Jasper
So! Cute! I really like this book. The story is really cute and I love the little fact file at the end! However, there was a lot of empty spaces on the pages and I feel like the organisation of the art could've been done better to preserve space so I didn't flick through the pages quite so fast, but I still loved the story.
This is a very confused review for a very confused book, which I guess is fitting.
I don't know how to rate this book. So I won't.
This book was interesting, yet kind of problematic. However, for a debut novel, it is very impressive. I don't really know what to say on it?
Much of it is quite confused and lacks proper plot, but I didn't dislike reading it. The first half is better, and it gets worse around the last fifth.
It is a very heavy book, though, which could dissuade some from reading it.
If you want to read this book simply because it features Nick and Charlie from Heartstopper, I maybe wouldn't? Especially if you are unable to deal with darker themes, such as suicide, depression and eating disorders.
I never thought i would become so invested in a story so short! But my god, this was incredible! My only complaint is that it was so short!
Surprisingly good book! This is the oldest book I have read so far (voluntarily, not including required reading from school) and I really loved it. I like the two separate stories, from Jean's life as a prisoner in Malaya, to her building Willstown up to be a town like Alice. There were a lot of racial slurs used in this book, which was quite off-putting, which was disappointing, but definitely predictable from a book of this time.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and may read it again.
(spoilers ahead, but I'm assuming you've seen the show)
Honestly? Boring. None of the stuff with Merle and his hand and stuff happens way too quick. Shane?? Dead already??? What?! Way too quick. I get that it's a comic but it's way too fast and spends way too much time on stuff that doesn't really matter, like some throwaway line about Christians?
But don't get me wrong. The art keeps this from being a 2 stars. It looks so good! I just had to stare at the full page of art with the tank and all the zombies to just admire how much effort the artist put in to drawing every individual fly and maggot! Really great stuff, just a shame it isn't as good as the TV show.
If you read this comic, do not read it instead of watching the TV program. Watch The Walking Dead! It's so much better! Read this for the art (which is incredible), or as a comparison or any number of things, but don't read it instead of the show!
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue is one of my absolute favourite books. This book, while definitely not as good, was still brilliant.
Lee is very good at writing travelling adventures, and, while this book did have some odd pacing in places, it also had another grand adventure. I really liked Felicity's character and her navigation of the world she's in, as well as Johanna and Sim.
I also really appreciated how Felicity's exclusive, ‘not-like-other-girls' feminism, where she looks down upon Johanna and other girls because of their femininity, was challenged by Johanna herself.
I found the depiction of Sim and her family to be a bit...off? Like, I feel like the conversations about whether to study the dragons or leave them alone could have done with some more nuance, but this wasn't a huge issue.
And of course, I loved to see Monty and Percy again, and I'm really glad they showed up at the end of the book as well, they are my absolute favourites, I love them so much!
Nope. This isn't it. This book is so problematic with the main character just having sex with the love interest just because. He mistreats and misleads Dave and nothing is resolved by the end of the book!
And while that's all terrible, my largest critique with this book is that it's boring! So, so boring!
There's nothing interesting about Nandan and Dave's relationship as Nandan thinks the sex is just eh and needs to think about a girl while doing it. All the stuff with The Ninety Nine is so dull. I don't care about some random characters' attempts to be popular - it's all just sort of sad and unimportant. I couldn't connect with any of the characters as they were all shitty in one way or the other. The only characters I maybe like were Mari and Dave, but the way they interact with Nandan just makes all of those scenes unlikeable. Nandan is a terrible protagonist and while I understand that people can be in situations where they are biromantic and heterosexual, when Mari brings this up to Nandan he just completely dismisses it so that clearly wasn't the point of the story. So what was? Why did I read this? I didn't gain anything from this. All it was was some guy using a gay guy to experiment with and then...I don't know, the book just ends.
I would've much preferred this book to be from Dave's perspective, where he loved Nandan but realised that their relationship was unhealthy and left him for someone better. But this book didn't do that, which is why I give it a 2 star rating. Don't read this book, it's not worth your time.
