Cleo
Firstly, there's no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing, creative, emotional, and frankly, deeply melancholic books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Though it doesn't try to invent the wheel of dystopian fiction, the huge appeal comes from the fantastic, gorgeous art that perfectly portrays so much emotion and desolation with each page. I know picture books tend to be frowned upon by a loud minority of people, but this has completely proven that sentiment wrong to me. The art and the writing both compliment each other to create such an immersive experience that, in my opinion, borders of melancholic comfort. However, art aside, despite the written content being reserved to a few paragraphs per a few pages, the author honestly managed to catch my attention with his story-telling, and vivid descriptions. I was undeniably invested in every page, be it art or paragraph, yearning to learn more about the world from the protagonist, Michelle, as she travels a barren wasteland with her brother/robot companion, Skip. On a personal level, from start to finish, it truly felt like an emotional trip that I, with no doubt, would certainly revisit. Genuinely, it's a one in a kind masterpiece, and I'm excited to see where the series goes next with it's live action adaptation coming soon.
I was under the impression that this was going to be an easy read, but to my surprise, I was so wrong. The first few chapters lay out the plot pretty well, and though I enjoyed it conceptually, and I had a nice vivid image of what was going on, the true selling point for me is the concept of Klara, the protagonist, having her memories all mixed up, and the stories ending basically revealing that it was an unreliable telling of scrambled events in Klara's mind. The ending leaves you with such a hard hit, the story having been pretty wholesome for the most part. It's truly fantastic as behind the words, you could sense an undertone of something more being at play in the world they inhabit. It's led to many theories, including one where Josie is subsequently put into Klara in precaution of her eventual death. I feel like it's interesting how the story really leaves so much up to your interpretation. Yes, Josie recovered, but was that really how it happened? There's nothing to say that Klara is misremembering due to her circuits being damaged, or that, the most straight forward answer, being that Klara was abandoned and thrown away when Josie and her mother didn't need her anymore. Both interpretations leave you with a sad feeling that ties everything together to make this a truly great read.
Starts off slow and casual, with a good cast of characters, but near the second half, it practically becomes misery porn. Jude's trauma is a primary plot point, and it leads to some interesting dynamics, and relationships that carry the narrative all the way towards the final page. However, many moments in the story are excessively sadistic and depressing for the sake of shock value. I'm a bit iffy on the death of Willem. It's a very sudden development, especially when things were starting to get more positive for Jude, and the entire cast. Admittedly, Willem and Jude getting together near the end of the story was rather wholesome, and worked to make you invested in their future together, just to take it away a few chapters later. In a way, I can appreciate the tragedy that pushes the story towards its climax, but when put in the bigger picture, it genuinely just adds onto the traumatic, depressing atmosphere, that is somewhat the appeal of the work, but also feels so unnecessary at some points. It hurts the story when it borders on unbelievably sadistic. Though, it adds a level of a dreading enevitability of Jude committing suicide, which he did at the end. The protagonist's conclusion does feel like tying a bow on a truly horrifying reality of mental illness, but at the same time, I don't see the point. Genuinely, there was not a message to justify all the pain. I'm sure you can get something out of the story, such as a self reflection on yourself. At least, that's the case for me. At some points it did affect me personally, considering Jude's character is frankly, a realistic depiction of how many people feel—his inability to escape this false perception that he doesn't deserve to be open about his issues. It's relatable, and works for what it is. I can't help but think it could have toned down the cruelty. I'm conflicted on whether keeping the death of Willem really benefits or breaks the story, since on one hand, it's the big push that sparks the Greek Tragedy of an ending, but on the other hand, no one said “A Little Life” couldn't have a happy ending, where Jude goes the therapy route, and begins to self improve, and overcome his trauma. Then again, what we got fits with the rest of the novel's tone. I can't say I didn't find an intrigue in the framework of the story, and at points, it surely tugged at my heart strings deeply, but in my mind, it just needed to dial back on the emotional trauma.
Honestly, a really weird novel, even for science fiction. The first few chapters are fairly average, but has some intrigue to it for the most part on the first read. Of course, not fully knowing the details of Valentine's upbringing kept me theorizing on what could have potentially happened before the events of the novel in between the two missions to Mars, but other than that, it was a slow read up until halfway through the book where it truly begins to get really REALLY weird.
