ji's creation of his dream woman and his visions of her throughout the story. He even goes so far as to use government funding to find a real version of her, a woman who somehow is okay with all this and is happy to marry and have a child with him.It's not just Luo Ji who is unlikable. All of the Wallfacers are stiff, self-involved, and apparently unable to come up with even an inkling of a plan to save humanity without mass murdering the very people they're aiming to protect. I found this a little unimaginative and lazy. I also found the use of time-jumping with cryostasis a bit convenient to move the plot along. We enter the future where everything has been progressing along, but no further progress was attempted towards the Wallfacer project. No new Wallfacers of later generations were assigned, and humanity has mostly become overconfident that they'll beat the Trisolarans when they arrive. We really believe no other attempts would be made? The ETO just dissolved?It was hard to read the droplet scene. Not because it was horrific and graphic, but because I cannot believe that humanity as a whole anticipated this droplet for 200 years and once it arrived they assumed that it was friendly? It was sent 200 years ago, when humanity was even less of a threat. I would have thought humanity got smarter and more aware of extra-terrestrial dangers following the Trisolaran contact. Nope!The last quarter of the book becomes a lot more compelling, with the reveal of Luo Ji's plan and the final conversations with the Trisolarans. Is Luo Ji's plan also just a fuck humanity to fuck the Trisolarans plan like all the other Wallfacers? Yes! But at least he's not DIRECTLY doing it. It is one of the better plans, and it created a really compelling cliffhanger into the next book, which I will probably end up begrudgingly reading.In conclusion, I hope I don't have to read about imaginary dream girls for the rest of the year.

Characters: ★★★★★ Atmosphere: ★★★★★ Writing Style: ★★★★ Plot: ★★★★ Intrigue: ★★★★ Relationships: ★★★★★ Enjoyment: ★★★★★Overall Rating: ★★★★½An exciting and heartwarming adventure that's both fun and easy to read.I listened to the audiobook version of this, which is the best way to experience this book for reasons the reader will soon discover. This was also the first books I've read of Weir's, so I can't personally compare this to his other works. We follow Ryland Grace's perspective, waking up in a space shuttle with no memory of why he's there, but through flashbacks he slowly recovers his memories and unveils the severity of his situation. Grace problem-solves his way through his mission, to some sort of resolution, but not without unexpected help. The book shines through its cast of characters and the humour that keeps things lighthearted. In conclusion, I hope that if I ever get stranded in space I find a sassy pal to help me through it.

Structure: ★★★ Prose: ★★★ Pacing: ★★ Intrigue: ★★ Logic: ★★ Enjoyment: ★★Overall Rating: ★★A strange and vague guide on green witchcraft that feels unsatisfying to the end.I'll preface that I'm not a witch, nor am I very familiar with practices or origins of witchcraft of any kind, which is why I was interested in this book. Therefore, my opinions may be uninformed, so take this review with a grain of salt.I found that Murphy-Hiscock explained the ideals and general practices of green witchcraft fairly well, although I've seen many reviews from witches stating otherwise. I did find that the concessions to make witchcraft accessible for everyone were a little hokey. That one should make shrines to each element, but you don't actually need an object like a candle or a jar of water, that a photo of fire or a waterfall will work just fine? I can't imagine communing with a postcard of Niagara Falls. Secondly, the author tends to give information with a high level of conviction but no information or citations to back it up. I understand this is a craft that is carried down more in person than through cited sources, but she included plenty of sources in the back of the book without citing to them. The sources also don't leave the reader with much confidence, with books like “Witchcraft for Dummies” included in her research.I also found that there was a lot of general knowledge that is sure to leave a lot of newcomers a bit directionless after reading. Things like telling readers to find their local plants and use them in their spells is just like saying, “Find local vegetables and make a meal with them.” It's kind of an obvious thing to suggest and yet doesn't give any specifics on what kind of things to look for and what specific spells to use them with.I was really hoping to learn about the origins of green witchcraft and the role of green witches in their heyday, but there wasn't much in the way of historical learning. It really felt like a white-centric point of view on witchcraft without delving into various cultural impacts on modern witchcraft, so I think there are probably much better books to learn about witches and wiccan practices.The last section was what I had most looked forward to before even reading the book. That is, the recipe and ingredient guide. This was probably the most useful and informative section, although there were also a lot of generalizations there too without any regard for botany or geology. Even in the recipe section there we recipes like the one for an “Herbal Milk Bath” that just called for water, milk and “herbs”. Why even write that recipe if it doesn't call for something specific? Why not create a few “milk bath” recipes with different herbal blends for different uses? In conclusion, this kind of felt more like a cash-grab than a well-informed guide.

Characters: ★★★ Atmosphere: ★★★★ Writing Style: ★★★ Plot: ★★★ Intrigue: ★★★★ Relationships: ★★★ Enjoyment: ★★★Overall Rating: ★★★A vampire horror in which the scariest part is having to babysit three insatiably hungry children.We follow unreliable narrator, Joey Peacock who is a forever-teen vampire who's been roaming New York City for the better part of 60 years. He lives underground with his small found family of vamps in the forgotten corners of NYC's subway systems. He spends his nights charming people into letting him eat them, assaulting unwitting women, and getting kicked out of nightclubs. Classic vampire stuff. It's when he comes upon a group of child vampires that things really start to unravel.This story had some predictable twists and turns, and some unpredictable that didn't feel like they made much sense. None of the characters were very likeable, but hey, they're vampires. Should they be likeable? This was the first of Buehlman's books I've read and in the two I've finished, they both included child or childlike characters in graphically sexual situations. I don't care to read more to see if this is a trend in all his works, but having two in a row with this subject matter was enough for me to retire this author.The plot moved along at a good pace and it was an easy read but I found the inner thoughts of the main character to feel odd considering it's supposed to be a 60 year old vampire who was transformed as a teen in the turn of the century, yet sounds like a teen from the 1970's and beyond. Even then, it's not even his voice; just meant to sound like his he's been telling the story all along. Some of the key plot points felt lazy (it was right in front of us the whole time! forehead slap) and the character choices seemed unrealistic at times in order to drive the story forward. In conclusion, even vampire kids are annoying.

Structure: ★★★ Prose: ★★★★ Pacing: ★★★★★ Intrigue: ★★★★★ Logic: ★★★★★ Enjoyment: ★★★★★Rating: ★★★★½Prisoners of the Castle offers unique perspectives from WWII that can be heartwarming, heartbreaking and optimistic, all at the same time.When this was chosen as a book club pick I expected to read a harrowing tale filled with melancholy characters and horrific interactions. Instead, we see a sliver of hope and humanity in a faraway castle during one of the world's darkest times. We follow dozens of POWs, German soldiers and other notable characters in relation to Colditz throughout the length of the war and its aftermath. The reader gets to witness every escape attempt, visit every secret room or tunnel, and learn the outcome of dozens of soldiers who entered the castle. The structure of the story quickly jumped from one person's story to another, which was hard to follow sometimes, but followed a chronological timeline that helped recenter the reader along the way.In conclusion, I really want Wes Anderson to make a Colditz movie, but I fear the prisonbreak scene from Grand Budapest Hotel will be the best homage we get to the whimsy of the castle.