raenyreads's Reviews (345)

I liked the characters and story of this book but I'm not a big classics reader so I struggled with the writing style/wording at times which meant I never got fully immersed in the story and was always aware I was reading. This made it feel slower than it was. However, I did find the characters interesting and at times quite funny. I enjoyed learning about the connections between families and Austens critique of their daily life. I also appreciated the feminist angle at the end, especially for when it was written.
Overall, I can see why it is a classic but I struggled to fully enjoy it.

I enjoyed Godkiller (the first book) and loved the world Hannah had created. The interactions between the gods and humans were really interesting, and I was looking forward to reading more about them in the sequel.

I was not disappointed. If Sunbringer gets anything right, it's that it really further develops the worldbuilding, as second books often do, which I really enjoyed. The gods and the magic system are my favourite aspects of this series.

The book spends a lot of time on developing the characters, sometimes to it's detriment as I found the plot dragged a little in the first half of the book when we spend a lot of time with the characters but not a lot seemed to happen. I definitely preferred some PoVs to others and found I often just wanted to get back to my favourites, but I feel that's common in multiple PoV series.

However, as soon as the book passes the 50% mark, I found it really picked up, and I struggled to put it down. After this point the plot really starts coming together and some plot twists took me by surprise. It's perhaps not as action-packed as the first instalment, but a lot still happens throughout the book.

The big question: does Sunbringer have middle book syndrome? I'd say sort of yes, it does a lot of work to set up the third book, and sometimes this means not a lot is happening which has immediate impact. However, I enjoyed spending time with the characters, and some which I didn't care about in the first book definitely grew on me.

I'm looking forward to the finale of this trilogy, I hope we don't have long to wait!

I recieved an early copy via netgalley in return for an honest review.

A very cute friends to lovers story revolving around two highschool boys who have a similar nickname.

I liked the characters in this, they were very cute and endearing and I was rooting for both Eito and Hachi. The plot was okay, a little sparce but enough to keep reading and the ending had a satisfying resolution.

However, I think you can tell it was the authors debut as it was well done but just missing something which would make it an engaging read. Especially since I have read their later manga 'The Two Lions' which has a similar concept but done better in my opinion.

Overall still worth the read as it is short and cute. I need to read more of this authors work.

The story follows Nana (cat) and Satoru (owner) as they travel around Japan visiting Satoru's friends for a reason yet unknown to Nana. I love books in which we get an animal PoV, and Nana's parts definitely add so much to the story. I really enjoyed his and Satoru's perspectives as they met with the old friends, each of which contributed important aspects to the overall plot.

I went into this book knowing it was going to be really emotional as I had read some reviews (spoiler-free of course) before buying it as a gift, but I wasn't sure how hard it was going to hit. Before reading this book, a book had never made me cry before, and I've read some sad books, but I was told this could be the one and was sort of anticipating what my reaction would be. Well, people were right. I'm a big cat lover and grew up with cats, so the relationships depicted were highly relateable and indeed made me cry. Not a full sob, but some tears did escape.

I want to stress, without giving away any spoilers, don't make any assumptions about why this book is so emotional because I think it will surprise you. It's a very heartwarming and, in some ways, comforting read, but the emotions do hit hard. If you are an animal lover, I think you'll relate to Satoru a lot.

Overall, this was a 5🌟 read for me. How could I give it anything less with the emotional journey it took me on. I highly recommend this book and highly commend the author and translator for communicating the emotions within the story.

A great follow up to Assassins Apprentice. I love the depth Robin Hobb gives her characters and I feel like we are really getting to know Fitz inside out as a person. The fool is also quickly becoming a favourite character of mine and I look forward to seeing more from him. The plot in this one, like most middle books, mostly is just setting up the plot for the final book, however, I really enjoy political fantasy plots and boy did this book provide that. So much is going on throughout this book though it maintains that slower pace by having things gradually weave together to create the finale. Overall, I did really enjoy this and ended up reading it much faster that I thought I would. However, there was nothing to really wow me and the characters made a mistake that I thought to be a bit out of character, which is why it just misses out on being a 5 star read for me.

I just couldn't get into it. Did not like the main character or the writing. I attempted it for a book club but I'm not going to force myself to read it. I don't think it's bad it's just not for me and at this time of year I need my free time to be fun for my MH, not feel like a chore.
Maybe I'll come back to it, who knows.

Sistah Samurai is an indie novella I was convinced to read due to a glowing recommendation from a friend as well as having loved the authors short story in The Advent of Winter.

I feel like a description of the plot would verge on spoiler territory since the novella is only ~120 pages. So instead, I'll just say it's an emotional, action-packed, fantasy set in a feudal Japan inspired world. There are twists and turns, many of which add a lot of depth and emotion to the story that I didn't see coming from such a short, cool book.

From the first chapter, or even the synopsis, we are introduced to the very distinctive voice of the protagonist Monique who is an older, no-nonsense, smart, black woman samurai who can kick both human and demon ass but doesn't have the time. Seeing the story from her POV is key to the impact of the book and is my favourite aspect as it is unique from anything I've read before, I loved her character.

It took me until around 30% in to get fully immersed, but after that point, I was hooked, and I finished the rest in one sitting. The world building is very unique and we developed, I really liked the way the world is described and given such a distinct style with the mix of Japanese and Black cultures. The demon aspects are really interesting, and the fight scenes are well described and easy to follow (which I sometimes struggle with).

Overall, I rated this 4⭐️. It only lost a star due to the slower start in such a short book, but honestly, this is a great novella, and I'll be looking into the authors other work. I think this book is an amazing celebration of black women and packs an emotional punch in such a short number of pages. I highly recommend you pick this up! 💛

So I went into this only really reading for the multiverse aspects. Did it deliver on that? Sort of, it was much less involved than I think we were led to believe but it was there. The rest of this book was a slog for me except the last 15% which was action packed, as I have come to expect from SJM. Overall not a great experience but I still read through it really quickly and the ending was satisfying.

Another amazing book by Becky Chambers, she is definitely one of my favourite authors. I loved following Pepper and Sidra throughout the book and found the dual timeline and dual POV structure to be really engaging. The story was heart-warming and heart-breaking at the same time resulting in a very emotional read. Highly recommend and I will definitely be continuing the series.

Was this book a literary marvel? No, no it wasn't. Was I smiling throughout most of it and living 16 year old me's dream? Yes, yes I was.

So I'm going to get it out the way and say the writing here is very basic, the repetitiveness of the "I did this and then I did that. Then I went here" did get on my nerves a little but I still had lots of fun with this book.

If you listened to kpop as a young to mid teen or still do (I am both) then this book is for you. It's such a lighthearted happy read with minimal drama other than that you'd expect in a YA romance. I liked the development of characters and the relationships though I would have liked to see more from some side characters. It is a bit cheesy but in a good way.

I read this super quickly too. In part because of formatting (not a lot of words on a page) but also because it was quite addictive once I got into it.

Overall its just such a fun read and I'm glad I finally picked it up!