Really cute book with brilliant asexual rep and a beautiful asexual romance between its two main characters, Fier and Petra. I also appreciated that Petra has a birthmark, I've never seen rep for that and it was really lovely and interesting to see. I'd definitely recommend this book.
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD!!!!
- THE PLOT TWISTS OMG
- EMIL IS MARIBELLE'S DAD????
- ATLAS NOOOOOOOOOO
- EMIL AND NESS KISS ALREADY
- THE ENDING AHHHH
Well, that was fantastic! I do have a few issues, such as the writing sometimes makes certain actions seem unclear, as I feel like there's not enough description about it to give the reader time to comprehend it, like when the Halo Knight kills her husband, or when Gravesend is about to hatch. Other than that, I loved it!! I need the sequel!
I am not Muslim nor Pakistani so I cannot say whether the representation of Islam or Pakistani culture or people is good, so my rating is done only on my enjoyment of the book.
I found the story interesting and compelling, if a bit strange at times, and I did find it rather irritating that Muzna never actually told her parents how terrible they were to her which really irritates me.
It is a good book though and it really made me think.
Really good, although I feel like the end should've been longer as it left me a bit confused and rather disappointed.
This one was good! It took me quite a long time to read because it wasn't one of my most important books, so I will may forgotten parts of the story...
This book is the sixth book in the Murder Most Unladylike series, but it was not the best. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, I just didn't find it as interesting as some of the others. As of now, my ranking would go;
Jolly Foul Play
Arsenic For Tea
Mistletoe and Murder
Spoonful of Murder
Murder Most Unladylike
First Class Murder
I found the setting very interesting and enjoyed how being in Hong Kong meant Hazel had to take authority over the situations. It did bring out some more of Daisy's not so nice qualities, such as wanting to be in charge and the centre of attention. I know this is an important part of her character, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. It just makes her irritating, especially in a book where her involvement wasn't as notable.
Anyway, I did enjoy this book. I am a bit old for these books so I don't think I will be reading more of these books, but I will still hold Hazel and Daisy in my heart.
Ryan La Sala has done it again everybody!!! And by ‘it' I mean simultaneously terrify, revolt, upset, and devastate me (in a good way!) with another fantastic novel. I will admit, this one made me cry more than The Honeys did...
So this book, like the first one, was AMAZING. Wow!!! I really liked the building of the lands of Erthe in this book! Etain and Taurus were great, as were Aula and Joomia (of course) and oooooh Sol!! Who I now love with my whole heart he is the best!!
Everything about this book was compelling and sooo well written, I would have loved to see more with Sol, Domaga, and Vulcan though.
And uhhhh maybe there was one aspect that wasn't great - Taurus' love life. What even happened to Lear?? While Etain and Joomia's relationship, briefly hinted at in the first book, was well developed and took its time, Taurus and Aula's relationship just never really...did it for me. While of course it is important to depict bisexual people in relationships with the opposite gender because they're not just gay and they're not just straight, Taurus and Aula kinda sucked. They don't get to evolve it at all during the book apart from Taurus' pining, and honestly I never really liked them as a couple in the first place. Sometimes that's just a thing.
Anyway, I want to talk about all the good things about this book.
- Etain and Taurus's relationship with their late mother. I thought it was really interesting to see how Ashir's treatment of her children, while born out of love, was actually terribly flawed.
- New magic/development of magic. It was so cool to have Sol explain the actual names of the types of magic there is, as well as introducing new magic, like the ants/spiders and the transformation necklaces, and how they applied the magic in different ways, such as the way Govidans would insert the bones of those with etheling magic into their own bodies (yikes)
- The exploration of Ade and Ashir's relationship. Although there wasn't much of this, I still liked seeing it made clear that they were in love.
- Introduction of new people. I like seeing the Govidans and seeing how different they are, with all their sexism and transphobia and what not. It was quite a clash with the Chlorisians.
