reubenalbatross's Reviews (521)

This was well written and had great atmosphere and worldbuilding for such a short novella, but the character work (especially Judith's motivations) was lacking.  

The biggest problem was that it didn't make sense for Judith to want Nathaniel dead. If wolfy-guy was supposed to have corrupted her to the point of murder, it wasn't done obviously enough. Also, Nathaniel really didn't deserve it. Yes, he had an affair, but that's worth killing someone for? Judith was never written as having that much hate in her heart for Nathaniel, so immediately switching on him like that felt really out of character.

This book had me all kinds of confused, but mostly in a good way. Like was Backman trying to imply the bank robber was

male

, or was that just me? 

There were so many times I thought I knew where the plot was going, and it went in a completely different direction.

It wasn't a very believable book, but it was funny and heartwarming in equal measure. 

After listening to this for over 8 hours I would have expected to at least start to feel some connection to the story and characters. However, this is not the case, and I'm not enjoying the book enough to continue. 

It's pretty much all plot, no character work; and there's so much history and politics involved it feels more like a history textbook than a story. There's SO much history thrown at us at seemingly random times, and I found it difficult to keep track of it all, especially with no emotional connection to the characters.

If I was interested in the plot I wouldn't mind the less fleshed out characters, but I'm not. This book has made me think that I'm not really interested in gang/territory stories, and because there's hardly any actual fantasy in it, the book is ALL about the gang stuff. 

I just don't think this is the book for me. 

What a moving and heartfelt book with so much depth to it. I wept.

It has so many profound discussions about grief, illness, self-love/acceptance, relationships, and humanity in general.

The format was also really enjoyable and original, and really added to the story.

I was a bit annoyed by the

surprise pregnancy at the end, it was a bit cheesy and not everyone needs/wants children

but it did serve a good purpose. 

 'Afterward, Wren realizes she herself is the mountain she's been climbing all along.' 

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book; it was funny and intriguing. The end was interesting and some-what satisfying. However, it did get pretty annoying in the middle, mainly because all of the characters turned from interesting to pathetic and whiny.  

I could not take the NFTs seriously... It just felt so weird. 

However, the food descriptions were so good. I was constantly craving a Chinese while reading.  

Overall, a fairy enjoyable book with a mildly satisfying if slightly convoluted ending. 

First of all, it’s always great to read a non-Eurocentric inspired fantasy, and I really enjoyed the new (to me) elements this brought to this story. I learnt so much about the history of real countries I didn't know about, plus it added loads of interesting fantasy elements. 
 
It does make use of some pretty unoriginal tropes, BUT they're embellished enough to make them feel fresh. Some of these definitely veered very close to typical romantasy vibes, but didn't quite get there which I was relieved about - but there's nothing wrong with a bit of romantasy!
 
I thought some of the character decisions Chakraborty made were a bit weird. It was a bit wild how much Nahri cared about

Khayzur's death after knowing him for such a short amount of time and thinking he was a traitor 5 minutes before his death.

It makes sense that she'd care, but it did seem a bit over the top.
 
It was also kind of weird that Dara didn't try to stay around Nahri more in the palace, surely he had the right to as her protecter?? Or would just be barging down doors to get to her?
   
Despite these things, I did really enjoy this book. The writing style was entrancing, and I had such a good time reading it. I found it difficult to put down and really enjoyed the twists and turns in the narrative. 
 
On to the next! 

Oooh yeah, this was pretty damn good.

I absolutely flew through the first section, I could not put it down. So intriguing. 

I loved the shift from mystery/thriller to horror. There were some truly scary moments.

Ralph's 'I love you' to Holly at the end was a bit weird. I can't figure out if it's meant to be platonic or romantic... if it's romantic that's so shitty. It definitely did sour the ending a bit for me.

Apart from that, the ending was good, if a bit drawn out once the climax was over. 

This is just a corny, pretty typically written book about awkward and annoying teens. However, to its credit, it does have much more diversity than most books I've read. 

The whole Friends thing annoyed me. Mainly because I don't like the show, and pop culture references in general are annoying in books.

The ending was truly the last straw.

If it had actually ended with Nate and Ollie not back together I would have really loved that. It would have been a powerful message about the frailty of human connection and learning from one's mistakes. But no... it was pure predictable cheese. Eyerolls galore.

I think for a younger reader this could be a really important book. For 26-year-old me, not so much. It wasn't awful, but I didn't really see the point. 

This was a very solid Nicci French. It's compellingly written, and I just couldn't put it down.
 
It captured the confined feeling of prison really well, and I loved trying to work everything out at the same time as Tabitha.
 
The ending really worked for me, as I was happy I managed to figure out some of the answers, but was also pleasantly surprised by others. 

Incredible.

I'm baffled by how Okorafor managed to pack so much importance, impact, and soul into 81 PAGES. So many nuanced ideas about society and community, set in a world with so much depth and intrigue. 

I'm blown away.