Katherine
Annihilation ???/5 (5/5)
How to even begin reviewing this. Annihilation is a fever dream, a mystery, an experience. You won't know what's going on but the atmosphere around Area X is tantalizingly creepy, and haunting, and mysterious. You want to know, but at the same time, do you want to know? A truly fascinating book that makes me want to read even more about Area X.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower 5/5
“You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours”
“But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there.”
“And even if somebody has it much worse, it doesn't change the fact that you have what you have.”
This story is heavy. It contains a lot of heavy topics, like sexual content, abuse, assault, and drug use. But it's an important story. It's one that someone might be living right now. Maybe that weird, quiet kid in school just really needs a friend. Maybe they have a hard time “participating” in life for whatever reason.
This is a story about trauma, and grief, and friendship, true friendship. It's a story about being present in life, even when it's hard. It's a story about making room for yourself in your own life. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is not an easy read. But I would recommend everyone who can to read it. Maybe it will make you realize that there's something you're not being present for, or that you're not making enough room for yourself in your own life. Or maybe it will inspire you to forge your own path, no matter where you come from. And realize that your worries and problems are real problems, even if “others have it worse”. Make time for yourself. And be present for life, the good and the bad.
The Deep 4.5/5
A supremely creepy fever dream of a book. The one criticism I have is that it could have played with the fear of the deep ocean more, as the horrific scenes felt disconnected from its setting at times. But wow, I couldn't look away. I had my hand over my mouth for most of the book, and it made me cry at one point. The descriptions of things in the dark and body horror are truly, truly horrifying. I'll be sleeping with the lights on from now on, and God knows I'm not going into a submarine any time soon!
Hell Followed With Us 3.5/5
I don't know how to feel about this story. It was nice to have representation at the forefront, and having the plot be fighting the people around you who constantly don't accept you. But the framing was just okay? A little too on the nose for my tastes. I liked the characters but felt like they could've been deeper, especially in a 300 page book. Benji gets good characterization, but the others are a little more one-note. They're not stereotypes but they're pretty shallow. I didn't love the plot, it's very simple, predictable, and a little... wish fulfilling? I think that's the best way to describe it. Overall the book is fine but I didn't love it.
Sam Kean
The Disappearing Spoon 5/5
This book did a great job of combining chemistry with interesting historical facts about the scientific figures and events surrounding the different elements on the periodic table. Filled with interesting tidbits as well as explanations of how chemistry works for a layperson to understand, this book is great for exploring the world of chemistry for both chemists and non chemists alike.
This book starts off a little slow, but I promise the ending is absolutely worth it. A great political fantasy from the point of view of an actor that is filled with wit and humor. The magic in this book is absolutely fascinating and very unique. If you don't love most of the cast by the end of the book, at the very least they'll have made quite the impression. These characters are fantastic. Highly recommend.
Godkiller 3.5/5
This book wears its influences on its sleeve. It clearly pulls from The Witcher for a lot of its characterization of Kissen. I love the world, there's a lot you can do with it, though some of the rules are a little fuzzy imo. I think the characters are okay, a little shallow at times since we don't get much time to explore them in such a short book. Most of the book was pretty predictable and basic. It didn't fully engage me- I wasn't dreading to pick it up, but I wasn't flying through it either. The end was a little too much out of nowhere, and would've hit harder had the book explored two characters relationship more. Overall it's a fantasy with cool world building, characters that are interesting but fairly shallow, and a fairly basic plot.
These Burning Stars 4/5
This book surprised me. What at first seemed like a fairly generic space opera turned into a layer of twists and turns that, despite a few being fairly predictable, were still surprising. There's always another secret... true in Mistborn, and true in this book. I can't say I absolutely loved it- I thought two of the viewpoint characters were fascinating, and I loved the flashback chapters. But I couldn't connect to one character very well and felt her chapters were a bit of a drag. Overall, the characters are strong, the plot is twisty, and the prose is pretty good. Unfortunately, some of the worldbuilding felt just a little lacking, for one example that really stuck out to me- the gender system only seeming to have she/he/they while still being very progressive. I also wish a little more time had been devoted to the religious side of the world building. But overall a solid book and I'll be reading the sequels
Ninth House 4/5
I liked this book. The mystery wasn't the most interesting at first, I preferred the mystery of Alex's past more. But it does a good job wrapping up and explaining everything, and you can see where most things are coming from after the reveal which is always a key part of any good mystery. One thing did come out of nowhere at the end but it made for an interesting plot point. Overall the book's plot is interesting, the characters are fleshed out, and the prose is decent. Pretty good! Would definitely recommend for lovers of mystery.
