Mythos

2.8/5 stars

I have to say that this is one of my least favorite books in the series. It has a lot of tropes that I dislike. I wasn't particularly excited when I first got to it, and rereading it hasn't improved my opinion of this book. If anything, it went from a 3.1 rating to a 2.8.

Unlike with Cinder, the format of this book felt off. The storylines felt like they clashed a lot. I felt like I was more focused on Cinder's storyline than Scarlets'. I felt like I wasn't really able to know who Scarlet was as the majority of her story consisted of her talking to/looking for her grandma. The introduction of Wolf made it worse. I felt myself skimming through the chapters, only actually paying attention when it mentioned Cinder, Thorne, Kai, or Queen Levana.

The whole alpha concept confused me. I knew that the guy's name was Wolf, but I hadn't expected the author to play into it. Also, the relationship between Scarlet and Wolf felt like it was instant love. This almost made me drop the book and go straight into the next book in the series. The only thing that kept me going is that I was afraid I would miss a detail that would be needed in order to understand a part of the next book in the series. Another thing that kept me going was seeing the friendship between Cinder and Thorne. They definitely one of the better parts of the book.

I wouldn't recommend this book. It's not bad, but it's also not very good. I personally would not read this again. I thought Scarlet would be one of my new favorite characters, but I just ended up disliking her. Maybe it was due to the fact that I hyped her character up too much before reading about her.

3/5 stars

I'm not sure if this is for the manga or the light novel. I am up to date with the manga but am currently reading the light novel. I did notice some differences so far, but they're not that big I believe so far. I do believe that I like the manga better than the light novel because I can actually see the character's actions in comparison to the light novel. I'm not sure I can continue the light novel unless I can find a better translation because it's getting hard to understand in some chapters. This makes me miss a lot of context or events that are going on. It's also taking way too long to catch up.

Right off the bat, I will tell you that the MC is really dumb and can make stupid decisions throughout the journey. It's the typical OP MC but in this case, he is heavily relying on the weapons that he makes. I am more interested in how blacksmithing works, but so far there has been little information given. I'm also trying to figure out the goal of the story because I believe that'll get repetitive at some point if the author has no clear goal.

2/5 stars

I tried reading the manga based on a friend's recommendation. They had told me that it had less fan service than the actual anime. I tried to read it while ignoring the fan service, but I couldn't understand the plot and where it was heading. It did have fun moments, but I don't believe their worth reading through the whole manga for.

4.2/5 stars

One of the few things that ruins a book for me is having to read it in class. Usually, when this happens, I end up hating the book because I am forced to read at the pace that the teacher has us read in class. Putting that aside, Kindred is still a great book to read. Time traveling can be confusing at times, but overall we see the author develop these characters well enough to be able to sympathize with even the worst characters in the series. I really liked the ending as well, because it wasn't what I expected. I had expected them to return to the future and stay there, but the reason why this happened was surprising.

I hadn't expected her to burn everything down and for Dana to kill Rufus. Throughout the book, we see Dana feel sympathy for Rufus and try to get him to be a better person, but she fails. We not only see her go back to the future, but we see that she holds no remorse over killing Rufus. 

Although it was a good book because of how I was introduced to it, it'll take a while before I pick this book up again.

4/5 stars

I love reading about villains' origin stories. It's always been one of my favorite genres, especially when it's well done like this one. Although we get into Levana's cruel past, we don't necessarily feel pity for her. Instead, we get a better understanding of why she does what she does in other books. At times, this book can get extremely hard to read if you are light of heart. Levana quickly changed from being pitiful to slowly becoming the coldhearted, calculating villain we know and hate/love. 

