clovetra's Reviews (262)

Still Life with Bones

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

oh hey what if i just violently sobbed. well guess what mimi, [i] did /ref

absolutely heartbreaking book. there were so many points i had to fight back tears because the sheer amount of atrocities outlined in this book was insane. the fact this book couldn’t have even covered every single atrocity committed during the two genocides is fucking insane. holy shit.

i really don’t think a lot of this will leave me for a while. i’m still sitting here like 5 hours later thinking about how horrific death flights are, and the quote about how it would take 30 teams 30 years and they wouldn’t even be remotely close to exhuming all the dead from these genocides. like fuck. and i mean god learning about the rites performed when a family gets back the bones… the madres de plaza de mayo….. the fucking girl with her dog????? yeah i was a fucking mess. i actually cannot wrap my head around this book the info is that insane. every chapter the depravity covered just gets more and more horrifying. holy shit. i am so so glad i read this because i never even knew argentina or guatemala had genocides! granted it’s not taught here in australia because we have our own horrifying history to teach in schools but fuck. i feel like my eyes have been opened. that sounds insane but truly that’s how i feel. this is a non-fiction book i am going to be recommending to everyone for years to come because woah. i was blown away.

Content Warnings

An Ember in the Ashes

Sabaa Tahir

3.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

ill admit when i started this i was notttt feeling this, but it defo grew on me, mostly in part to the characters and slightly due to the plot. no shade but it defo wasn’t the writing 😶

OK OK LET ME EXPLAIN. most YA books always write in a certain style and ofc this book is a culprit. but i swear this book took YA to a new meaning. it kept having character’s repeat their true motivations, goals, etc. when i already knew what they were because its a first person POV!!!! girl i already know ur trying to save ur brother stop telling me that every 4 seconds!!! i promise i haven’t forgotten!!! maybe you have but i haven’t!!!

speaking of laia….. oooo she pissed me off BADDD at the beginning. i was actually shocked she’s supposed to be 17 y/o because. How. for the first half of the book she reads like the most insufferable 13 y/o you’ll have the displeasure of knowing. she’s whiny, she’s pathetic, and she’s a pain in my ass. i do like that as the story grows her character develops into someone more courageous and a lot of her character flaws are minimised because she grows as a person but Goddddd she’s rough at the beginning. i was seriously tempted to put the book down she pissed me off so bad. i do like how she ended up being characterised but ohhh she was written too well at the start to the point i was ready to beat her ass.

the other main character, elias, had the opposite thing happen to him imo. i really liked him at the beginning, and then the trials started, and he became whiny and annoying. especially in the first trial. yet again he kind of became less annoying after the trials, but there was a good chunk in the middle part of this book where i was also ready to choke him out because he was so hard to like.

the other side characters are a mixed bag. the only character who really stuck with me was helen, and im happy with how her character developed. i hated her for like 90% of the book, but by the end i decided i am giving her One Free Pass. she is a girlboss even though i couldn’t stand her i have to respect that. the commander or commandant or whatever is Fine. she comes off like a caricature of a villain. izzi ft very one-dimensional, and…. that’s it. no other character really made an impact on me. even keenan he annoyed me as well.

the plot itself was. Ok! i thought elias’ plot would be the more interesting of the two but laia ate harder than she had any right to. i felt like the trials were so hyped up and then… they sucked. the first trial was kind of decent, although the ending felt contrived. the second trial we were barely even there for, and from there the trials began to flop. it felt like they were written as more of a means to an end, rather than being written well. like “ok i need x to happen so i’ll write the trial to have y so then x can happen”. this was especially bad in the last two trials, and i was bored and just wanted to go back to laia’s perspective LMAO.

the love triangle love square love whatever the fuck was Bad. unnecessary, not needed, and a waste of time because you clearly knew how it was going to end as well. also i hated the two other love interests so 🤷 it was very obvious for me where it was going!

the book itself had my ass hooked. plus it explained enough of the story to leave me satisfied, yet has enough loose ends to continue the series. i had fun. i defo want to see what happens, especially with the nightbringer, helen and mazen or whatever his name is. i just hope the mcs don’t start the next book in the series reverting back to their annoying ways 🙏