- Etain and Joomia's relationship. Adorable. So sweet and took foreverrrr but for understandable reasons. If there was a threequel made in this series I'd love to see more of them together.
- Etain! Etain is great. She easily became one of my favourite characters over this book. The way she handled her responsibility felt very realistic and I found her to be a well-written, very likeable character.
- Sol! Okay, so Sol is my favourite character now. (Totally not because we're both trans guys ahahsh) He is great. I really like his unexpected introduction and his quick redemption feels fluid and realistic. The reveal of his transness was also done very well, despite the jolt it gave me, but I found our other main characters' reactions to be very comforting. His past is so interesting and I kind of really really really want a prequel set on Govinda about him and Domaga and Vulcan as they grew up. (I'd also be interested to here more of the person he loves back on Govinda...) The reveal of his powers was awesome, because a queer trans man who has to power to cause earthquakes and create last is AMAZING and my favourite thing now!! Although I felt there could've been more with him at the end, maybe in the Epilogue, I'm still happy with his character. He is the best.
No. Don't read this. You can get the story from other books, such as Tadpole's death in Mothwing's novella. But my god these books were atrocious. Terrible art, terrible pacing, terrible story. Terrible...designs?
Seriously, what is with the designs of the cats in Tigerstar and Sasha? Tigerstar is pictured as a cream tom with dark brown stripes on the second of the trio, and without his nose scar, which completely contradicts the ‘dark brown tabby' we've had consistently described. Also, the cover of the third book features Sasha and Tigerstar's kits, Hawk[frost], Moth[wing], and Tadpole...But who is the grey one? Tadpole is black, Hawkfrost is a brown tabby, and Mothwing is a golden tabby. None of them are grey! At this point, though, I don't really care because these books are so not Warrior Cats that it doesn't feel like the same characters anyway.
Also, it should be called Sasha and Tigerstar, as Tigerstar is only in ⅓ of the books. I get why they called it Tigerstar and Sasha, however, as Tigerstar is a much more popular and recognisable character.
Just. Don't read these books. You don't need to. And you won't want to.
[2.5 stars]
I enjoyed Aristole and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and I look forward to reading Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World. I found the story of Aristotle's struggles with his brother Bernardo and his father's difficulties with the Vietnam war to be very compelling. I loved how it played out, where Ari's parents came to realise the error of their parenting and let Ari see and know who his brother was. And I liked the development of Ari and his father's relationship.
But there was something, a few things, lacking from this book.
For starters, I wasn't really able to connect with any of the characters. The odd, philosophical way that everyone spoke was bearable, but meant that I wasn't able to resonate with any of the characters because they didn't feel real to me. The world-building in this book is poor, a lot of things remaining unclear and there is no guide to help the reader visualise anything. All we have is a bunch of people talking in an empty space. And the talking isn't much good either. There are so many conversations in this book where I've had to reread sections because I have no idea who is speaking!
I wish there was at least a small break between these long lines of dialogue without so much as a ‘Dante said' or anything.
Also, this book is depressing as hell. Aristotle spends most of his time moping about and being angry at everyone and then when he does things with Dante, they are insanely boring scenes. Aristotle and Dante's hang outs consist of sitting silently or reading poetry to one another. Very gay, to be honest, but very dull. And that's the whole book. A whole lot of Ari being angry and a whole lot of nothing else. Until the very, very end when Ari realises he loves Dante. Dante in this end scene gets angry at Ari for one of the first times and I would've liked to see Dante's anger been more explored. But yeah, the ending is extremely abrupt. Ari realises he's in love with Dante on page 348 and the book ends on page 358. Are you serious? 348 pages of anger and boredom for 10 pages of not much either? This book is ridiculous.
After that rather negative review, I will say that I will, in fact, read the sequel. This book, more than anything, left me hoping for more and I'm really hoping that Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World will give me what I desired from this book.
[Post reading Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World]
Secrets of the Universe feels like a prequel to Waters of the World, which actually has interesting and compelling stories, as well as happy ones instead of just miserableness although out.
