galacticvampire's Reviews (366)

DNF at 33%
I love the concept of satirizing the shallowness and ridicule of the advertisement industry, this is a very solid takeon ultra-capitalism and I appreciate the intention behind it, specially as someone who works on the field. But an important part of satire, for me, is that even when critiquing it should still be entertaining. This wasn't entertaining.

The writing is too on the nose, too heavy-handed. I completely understand that it's the point because these people ARE supposed to be annoying, but there should be a balance to help me care about what I was reading.

I think a more solid plot would've done wonders here, instead of just following scene after scene of characters being extremely obnoxious and out of touch just for the sake of showing they were obnoxious and out of touch. (Secret History comes to mind: extremely unlikable characters but the mistery keeps you interested).

It's not a bad book necessarily, it just really didn't work for me. I can't decide if someone completely disconnected from this reality would be able to enjoy the freak show, like a zoo experiment, or just be confused by the references to advertisment in-works every other sentence.

When I begun this book, I never would have thought that the lightheaded nature of a character like Ram would mix well with the darker, painful tone of Cohmac and Reath. But even if here we see a YA geared towards a slightly more juvenile approach than the previous two, Older is a master of Ram's own lesson: balance.

The comedic tone and modern speech were very jarring to start with, but definitely makes the story more approachable to younger readers. While it's not my preference when consuming something like Star Wars, I quickly got used to it.

The story here is not about the plot or advancing the overall Nihil storyline, but about characters dealing with their paths, their emotions, and their choices in the face of catastrophe. Everyone is struggling, but none of them struggles the same way. It's beautiful and complex.

The Jedi duos work extremely well and create very interesting dynamics. Kantam's past mirrors Cohmac's doubts, and Reath's development inspires Ram's will. They learn with each other and are taught in return, and every step of the way is both funny and inspiring.

This book is, befitting it's genre, about carving your own path and learning that it isn't always what you expected it to be. While Crash's storyline definitely fits the theme, it just wasn't necessary to tell the story. It was interesting, but I just couldn't make myself care that much when I was already so invested in the characters we already knew.

Midnight Horizon might not have beat the first two adult novels out of my High Republic podium, but the story it tells is definitely my favorite.

"There was no such thing as not taking sides. It was sheer theater in peacetime and an absolute joke during war. Neutrality, the performance of it, was something powerful people demanded of everyone else so they could stay protected."

"To acknowledge the darkness is to know the darkness. To know the darkness is to begin to control it."

I described Light of the Jedi as the synesthesia scene in Ratatouille, where ingredients fit together so perfectly it made you melt into a puddle. In that same line, The Fallen Star was like watching Revenge of the Sith: the trainwreck is obvious and the tragedy inevitable but you can't tore your eyes away and it makes your brain turn to mush. I loved it.

I'm a fan of sad narratives, of seeing the heroes beaten down. I think it makes it sweeter when they rise back up. Sometimes, you just have to consume catastrophies and messy things that don't work out at all. And all three main High Republic books did this masterfully, milking the dread and despair of a few hours into hundreds of pages.

It wasn't perfect, tho. I believe the book could vastly benefited of more pages, of being able to give characters (and the reader) the opportunity to process some events. I love the rush and the sense of running out of time, but some major plot points were barely felt because a page later there was another ano crumbling down on you.

But mostly, I was keenly aware that I had no idea what was going on on the other half of the story. I didn't want to read the comics, still don't know if I will, and some mentions or brief explanations to what was going on wouldn't be spoilery at all and should be standard. I don't want to begin consuming it all out of spite.

Even if the story doesn't have much chance to explore all the characters, they're the highlight for me and I love all of them. Contrary to the popular demand, I was craving the entire time for more Bell and Burryaga chapters; and although the next phase is giving us a prequel, I await anxiously to find out what's in the future for our surviving cast and how the Nihil will go on foward.

PS: I actually couldn't pick, so here's a SECOND quote:

"This is what hope is. It isn't pretending that nothing will go wrong if only we try hard enough. It's looking squarely at all the obstacles in the way—knowing the limits of our own power, and the possibility of failure—and moving ahead anyway."

Catching Feelings is another cute and interesting romance victim of miscommunication and over dramaticising .