Content Warnings

All Systems Red

Martha Wells

3.0

adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

man everyone acts like this series is amazing but this first book really does not meet the hype!

i feel like the worldbuilding is so… Not Good. a lot of things aren’t explained well and i was left feeling lost.

i really felt little to no connection with any character because the book is so short you barely have a second with every character.

murderbot itself was…. Fine. i can admit it was funny and totally radiates neurodivergent vibes but other than that it’s….. there i guess!

the plot was confusing because none of the world was completely fleshed out in this entry, meaning i had no idea what was going on and was frustrated.

the ending was interesting and defo has me hooked in for the next book, but this was really nothing special. i’m interested to see where this goes because surely this series must be good to get an apple tv adaptation.

Content Warnings

The Haunting of Hill House

Shirley Jackson

5.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

i really don’t think i would’ve liked this as much as i did if i didn’t listen to it instead of reading it. i tried to read it but ugh sometimes classics break my brain. but audiobook format? ohhh this ate down. shirley jackson u never miss.

i think the characters 100% made this. if they bombed or i didn’t give a fuck i really think this would be a snoozefest.

i love eleanor and theo’s dynamic. oh my god that was like half the reason i was putting on my audiobook. and mind you i only listen to audiobooks when im cleaning or sm so for a book to be so juicy it has me dusting my ceiling fan…. peak. i love the homoerotic weird thing these two have going on, plus their banter is so funny.

speaking of funny… oh my god theo. what a riot. girl had me laughing out loud many times because seriously some of her dialogue is so outlandish i couldn’t help myself. she’s so posh yet almost uncouth. i was living.

eleanor is such a freak. i adore her. shirley jackson knows how to write her women batshit fr‼️ because oh my godddd i loved her descent into madness. it felt somehow so outlandish yet so realistic. like her crashing out because she thinks the house is targeting her is something i would do honestly. plus the ending???? what else can i say but icon. the ending itself is made so incredible by the fact this bitch gives no more fucks and decided “Fuck It.” and yet again, i respect it and love it. thank you for the entertainment queen.

the men were fine i guess (wow shocker clover is unimpressed by men /j). the doctor did have some funny bits of dialogue here and there, but luke could’ve not even been there and my ass wouldn’t have noticed.

there kinda is no plot but guess what. jackson wrote my two lesbian ladies so well for once i didn’t care. ok im lying there IS a plot, its just less concrete… oooo spooky house what’s gonna happen???? and honestly because the writing overall was so good i kinda didn’t mind for a while the only tension was just “what’s gonna happen?” but then after a while there became some interpersonal conflict and at that point i was sold.

i loved this. so what’s holding me back from 5-stars? such a good question. i don’t know. maybe that the haunting of hill house, the TITLE OF THE BOOK MIGHT I ADD, isn’t really explored…. ok like sure the house dances and shit but idk i needed some more horror elements. if the blurb was more explicit that this is more so a psychological horror than an environmental horror i dont think i would’ve minded it as much, i just dont like when synopsis’s are misleading. but i will concede and say shirley jackson is now officially my favourite classics author 🎉🎉🎉
edit: i’m a fat liar i’ve reflected and realised this book is genius. give a fuck about “oh it’s actually psychological horror 🤓🤓🤓🤓” FIVE STARS BABY!!!!

Content Warnings

The Raven Boys

Maggie Stiefvater

3.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

um. i mean my standards weren’t exactly high. i mean the premise was fine… and the execution was also fine!

honestly most of the characters lack depth minus blue. she felt quite fleshed out and i really liked her, but she felt like she was missing something. maybe motivations? she kinda just felt like she was doing things because the plot required her too in regards to the boys. ronan kind of suffers from the same issue, except at least blue has a personality. ronan has nothing going for him other than being a cliched bad boy and chainsaw. shout out chainsaw. adam is a cutie but yet again lacks any real personality. gansey is quite pathetic and at least has a motivation but he’s quite insufferable. half of the time i was wishing he would die in this book. but i mean out of all the boys he did have the most personality, but yet again idk he felt like he was missing something.

the plot was certainly a choice! the beginning was quite intriguing as well as the ending, but for like 60% of the book i was bored. it kind of just felt like most of the book was set up which is always boring as hell.