I feel like Angel when I read this book. Despite being white, male, atheist, trans, and gay.....
But like aaaahhhhh Alice Oseman writes THE BEST books!!!! I feel very fanboy-y over her writing!
I love love loooove this book! Just as I have loved all of the previous ones! I think Alice Oseman writes such interesting and diverse characters with interesting and diverse themes and stories to go with them. If I had any complaints, it would be that I would've liked a bit more extension on the ending, and maybe a more deeper look into Jimmy being trans because, as a trans guy myself, I know it is something that impacts every moment of my life (although hopefully less so in the future, once I can transition..!). But either way I am so so happy to see trans rep in any book, and I appreciated the acknowledgements to all of the trans people and Muslim people that Alice Oseman consulted while writing this book. It really shows that they care about what they write.
Read this book!!!
I loved this so so much! Tui Sutherland is just a brilliant writer. In this book we are introduced to Darkstalker, Clearsight, and Fathom, three very powerful characters, in a story set a thousand years before the events of the main series of Wings of Fire books.
Darkstalker is, as we know already from the main series, a really evil guy, but this book manages to make him genuinely likeable and by the end you feel sorry for the way everything turned out. Everything between him and Clearsight, how they loved each other and never got to live the futures they both saw with each other, made me genuinely cry a little bit.
Fathom is a great character as well, his trauma associated with what his great uncle Albatross did and how it connects with his own power is really well written, though i did think his relationship with Indigo could have been improved (felt a bit rushed by the end).
And Clearsight, oh Clearsight. I love this dragon with my whole heart. She is amazing she is perfect she is beautiful. I love everything about her she is just so cool.
This book just fits so much into it, with three protagonists, a whole new ancient kingdom of the Night Kingdom, before it fell into the sea, and so much character and awesome stuff!
P.S. I love Whiteout i would love to see more of her she is amazing.
Oh god I thought it couldn't get worse but then they made an entire Tigerstar and Sasha graphic novel featuring humans. The art is so bad!! I like the story with the Captain, but that is the only upside.
I was expecting a book about a bisexual scoundrel, and I got a book about a bisexual scoundrel, but with an added bonus of adorable love interest, cool asexual sister, and an interesting exploration into childhood trauma?
Wowwwww this book was fantastic! I love Monty and Percy with all my heart and their love story is fantastic! I also found the mystery aspect so compelling and found that everything this book did continued to fascinate and amaze me! This may be the best book I've read all year!!
READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!
When I bought this book for £3 from a second hand book shop, I'll be honest, I bought it for the cover. I thought, ‘hey if I don't like it at least it was only £3'.
When I bought this book, I was not expecting to have an absolutely incredible story in my hands. But, wow! This book is amazing.
The world building of Erthe, Athenas, Metis, and Ariadnis is truly compelling. The societies created in this story are so interesting and I love how they are intertwined, along with the main characters, Aula and Joomia, who are also impeccable characters.
I will say, it took me a little while to warm to Aula, but by the end I loved both of their characters, as well as the other two major characters, Taurus and Etain. I also really appreciate how Taurus cries, as its really important to have strong male characters who are able to show emotions in this way.
An unexpected touch I loved were the illustrations at the back of the book of the four characters of Aula, Joomia, Etain, and Taurus. They really help me to visualise them in the story, which is very important and often quite difficult to do in a deeply fantastical story like this.
I would recommend this rare gem to EVERYONE and I am very excited to read the sequel!
THIS FILLS ALL MY GAY LITTLE DESIRES AND IM HERE FOR IT!
I love this book so much! I haven't read Fangirl, so I'm sure that's why I feel like I'm just thrown into the middle of the story without any proper introduction, but i sort of like it that way, as I can dive into these interesting and complex relationships without having to see all the stuff before.
One small complaint, can people stop saying he (or she) in this book like they forgot women exist? Men aren't the default, not anymore. This is 2015, not 1915.
Other than that, I loveddddd this book!
