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I thought this series was a trilogy, but I'm glad to know that this wasn't the last book!
I did enjoy some parts of this particular book,, like the bad video game criticisms, and the ending, but, overall, I just wasn't as into it as I was with the other two books.
I look forward to reading more books in this fun, geeky series! :D
I did enjoy some parts of this particular book,, like the bad video game criticisms, and the ending, but, overall, I just wasn't as into it as I was with the other two books.
I look forward to reading more books in this fun, geeky series! :D
This book was amazing.
It was so smart. It made me think so much. It had a lot of really important messages. It's actually a simple story if you look at it as a whole, yet the details of it were done so well. It was just so freaking good. It's definitely a new favorite!
Now I need to sleep.
It was so smart. It made me think so much. It had a lot of really important messages. It's actually a simple story if you look at it as a whole, yet the details of it were done so well. It was just so freaking good. It's definitely a new favorite!
Now I need to sleep.
This was so good!
I recently read Dwellers by Eliza Victoria, and there were some similarities:
1. They both don't stick to the confines of a single genre, and I feel could be classified under multiple genres (though Wounded Little Gods, while it felt like a mystery too, was obviously primarily fantasy book from the very beginning; Dwellers seemed less clear cut).
2. They both progress in such a way that I found myself getting more and more curious, and asking more and more questions, as the story went on.
However, while I REALLY enjoyed Dwellers, I loved Wounded Little Gods even more, because of the following reasons:
1. While both books made me think, this book made me think a lot more. It explored some important ethical issues (which I won't mention because of spoilers), which kind of brought me back to my philosophy class and, again, really made me think.
2. I preferred the characterization here. My one main issue with Dwellers is that I found some of the characters a bit exaggerated and not very believable at times. Here, however, the characters actions seemed more realistic. For example, in general, I hate when characters in creepy or suspicious situations don't act cautious or paranoid enough; the main character here, however, remembered to check things like if the path behind her was still there and if her phone still had signal before she progressed. Oh, and she also remembered she had a phone camera and actually thought to take pictures for proof! I hate when authors sometimes "forget" these things in order to cause more problems in the story.
3. I love how everything unfolded. Something similar was done in Dwellers, wherein later on we kind of backtracked to better understand previous events and why they occurred, but I think it was done so much better here. There was even some overlap here, wherein events from previous chapters were told from another perspective, and I love how this clarified things and added more layers to the story; I found myself going back to read previous pages over again after I had learned more about what was actually happening then. I even read the first chapter again after I finished the whole book! The conclusion actually left me pretty satisfied too, which isn't something I could say about very many books (Dwellers included).
4. As an added bonus, I also like that it made use of Philippine mythology, and included a little bit of Philippine history as well!
My only complaint is that I feel that there's some inconsistency with the years.It is indicated at the beginning that the town started producing increasingly poorer and poorer harvests 10 years before the events in the story. We also later find out that started the night that Dumangan, the God of Good Harvest, died, which was supposedly when "Luciano" was 8 years old. During the events of the story though, he's already 29. How could Dumangan have died 10 years before based on the story, when he died 21 years before based on Luciano's age? :/ Please correct me if I understood anything wrong, but this is really bothering me because I hate inconsistencies, haha.
Overall though...wow. I expected this book to be good, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It goes without saying that I highly recommend this.
I recently read Dwellers by Eliza Victoria, and there were some similarities:
1. They both don't stick to the confines of a single genre, and I feel could be classified under multiple genres (though Wounded Little Gods, while it felt like a mystery too, was obviously primarily fantasy book from the very beginning; Dwellers seemed less clear cut).
2. They both progress in such a way that I found myself getting more and more curious, and asking more and more questions, as the story went on.
However, while I REALLY enjoyed Dwellers, I loved Wounded Little Gods even more, because of the following reasons:
1. While both books made me think, this book made me think a lot more. It explored some important ethical issues (which I won't mention because of spoilers), which kind of brought me back to my philosophy class and, again, really made me think.