i really liked the whelk subplot. once all surrounding that was revealed i literally was texting han like “OH MY GOD 😱😱😱”. probably the best part of the book. i really liked the resolution of this plot in terms of noah, but in terms of what happened to whelk idk it felt anticlimatic. at times he did feel a bit of a

cartoon supervillain but i mean it’s also YA i wasn’t expecting a morally grey villain or sm.

there were a lot of subplots that were lightly touched on which annoyed me so much. i hate when you can tell a book is just laying the foundations for its sequel. like yes ok some open ended plots can exist but when literally Every Single Subplot is still open minus the one with adam’s family….. stinker. like seriously we got barely any answers about blue’s dad, glendower, ronan, etc. idk it’s a pet peeve of mine.

the biggest issue with this book is the fact it’s probably the most blatant sequel bait i’ve ever experienced. holy shit there was no subtlety in this. there was so much filler at times that only existed to build up relationships more, which honestly didn’t need over 300 pages to do so!!! oh my god stievfater girl go give me nothing!!! i still had a decent time and defo will finish the series but ugh i fucking hate when media is so clearly set up for the next spinoff or sequel or prequel or whatever. personally i think the first book of a series should be able to semi-stand on its own and this does not do that even in the slightest.

Content Warnings

Starter Villain

John Scalzi

3.0

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

damn. i really really REALLY REALLY liked the kaiju preservation society. but starter villain is just reheating that book’s nachos except….. not as good. (this review is gonna be fun to read in like 3 years when everyone is over the phrase “reheating nachos” but seriously i can’t think of a better way to word it because. that’s what happened).

so so so so much is similar between the two books fundamentally. and i mean it wouldn’t be that much of an issue i think if there was a bigger gap between me reading the two books but honestly i still think it would be an issue. maybe i just wouldn’t be so annoyed by it.

there’s so many similarities it’s exhausting. mc starts off destitute and in rock bottom, is then saved by acquaintance; mc is the funny guy whilst everyone else is the straight man; mc is audience surrogate because he is unaware of how this new world works whilst everyone around him clowns on him for being dumb. like i could go on. it really felt like deja vu reading this and made it so i only liked this book, not loved it.

my one other gripe is at times there’s just random info dumps that are almost entirely unnecessary. sorry the 4 pages about how the island came to be and the fucking boen war…. what are we doing here. it felt like i’d accidentally picked the wrong book because it went from funny haha book to a textbook for like 4 pages. very jarring.

other than that i had fun! i mean i didn’t love this and i wouldn’t reread it but it’s defo a nice lighthearted read. how could i not love a book where there are talking cats. holy shit imagine if my cats could type. holly would be cursing daisy tf out for even breathing in the same room as holly. plus i love the dolphins as well, and i really enjoyed the mc’s conversations with them. sounds random but idk i liked how they were humanised. the plot was…. meh. it wasn’t really interesting or complex, and felt predictable at times. the ending felt like a deflated whoopee cushion, and tonally did not make sense with the themes presented in the rest of the story. but i mean it doesnt feel right to overly critique this book. it’s a silly little story about talking cats and bombs and money and dolphins and whales and convoluted triple quadruple spies. sometimes i like my books to have no deeper meaning other than “have fun”.

Content Warnings

Men Who Hate Women

Laura Bates

5.0

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

i don’t have much to say about this simply because it was so phenomenal words escape me. like i truly think this is one of those books you kind of have to read to get what it’s about. because yeah i can water my explanation down to “bates describes all different types of alt-right misogynists, how the issue isn’t just relegated to online spaces and is straight up terrorism at times, and she offers practical solutions to stop this trend” but like. that completely misses the point. it misses her debunking almost all of the alt-right’s male-centric statistics. it misses her outright explaining how and why this trend of men who hate women literally is killing people, and it misses how policy makers overlook it because misogyny is so normalised. it misses why half those spaces are also all other types of -phobic. it misses the critical analyses from sociologists and other academics analysing this issue. but what an explanation of this book will really miss is just how sobering yet necessary this book.

honestly i think from now on this is going to be my go-to nonfiction recommendation. it’s a hard read, it’s very content heavy, and it’s horrifying, but it’s so fucking good.