The cult concept was interesting, and in my opinion, could have been pretty gripping, especially since I enjoy those types of ideas in stories, but this is where one of the novel's biggest flaw begins to show. Even from the start, the characters didn't feel all that believable and fell into outdated stereotypes, but going into the second half, some of the characters actions feel so ridiculous. Needless to say, a lot of the characters actions and the way they're presented can genuinely come off as misogynistic and homophobic. It doesn't help that a large chunk of the story revolves around sexual unity, to an uncomfortable degree.
I know that's the point, yet I wouldn't actually mind if it was actually done to push a strong narrative instead of what I'd respectfully refer to as the author's wet dream. The guy literally has a self insert character that ends up writing this very novel at the end of the story. Admittedly, it had some cool ideas, but it was just executed so poorly that the entire thing feels like a joke. The protagonist even dies at the end in such an anti-climactic way. Oh yeah, there's also cannibalism. I'm obviously against that in real life, but in terms of the novel, I liked the concept and think it's one of the better plot points that comes back at the end when his followers eat Valentine, showing that they had fully integrated into his Martian culture.
Ultimately, I was more surprised and taken aback after finishing. I didn't even know what to think at first, but I did enjoy how weird and stupid it gets by the end. Humanity literally got powers from having sex with Valentine in their daily religious orgies, and killed off the Martians that decided to attack them at the end.
It's nonsensical to an extent, so at the very least, there's that to be entertained by. Still not sure how it won an award though. That gives me the impression of it being a pretentious piece of literature that was simply the first to do what it did. It just didn't age well with time.
As a professional boy lover myself, I found this to be on the better side of gay representation. I've always disliked the idea of calling a story great just because it has LGBTQ+ aspects to it, since it usually ends up feeling too unrealistic, corny, or just simply banking on people romanticizing gay relationships. I love this novel actually took time to flesh out the characters, and show them progressively understanding their sexuality. For example, the protagonist reads Giovanni's Room (good book btw), and it's what brings him to understand how he feels and that it's completely normal. Also, the whole rebellious and governmental aspect where he's basically a criminal for having Giovanni's Room was pretty cool too.
Honestly having another “Loneliness Girl in The Universe” moment, where at the start, I absolutely despised reading the book, but as it went along, I actually started to get into the story as it began to unravel, ultimately culminating in that honestly, pretty good surprise twist of an ending. Like the protagonist mentions earlier on in the book, ‘can't judge a book by it's cover' (literal, in this case.)
I think it has potential to become something great, but lacked any emotional weight, in my opinion. It had a lot of interesting concepts that kept me somewhat invested; I want to read the next book, but not for the characters (maybe besides the protagonist). Hopefully it gets better as that seems to be the direction it's going in. Overall, an enjoyable read that has a good amount of potential.
Though a short read, I've always been a fan of “the poor overthrowing the rich” plotline, so I was instantly hooked. Luckily, this didn't disappoint. I'm still conflicted whether to call this my subjective masterpiece or not, but I think the author managed to make me feel genuine emotions despite the length. It felt like a pound to the chest, a war-cry of mellow chaos. The novel throws you into the disarray, and clings to your attention for the remainder pages.
I expected to be disappointed, since Audible's catalog is just downright abysmal, but to my surprise, it was very enjoyable. After the first few chapters, I started to grow interested, and by the halfway point, I was fully invested. Did drag A LOT near the end, though I saw it as necessary to wrap up the rollerskating plotline. The one that felt more secondary to the storyline around the protagonist's father.
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENDING. It's no masterpiece by any means, but I can appreciate how creepy the topic is handled. It added to the horror, and made me uncomfortable at some points, especially the ending. That was an insane plot twist that I honestly didn't see coming, but it doesn't feel like it came out of nowhere. I do think the work session parts could have been more condensed, and maybe more of a focus on the girl and Marcos. However, this was a good read. The atmosphere was well put together in a way that kept me invested - finding myself enjoying such a story from start to end.