We feel a slight pity for her because we learn that she was manipulated, bullied, and tortured by her older sister. We also learn she was the cause of her face becoming disfigured, causing her to be named “the ugly princess of Luna”. We see how this greatly affects her throughout that series. She always makes sure the glamour is on and is out of sight of all mirrors. Still, this isn't enough to justify all the things she says and does throughout the book. One of the lines that stuck out to me was, “Levana had not seen the bodies, but she had seen the bedrooms the next morning, and her first thought was that all that blood would make a very pretty rouge on her lips.” As the book goes on, we see her sister mysteriously die after being poisoned, making Levana the queen. This only worsened her behavior, solidifying her as we know her in the main series. We still see moments of weakness and humanity, but they are very rare and are followed by horrible actions. Overall, it did a great job of helping us understand her motives without causing us to over-sympathize with her. We see how many more issues this woman has and it actually makes us see her as being worse and crazier than she is in the main series. 

This has definitely become a favorite and I would recommend it to anyone reading the Lunar Chronicles. It gives you more information about Lunar society, but you also come out with a better understanding of who Levana is. Reading this isn't really necessary as we get some of this information from the main series.

1/5 stars

In some cases, I can read through a book and say I read it, I didn't like it, and I would never read it again. This is not one of those books. Instead, I can't even bring myself to finish it. Personally, I felt like this book was a waste of my time. I kept waiting for it to become interesting, but it just couldn't capture my interest.

Henry wasn't likable at all and felt creepy most of the time. I hated the way the book treated his ex. It's almost as if they tried to make it seem as if she attempted suicide for attention-seeking. Clare wasn't treated any better. Both of them revolved their lives around Henry. Personally, I felt like Clare was being groomed by Henry. Being told from a young age she was going to marry Henry was already a big red flag for me. I don't recommend this book as I deem it a waste of time. If you do read it, do it at your own risk.

3/5 stars

I was intrigued by this webtoon at first. I was okay with the yandere themes that were presented but lost interest with each chapter. I'm not sure if it was because it wasn't because I didn't like the characters or because it was too fast paced. Either way, I dropped it before finishing the season. I remember dropping it around chapter 10. 

SPOILERS AHEAD:
In the first chapter, we meet her boyfriend, Elios. We immediately see him go into protective mode because of a CAT. I can deal with possessive men if they only mess with people who take advantage of the FL. We get a couple of flashbacks in the next few chapters. It indicates that she was traumatized, and that's understandable. What wasn't understandable was her being surrounded by situations in which she kept being threatened. I understand that there can be situations that can trigger her, but I don't think she'd immediately be assaulted by her teacher right after her senior tried to SA her.

As the situations kept coming, I felt more focused on keeping up with everything that was happening rather than getting to know the characters. I don't believe I'll pick it up anytime soon.

1/5 stars
I dropped this because:

1) I have a rule where I drop the book/manga if the MC is either a character with no personality or is toxic. In this case, the MC is toxic. He's extremely possessive of a girl he barely even knows (Not that I excuse extreme possessiveness in other cases) and tries to kill multiple people he deems as threats.

2) In terms of the FL I just can't wrap my head around the fact that she immediately likes him. Even though he tries to go on killing sprees multiple times throughout the manga.

I was expecting this story to be better considering how popular it is and how many times it was recommended to me. Personally wouldn't recommend this to other people unless they like bad stories with over-possessive MCs.

3/5 stars

This book isn't the best romance book I have read, but it's a cheesy quick read. Although in order to enjoy it, I needed to ignore a lot of tropes that were used. Also, at times, the character could act rather toxic or problematically.

Summary:
America Singer gets accepted into The Selection, a competition of 35 girls who are after the prince's hand. Whether it's because they want his heart or his crown, what is a dream come true for most girls is a complete nightmare for America. It means leaving behind Aspen, the person she loves, who is a caste below her. As she leaves and starts living in the palace and gets to know Prince Maxon, she starts questioning what she really wants.

America - I was conflicted about how she acted throughout the book, although it can be understood considering what she has to go through in the book. From dealing with a broken heart to having to face rebel attacks Still, there are times when she does act like she's not like other girls. I'm glad this isn't more common throughout the book, but she is one of my least favorite characters. We also have to remember that she is only 16 and is still maturing. 

