Nico
Mostly audiobook review- Clearly I’m in the minority of negative opinions about this book, but I do think that folks looking for own-voices Black-American YA fantasy fiction, positive adoption rep or queer family rep might want to check this out.
City kid Briseis is a teenager who can help plants grow. Her moms (plant shop owners) know, but she has strained relationships with her friends who don’t understand her and want her to distance herself from the world of plants. While she’s thinking about applying for college, she learns she’s inherited a mysterious mansion and ultimately finds it has secrets.
Oooookay, my issues. I found the plot to be slow and it takes so long to build on the gothic atmosphere, mysteries, and stakes. There’s a fair bit of repetitive and one-dimensional writing, dialogue, and characters — and it doesn’t translate well on audio IMO. I mean there’s just so many times you can listen to “I said,” over and over again (my point was 81% when I switched to e-book). If the writing was better OR the book’s plot and characters tightened up this could have been at least 3-stars from me - I think it just needed more editing. There’s more griping I could add, but I’ll just say I face-palmed myself SO many times and the romance was only based on “she’s so pretty,” (spoiler below)
even when Briseis learns about the age gap — vomit.
This is my 5th Discworld book and possibly my favorite. I was only continuing the Death books because I want to read “Hogfather” in December, not because I liked “Mort” (because I didn't). The humor was spot on for me, there was a rich plot and depth to this book I was shocked by, and oh geez I surely did tear up at the end! Very nearly a 5-star book for me.
Many years in the future, Eddie, a Red, lives in a “colortacracy” where he is on the lower end of the caste system, but at least he's above the greys. Your designation is determined by what color you can see, and this has all sorts of implications for what work you can do, who you can court and marry (color theory comes into play here), and how you treat and think about about other colors. Eddie and his father need to visit a town in the fringes for new, temporary assignments. Eddie, who is quite a stickler for the many rules that so strictly guide decorum, learns that the code book and points system get much less care here than in the big city. In fact, he learns many new things.
There's a few initial questions the book explores and since I was quite confused at the beginning, these were my hooks that kept me going. This really is an amazing book, pretty groundbreaking and I really would like to read it with eyes another time since I missed a lot of the humor and intricacies.
If you want a wowzer of a world or a book that says something, I recommend. It has extreme worldbuilding that never felt info dumpy (even though maybe it is). The audiobook is excellent, but I do NOT recommend it if you cannot dedicate 100% of your attention to the story. The worldbuilding is just too detailed.
I find at times there are first books of a series that could stand on their own as standalones that have a sense of closure in aspects of the plot. This is not one of those books; you need to keep going. For the first half I was 65% interested in what was happening, as the pieces of the puzzle had not yet come together and ranged from somewhat interesting to enthralling. For me, it wasn't until about 200- to 250-pages when everything came together and I was all in. Absolutely intriguing characters, some with a fantastic amount of depth, and a plot that has hooked me. I'm 100% going to move to the next book, overall great read.
Overall a fantastic series, a 5 out of 5. The final book loses some points from me for some convenient plot things, but overall I enjoyed it immensely and am definitely intrigued to read more Abercrombie in the future.
Well, I finally understand why people so highly praise the First Law trilogy and Joe Abercrombie. The sequel to The Blade Itself is ten times better than the first book in terms of plot. Same great character writing and dialogue, but more gripping story-telling and much better pacing. 4.5 stars.
I loved the movie and now I love this book. It was magical, whimsical and a bit silly. I didn't love the ending for a few reasons but the rest of the book was a super fun and an excellent listen.
For so long I felt like I was watching a movie or tv show. At some points early on I was thinking the book reminded me of a distant cousin to Buffy or Scream, and was very, very in and curious to see where the book was headed. I would not suggest this for readers who don't care about reading a whole series. I don't recall when, but something happened that seemed incredibly out of place and took me aback and out of the book. Knowing there were more books after this one, the more I read the more I realized so much of what I was consuming was not part of this book's plot. I see so many people enjoyed this book and that's wonderful, but in the end I felt conned and I don't read to feel jarred to reality. So much of this book could have been left for the next for the sake of creating a solid book. But alas the whole book is a setup and I can't rate it higher.
Finally accepting that Hobb is not an author for me. Two attempts at this and DNF at halfway point.
