Ang
This was a great end to an amazing series. I love Chu Wanning and Mo Ran and Xue Meng, and I'm so happy to have stuck this out for all these years. This series has been an emotional rollercoaster and I feel that there will be a void that will be difficult to fill once this is truly finished. I'm looking forward to the rest of the side stories.
This book is a great mix of serious plot and comedic relief. Weren È and Yin Hanjiang are an amazing power duo, and the female characters are all fleshed out and interesting to read. This book is probably one of the few novels I've read where its side characters are just as enjoyable as its main cast. However, the plot does develop slowly, the characters can be clueless, and at times, it was frustrating, hence my rating.
This was overwhelmingly disappointing. Compared with Meatbun's other works, this was definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel for me. The hospital arc was insane (it felt like a fever dream, except it wasn't, and I wish it was), the two protagonists have zero chemistry, and every interaction they have might as well (and in some cases, literally was) parenthesised by “they're straight, homophonic men”. I cannot attest to the medical knowledge in this book since I have not even the faintest idea, but I'm certain that I've never heard anything as ridiculous as “psychological Ebola” in my life - not to mention, people with this rare disease have superpowers?? I'm aware this may be more of a translation issue than anything else, but the premise remains.
To summarise this book in a nutshell, we have:
- a baby boomer-esque doctor who hates everyone and everything.
- a stereotypical young master with family and psychological issues.
- and a sister who has zero personality and is essentially a doormat that only exists to serve as the ‘glue' between young master “xueba”and baby boomer misogynist homophobe.
- and did I mention they're handsome, straight, and homophobic? I'll reiterate this point every chapter, just to make sure you remember (Meatbun, probably)
Ray Bradbury's From the Dust Returned isn't just a story of Halloween, spooks, and ghouls. It's also a story of family, love, loss, and coming to terms with our mortality. I first discovered Bradbury in high school through his short story The Pedestrian, and his writing style–immensely descriptive, laden with rich imagery, and almost lyrical–was as captivating then as it is in this novel.
While reading this, I was reminded of the Addams Family, and no wonder–Bradbury and Addams were close! Bradbury's novel carries a similar blend of eerie charm and quirky warmth to the TV show we all know and love. I find this mix refreshing; something a little abstract from gothic, but not quite contemporary.
I would definitely recommend From the Dust Returned to anyone wanting a relaxing read with a touch of an Addams Family twist.
This story perfectly reflected the monotony of work life. Oyamada's novel followers three individuals and their lives in the factory: one a shredder, one a moss-researcher, and the other a proofreader — and nothing much ever really happens. There are snippets of magical realism throughout, with particular emphasis on the black birds or “factory shags”. Other than serving as some deeper metaphor for the reader to figure out in a possible text study, it did nothing for the story or its progression (in my opinion).
The formatting of this was also...difficult. Whether a mistake when translating it, an EPUB error, or the author's artistic choice, some scenes felt misplaced, and it was often difficult to tell which character was narrating. You could say this feeds into the whole story of monotony, lack of individuality in the workforce, etcetera, but from a basic “I just want to read something” perspective, this made reading uncomfortable.
Overall, this was probably not a story for me. If you like slice-of-life, Japanese translated fiction, then this may probably be a story for you. But if you're expecting any sort of conflict or climax, I would recommend skipping past this one.
If I could forget this novel so I could read it for the first time again, I would.
This is the second time I've read this novel, and I'm still amazed by Miller's writing style - it's vivid, dramatic, and down-right beautiful. Following Achilles and Patroclus' life from kids, to teens, to adults, you can feel Miller's dedication to her research of Ancient Greece and mythology. To me, the world flowed seamlessly, and the characters — with their (now backwards) values and beliefs — were believable. Although I wished more for Patroclus' character development throughout, and maybe a little more relationship building between our two main leads, I was ultimately satisfied with the ending and how everything played out.
To make a long story short, this was an amazing novel. The writing style was excellent, the plot engaging (as long as you're not looking for anything fast-paced), and the world-building was fleshed-out nicely with an amazingly devastating emotional kick. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking to get into Greek mythology fiction.
This was a beautifully disturbing read. Everything about the plot, the Strange Bird, the characters met along the bird's journey, left a feeling of both curiosity and dread. Every page of the Strange Bird's perspective was an embodiment of love and a testimony to resilience, yet it was also laced with horror, brutality, and unfairness - a reflection of VanderMeer's amazing writing skills. I would definitely recommend reading this book, even as a standalone to the Borne series.
To be honest, I've been sitting on this review for a while. I know a lot of people loved this book, and especially its Blade Runner adaptations (which I think are amazing, too). Dick's story, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, was good. But just that: good.
Chapter 1 felt like I was being thrown into the deep end of a pool without knowing how to swim. I was overwhelmed by the jargon of the world — the contraption of the mood organ with all its codes, and the pseudo-religion of Mercerism, specifically — and it was difficult to keep reading. It took a lot of effort on my part to get into the bulk of the story, and I felt like I had to sit in a quiet room to help digest what exactly I was looking at. Hence why it took almost 5 months for me to read it, when I was originally expecting a week max.
The rest of the novel followed the same way: I had to exert a lot of my brain's power to understand what was going on. Because I had to concentrate so much, I felt like much of the story was detracted. Especially the ending; it was very spiritual and philosophical as it was dystopian and sci-fi. While these two can blend together harmoniously, in this case, I felt like I was on some drug-induced high - except there was no high.
There were many aspects that were good, too: the overlying plot of Deckard's existentialism and changing perspective on empathy, the question of android rights, the dystopian narrative of a devastated Earth after nuclear warfare, and even the consistent importance of owning a real animal over a fake. There's many elements of this novel that make it good for science-fiction study, or even transhumanist debate, as a “classic” of sorts. But ultimately, for me, this was a difficult read. That's why it's just “good”.
This was... intense. Characters and their relationships are toxic with red flags absolutely everywhere. The main character is thrust into a world where submission is key to survival, and I feel this is the only reason why there is “romance” between Yugeon and Shinje (although I would not personally describe their relationship as “romantic” in any way). I felt like no one truly won in the end. Everyone's messed up in one way or another. I can't really think of any saving graces for this novel except the Almuten storyline - which, in all honesty, is a recurring theme now in the guideverse genre; having a big scary monster targeting you, and all that.
Would I recommend this book? No.
Was it interesting? Kinda.
Did I like it? Not really. It was kind of mid. 3/5
I read the reviews for I am not a Yandere! before starting, and many of them commented on how it was a “breath of fresh air” with its comedy. For me, this webnovel so far is overwhelmingly average, and the comedy is just not landing like intended. Although I only got 10% through the webnovel, I just don't have any motivation to continue.