chloefrizzle's Reviews (993)

This is an epistolary novel (written through journal entries, letters, etc). Which is really the kind of thing that you should going into the book. For a novel about Bram Stoker, author of Dracula (which is also an epistolary novel), this is a fitting and neat format. However, it isn't going to be for everyone.

My full video review with detailed thoughts is at https://youtu.be/u59KqqJaLEw?t=137

In this book, an evil scientist is trying to raise an army of zombies (you know, the Frankenstein-inspired flavor). Bram Stoker (and other famous friends) have to stop them.

I had a hard time enjoying this book. I don't think that was the fault of the book, but just that I didn't fit it. I had a hard time getting into the epistolary format. If you're reading the journal entry of someone's encounter with a zombie, you know that they survive the encounter. But, the characters that are most important to the encounter are usually the ones in the most peril, and so often not the narrators of the event.
It was the mix of constantly switching narrators, and the often clinical tone of the narration, that made it hard for me to connect with the characters.

I was pleasantly surprised with how many female narrators this book has. With the premise (1880's male vampire hunters), I was worried that the book has a high chance of being sexist and sidelining the women. However, I was wrong, and this book takes care to spotlight the girls as much as the guys.

Thanks to Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

This book has a lot of plot, which is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Here is my video review: https://youtu.be/bqJ33eMl384?t=299

A whole lot of plot leads to a fast paced book, which is a advantage for a lot of people. In that same vein, there are a lot of action scenes in this book. They are well crafted, with immersive details and short, snappy sentences.

However, the large amount of plot is part of what made me not love this book. Each POV character has their own quest and cast of side characters to help them, and it grew very difficult to keep track of them all. That difficultly of keeping track of them led to me struggling to emotionally connect to the characters.

My biggest complaint about this book is in the characters. They all have strong motivations, and this book helps us to understand intellectually what their goals and needs are. However, this book does not seem concerned with helping us feel what the characters are feeling. Many of the characters have revenge quests that should feel emotionally charged, and yet the book prioritized the action of the plot over those emotions.

The chapters for this book are very short. For me, this made it even harder to connect to the characters. We rarely got to spend much time with one before switching to another.

I was delighted by the beginning of the book, which included a character list and a summary of book 1. Very helpful!

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

Disappointing lack of character momentum.

DNF @ 22%

This book is bureaucratically banal. When the blurb says, "political," it's being truthful. When the blurb says, "thrilling," it is lying.

In this book, Dekkard (a newlywed) has just been forced into being a senator. In this position, he must attend meetings and prepare legal documents. At home, he eats croissants and practices his knife throwing. There are occasional scenes where the villains attack and people die. Then there are more meetings.

I think there are people who will enjoy this book. But you must know what you are getting yourself into, and make an informed decision. I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed book 1.

Here is the thing I liked about this book: the repetition of a breakfast ritual. Every morning, our characters eat the same things and discuss the newspaper. Every Morning. But by the end of the book, I felt like it was my ritual, too. It was like watching the theme song of a tv show and knowing all of the words.

AUDIOBOOK: The narrator fits Dekkard's voice wonderfully. His measured delivery fits the tone of the book, without being so measured to put you to sleep. If you enjoy audiobooks, this is a great way to consume this story.

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

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

It's pretty rare that a book is balanced like this one. This book had a really strong beginning (fast, interesting, fun characters, hints of an emotional journey to come, etc), which made me excited to keep going. However, the middle was boring enough that I lost that momentum and gave up on the book around 80%.

Here is my video review: https://youtu.be/p9jR6lNil0M?t=534

This is a book about Russ and Nina, twenty-somethings in a small mountain-west town that get entangled with intergalactic exterminators.

My biggest complaint about the middle of this book is the lack of emotional stakes. Russ and Nina choose to continue with the alien exterminators plot, and their main motivation for it is to earn money. There are emotional reasons why they might want to have money, but those weren't given much emotional weight in the narrative. So why do they decide to pursue this course of action, one that is dangerous and likely to get them killed when they could find jobs elsewhere (Nina, in particular, is very qualified for a number of jobs on Earth). I don't think the characters or the story much care about that. The plot becomes focused on these alien side-quests and training programs instead of on any emotional arcs for the characters.

My secondary complaint about this book is the writing of Nina. Some other reviewers may point to the many times the book reiterates how large Nina's breasts are, but I don't think that is actually a problem. The size of Nina's breasts does actually become a plot point, and so I don't think it's bad to establish it for a small payoff. But the problem I had with Nina is something else. When Nina is being harassed at work, she doesn't even consider finding a new job (despite being shown to be a very capable and smart girl with an engineering degree). When Nina fumbles a romantic encounter that she actually wanted to maybe happen, she has barely any emotional reaction. When push comes to shove, Nina usually becomes a damsel in distress for Russ to save (despite being much more excited than him at the prospect of battling space monsters, and in many ways more skilled than him). Yes, the author did a good thing by attempting to include a competent female protagonist. However, in the end, she doesn't actually feel competent or female.

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

No, I haven't read any other Malazan books. Yes, I'm aware how utterly ridiculous this is. I swear I'm not crazy; this is for science!

Full disclose: I only made it two chapters in before giving up. It turns out there is indeed a limit on how much lore you can skip and still enjoy a story. Or maybe this writing style isn't for me. I can't really tell which this situation is.

My in depth thoughts on those chapters: https://youtu.be/mvvTSiqBx80

This book had a lot of elements that worked for me.
The personalities of the two leads were well established. I could understand why they work fanatically as a couple.
The supernatural animal companion was also a win.

What didn't work for me, in the end, wasn't anything you can tell from a blurb. It was the writing style that I didn't click with.

The book is written sparsely. So much so, that I didn't feel like it had connective tissue at all. Switching POVs was jumpy. Switching scenes was jumpy. Going from moment to moment in a scene was jumpy. I didn't have enough prose to understand what was really happening from beat to beat.

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

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

DNF. Where is the drama with Julian from the end of the last book? Where is her confidence with her writing job? Where is Vero's confidence and practicality?

I love the premise of this book. It's a traditional Urban Fantasy Chosen One story, with the twist that our chosen one is 60 years old.

Every moment of this book felt like it was firmly Doylist with no Watsonian. Doylist = something happens in the story because that's what the author wanted to happen. Watsonian = something happened in the story because the characters made it happen, because the sequence of events made it happen. The scenes never felt like they were happening because of who the characters were. It felt like it was happing because this was the next plot beat on the outline.

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

This book convinced me that my least favorite trope is:

A member of the team totally knows what is going on. However, they coyly keep it a secret while the rest of the team try to figure out the mystery for the whole book.

(Bonus points if they then get angry and turn into a villain because the rest of the team doesn't go along with their grand plan. You know, the plan that they kept a secret. For reasons)