A compilation of six short (and novelette length) stories, each following at least one average Joe who find themselves in horrific and unfathomable situations. It was truly bloody, often toeing the line of what I could handle. My most to least favorites were *The Book of Blood*, *The Midnight Meat Train,* The Yattering and Jack,* *In the Hills, in the Cities,* *Pig Blood Blues* and *Sex, Death and Starshine.*
4.5. One of my all time favorite series. Content warnings in this book for death of child and domestic abuse.
Another solid entry in the Singing Hills series. To me this is strongest of the novellas by Vo so far. I love a good story, and this series is more about the storytelling than the character development or plot.
A Peter Pan retelling that apparently is true to the original's very dark tone. Check for trigger warnings if you pay attention...that first chapter was unexpected. I devoured this book and absolutely loved it. Fantastic world building, characters and plot. All of Brom's other works are now on my TBR.
4.5, 5 for now. All I knew about this book was that it was a sci-fi mystery, yes please and thank you, and that I didn't like the cover. So...you know that moment at the end of the rollercoaster, well after you've gone up the incline, dove and twirled and dove again, and it's over, you can see the platform ahead of you, but your brain is mush yet you feel really good? That's where I'm at right now. Half the book was the incline up - instead of nice scenery and clouds there were interesting aliens, characters I was curious about and seeds of mystery - then the drop - reveal after reveal after twist after reveal. WOW. My brain is mush but I loved that ride. It maybe wasn't the perfect book, I was sometimes confused and I sometimes just accepted things or made them make sense at the time, but I sure had a hecka lotta fun.
Oh, what's it about? In the not too distant future, Mallory happens to find herself around A LOT of murders - and she ends up solving them too. For some reprieve, she's granted permission to live on the closest alien space station, Station Eternity, where there's only one other human in residence. I think that's all you really need to know to go into it - enjoy the ride!
Also, now that I've read it I despise the cover even more.
This would have been nearly a fine read, but the abrupt twist and switch-up ruined it for me.
I found this to be a completely engaging listen and I devoured it. I loved so many things about it, especially in the Griots' stories interspersed throughout the book. I really liked three of the four POVs, but one felt very one-dimensional and he contributed to the loss of a star. There were some excellent plot reveals and I was satisfied with the ending. There's quite a bit of nice setups, ethical conundrums and mysteries/questions for the rest of the series. I plan to continue on.
An epic fantasy where the Warden's empire runs on a caste system based on blood color. The Wardens and the rest of the Embers (red-bloods) are at the top. Years ago, a group of rebel Dusters (blue-bloods) entered the Warden's keep and swapped out 12 red-blooded babies with 12 of their own. Some survived and some were killed, what will happen when their paths cross?
I think epic fantasy readers would want to check this out, especially those interested in non-Western inspired fantasy. This could also be a good entry point into epics. There's some complex worldbuilding, maneuvering, and intricacies, but I think it is overall easy to follow. I also think this could have worked as a YA on many levels, but not in a way that put me off, so I think older teens and adults alike would enjoy this. It shows you what it is from the beginning, so if you don't like it from the start I think that's a good signal of if you'll like it or not. Also has a trans POV and I think the world is queernorm, it is at least about gender. There is also a smidge of sapphic romance.
There are a lot of trigger warnings in this book, look them up if you have any. Most overtly to me is a rampant and on-page drug addiction of the main POV, slavery, and many flashbacks or references to child abuse (physical and mental).
An Eldritch Horror wakes up on a new world. Fed by fear, he hunts to be satiated. But he becomes curious about his worshippers and awed by the creativity of humans. Will he consume the world or try to save it?
The cover is misleading I think, it is actually more of a cozy read than a blood and guts rampage story. I loved the motley crew of beings and the MC, known as Zog by its friends. I enjoyed following Zog as it goes on a journey of self-discovery by interacting with humans, and who knew it was an artist. There was opportunity to flesh out much of the plot and the characters, but I was absolutely an enjoyable, quick read.
A novella about a private eye in 1940's Chicago. This era of book rarely works for me, so my lack of love could be that, particularly the lingo. There's a mystery, a queer romance, a deal with a devil, and a complicated sibling relationship - so this should have worked for me, but at the end of the day I felt very blasé around all of it. The angels and demons were my favorite part, but I didn't get as much of them as I would have liked. Ultimately, I feel that this book was just fine and I wish I could have loved it as much as the reviewers I follow.
A super solid book that I had a great time with and found humorous, a bit clever and easy to read. It's also pretty short for a novel. Saying that I don't personally think it is award worthy, but I couldn't find any flaws with it.