Maxon - He is one of my favorite characters in this book. I wasn't expecting him to act that way when I first got into the book. He is a rather awkward person but is shown to be caring. I loved the first interaction he had with America. Instead of getting angry, he tried his best to not place pressure on her and understand her situation. This continues throughout the book.

Aspen- He has to be one of my least favorite characters. He was the reason why America even came to the selection. He felt emasculated and had a desire to provide for America but couldn't because of his lower caste. He breaks up with her because of this, but then gets reintroduced as a guard later in the story. I already knew that this meant that the next book would be focused on a love triangle. 

Overall, I'm glad that they focused more on the events of the selection and the blossoming relationship between Maxon and America. I also liked how they introduced most of the other competitors. I wish we got to see more of Marlee in this book, as I liked how their friendship was developing. Read it if you don't like to think too much about the plot and are there for the romance.

1/5 stars

I despise this book with a burning passion. I had to read it for my English class, and it was one of the worst books I've had to read for the class. If it had been read for the theater, it may have been a different experience, as they would at least add a comedic aspect to it. This book reminded me of why I despise the Romeo and Juliet trope so much. Very few retellings have made me tolerate this trope. Although some people have told me that this trope is just another version of enemies to lovers, I completely disagree. Going back to the book, I realized that this has another trope I dislike: insta-love. They met and immediately fell for each other. How am I supposed to feel sorry for them when I have no attachments to the characters of the relationship they had? I would love to say that I liked a character from this story, but in this case, all the characters annoyed me, especially since I had to analyze them.

3.1/5 stars

I read this book pre-pandemic for English class. The teacher had warned us not to get too obsessed with the idea of possibly getting infected with the virus. Previously, some classes had some problems in gaining the fear of possibly getting infected. In my case, this wasn't a problem. I had different issues with the book itself. The book does a good job of keeping you interested and, at some points, on the edge of your seat, but the information provided within the book is rather inaccurate at times.

The author is more focused on inflicting fear than educating you on the topic of Ebola. I was introduced to this book in class as a way to get educated on the topic of Ebola, but it failed to do so. I did learn a bit more about what it causes to the body and where it spreads, but I'm sure there are other more informative books. I would recommend this to someone who wants to get more into the genre of medical horror.

5/5 stars

I was expecting her to die but not in the way she did. I really wish she had been able to do more before it happened. Even if you're prepared for her death, it still hits hard when it happens. Compared to the main character she had a really strong personality that left a big impression. Then again what else can you do when you know you have little time left to live.

(I'll probably have to edit this later)

3.2/5 stars

Lihn Cinder is a cyborg and a mechanic in New Beijing, the capital of the Eastern Commonwealth, a country ravaged by plague outbreaks. Her life changes when the heir to the throne of the Commonwealth, Prince Kai, steps into Cinder's shop to get his android fixed.

I really liked this book, but it lacks details in different areas. For example, the politics aren't explained. We are just thrown into a situation we are supposed to understand. The Lunar Queen is visiting and is doing as she pleases, with no intervention from the royal family. I understand they're not trying to offend her because they need her help, but it doesn't make sense to just leave her actions unchallenged.

Another is character details. We know that Cinder is a cyborg, but we rarely see how it is different to function as one from being a regular human. This is mentioned a few times, but it's rarely explained, and it's typically to help plot-wise.

Spoilers Ahead:
We see this being used to see past the glamour of Queen Levana. At the same time, Queen Levana saw who Cinder truly was.

This didn't really make sense to me because I don't remember them mentioning that her eyes helped her identify what was real and what was fake. Also, as much as I like Prince Kai, I feel like he needs more character development. We mainly see him kind of fade into the background, especially in the presence of Queen Levana. Otherwise, I don't really have any other problems with this book. It's an enjoyable read, but there are some parts where it's better to not overthink them.