Andy's life is a rollercoaster. She's hung up on her best friend for years, her father's health is slowly deteriorating, and against everyone's expectation she's nominated team captain. Now, she has to learn to be less of a pushover and rekindle herself with their best player, Maya, that for some reason hates her and who she totally doesn't have a crush on.

Don't get me wrong. I really liked the actual dynamic between the two girls and how willing the author was to explore flaws and details in each personality. Even supporting characters were very distinct and fleshed out and I have to give praise for that.

But where the book lost me was in the obstacles to them being together. While I'm aware that drama it's a big part of the romance genre, it just isn't my cup of tea, and I much rather when they lean towards lightheartedness.

Considering how many flaws and and humanity the characters carry, it wouldn't be hard for them to actually have issues and make mistakes while getting together, but everytime it all comes down to miscommunication and misunderstandings. I think the author could've been a little braver and made the issues actually be the characters fault.

But I love the overall themes of the story, and how casual the narrative was with representation (can't believe I'm actually typing this. Yes, it's not just screaming HEY LOOK WHAT I DID, as it should). Even if sometimes some discussions were a little too on the nose, a bit too much of having a character monologue about an issue instead of just showing that is an issue, it wasn't enough to bother me and I can really see room for this to develop really nicely in the author's future works.

Overall, it's not a bad book at all, just didn't rock my boat that much; and if you're a fan of passionate, drama fuelled romance, this is definitely the book for you.

I read an advanced copy for review purposes provided by NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books. 

Out of the Shadows was a conundrum for me. This is very much a character-oriented story, but I was way more interested on the plot. Does it make it necessarily bad? No. But didn't work so much for me.

From the plot side, I love how this expanded a lot on the lore of hyperspace. It's something that runs in the veins of the High Republic plotlines and it was great to see this expanded on. The same can be said about a closer look at the politics and machinations on Coruscant.

My nitpick here is mostly the MCUfication of the franchise, I am reading everything but the comics, but a lot of the overall storylines are beginning to feel convoluted, and I can't help but wonder if I'm missing important information because I'm not following a particular media.

The characters are the central point of the book, and I have to give praise to how developed they managed to be even with constant pov shifts. True to YA, they are all dealing with self-discovery, insecurities and growing up, and it all read as very realistic to the teenagers. Which is exactly why I have a problem with Vernestra, and her having most of the povs along with Syl (who I really enjoyed) definitely put a hamper on my enjoyment.

Vernestra is a great teenager, her character is definitely the most complex one and her relationship with Imri very sweet. But exactly because of how teen she is, I spent the whole time, since previous books, thinking to myself "why isn't this girl a padawan?". She is obviously extremely capable, but her immaturity in several situations doesn't reassure me that she wouldn't have benefited from a couple more years of apprenticeship. I'm really glad this was briefly addressed, but it didn't help me stop being annoyed while reading her chapters.

Overall this was okay, there was no extreme excitement or surprise as other installments, but it told a solid story and explored interesting themes.

Between a car crash, a newly diagnosed bipolar disorder, her mom's expectations, and the pressure to get into art school, Natalie is determined to be the okayest, definitely healthy, totally-not-hiding-anything, high school senior. But pretending for the sake of normal is even harder than she antecipated.

This is an extremely lighthearted read despite dealing with some heavier topics. It breaches important situations where nothing is ever black and white, and illustrates both the anxieties related to social stigma and the perspective of someone with BPD so, so well, that I feel even those with little knowledge or misconceptions about it can follow easily. This is why own voices are so important: there's detail and great care into describing each of Nat's struggles.

I devoured this book in one afternoon, and genuinely laughed out loud in a couple scenes. I personally like that what I thought would be a dreadful clichê turned out interesting, instead of being there for the sake of a gotcha; but feel the story could've benefited from a few more pages towards the ending, where it wrapped a bit too quickly to be completely satisfactory.

The Art of Insanitys is very teen, from the adorable love interest to the school gossip drama, but I'm all in for books about mental health that are easier to digest, not filled with suffering and triggers. It's exactly this type of story that can reach a larger audience, and educate younger people.

Nat's journey towards self-acceptance is insightful and heartwarming, even if a little bumpy.