Content Warnings

Jade City

Fonda Lee

4.0

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i’ve been sitting on this bad boy for a couple of days because ive been tossing up whether i give this 3-stars or 4-stars, and honestly the fact im dying to continue the series and can’t get it out of my mind promotes it to a solid 4-stars.

first off i gotta yap about the characters:

lan… my baby boy. my pookie pie. i already miss him so bad.

i gotta say i am super surprised fonda went for it and killed him off! i love when books have balls and actually have stakes that affect the main characters. i wish he lived a bit longer but his death made sense so im not mad at it from a writing perspective, im just sad as a reader who loved him 💔

shae was… a bit boring. i mean i loved her still but she kind of has no personality. she is a girlboss and i love her and if she is done dirty in this trilogy i will be swinging on someone. but i like the overall themes she exhibits in terms of overcoming misogyny in no peak, and the way she handles her revenge…. scrumptious.

hilo was… not my favourite but written well. he had depth, motivations, a soft spot, peaks and valleys, he had it all. i found him dislikable tbh, unsure if that was the intention or i was supposed to grow to love him. either way i do think he was written well, i just wasn’t the biggest fan, but his inner dialogue & his relationship with wen was great.

as a reader i might’ve preferred if he died instead of lan, but as someone with a Brain i get why hilo survived. plus now he can have a redemption arc! i love lan but he was too “perfect” and clean in his leadership, whereas

hilo is messy so im excited to see where the story takes him.

andy was a surprise to me. to begin with i found him a snooze fest, but his arc probably was one of the more interesting in this book. and hey gay people!!!! whooo gay people!!!! i really liked his ending as well, im super excited to see where it goes, but at times he did come off a bit flat.

the plot itself was great. there felt like there were just enough losses to balance out the story where one clan didn’t feel too overpowered or that who would “win” the war didn’t seem clear cut. i’ll be honest and say a lot of the politics did fly over my head unless there was an explicit explanation, but that’s a personal issue. hopefully now that i have a better grip on the universe though the rest of the series is a smoother read for me. but who knows! we shall see. either way i am dying to see my baby grills shae and wen again <3

oh and obligatory fuck doru

Content Warnings

The Memory Police

Yōko Ogawa

3.0

reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

i had fun with this! quite an interesting premise and defo kept me hooked. i did find a lot of “issues” in this where i probably should’ve hated this book, but i can’t lie and say i wasn’t invested.

i really enjoyed the obvious parallels this story had in regards to WWII. i mean i don’t like the fact that it was so obvious right there in your face with absolutely no subtlety, but hey it meant for once i pick up on a story’s deeper themes so! i also liked the little similarities to 1984, with the thought/memory police & the wilful acceptance of an authoritarian regime where the citizens just kinda shrug off developments because really what else can they do? i found that so intriguing, but i would’ve liked maybe a bit of a stronger authority presence in this book. for a book called the memory police, they were quite a nothingburger. sure the reader sees their influence from afar but up close they are just there, but really do nothing. also yet again loved the direct parallel between the typist story and the main story. honestly i wouldn’t mind that sub story being expanded into its own novella because i really liked it.

the characters were…. there! man i don’t even think the main character had a name she was that boring. she had no personality, and even though i do think the text tried to show her fighting the disappearance, her dialogue became repetitive, and she had the depth of a kiddie pool. R was… certainly a character! he also had no depth minus his memory, which yet again, nothing substantial was done with it in that aspect. the old man was really the only character with a semblance of a personality, but even then i could guess how his story would play out from a mile away.

the plot itself was practically nonexistent. it was kind of like a slice of life, but why am i focusing on the mc eating pancakes with the old man when a dystopian world is right there!!!!! stop focusing on insignificant things and put me where something meaningful is happening!!!! at times i just wanted to shake ogawa because there were so many things that could’ve been done to expand on this world but instead we focused on watching other citizens of this island actually interact with the plot, whilst mc is just standing there. oh my god girl do something jesus christ. and the ending… cmon now. we were building up to something super intriguing, and it’s almost like ogawa rushes through these developments to have a scene that really doesn’t make sense in universe. the reader is told that disappearances happen because the memories attached to disappeared objects loses any meaning, as well as that citizens are required to destroy disappeared items. but following that logic the ending falls apart. yes yes i get that it is more so symbolic, but the way it’s written is conveyed that it is based in reality, and honestly this annoyed me. why are we changing the rules of the universe in the last 5% of the book. bffr.

