Nikki
3.5 Stars!
I enjoyed this for the most part, but I do think that I still prefer Leah's debut, You Should See Me in A Crown. It's a fun contemporary romance, with some heavy themes running throughout that balance the story out. The reason that I didn't enjoy this one as much is that I couldn't get behind the things that the character, Olivia, who is one of the two POVs we get to read from, does and says sometimes. However, that is just a small critic that might not matter at all for most readers so take that with a pinch of salt. Overall though, I did have fun reading a cute queer romance centered at a musical festival, which is something entirely new to me. There were several spacing and capitalization errors in the ARC that I received, but I believe those will be corrected once the book is officially out. Would definitely read whatever Johnson writes next!
Equally as fun as the first, Artificial Condition did not fail in making me enjoy the character, Murderbot, even more than in the first book. It's genuinely one of the main reasons I think I will enjoy this series for, Murderbot's character is just so fascinating and relatable. There are new characters introduced but the highlight here would be Murderbot's new friend, ART! Without saying too much that could spoil the book, ART plays an important role in the novella, helping them out with some tasks but it's their friendship that just makes the book tie together very well. Would love to see Murderbot and ART in the other books!
Martha Wells manages to accomplish a lot in the first book of a series that seems to be gaining in popularity for some time now. I love how Murderbot was introduced in the first chapter and how they interact with their ‘clients' and just how they perceive everything. It's a breath of fresh air to read this, especially since I was in a midst of a book slump. The plot moves fast, of course, considering the page count of the book but never to the point like I feel that I'm missing out on something. The side characters aren't given enough time to develop much, though I'm hoping that will change in future books. I really liked how the novella ended as well and how it sets the reader up for the sequel.
I really enjoyed this and I flew through it as it was just so fun and easy to get through. I'll for sure continue on the series.
It's been a while since I picked up a horror book, mostly because I just don't have that much enjoyment for scary stuff in general but the premise of killer mermaids intrigued me, to say the least. However, this was a pretty solid thriller! The descriptions and slow build towards the ‘reveal' of the mermaids were well set up and made all the scenes just much more thrilling than I expected them to be. The writing style is definitely to be credited here, Grant's descriptive prose was suitable for this specific kind of story and I think it was just well done. With that being said though, I didn't feel as much connected to any of the characters that were presented here, most likely from the sheer amount of POV changes and the slightly disorienting change of POVs on a page. This book is definitely more of a plot-centered story, in my opinion.
Overall a good read, I did enjoy my time with this one and I do really think that this would do great as a film too, with the right budget for the mermaids and all.
3.75 ⭐
A fairly lengthy story that feels a lot like a D&D campaign, stretched out and put into words. I didn't like the plot line as much, it felt a little too dragged out for my personal taste but I did like the characters here. The camaraderie the band has is nice to see and I just like how they're all old and we're focusing on the aftermath of their success in their younger days. The humor is a hit-or-miss thing for me personally, I just didn't jive with some of the jokes that were presented but most of the time it was pretty entertaining to read.
Overall a fun read and I'm definitely still going to check out the sequels sometime soon.
I liked most of the stories here, some more than others but it was great overall. The writing style is enjoyable too but mostly I like this for the Asian cultural references present throughout the book. I'm Asian and admittedly I don't read enough books written by Asian authors and it is always nice whenever I come across small details, whether in dialogue or descriptions in books like these. I chose this collection of stories to familiarise myself with Nguyen's writing style before I go into his longer and Pulitzer-winning(2016) novel, The Sympathizer, which I have heard a lot of positive things about.
Overall an enjoyable and quick listen though I do wish some of the stories did have a clearer conclusion to them. It occasionally did end in a vague way or abruptly, for a few of the stories.
4.5 Stars!
What a great retelling of Sleeping Beauty! I love morally grey characters and it's not too often we get to read from their perspective, either, so I really appreciate Malice for that. The worldbuilding here is well done, and I didn't mind the slightly slower start to the book. The star of the show here is for sure Alyce or known as the ‘Dark Grace' in Briar. It was interesting to see how Alyce navigated and endured the constant hateful comments and actions by the other townspeople and her fellow Graces. The story shows how Alyce fights between wanting to be the ‘monster' that everyone sees her as and also at the same time, how she wants to live a life as a normal person.
The romance here is nicely written too, I initially thought it would very much be a back burner sort of thing after reading a few of the reviews here but I think it was present enough for me to be invested in the relationship. Although I do wish that we did have a few more glimpses of Aurora's personality. Perhaps we could get her POV in the sequel?
Overall I really did enjoy this. Read this if you'll like a queer spin on a classic and if you like character-driven books!
My first introduction to Discworld and I'm glad I started with this, as recommend by a lot of fans. Pratchett has a knack for humor here that didn't rub off as too offensive to me and I like how he navigated the topic of religion here. It's a light fantasy novel that I think is suitable if you're having a book slump or just want a fun and well-written story.
3.75 ⭐
I love the way Fitzgerald writes here. The story and characters were decent but the prose carried them beautifully and I probably wouldn't have cared for it as much as I did if it was written in another way. Didn't expect the ending to go that way either but it was an... entertaining surprise.
3.5 ⭐
I've watched Daniel's Youtube videos for a while now and so I was pretty excited to start reading something written by one of my favorite YouTube content creators.