As a non-binary, who was born a boy, I'm not quite sure if I should be offended or not /j. Though, I support the equal rights of women, I felt as if this was written with malice towards the opposite gender. I think we've both done our fair share of bad deeds, so to treat all men like complete scum seems a bit too far. I'll admit there were little sprinkles of a point spread throughout, but it was overshadowed by spite for the male gender. Either way, I found this to be an interesting read, due to the history behind this manifesto, and the uncensored nature of the content. Would recommend for any reason you can think of.
Honestly have a mixed reaction to this installment in the Dune franchise. On one hand, it's brilliantly written, with a ton of interesting concepts, and great moments, but on the other hand, it drags along quite a bit. Moreover, I can't call this a masterpiece on the level of the past few books. It's still good, but I guess it somewhat felt more like a side-story to the Dune universe, since Idaho is really the only character left from the original cast. And I mean, that led into some great “out-of-time” moments with Idaho; arguably one of the best characters in this novel, next to Leto II. When it comes to Leto, I think it came down to personal preference, but I thought his character was extremely intriguing. He's a God, slowly losing his humanity, but as the story goes on, it starts to seem like he still has a lot of humanity left in him, that ultimately stands as his weakness (besides water). I didn't really feel too fond of the newer characters, but I still thought Frank wrote them in a way that made them good characters in my eyes. Story-wise, it's perfect, and it concludes on a decent note. I'm still contemplating if I should continue after this, since a good majority of the original characters are gone now, and all the new characters Frank introduces don't give off the same appeal as the old ones, besides Leto II and Moneo. Overall, it may be the weakest one I've read. The plot is amazing and far surpasses Children and Messiah in terms of grandiose-ness, but it lacked much of an emotional pull that the others had, for me, at least.
And I thought Dune Messiah was the best story-wise so far, but to my surprise, this proved that assumption incorrect, and God Emperor of Dune might as well do the same, but onto Children of Dune; I absolutely love the direction they took with this installment. I've heard plenty of people say they dislike this book, but I genuinely can't see why. The story was a ride from start to finish; it felt beautiful in some sense, with this novel really showing the consequences of Paul's actions in the previous installment. I won't say I was as attached to Leto II and Ghanima as I was for Paul, but Leto II specifically has an interesting storyline that bleeds into God Emperor of Dune. Well, that's another assumption. However, Frank took the emotions I held for Messiah and dialed it up to 100 with tons of shocking/hype and painful moments, such as Alia's role in the story. It was difficult not to feel sympathy for her as she was a great character in the past two books; her death was certainly memorable in ways that will keep me awake at night. On the topic of deaths, my only gripe with this part was the reintroduction of Paul into the story. I truly believe Paul's final moment in Messiah was one of the greatest scenes in the series, so to just go back on that, simply to kill him off a second time is a bit frustrating. I understand that it had to happen, and I liked how Frank went about it, but I found it to be a bit distasteful to kill him off so swiftly. Once again, I understand why, but I wish he had some more conversations with the original characters (Alia, Jessica, Gurney, Idaho) before his grand sacrifice. Nevertheless, the ending left me excited for whats to come next in this masterpiece.
To my surprise, I ended up really enjoying this. It started off slow and a bit boring at first, but as it reaches the middle half of the novel, it starts to introduce some interesting elements that shakes up the tone of the story. It's no masterpiece by any means, and I wouldn't be quick to recommend it, but I think this wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. The first few chapters mostly just came off as a bland introduction to a seemingly fascinating concept. However, after they slowly begin to reveal more details and introduce new characters and lore, it starts to all come together into something around the decent and good area.
Frank somehow managed to surpass Dune with what could be considered the conclusion to Paul's story. This sequel honestly did wonders for the original Dune, in my opinion. It feels like the piece missing from the original, and I'm glad I read it. Moreover, on the quality side of things, this kept me invested throughout the entire story. It feels way more intense and political than the first novel and I absolutely love it. It's so emotionally gripping at times and the ending absolutely stung me to my core. I love how they did Paul and the rest of the cast, including where they ended up by the end of the story. You simply cannot read Dune without reading Dune: Messiah. This is what makes Dune as a series a masterpiece to me now.
At first, I was completely bored, but once the story started to progress, that's when it got pretty good. I'm honestly excited to read more of this series, as it posed plenty of questions, and introduced some interesting elements. Though, the fact that it's short somewhat brings it down as we don't have much time to grow attached or fully invested in the world, but it did help keep the mystery.