i can’t say ogawa didn’t try to eat with her plot but the thing is, she’d introduce something interesting and then it would go nowhere. like for example you’d be worried the mc would be arrested for doing x, and instead the memory police would just straight up walk past her or something. or you’re worried for the old man that something’s happened to him and instead he just fucked off to get groceries or something. yes i understand not every moment needs to escalate to the characters being in a sticky situation but it literally never happened. nothing ever happened in this book. gun to my head i can pick out bits and pieces of the plot but overall i cannot say anything substantial happened. there’s just so many missed opportunities with this story it makes me want to pull my hair out.

technically i could end the review there but i have a few spoilery gripe and i need to vent it.

the whole plot hinges on R being hidden in the mc’s trapdoor thing. but the whole reason to get him *in* that space was so random. yet again i understand even though he hadn’t been apprehended by the police yet, due to genetic testing it wasn’t a matter of if but when. but nobody was suspicious of him. he hadn’t even indicated his concern about hiding or anything. mc has One conversation with him, decides she Must Hide Her Senpai, and builds an elaborate hiding spot on the off chance he would actually agree. like imagine if he said no. you look desperate mc. and then the fact when he actually enters the hiding spot is so… lighthearted. why are yall giggling and shit and so hyped to hide this guy. huh

also fuck off with that romance subplot. predictable, unnecessary, fuck you homewrecker. he has a mf kid!!!! yes he may never see his kid or wife again and yes he’s lonely but oh my goddd fuck you both. rats.

reflecting im actually mad at this book. it had such potential to be a banger. instead i got like 45 scenes of the same commentary regarding the disappearances, an interesting story written by the mc, and a dog.

i can’t wait to yell at anyone at book club who said they loved this (/j i support all book lovers and book haters)

Content Warnings

Motherthing

Ainslie Hogarth

2.0

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

yet another highly anticipated 2025 read that results in a massive nothingburger….. sigh.

i really wanted to love this. it sounded completely up my alley. trauma? check. off the walls female mc who slowly loses her mind? check. but instead this really gave me nothing. the characters were really nothing, the plot really didn’t exist, the ending was lacklustre…. how this book ended up being kind of reminds me of my expectations & then the reality of nightbitch.

abby was a fine main character. i kept thinking she’d get more depth beyond mummy issues but hey, sometimes that’s all a character is. and truly that’s all she was. i did buy the fact she had this “dark side” to her, but the progression of her still going about her life to her downward spiral felt like it was pulled out of thin air; like it only happened because the plot required it to. i enjoyed the climax where abby truly loses her shit, but then it fizzles into nothing, and the epilogue then baits you into thinking the tension is back, except nope it somehow deflates even more.

every other character was flat. the only intriguing character was laura, and then nothing is done with her. the blurb makes it seem like she’s going to be a massive presence on the story, but in reality she has like 3 scenes and then she fades away from the text. i almost would’ve preferred if the paranormal aspect was completely thrown out of the script because seriously it added nothing except a distraction to the actual plot (which was practically non-existent).

oh yes, the plot. what was the plot? glad you asked. couldn’t tell you. because there wasn’t really one. the book kinda just follows abby around as she’s at work obsessing over ms bundy, at home crying or cleaning or cooking… and that’s kind of it. add some flashbacks, a mystic and a ring and you have this book. the beginning of this novel really looked promising, but after like 100 pages absolutely nothing meaningful is done with all the set-up. like yes mummy issues for ralph AND abby! i love that! but nothing was done with it. nothing was done with the ring, or cal, or… i could just infinitely go on. i’m actually so annoyed because this truly did have potential. but this book was trying too hard to be quirky and zainy and haha woman goes batshit insane, and instead of actually having abby meaningfully descend into insanity, there are just paragraphs of waffle and waffle and waffle and then more waffle and like a paragraph of something interesting and oh look, a jellied salmon.

this book felt like a waste of time. and im so upset because it really seemed like it would be good. clearly it wasn’t!
will say tho the one redeeming quality of this book is that it was quite funny and i liked seeing the side character’s dialogue when talking with Insane Abby

Content Warnings

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