2. I preferred the characterization here. My one main issue with Dwellers is that I found some of the characters a bit exaggerated and not very believable at times. Here, however, the characters actions seemed more realistic. For example, in general, I hate when characters in creepy or suspicious situations don't act cautious or paranoid enough; the main character here, however, remembered to check things like if the path behind her was still there and if her phone still had signal before she progressed. Oh, and she also remembered she had a phone camera and actually thought to take pictures for proof! I hate when authors sometimes "forget" these things in order to cause more problems in the story.
3. I love how everything unfolded. Something similar was done in Dwellers, wherein later on we kind of backtracked to better understand previous events and why they occurred, but I think it was done so much better here. There was even some overlap here, wherein events from previous chapters were told from another perspective, and I love how this clarified things and added more layers to the story; I found myself going back to read previous pages over again after I had learned more about what was actually happening then. I even read the first chapter again after I finished the whole book! The conclusion actually left me pretty satisfied too, which isn't something I could say about very many books (Dwellers included).
4. As an added bonus, I also like that it made use of Philippine mythology, and included a little bit of Philippine history as well!
My only complaint is that I feel that there's some inconsistency with the years.
Overall though...wow. I expected this book to be good, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It goes without saying that I highly recommend this.
That was beautiful.
I didn't really know the plot of this book before I read it, but even though I knew it was had fantasy elements to it, I didn't realize it would also be a mystery, and I seem to be loving books with a mystery to solve because I love trying to figure it out myself (which I actually did, but it didn't make me enjoy the story any less). I also loved the world this book was set in. It felt so real. I'm still thinking about it.
This is undoubtedly my favorite novella that I've read so far.
I didn't really know the plot of this book before I read it, but even though I knew it was had fantasy elements to it, I didn't realize it would also be a mystery, and I seem to be loving books with a mystery to solve because I love trying to figure it out myself (which I actually did, but it didn't make me enjoy the story any less). I also loved the world this book was set in. It felt so real. I'm still thinking about it.
This is undoubtedly my favorite novella that I've read so far.
Second Read: 3/5 stars
The stories were hit or miss for me, but I suppose that is the nature of short story collections. Even reading my old per-story ratings, I feel that my current ratings would be extremely different.
Though sometimes typos took me out of the stories, and some paragraphs didn't flow very well, I did like this book overall. I don't really see myself reading it again though, more out of personal preference; short stories just don't appeal to me as much as epic stories, which is fine, and is not anything I take against this book.
First Read: 4/5 stars
While I wasn't crazy about some of the first stories, and there were a few typos, I still thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories here! The stories were a mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism and horror, and I actually found myself really surprised by how much I enjoyed some of them.
This is, I think, only the second short story collection I ever finished reading, since I seem to struggle to get into them, and the first one to make me think that maybe I could actually enjoy short stories, since I normally actually avoid them.
My favorite stories here were definitely the last two, namely Eyes as Wide as the Sky and Instructions on How to Disappear.
I definitely look forward to reading more from this author and to reading more short story collections in the future!
INDIVIDUAL STORY REVIEWS:
I hesitated to put my ratings for each story, just because as I type this there are no other Goodreads reviews on this book yet so I don't want others judging this book based on my ratings alone, but some of you may be curious, so I will include them here anyway.
Just take note that my rating system is heavily influenced by my personal preference and experience with each of these stories, so it is not particularly "objective". You may have different experiences than I did for some of these stories, but maybe you'll find my ratings helpful to you, especially if we have similar taste in stories. :)
Bargains: 2/5
It was okay, but came off as a bit typical and predictable to me.
Stations: 3.5/5
I liked this because I generally enjoy sci-fi, but also because it was interesting seeing a sort of dystopian Philippines.
This Side of the Looking Glass: 1/5
The message of this story, at least the one I got from it because of the very ending of it, was really shallow, which I didn't appreciate at all. Maybe you'll get something different from it if you read it, but I didn't enjoy my experience.
Tabula Rasa: 3/5
If anything, it was just a bit difficult for me to suspend my disbelief that the characters were acting certain ways, but the concept of this was so fascinating!
Hunger: 3/5
I enjoyed how Philippine mythology was incorporated into more modern society.
Capture: 3/5
I'm actually not sure what to say about this story, except that dragons are great, and I did enjoy this story overall.
