Reviews by scripturient | The StoryGraph

177 reviews by:

scripturient

Welcome to Lovecraft

Joe Hill

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

What a start! This was a lot darker than I expected with a lot of violence but I enjoyed the eerie horror of the story and I really like the characters so far. Will definitely be picking up the rest of the series.

Content Warnings

The Golden Enclaves

Naomi Novik

3.75

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It was a solid ending to the series but I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two. Leaving the microcosm of the school and being thrown out into the whole wizard world was a bit much for one book to handle and it felt like everything wrapped up a little too neatly at the end. It was all in all still a really cool story though and I enjoyed myself! It just felt like there was a little too much crammed into this final book especially with the amount of exposition this series is throwing at the reader in general.

The Last Graduate

Naomi Novik

4.0

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It started a bit slow and I was just starting to get a little annoyed with the overly descriptive writing that seemed to explain things we already knew in way too much detail, when the story really started to pick up. I quite enjoyed El's development in this book, even though I don't care all that much about the romance (yet?). I wish the magic system was a bit clearer to follow, even with all the over-explaining in the first book, I still feel it's a bit hard to grasp why certain things work a certain way. But I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this one and can't wait to find out what happens next!

Content Warnings

Wilder Girls

Rory Power

3.5

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was kind of a slow and atmospheric read that escalated more and more, but I felt like the ending fell really flat. There was just something missing to properly conclude the story even if the author wanted to leave it relatively open.

Content Warnings

A Deadly Education

Naomi Novik

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I felt like there was too much exposition in this book, too much paragraph-long explaining of the school and backgrounds of characters - but it wasn't at all boring. My biggest issue was that it felt a little unbelievable that the school was safer for enclave kids that the outside world would be. For the other kids sure, but you can't really make me believe that hundreds of adult wizards couldn't keep their kids any safer than they were at a school that was actively trying to kill them at every turn. That set aside, the story was very interesting and I had a lot of fun exploring all the intricacies of the school and the magic system. Galadriel was a well-rounded main character although it felt a lot like she was her own worst enemy for 75% of the book, we can see her coming around a bit towards the end and I am looking forward to seeing where this is going in the next book!

Content Warnings

The Ministry of Time

Kaliane Bradley

3.75

dark informative mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I think this book suffers from its own synopsis which makes it sound very scifi-mystery. It is weak on the science fiction of it all, no explanation for the time travel or even how it came to be, no proper explanation on the "project", but it is strong on the history, which I enjoyed. The main character stayed a bit too far out of reach for my liking, unnamed, undefined, but the expats were engaging and interesting and I wasn't bored for a second. The ending felt a bit rushed after the big finale,

but I was glad to at least get a glimpse of a resolved-ish ending, I would have not enjoyed being left hanging in the aftermath of whatever happened with the Ministry.

It did somewhat take away from the social/post-colonial commentary a little however, that ultimately, the focus was shifted so much to the romance rather than what was going on in the world at a larger scale.

Content Warnings

Iron Widow

Xiran Jay Zhao

4.25

dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

That was one hell of a ride. It is unapologetic female rage, which I really enjoyed, it is inspired by Imperial China's only female Emperor, which is also super cool, and

it has a love triangle that resolves into a throuple which was AWESOME

. I don't ever want to read that in any other way.
I felt the ending was a bit rushed, almost as if there was no real resolution at hand, so we had to go for more broad angry violence, which felt a bit empty. But overall a great read!

Content Warnings

To Have and to Heist

Sara Desai

2.5

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The second half of the book was admittedly much better than the first, but overall, it was just ... bad. Cringey dialogue, the main character keeps sexualizing every man she meets to unbelievable degrees, everyone acted like little children, the weird-ass second-person chapters towards the end ... It's a shame, because the premise was really cool.

Content Warnings

Fangs - voll verbissen

Sarah Andersen

3.5

funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I used to follow the web comic and wanted to read them all together again - still super cute but it's more if a string of disconnected moments than a real plot, so it's more of a sweet piece of literary fast food than anything else.

The Fragile Threads of Power

V.E. Schwab

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It's probably more of a 3.75 but I love V. E. Schwab and I am biased, sue me.
It was great being back in the world, I have missed all the characters, I loved the new introductions - especially Tes and Vares - but this felt like an incredibly long setup for the proper story. It was fun, it was compelling, I loved it, but there was a bit much jumping around to fill the seven-year gap between the last Shades book and the first Threads. Looking forward to seeing where this is going though!

Content Warnings

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