I listened to the audiobook version of the book and it was easy for me to get into the book as I'm familiar with the narrators from the WoT series. I found the writing style to be simplistic and easy to understand, and that made the book to be a quick listen. It's only around 3 hours anyways, but I think the pacing of the book was slightly sluggish the first 3/4 of it. However, the ending did kind of make up for it. It's interesting to see how Greene incorporates the fantasy aspect to the story, though we seem to be only seeing an inkling of what I hope will be a much more fleshed out version coming in the future.
Considering this is a novella and not a full fledged novel, I think this was pretty good for a debut author. I am likely slightly clouded by my biasness towards Daniel Greene but I think this did made for a fairly entertaining read and I'm looking forward for the sequels.
4.5 ⭐
A great sequel to A Memory Called Empire, the Hugo Award winner for best novel of 2020! I think that anyone that is interested in this series has to go into it a little prepared. It's a fairly densely-crafted world, with very unique naming of the people, namely the inhabitants of Teixcalaan. What with the long titles of the Emperors and the odd names for all the ministers and such had me going back and forth the glossary every so often. However, the storyline and the cleverness of everything make up for this complexity, at least for me.
This book picks up where the first book ended but we do get some additional perspectives. It was interesting to see things through the lens of Three Seagrass, which could be one of my favorite perspectives out of all of them. There's also the POV's from Nine Hibiscus and also Eight Antidote, the 90% clone of the previous emperor. If anything, these additional perspectives made the story even better, being able to connect the dots ourselves, without the author directly pointing them out. The pacing is similar to the first book, where it's pretty slow in the first half to three-quarters of the book and then it just moves extremely quickly.
This entire book was so good and I can't wait for the next one. If there is another? The ending seemed open enough that the possibility for another one seems pretty plausible. Crossing my fingers for that!
This book feels as though it was set out to accomplish something at the beginning but I didn't feel like it did, even till the very end of the story. I did find the characters interesting and the topic on immigrants discussed here but I just didn't feel as much as I thought I would've, with the exception of a couple of scenes here and there. It does have a sense of repetition, where the characters would go to a place and move to another in a chapter or two, never really getting the full picture of the said place. I might have missed something or didn't quite understand this as much as other readers did so I might pick this up again, someday in the future.
I liked this, for the most part, was intrigued with the entire premise of the main character stopping Emett from attempting suicide. However, I just don't feel as satisfied with the outcomes of everything. The pace of the book for the first 1/2 felt slow and when it finally did pick up its pace at the 2nd 1/2, it felt almost forced and a bit predictable?
Don't push this book aside because of the negative reviews though, I do see how this book can appeal to other people much more than it did for me. It's well written and I think the conversations between the 2 characters are sometimes pretty engaging.
Great collection! Love his album reviews and write-ups about musicians and decided to dive into his published works and I don't regret it. Gonna have to read his other books ASAP.
From IT'S NOT LIKE NIKOLA TESLA KNEW ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WERE GOING TO DIE
:if man is not supposed to playGod thenwhy did God make dying lookso beautiful.
Came for the vampires and stayed for the vampires. Except one of them. You'll understand what I mean if you read the book.
What a well-written book this was, the prose felt very natural and was very fitting for the overall atmosphere the author for aiming for the book. This was my first book centered around the theme of vampires that I read(never was on the Twilight bandwagon) and it was interesting. Sure the whole neck-biting and drinking blood is odd and all but wasn't overdone till it made me feel uncomfortable or anything like that.
I really admire how the author managed to make the characters relatable and likable despite the book being fairly short. Constanta is a great protagonist and I enjoyed seeing her journey to accepting and admitting that her centuries(?) long relationship with her ‘sire' is toxic through and through.
“It would be easier if he hated us,” she said. “But he loves us all terribly. And if we go on letting him love us, that love is going to kill us. That's what makes him so dangerous.”
Also, the book does have polyamorous relationships going on as well! This was my first time reading a story with poly rep included and I think the author accomplished that well, at least for me.
Overall, this was a great book from start-to-end and I had a great time reading it. Loved it mostly because it felt incredibly empowering to read about a woman who stood up for herself in an abusive relationship and how the characters worked together. If you're looking for a fairly short book that is well-written and feels fresh, here's one you should try!
I am firm, my lady, and I understand leverage. The people only call me cruel because it's easier to think of a woman as cruel than competent. Surely, you can understand that.
You can read this for free here: https://www.biglucks.com/store/vintage-sadness-hanif-willis-abdurraqib
Love Abdurraqib's writing style. His words pack a punch, for sure. Will be reading more of his works soon!
WATCHING THE FIRST SCENE OF “BELLY” WITH THE LIGHTS OFF, 2002we ran from the nightclub / when the newspaper / told me that five people / were pulled from the Avalon's bloody tile / it didn't feel like I had survived / anything other than a Friday / with money in my pocket / but I still grabbed my boys / by the shirt / & hugged them in the front yard / like we just made it back from war / & there I go again / making another death romantic
What a great return to the world of THUG! I really enjoyed this one, it was interesting to take a whole glimpse into Maverick's journey. Would for sure recommend you reading this after The Hate U Give as that'll give you more context of everything. I still prefer that book over this but this is a worthy prequel, for sure.
We get to see Khalil as a baby too which broke my heart into thousand pieces....
