liya
4.5 // this was way more than i thought it'd be. dealt w more themes than i anticipated. a lot more action-packed than i expected as well. i'd put the book down and realize how much was happening within a short amount of time. the characters were super nuanced. i found myself questioning almost all of them in terms of their motives and intentions, and whether those were good or not. the answer was often more complicated than that as there was only 1 character who i was on the side of 100% of the time. thoroughly enjoyed every single perspective we got in here. it was also pretty hard to figure out where the story was heading plot-wise. i had vague predictions throughout, but nothing specific or concrete, which i liked. it made it very exciting. also the ending? it has me craving for more, but i love the open-endedness of it. it doesn't need more despite my desire for it. especially because everything was neatly tied up. or rather it was messily tied up, but i think that fits really well. i was never expecting the story to have a neat ending. it's not like there were loose threads. it more so just makes me wonder where certain characters go from there. more than anything though, i love Paolo Bacigalupi's writing style. it's a distinct voice. i have his newest release, Navola, and will be reading that in 2025 for sure.
4.25 // this is the lowest i've rated a book in this series so far, but i still rlly liked it. there was a section of this that was a bit repetitive, and a lot of the characters that i've grown to love the past 4 books weren't rlly in this enough for me. but it gave me serious Nancy Drew vibes which is always fun and the message behind this book about judging people, making assumptions, and the importance of forming your own opinions rather than following others blindly was well done. and it was super cool seeing Will a bit more grown up. so, it was still a great time!
reading this alongside Trigun makes me realize the similarities between Rowen and Vash.
so happy to have received this arc! while the author mentions that he personally recommends reading OWaR and The Ice before this short story, i hadn't finished the former or started the latter. i rlly just wanted this to get me back in the mood for this series so i could get caught up again, and it definitely did the trick! i'd forgotten how easily digestible yet detailed his writing is, as well as how much i enjoy his action sequences.
i'd put on some Nancy Drew winter ambiance in the background while reading this and that was the perfect choice. i'd completely forgotten it‘s summer rn lol. there's also a mention of the smell of lavender and i had quite literally just put some in my diffuser before sitting down for this, so the reading experience rlly couldn't have been better!
i rlly enjoyed this. it was one of the grossest things i've ever read. the action sequences were so good. i adored the ending so much and Dien is a fantastic character. i can't wait to read the other books in the God Eater Saga. knocked off a star bc i think it could be edited to be a solid 40pages or so shorter. the pacing is off to me at points (especially during the traveling part) and there's descriptions or pieces of internal monologue that i feel are repeated too many times—not enough to be annoying but enough to be noticeable. but overall this was pretty exciting.
my first emily henry read was a success. unfortunately the others don't sound interesting to me, but we'll see.
3.5 // tarantulas in cream puffs, buckwheat pillows, near death experiences that somehow don't effect Nancy at all, and an obvious culprit that she's oblivious to...classic Nancy Drew!
the characters are the heart and soul of this series. everything else—the politics, action, plot, world building, etc—is perfect, but it's the characters that rlly make it! i love them all SO much!
this was SO MUCH FUN!! i adore these characters so much and the last few chapters had me so tense but they were so good! i can't wait to read the next one
don't wanna finish this but these are my ratings for the ones i did read. accumulates to about 3.5⭐️
1. Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin - 3/5
2. Eye & Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse - 3.75/5
3. Wandering Devil by Cadwell Turnbull - 4/5
4. Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah - 4.25
5. The Other One by Violet Allen - 4.5/5
6. Lasirèn by Erin E. Adams - 4/5
7. The Rider by Tananarive Due - 5/5
8. The Aesthete by Justin C. Key - 3/5
9. Pressure by Ezra Claytan Daniels - 3/5
10. Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor - 2/5
11. Flicker by L.D. Lewis - 4.25/5
12. The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson - 2/5
13. The Norwood Trouble by Maurice Broaddus - 4.25/5
4.5 stars // Mr. Alex Michaelides, you are my Riley Sager.
Each of Michaelides' books so far are categorized as psychological thrillers. While I think that's accurate, I do believe they are not the typical stories that most people think of when hearing that genre label and so they go into his books with one reading journey in mind and get put off when they experience a different one. I've read all three of his books (The Silent Patient, The Maidens, and The Fury) and each have been a character study first and foremost. The murder is always a tool to dig deeper into the character's minds which is very much what a psychological thriller is, but his stories really do prioritize that study over the mystery/investigation aspect. His books are mainly introspection. You have to find the characters and the themes interesting or you're not going to like them.
I think the reason TSP (my rating - 5) has the highest avg rating is because the murder mystery is more fronted while also maintaining the character study as a significant portion. Meanwhile TM (my rating - 3.75) perhaps has a lower avg rating because while the investigation of the murder is prominent, it is quite lacking in terms of quality in that area and the character study that he loves to do is a bit dull. TF is very little murder (doesn't happen until 50% and you don't go back to it until around 80%) and while there's definitely mystery, the mystery isn't focused so much on the murder but instead the characters themselves. The character study is clearly THE main draw for Michaelides as the writer and therefore has to be the main draw for the reader. If you start this book for the murder mystery part (understandably) and then find out you don't care much for the characters, you will not like it, which is why I'm not surprised by or mad at the low avg rating. If you tend to find Michaelides' introspective writing style and his unreliable narrators appealing (like I do), you might really enjoy this. If not, you probably shouldn't bother.
I also didn't read the synopsis of TF so I went into it blind. I think that's a big part of enjoying his books as well. Not because I think the summaries give everything away (because they don't), but because they might mislead you as to what the pacing and structure of the story will be, which could contribute to giving you the wrong mindset going in.
I've also read both TSP and TF via audiobook, while I did a mix of audio and physical for TM. I don't think it's a coincidence that TM is my lowest rated of the three. I'll be continuing to solely use the audiobooks for Michaelides' future releases.