Oscar

Time's Arrow is a tricky book. It forces you to read segments a few times over to fully understand what is really going on since the story is told in reverse. Even the dialogues begin at the end, and they are done in a very clever way, almost palindromic in nature since they make sense both in reverse and normal order. Fortunately, the extra effort to understand everything is very rewarding as you dig deeper into the protagonist's darkest secrets. 

What an intense ride through the English language. Possession is mainly an indulgence into language's beauty, coated with themes of scholarly research, academic competition, thoughts on feminism and platonic love. The plot itself isn't that important or incredible since it's more about its themes and thoughts. The book also features a lot of poetry which can be a turn off for some people but it is a plus for me. Ultimately, I have to commend the author for pouring in so much love into creating these “fake” poems and backstories which are extremely elaborate and realistic to the point you actually end up believing that these fictional poets actually existed. 

If you're looking for a good story, it isn't your kind of book, but if you're looking for an experience, Possession is pure literary pleasure.

It's a very interesting book which tackles the eternal question if there is life after death and tries to do so by using scientific explanations (quantum physics and quantum biology) and the content is very intriguing. The only problem that the book has is the way it's written: it repeats many of the same concepts over and over again and in many occasions, paragraphs of text have no relation with the previous one, there is a disconnected flow between explanations. Beside that, I enjoyed what it teaches.

This has been my first Brandon Sanderson book and sadly, it wasn't what I was expecting given all the glowing praise from its fans. One thing I strongly disliked is how everything feels crafted to appeal to the masses. It seems like something out of the MCU with flat and snarky characters. There is a point where most crew members of the story get mashed up together with similar personalities and you really can't distinguish them easily. 

The magic system is not of my taste either, it seemed like something pulled out of a videogame. There is a chapter which resembles a tutorial or the manual of the system and it really pulled me out of the immersion. 

The prose was just too straightforward, no aesthetics considered at all.

The positives are that, just like an MCU movie, it is entertaining and easy to digest. Its fun at parts and can keep you engaged but you get the feeling you're eating a Whopper: nice and tasty but not truly good food for you. 

Let Him in is a stellar debut novel for William Friend. The prose is light and airy but beautiful at the same time; flowing between the real world, the superstitious and flashbacks.

The story is about a grieving father who lost his wife and must deal with his twin daughters' imagination of seeing a man around the house at night. He asks for help to his sister-in-law and both try to figure out if everything is just child's play or something more...

Overall, the book is an enjoyable read but suffers from some pacing issues and an unsatisfying ending which does not clear up much of the mystery.