This book broke something in my brain (maybe in a good way?) and it has some of the most beautiful and haunting prose I've ever written. But I constantly wanted to quit reading throughout the first half, which I can only describe as constant confusion.
It's the longest I've taken to read a book in my adult life (without DNFing) and every time I tried to stop reading, the writing and storytelling drew me back in.
Sudden Death kind of defies summary and it's impossible to describe. Around the 50% mark, the book started to come together (as much as it can) and speed up — I found it a lot more engaging as some of the threads began to weave together. The ideas and perspectives were fascinating and I really admire both the author and the translator's ways with words.
Despite what a deeply confusing time I had, I do plan to read You Dreamed of Empires!
I found this a really sweet exploration of love, loss, and acceptance. I thought the vignettes were compelling and it was a super atmospheric read all around. After finding out that this was originally a play, a lot of the stylistic and structural choices made sense to me and I do think it would be great for the stage.
I enjoyed this book — I found it cute and fun but it didn't grip me. I think I wanted more world building and a slower burn, but I thought it was a fun start and I'll definitely pick up the sequel.
Before I read it, I had heard that this book was mostly vibes and that almost nothing happens — which is both not quite true and also pretty accurate.
I loved it. The moody, immersive atmosphere and slow burn was perfect for me and I was invested in the mystery of the game. I think with a little bit of critical thinking it was obvious what was happening after a while, but it was still opaque enough to keep things fun.
I went into this book without knowing basically anything about it (including the back cover) and I think that really enhanced the experience and atmosphere. I don't know if it should have been marketed as a romance, but that's not really the book's fault. I do think that if I had been expecting a romantasy, I would have been disappointed — but I wasn't, so I was dazzled.
This book definitely made me really uncomfortable and since I think that was the point, I rounded up. Akari's story is disturbing and fascinating — the kind of train wreck that's hard to look away from. I'm not sure if I wanted it to be shorter or longer or what I wanted from it, but I'm glad I read it.
I thought I knew where this book was going at so many points and I was wrong every time. Loved it.
I'm going to think about this book all the time, forever. It made me want to die and I mean that as a compliment.
I found this book captivating and really difficult to describe. I can see how it would be off putting, but I didn't really see it as a book about Nishino, so much as a book about women reckoning with their relationships with a significant romance in their life — it just so happens that all of the women were reflecting on the same romance.
Most of the characters were unlikable in some respects and made decisions that I found difficult to understand — but who hasn't watched a friend in love make inexplicable choices? I've thought about this book quite a lot since I finished it and I expect it'll stick with me for some time.
In the time since I read this book, I've thought about the preface all the time. The stories are original and fascinating and the writing is beautiful. Years later, this is still one of my favorite reading experiences.
I was really excited about this book and I wanted to like it so badly, but by the end I was skimming to finish it. I know other people love this book and I felt kind of bad that I didn't have the same reaction.
In theory, it should have been a perfect match for me because it has all of the tropes I love — but ultimately, there wasn't enough development to the relationships or the characters to make me want to root for the leads or their romances.
To me, the sibling relationship was well developed but that was about it. I think there was a shallowness and rushedness to the romances that made it difficult to buy into the intensity that shows up later on.
The last third(?) of the book felt really rushed and abrupt and I don't think that the plot needed to go in that direction. The book also leaves a lot of things up in the air and I really felt like if it had a bit more development it could have been a 5 stars for me.
This was the most frustrating read of 2023 for me. Rounding up because I think the premise was so great and I do want to see what the author does next.
Bitter Medicone has a lot of my favorite tropes and I was really excited going in but this book never clicked (though I desperately wanted it to).
I felt like the magic system and world building were never really explained and the pacing didn't work for me — most of the plot happened in the middle 20% of the book, with the first 40% and the last 40% being very slow. A lot of plot points were set up and never resolved, so I ultimately found this a really unsatisfying read.
Contains spoilers
I think I'll need to sit with this book for a while to really understand how I felt about it, but here's my gut reaction:
I didn't know much about this book before reading it — I'd kept deferring my Libby hold for months, and so I had forgotten where I heard about it and what it was about. I found this book really intriguing and the writing was quite readable.
As someone who tends to enjoy all types of slow burns, I thoughtThe Centre was well executed and avoided plot bloat for the sake of tension. The climax of the book was startling and I didn't see it coming, despite the foreshadowing.
There was a lot of commentary on class, love, gender norms, friendship diaspora, and more throughout the book. I do think that there were some interesting ideas there, but that the book either needed to be longer to dig into them more or shorter and cut some of the scenes.
For example, I don't think Adam needed to come back — her conversation with him doesn't materially change her behavior or thinking and it doesn't advance the plot.
This book asks a lot of questions and leaves many of them unanswered, sometimes in a way that feels intentional and other times not so much. But overall, I did find it compelling and I'll definitely be thinking about it.