1/5 stars

I had dropped this a few years ago when I first picked it up, and I didn't remember why I dropped it. I revisited this in 2022 because it had an increase in popularity on BookTok. I thought maybe I had missed something, but I was mistaken. I had forgotten how bad it was.

I grew to hate Feyre as a character. When we were first introduced to her, we were told that she was a hunter and the primary caretaker of her family. Yet, she always tends to make the most idiotic decisions. For example, she decided to run towards her father at night despite knowing and seeing how deceptive the Fae can be. The other characters weren't much better. Tamlin was okay at times, but there were moments in which he acted differently from what we were told to believe about him. Amarantha is supposed to be the villain, but I felt that she was too boring. Her actions were sort of predictable.

I thought that the SA scenes were romanticized in a way. She almost gets gang raped by three Fae men, and Feyre acts as if nothing has happened. She shows no signs of being affected by it. When Tamlin assaults her, she also ends up justifying it and thinking it was “hot”. I ended up skipping these scenes and similar scenes as well.

I would say that a huge part of why I didn't like this book is also due to the writing. It was rather inconsistent, which ended up reflecting on the characters as well. It made it hard to read, and I could barely understand what was going on because when I went back to double-check the previous chapter, there was either no connection or one that contradicted it.

I wouldn't recommend this book to other people. If you are going to read this, beware of the inconsistencies and the SA scenes as well.

2/5 stars

I dropped this webtoon once again. I had forgotten the reason as to why I had dropped it in the first place because the description I left was so vague. I did make it through more than half of the webtoon, so I definitely have more reasons as to why I dropped it.

I was originally pulled into this webtoon because of the supernatural aspects. I thought it would be intriguing to watch as Zylith figured out who the mysterious person she kept seeing was. Perhaps watching her slowly fall in love with said person. This wasn't the case.

We do see her investigate and try to find out who this person was. Unfortunately, we also get a love triangle. She ends up having feelings for her best friend, Verose, and the mysterious man in her apartment. Also, this has too many scenarios in which the FL and her friend almost get assaulted. I have dropped other websites for the same reasons. I'm starting to see that this is a more common trope than I originally thought it was.

In terms of art, this webtoon has some of the best and most beautiful I have seen. This does not compensate for the fact that there is little character development. Also, half the time I wasn't sure what the plot was. I would recommend it to friends who need art references, but not for someone to read it.

3/5 stars

Personally, I didn't like this book. I liked the concept, but I couldn't get through the actual book. I have been recommended this book multiple times, but that isn't enough motivation to finish this book. I was personally more invested in the side characters than the main characters. From what I read, Clary seemed to be the I'm-not-like-other-girls trope, which I can't really stand. I only read books with this trope when I am sure that the character has developed and changed. Maybe I would have liked it if I had read it when I was eleven, but at the moment I can't like it or get through the entire series.

Original rating: 3/5 stars
New rating: 2.3/5 stars

I originally thought it was well written when I first read it years ago. Now that I have read it again, I am so glad that I didn't continue to read this series years ago. The writing made this book boring. The first few chapters were alright and probably where I paid the most attention. This is where I liked Amy's character the best. All the characteristics, flawed yet well-balanced, that I liked about her were lost as soon as she came to Oz. Also, I realized that this book also included the insta-love trope. Considering everything that was going on during this book, the romance aspect made no sense to me. I feel like if done well, this series could have been resolved in just one book. This series is not worth reading, so I can't recommend it.

3.4/5 stars

I felt that the story was okay. I understand the nuance added with the whole guilt felt for the people they have to kill as an obligation. There was that whole situation going on while I was getting to know all the characters. As you're getting to know them, you're constantly distracted by the ongoing events. Therefore, you don't really get to start liking or disliking them. As far as romance goes, it's love at first sight. Due to this, it was not really my type of book, but I would recommend it if you like a quick read or like romance at first sight. I personally would have liked it if they had developed the characters more and had taken their time getting to know each other.