Throne of Jade 4.25/5
I love Temeraire as a character and this book continues that trend. It is heavily character focused, and the plot mostly happens in the background. It's slower than the first book, but sets up a lot of intriguing possibilities for the future. Looking forward to reading the rest of this series!
Lilac Girls: 4/5
I think I would've appreciated it more as a nonfiction. Something where the stories of the Rabbits of Ravensbrück could be heard all together, and not the fictionalized version one that was told here. I also wish less time had been focused on Caroline's fictional story. I do appreciate this book for introducing me to this horrific situation, as women during the Holocaust are not well represented. I had no idea that there was an all female concentration camp, and this book did a good job getting across the horror of what happened.
Overall this book was just... fine. Since it's in a fairytale format you could see most things coming a mile away. The ending isn't exactly surprising. There are some really sweet character moments, but then those are blindsided by weirdly brutal and graphic moments. Fairy tales were originally very dark, so it makes sense that this book would be dark in moments, but it just felt jarring when it happened since most of the book is very whimsical. It makes for a strange reading experience.
The Burning God 4.5/5
What an ending to this trilogy. One of the better endings I've seen to a trilogy, despite its nature. There were some things about this book I didn't love, some plot points were a little too much, but it was certainly hard to put down and hard to look away from. I still think the first book is the strongest in the series for its second half, but this final installment really summed up everything well.
The Jasmine Throne: 4/5
I can see this book being someone's absolute favorite, but for some reason it just didn't grab me. I couldn't connect to the characters here, and I felt there were a few too many POV changes- which is odd because I usually like a large cast of characters. Something about this one made me notice that there were a lot of POV changes. The world is pretty neat, though I wish we got a little more of the lore behind The Age of Flowers. The plot is somewhat predictable, unfortunately, which I think contributed to me not liking it quite as much as some others. It's definitely well written and I might check out the sequels just to see where the story goes from here.
The Dragon Republic: 4.25 stars. This one is tricky to rate. On one hand, the first half of the book felt quite stagnant, like we weren't really going anywhere. But on the other hand, the second half of the book is fantastic. I was certainly frustrated with Rin throughout most of the book, but part of what makes this series so enjoyable is the complexity of the characters. Overall I feel that perhaps it could've been shortened some and I would've had an amazing time. Still a good read though, with lots of themes and ideas being introduced. Same trigger warnings as the first book, but it's not quite as graphic and intense as that one.
The Tainted Cup: 4.5/5You know, for about half of this book I was thinking this is just okay, I'm not super enthralled by the mystery or the characters, but the world is really cool! But as the twists and turns piled up, and you get to know Din and Ana better, this Sherlock and Watson dynamic becomes absolutely incredible. And the twists and turns are generally predictable in hindsight, but tricky to catch- just as a good mystery should be. The prose is great, the characters were great, the world is absolutely fascinating, and the mystery behind it all was intriguing. I can't wait to continue with Din and Ana in the rest of the series!
Unfortunately, instead of being a primer for cell biology like I hoped it would be, this book jumps around from topic to topic with no clear focus. We start off with talking about the centra dogma of biology, then start talking about random tissues, hormones, gases, sugars, etc, with no particular rhyme or reason. The book ends talking about quarks for some reason. Two stars because I did learn some new things about different molecules in the body, but only two stars because the book is poorly organized and doesn't transition well from topic to topic.
Wow. So tws for this book? All of them. Not even kidding. I read the most graphic and horrific chapter I have ever read in this book.
I have a hard time rating this book. It gets 5 stars because it did what it wanted to do extremely well. But it's not an enjoyable read. I don't mean because the plot is boring, it's badly written, anything like that. In fact it's extremely hard to put down and written well. But what this book wants to do and what it does well is show the horrors of war. The danger of seeing your enemies as less than human. The futility of revenge and anger and how it makes everything worse in the end. You may hate the main character but you can track along with her mindset and why she makes the decisions she does.
It's a rough read. Every violent tw I can thing of happens in this book. It does not hold back. But if you can stomach the gruesomeness, it's very successful at it's points. Don't read this expecting a light hearted military fantasy. Read this expecting to cover your face or mouth with one hand, turning the page with another, and reading with one eye between your fingers.
Six Crimson Cranes: 4 stars
I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of this book. The writing is very good, the characters are believable, and I liked the relationships a lot. Unfortunately, I think the book rushed the ending- so much happens in like 5 chapters at the end, and the resolution of this book isn't too great as it's own book. There are plenty of plot lines for the sequel, but this felt to me like an abrupt ending. I also disliked some of the plot conveniences that occurred, and an out of nowhere plot device that came in towards the end that I wish had been introduced a little earlier. So overall this book is really enjoyable and hard to put down, I'd recommend it, but I didn't love the ending. I will be checking out the sequel because the story intrigued me enough to do so.