Honesty Hour: 3/5
It was maybe a bit too dramatic for my personal taste, but I definitely felt the suspense the whole time I was reading it!
The Nameless Ones: 4/5
Maybe I'm biased by the genre, because I love fantasy and was fascinated by the magic in this world. I was ready to give this story 5 stars, but the ending left me a bit unsatisfied.
August Moon: 3.5/5
I love a good mystery, and enjoyed the use of flashbacks to figure out what was happening.
Eyes as Wide as the Sky: 4.5/5
Maybe I'm, again, biased by the genre, because this story seemed kind of sci-fi, but it amazed me how this story was able to introduce me to this post-war world, as well as a bit of the history behind it, in just a few pages!
Instructions on How to Disappear: 4.5/5
This was just a story that I really felt. When I finished it I knew it was one of my favorites in the collection.
OTHER NOTES:
For people who don't understand Filipino, while majority of the writing is in English, there is some dialog and a couple of words that come up that you may not understand, just so you're aware. :)
The stories were hit or miss for me, but I suppose that is the nature of short story collections. Even reading my old per-story ratings, I feel that my current ratings would be extremely different.
Though sometimes typos took me out of the stories, and some paragraphs didn't flow very well, I did like this book overall. I don't really see myself reading it again though, more out of personal preference; short stories just don't appeal to me as much as epic stories, which is fine, and is not anything I take against this book.
First Read: 4/5 stars
While I wasn't crazy about some of the first stories, and there were a few typos, I still thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories here! The stories were a mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism and horror, and I actually found myself really surprised by how much I enjoyed some of them.
This is, I think, only the second short story collection I ever finished reading, since I seem to struggle to get into them, and the first one to make me think that maybe I could actually enjoy short stories, since I normally actually avoid them.
My favorite stories here were definitely the last two, namely Eyes as Wide as the Sky and Instructions on How to Disappear.
I definitely look forward to reading more from this author and to reading more short story collections in the future!
INDIVIDUAL STORY REVIEWS:
I hesitated to put my ratings for each story, just because as I type this there are no other Goodreads reviews on this book yet so I don't want others judging this book based on my ratings alone, but some of you may be curious, so I will include them here anyway.
Just take note that my rating system is heavily influenced by my personal preference and experience with each of these stories, so it is not particularly "objective". You may have different experiences than I did for some of these stories, but maybe you'll find my ratings helpful to you, especially if we have similar taste in stories. :)
Bargains: 2/5
It was okay, but came off as a bit typical and predictable to me.
Stations: 3.5/5
I liked this because I generally enjoy sci-fi, but also because it was interesting seeing a sort of dystopian Philippines.
This Side of the Looking Glass: 1/5
The message of this story, at least the one I got from it because of the very ending of it, was really shallow, which I didn't appreciate at all. Maybe you'll get something different from it if you read it, but I didn't enjoy my experience.
Tabula Rasa: 3/5
If anything, it was just a bit difficult for me to suspend my disbelief that the characters were acting certain ways, but the concept of this was so fascinating!
Hunger: 3/5
I enjoyed how Philippine mythology was incorporated into more modern society.
Capture: 3/5
I'm actually not sure what to say about this story, except that dragons are great, and I did enjoy this story overall.
Honesty Hour: 3/5
It was maybe a bit too dramatic for my personal taste, but I definitely felt the suspense the whole time I was reading it!
The Nameless Ones: 4/5
Maybe I'm biased by the genre, because I love fantasy and was fascinated by the magic in this world. I was ready to give this story 5 stars, but the ending left me a bit unsatisfied.
August Moon: 3.5/5
I love a good mystery, and enjoyed the use of flashbacks to figure out what was happening.
Eyes as Wide as the Sky: 4.5/5
Maybe I'm, again, biased by the genre, because this story seemed kind of sci-fi, but it amazed me how this story was able to introduce me to this post-war world, as well as a bit of the history behind it, in just a few pages!
Instructions on How to Disappear: 4.5/5
This was just a story that I really felt. When I finished it I knew it was one of my favorites in the collection.
OTHER NOTES:
For people who don't understand Filipino, while majority of the writing is in English, there is some dialog and a couple of words that come up that you may not understand, just so you're aware. :)