Thanks for NetGalley and Peachtree for an advance copy for review purposes.

A cute side-story to complement the "main" adult novel The Rising Storm, Race to Crashpoint Tower is funny and simple in it's premise!

While I enjoyed the previous Junior novel more, as I felt the themes and messages more nuanced and developed, this one delivers a solid main character: Ram is quirky, interesting, and his struggles and different way to see things makes me feel he could be a kid's favorite if explored more.

Now, onto that, while this is clearly possible to be read as a standalone, I fear that we're approaching the MCU syndrome: a few times during the story I caught myself wondering if I'd be enjoying the second set of characters (Lula and Zeen) more if I had read the comics. Obviously, the answer is yes, but I believe a little more work could've been put into presenting them to a new audience, specially because the middle graders are not as likely to be the ones reading all the other works too, and this book is for them.

Still, it was quick and entertaining, even to someone way past the target audience, and I hope to see more of Ram and his mechanical skills in the future!

It took me a while to put together something coherent here. After I finished the book I spent about 40 minutes in euphoria and texted half my friends with something like "man you won't believe what just happened".

Breaking any writing rule, I have to start by saying: that ending gave me whiplash. It was abrupt and dramatic and I loved it! Very glad I don't have to wait months for the next release!

Even with so many povs, I still cared for many characters, Bell Zettifar in particular is quickly rising in the ranks to my favorites in the franchise! I really like how he interacts with everyone, and his moments thinking about Loden, being adivised by Stellan, and continuing his arch from the previous book were just really nice to see!

Elzar also continues the trend of the High Republic books to question and play with the rules of the Jedi, their morals, and how far they can or should go. Everything is always very nuanced and careful and I really enjoy how they are finally exploring this beyond just telling the audience.

I'm not, personally, a big fan of long action-packed scenes, it's usually confusing and tiring , but the choice (both here and in Light of the Jedi) to spend the bulk of the story in a single event, hundreds of pages encompassing a couple of hours in ever-changing points of view, worked really well for me. It feels intense, and you can really grasp the terror of the situation.

The drawback is that, more prominently now, there isn't that much of a story being told. There are, of course, the growing themes of grief, duty, and hubris, but no intricate plot itself. But that's okay for me.

Sure, all those battle scenes could've easily been about 50 pages long without all the minutiae, but sometimes you just have to watch Jedi being badasses and vrumm-vrumm lasersword, you know? That's also what Star Wars is about.

It's rare to see middle grade stories that focus so much more on character development and struggles instead of an extremely dynamic and attention-grabbing plot, but this is exactly what A Test of Courage does.

I really appreciate how all three books of the first wave deal with very similar themes of grief and insecurities, but each of them adapted to their specific audiences, toning up or down nuance and complexity accordingly. And while I'm very far off the intended target for this one (regardless of still reading within the genre here and there), all characters managed to reach me in their pains.

It confuses me though, because while the charactererization would indicate to me an older range for middle grade, the plot is oftentimes too simplistic for that level of reading. I understand that the usual fast paced storyline was traded for deeper characters, but the 70% middle-chunk of the book is not all that interesting. The beginning and very end do bring some originality, but overall I felt that I keep waiting for something exciting to happen.

But he baggage and development of each of these four kids is what makes this story, and it paints a very nice picture of overcoming fears and loss, of feeling accepted and sufficient. It's a story about growth.

I would say Claudia Gray is easily the best author in the current Star Wars pantheon, so it was quite a surprise for me when I just... kinda liked this book. It's still good, but definitely the weakest one she has given in the universe so far.

Gray remains a master in crafting characters, and they're without a doubt the highlight of the book. They're funny, and flawed, and each fear and self-doubt seem extremely realistic.

The Jedi, specially, engage in philosophical discussions of morals and the Force and that's always great to see, although I would've hoped it was made clear that a lot of it was, in fact, a crisis of faith and the characters' own flawed view, as I believe an unreliable narration would only enhance the experience story-wise.

The plot suffers with unnecessary flashbacks that affect the main story very little, but the book wasn't as much about the plot as it was about the characters journey, and as said before: each of them was a protagonist in it's own right.