chloefrizzle's Reviews (993)

This book got so distracted by its messaging, it feels like it forgot to have a developed plot or a character arc for our protagonist.

The messages aren't bad: racism is evil, being a nurse is hard, good parenting includes setting boundaries, etc. But institutional racism or the troubles of working a night shift don't exactly make good antagonists. The plot resultantly feels disjointed and aimless.

This is a story that hits the classic beats of a Dragon Rider fantasy. Holt Cook is an everyman, until he steals a dragon egg and joins the war against the zombie army.

Here is my video review: https://youtu.be/bqJ33eMl384?t=464

When I started the book, I was intrigued by the premise of a blind dragon. I was expecting this to play an important and interesting role in the story, and in some way change the way that the story played out.
However, I was disappointed. If what makes a story interesting is emotional conflict, this story was boring. Oftentimes, giving a character a handicap can create more interesting conflict, but you could take the dragon’s blindness out of the story and it would remain relatively unchanged.

The more I read this book, the more I felt like I was starving for emotional moments. This book again and again prioritized explaining the lore of the world. Instead of getting to grieve for losses, we move on quickly to defining a new magical ability or a political flashback. If you love worldbuilding, you might love this book. But if you love a character arc more, you may be very disappointed.

AUDIOBOOK: This was a very well narrated audiobook. Every character was voiced differently. When there was the occasional song, the narrator actually sung it (something I’ve never heard in an audiobook before)! I have no complaints about the performance of this audiobook, it was fantastic.

Thanks to Books Fluent and Netgalley for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

This is an thriller that packs a punch with its sci-fi questions. What does it mean to be human, and how can we save our world from falling apart? Explore some of the answers as we have some fight scenes and lots of rumination on the road.

Here is my video review: https://youtu.be/bqJ33eMl384?t=749

Logan is a government agent who polices genetic modifications. In an accident, he becomes genetically upgraded. As he struggles to hold on to what makes him human, he must now escape the government he once served and try to prevent this upgrade from spreading.

I loved this book. It is fantastically paced, with both actions sequences and passages of contemplation. (I’ve already recommended it to my friend who is a geneticist; there is a lot of science in this book.)

The protagonist changes so much. Because we’re given the time to get to know him at the beginning (with his emotional baggage and bond with his family), both his highs and lows mean so much more.

However, in the end, this doesn’t feel like a book about a man. This feels like a book about what the best and worst parts of humanity are. This is a book that is very interested in the question, “What is the best person like?” The end of the book resolves the Thriller Plot, but it is even more about finding an answer to the bigger philosophical question that started the Thriller Plot in the first place. I liked the ending. It felt like it fit the book, while also giving me some interesting ideas to think about.

Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

This book is fantastic, like all the others in the series. But I find myself more interested in the stories not told in this book than the ones told. I wish Anna had gotten more of a character arc in this book. And I wouldn't be upset about a spin off about the Cantrip Agents or an older Mackie, either.

This book is even better on a second read. I love the werewolf politics. I love the relationship between Anna and Charles, which is loving enough to be sweet, but new enough for there to be drama between them as they both adjust to each other.

The stories change in quality due to the main narrator changing, and sometimes they are better storytellers than others. I was surprised by how modern the writing felt, and how incredibly well crafted these mysteries were.

Though it's clear what the Large Goals of characters are (Becoming normal, Justice & Order, Finding knowledge, etc), the Small Goals are lacking. Many times I asked myself, "Why are the characters doing this?" and I couldn't figure it out. The mini-quests they do are often frustratingly divorced from their Large Goals, or sufficient motivation to do them. It feels like they're doing it because That's What The Plot Is.

This book is entertaining from beginning to end. I admire the independence and proactivity of the main character.

Here is my video review: https://youtu.be/bqJ33eMl384?t=576

In this book, Catrin is a construction inspector for a grand cathedral. When she stumbles into finding a woman killed by a new serial killer, she get involved with the investigation (and the people conducting it).

This, as advertised, is a murder mystery. About half way through the book, I thought that I had figured it out. To my delight, I was wrong! This book has many fun twists and red herrings, and the end is satisfying and makes sense. It's suspenseful without being overly dark or stressful.

There are a few different plots going on here. We've got the serial killer investigation, the romance, our main character searching for her heritage and discovering new powers. I feel like only the investigation got the emotional weight that it needed. For example, we can look at the relationship between our heroine and her childhood friend, Remi. Though we're told that they are best friends, I never really felt that connection. Most of their interactions in this book is squabbling with each other with little emotional depth.

Thanks to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

From the line, "I wish you were in your lizard shape," I was hooked. It’s a book that sometimes gets a little goofy, but most of the time feels lushly mythological.

In this book, we follow two main characters. One is Loulie, a merchant of magic. With her father-figure jinn, she travels the desert searching for magical artifacts to sell (don't worry, it's only kind of illegal piracy). The other main character is Mazen, a sheltered prince who wants adventure (and to get away from his dysfunctional family).

In this story, pretty much everyone has a secret. This creates the most delicious irony as the ramifications of those secrets grow more and more dire. Much drama is created through those secrets, and it is all earned. It isn’t just cheap melodrama, because it’s set up from the beginning how much these secrets means to all the characters.

The story is also driven by many small conflicts. There is the larger conflict of the main plot, of course. But there are always smaller conflicts between the characters that get created and resolved. It makes each scene feel important and the entire book feel fast paced.

The one thing about this book that didn’t work for me was the ending. The larger plot only feels half-resolved, and the other half left to the sequel. Additionally, some of the character arcs culminated in moments that I didn’t feel were earned by who the characters were in the first half of the book.

A video review including this book will be on my Youtube channel in the coming weeks, at https://www.youtube.com/chloefrizzle

Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

This horror mystery is built around the loves and fears of the characters in it. Even better, it gives you enough insight into the characters for you to be able to puzzle out the mystery yourself.

My full video review with detailed thoughts is at https://youtu.be/u59KqqJaLEw?t=374

In this book, in 1995 a secluded British island is being haunted. People are being attacked by ghosts, strange mold is appearing, and no one understands what is causing it. Our story centers on Jon (the single police officer on the island) and Ed (a paranormal debunker called in to help). However, the story spans much wider than just the two of them as other people on the island get pulled into the action.

This story follows many different characters, and has to set each of them up thoroughly. Within a few pages of following a character, you know their loves and fears and emotional state. Most of the time, this is accomplished by just telling you this information and backstory. I think this is one of those times where the writing advice, "show, don't tell," is wrong. We are mostly just told about these characters, and it's an efficient way to get us on board with them without sacrificing the fast pace in the process. This efficient dictation fits the straightforward tone of the novel.

While reading, I kept getting the feeling that this book wasn't exactly written for me. It takes place before I was even born and is filled with slang terms that I had to look up. This isn't a flaw (it's not like the world revolves around me), but just an observation. If you were a person nostalgic for isolated-British-island-in-the-90's, you would probably like this book a lot more than I did. For me, the sense of place was so strong in this story that it left me behind and confused fairly often.

Thank you to Cranthorpe Millner and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.