Vasiliy Mukhin

This is my first work by Le Guin, and it meets all expectations!

Despite being somewhat neutral-negative to the whole 60s-70s fantasy-scifi vibe, surprisingly, I loved this here, especially with Le Guin's own style of writing through an exploration lens. Despite having a dramatic and devastating plot, it isn't written grimly; instead, it shows Le Guin's love for the strange world and its people. This love highlights the character's desperation, but at the end of the book, instead of giving the reader depressing feelings, it gives the reader hopeful sadness.

P.S.: The narrator for the audiobook is pretty good; it was extremely pleasant to listen to.

Unsurprisingly, it is exactly what the annotations say - Sherlock Holmes in a fantasy world. Very good book for cosy detective story + I loved the BL romance on the side~

Literally slasher summer with gays: jokes, cheesiness, silly characters, and obvious murderer(s). The first half, as all slashers, is painful to read, but as soon as violence comes, it becomes pretty fun (if, of course, you withstand extreme cheese). The end-game couple of Patrick and Jason is just cheff kisses, especially given that both were pinning the whole damm novel, and because of that I'm really interested in the sequel after the Cliffhanger ending. Overall, it is a cookie-cutter genre book - if you love it & its tropes, then you would like this book like me :)

Read it first in 2011 and was mesmerized by the art, simplistic brutality, and vampire evolution. After 15 years, nothing changed; it is still a brilliant piece of vampire art and horror, idk why the rating is so low.

The writing is good but it is pretty boring if you are not into the whole depressing and gray ancient viking vibe...

At first, the story was rather annoying, but I got into it quickly. I enjoyed the mystery and the detective parts of the book; the characters played their parts, except for the real-world antagonist. Throughout the whole book, it is implied that Bain is not controlled by Gravelys and has a connection to some other supernatural-investigating organizations. Her primary motivation was actually to find and exploit the mystery of the Starling house, and working for Gravelys was merely a tool to get to it. Her last appearance feels very abrupt and unsatisfying, and the epilogue completely erases her from the narrative. I really don't like the epilogue, because it is kinda tries to push simultaneously in two opposite directions, like resolving lasting conflicts while maintaining the mystery, which completely ruins the ending atmosphere. I wish the editor had just erased it.

Overall, it would be 4/5 without an epilogue.

It is great as a short story, but I don't think there is enough plot to carry on as a single; it feels like a part of an anthology, where you get different vibes instead of a round-up story. Publishing stories separately feels kinda excessive, though it's probably profitable financially.

I recommend purchasing and reading the entire "The Bureau" series; reading it separately would feel too short.

t is very silly and very entertaining, and within the genre, I cannot even think of what to criticize. The most important part, pacing, was well done; the characters acted within normal comedy boundaries, and overall, the romance plot is decent. The architecture & uni part of the story, despite being the driving force for Pat's motivation, is very limited, but honestly, who cares?

Recommend as fast & comfy comedic romance (idk why would you expect anything else from the tags and description).

The story was good till the middle of the novel, then the pacing rushed, and the writing became much worse. The ending with Rudy was just too forced, to the point of being funny, and Ulrich's constant changes of plans were the worst kind of mindless drama. In summary, I think it is a good MLM retelling, but I would not recommend it as a standalone.

Although I like the novel, in this part, there was far less romantic focus than in previous books, so the holes in the worldbuilding became annoying and obvious. Still recommend as an easy and fast romance read, but I would not re-read it or wish for a sequel.

Cannot lie, I really enjoy the series' writing style and pacing, it makes it so easy to read. The relationship drama was very civil and real-like, without any theatrics, which is so uncommon for romance.

It is definitely more chill & uneventful than the 1st book, but the whole series is chill romance, so it doesn't create too much contrast.

Again, wish there were more background & secondary characters' interactions, but it is 160 pages.

Immediately starting the final novel.

I really like novel writing, which is extremely rare for romance, that's why my rating is 5/5.

First of all, even though the story is very short, only 160 pages, the pacing was not rushed and easily flowed, which is one of the most important parts of reading. Characters are lovely and behave pretty consistently with their descriptions; there's no sudden, unexplained drama for the sake of drama, so when there is a DRAMATIC MOMENT in the plot, it feels very natural and humane. Overall, I really love the romance part of the book.