Original: 5/5New rating: 3/5

I've been meaning to change the rating for a while now. Although I love the book, I can admit that it has too many flaws. I couldn't stand the queer baiting. I don't think the kiss between Agatha and Sophie should have been included especially when the author planned to make Agatha choose the prince in the end anyway. It was also weird in which he tried to justify the kiss by making it be done out of sisterly love.

4/5 stars

This is one of my favorite series and it never bores me no matter how many times I read it. I remember how amazed I was as I read, as I had never encountered this type of writing style. I loved how Lemony Snicket warned the readers on each book's cover that the Baudelaire's lives are unpleasant-there is no happy beginning, no happy end, and very few happy things occur throughout the series. I already knew what to expect, but the ways the characters are set up and the events that unfold in each book never failed to captivate me.

Spoilers:
In terms of the first book, we start on a beach where the three siblings are playing. We get a very good description of what to expect from each sibling. From how inventive Violet was to how aggressive Sunny could be, the book goes on to prove this throughout the book with the actions they take in certain situations. After this, we get to meet the series' main villain, Count Olaf. He immediately had them do difficult chores. Even though they tell Poe, he proves himself useless and fails to admit that Count Olaf is evil. I remember resonating with these scenes because they proved how adults tend to ignore them.

As we continue to read, we realize that he is carrying out a plan in which he will marry Violet and threaten her with having Sunny captive to force her to sign. I loved how she managed to figure out a way to ruin his plan while not making it obvious. She used her non-dominant hand to sign, making it invalid. This caused Count Olaf and his associates to flee. Although Justice Strauss (one of the relatively better adults in this book) offers to take them in once again, Poe steps in (this man annoyed me throughout the series). The story ends with them saying goodbye and being taken to another guardian.

3/5 stars

I'm going back and rereading this. I remember vaguely what happened in this book. I do remember it being one of my favorites at the time I read it but that was years ago. It was probably interesting at the time, but it didn't stick that much to me compared to some of my other favorite books.

Original rating: 4 ⭐
New Rating: 3 ⭐

My rating did drop one star. When I was younger it was more interesting for me. Now I was thoroughly annoyed by the MC. His gift was the lamest. Yes he can see monsters but still does little to help. I will go on to read the rest of the series but I don't believe I'll try to read this book again any time soon.

1/5 stars

This book was not for me. Even after years of reading this book for English class, I still can't get over how boring it was. I was originally excited, considering how all my friends were glad that book got chosen over Bud, Not Buddy (we ended up reading both), which I preferred.

From the beginning, I had multiple issues with the book. I didn't understand the parents' involvement, the hatchet being given as a gift, and just how uninteresting it was in general.

Number 1, I had high expectations for this, considering how much my friends praised it. From the beginning, I was generally uninterested in the story. I tried to give it a chance and to see if the book would get more interesting.

Number 2, what type of mother gives their child a hatchet. They didn't give any concepts. Did the mother come from a hunting family? Is it symbolic? All I understood was that she gave it to him as a sort of apology for having to deal with her divorcing his dad.

Number 3, the parents are overall absent, other than the mom in the beginning. I feel like both of them being included in some sort of way would have been better. I feel like the mom should have been more worried about having her son go alone on an aircraft with a stranger.

I would not recommend this book at all. I feel like there are other survival stories that are more interesting than this one.

I'm excited to read this book. Hopefully, it becomes one of my favorites.

4/5 stars

This is a rather quick read. It's great if you want to use it to read aloud, especially with younger children. It keeps them interested in what's going on in the story and eager to know what's next.

In terms of science fiction, this is a good book for someone who is still unfamiliar with the genre. The worldbuilding does a good job of not being too distracting from the plot. It doesn't overwhelm the reader with unnecessary information.

In terms of characters, we do get a good range of them. Although the majority of them tend to be robots, they all have different personalities and range in emotions.

Overall, it was interesting and I would continue reading the series even without using it as a reading material for tutoring.