Worldbuilding, though, has many gaps, such as the following. Elves' longevity is only once mentioned, and despite being a pretty big influence on the orc vs elf life view, it isn't really shown in the book. Secondary characters (nobility & king) are pretty vague, except for a few dialogues and remarks; MCs don't really engage with them, which is kinda weird given that MC is the heir and should be involved in court politics pretty heavily. Even though romance is the main focus of the book, the story would only benefit from the author elaborating on court politics for a few more pages, since it is the whole premise of the plot.

BUT! Because the story is really short & has good pacing, it doesn't feel like a big deal compared to 300+ page novels with similar issues.

Heavily recommend this book for a short & easy romance read, if you want a more complex story, a 160-page romance is not what you are looking for.

I like the story and the characters, although the author's philosophising outside of dialogues where a little bit too much.

It was a little bit heavy on the teenage "being a brat for the sake of being a brat", like for example, the majority of the Golds were literally bullies, and although their change of hearts is kinda explained by understanding the inevitability of the sacrifice, it still feels a little bit too rush. Other than that good story and nice characters!

To be honest, I read this only because of the challenge. But the story is good, the writing conveys emotions, and the plot is anything but boring. The pace is extremely fast, like literally, I think all of the novel (except for flashback) describes only one week, so depending on your preference, it can be bad/good. Also, the author likes to use 1-line plot-revealing phrases that honestly make the book feel like a tick-tock.

The novel is more emotion-driven than plot-driven, so there are quite a few plot holes, but the pace doesn't give the reader time to fix on them. Overall, quick summer thriller read on the vacation.

I really like the plot and the main character, especially how well it was written within the limitations of the short story. Looking forward to reading more from the series, the start was very intriguing!

I like the plot, I like the world, and I like the characters. But I don't like that it was "tell, not show," which, in my opinion, doesn't work in a short format like this novel. If the author had made it 200+ pages longer, it would have been a much better book that probably would have become my favourite. But it is how it is: "c

The story and writing are pretty good, the characters are lovely, and the romance is cute, just like a regular good danmei novel.

The only problem is pacing. For the emotional involvement between characters, plot consequences, etc, the story should take MONTHS, not mere days or even hours! Danmei as a genre is not very suitable for the one-shot book; it requires a book series (unless it's a very long one-shot), and in this format, the author, world and characters would tell the whole story rather than a rushed summary. In the current state, it's like reading a well-written recap, where all the "fillers" were sacrificed for the plot density.

I recommend it as a fast, cosy romance read for a few hours, nothing more, nothing less.

Really tried to finish it, but stopped halfway because don't like this kind of writing... personally, TV show adaptation has a better atmosphere. Otherwise, cute characters, an interesting plot, and the whole comedy-drama mix.

Very cute continuation of the pet fish story. As tyrant become more tame, romantic story is now so sweet and tender... Although only for the pet fish, lol. Starting the third book immediately!

I didn't know what I expected from romantasy, so it's my fault. But the whole military rider complex didn't sell well with me, especially given the author military background. I think for romance and fantasy vibe, the book is good, and the main romantic relationship is kinda silly but not toxic. The world building is very primitive and gives "hard to be hard" without explanation, and like the only believable thing was main character physical struggles. In conclusion, this is my end with the Emperyan world, and I would not read more.

Через формат коротких розповідей на пару сторінок книга читається легко та швидко, і перші 75% майже непов'язані між собою (окрім "історія" та "Україна") що не дає занудгювати.

Тема війни не замовчується, вона більше про осмислення ворога та нас самих.

А потім різкий воєнний щоденник, який описує ємоції усіх українців із 24022022. Ненависть, радість, сум, ненависть, ненависть, ненависть. І серед усього цього, головна і невпинна тема - надія. Не надія "а якось буде", а "їбаште котики".

Extremely fun and light novel, in fact, it was so entertaining that I gulped it whole in 2 days! Sometimes it can be really silly, but it's more due to the genre of comedy than bad writing. And it's very refreshing to see so cosy and normal relationships in danmei, lol. Hope the next part will be the same level of fun and we will see more romance~~~

This work was recommended as a starting point for reading about X-men, and I would like to say it was a lie.

But otherwise interesting and deep story, that would feel extremely rushed without prior reading.

So far very good, I like how they introduce new characters and give depth to the "old" ones. Obviously, it's just the beginning so there is not so much action but I think it is important to read it in order to understand and appreciate the character growth/change. Looking forward to see how the story progress!