themoonwholistens's Reviews (698)

I'm so invested in Murderbot's adventures~

↣ It's witty, action-packed, and Martha Wells' mastery in writing Murderbot's characterization is endearing while still feeling incredibly humanized. Highly recommend if you are looking for an easy Adult Sci Fi read packed with a lot of substance and action that highlights a character that you'll surely feel for. ↢

“It would it harder for me not to pretend to be a person.”

— overall thoughts: 4.25 —

I enjoyed the plot a lot more compared to the first book because we actually get to see Murderbot living their life more, in a sense. Whereas the first book was more about them breaking from the confines of their duty.

This is more a self preference but the fact that this had more of a friendship aspect to it was what really sold me. The character interactions felt so real and the audiobook is great, it's like I was listening to a movie. I love Murderbot more and more after each page.

These books are so short but the world-building feels so concretely crafted, especially when all we're getting is from Murderbot's perspective. We know what we need to know and the flow moves so fluidly. The way society comes into play was so well done and I enjoyed the side of it that we saw in this particular novella. It was more suited to my taste in terms of enjoyment compared to the first book.

All the little details that aren't specifically acknowledged... the bots not having a gender, implications of feelings, etc. ...created such a huge impact in the story for me, as a reader. I don't want to go into it too much because it's so short but I just loved this novella a lot. I laughed a whole lot more and it's always a fun time.

My heart is so soft for Murderbot and friends™️



sometimes you just need a short book to get you through it, and Murderbot does that for me <3

this reads like the baby sister of haunting of hill house without the siblings and the depth i'm sorry



READ FOR: gothic haunted house story or basically if you want something like haunting of hill house on netflix

— overall thoughts: 3.0 —
⇢ content warnings//

Spoiler

Cancer (mentioned), Child death, Murder, Parent death (past), Pedophilia (speculated), Snakes, Suicide, Terminal illness

the twists drove me a lil crazy at the end and my theories were completely off so brownie points for that. That was the main reason I didn't end up giving this 2 stars. Also considering that there were certain parts that made me want to vomit imagining and that I was sort of creeped out by but not really.

“Few things in life are more disappointing than knowing your parents aren’t being honest with you.”

The parallelism of the two narrators in the story were interesting to me since we do get to figure out what really happened from the perspective of the dad, but I wished that there would be something different other than just the same thing feeling like it was being acted out.

From the beginning up to around 70% of this book (when the 5 plot twists started coming in) I was barely interested. It just really sounded like a rip-off of hill house to me with the amount of similarities:

- child being left the house by a parent who died
- parent wrote a book about haunter house experience
- said child being hounded by news reporters
- said child trying to find out what actually happened because they can't trust their own memories
-

Spoiler

the fact that none of the ghosts were real and just people being weird and wanting to kill people. hill house had a better plot twist than this.

-

Spoiler

everything about the plot twists but remove all supernatural elements, unlike what hill house did

...but without the emotional attachment.

With that said, the characters felt flat to me and just didn't care about them. I love a good "haunted house" and "who done it" story (definitely my favorite kind to read) so that was probably why I was able to pull through but I feel like it relied so much on people just enjoying that aspect that the rest of the plot did not do it for me.

I prefer to be engaged, excited, and addicted with my thrillers.

I was almost up to 2.0x speed but I still thought that the good part was a long time coming.

In conclusion, I have mixed feelings but it's not a... "bad" book...? I just think that it's wholly unoriginal and not as exciting as I built up in my head.

I do think that if you're not someone who likes going into hardcore horror or too intense thrillers you might enjoy this since as I said, it's not that scary. Which makes it accessible. I haven't read any of Riley Sager's other books and I'm willing to give him a second chance.

// buddy read with Mina and Michelle

instagram | blog | ko-fi | booksirens

3.75

well that was sad, and now i am crying

I will forever be in awe of Kuang's writing. These short 15 pages added a layer to Nezha's character that I really wish was incorporated to the main trilogy.

you can read and cry to The Drowning Faith here: https://rfkuang.com/2020/12/01/the-drowning-faith/

-- Supposed to be a Buddy Read with the lovelies Hannah and Bree --

“Maybe we are broken. But we put ourselves back together. We survived. That’s what makes us so powerful. And as for family—well, blood is always family, but family doesn’t always have to be blood.”

FORMAT READ: Audiobook (Recommended) via: Libby
SIMILAR VIBES: A Darker Shade of Magic & The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
READ FOR: thought-provoking story and complicated characters (anti-heroes)
READING LEVEL: Level 3-4 out of 5
tw // suicide, harm

*All of my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible-spoilers are marked*

BASIC PLOT:

Read only if you have finished Vicious:

Spoiler

In this book after Victor is revived by Sydney, he doesn't come back 100% like before. Mitch, Sydney, and Victor move around to try to find a cure for victor but encounter... problems. New characters are introduced (that I honestly liked). While Eli, on the other hand, gets captured and helps a certain EO hunting agency to trach down other EOs.

as usual, v.e. schwab does not fail to amaze me, especially as a character-driven biased person, I fall in love with her characters every time. I was so immersed in the story as usual and I love that I can always count on V.E. Schwab to do this to me.



First of all: JUNE, MARCELA, AND SYDNEY QUEENS!!

I live for the feminism in this book and how well they were projected like UGHHH I have no words. They were so interesting to me and and I could read a whole book about them only (which maybe was what should’ve been done? oops). The character dynamics especially with Sydney and Mitch make me so soft inside though, I’m glad we got to see more of that.

“He didn’t know how he was broken, but he just wanted to fix it”

guys, eli. ELI. He’s the anti hero of the anti-hero but I can never get myself to hate him. In fact, I love him guys. He just wants to be happy and not feel broken. I don’t know how else to keep this spoiler-free without mentioning more but just know that.

Even though I loved the characters I can’t help but criticize the plot because everything happened the was I thought it would and nothing really surprised me in terms of the plot. Although, I did enjoy it a whole lot and it was nowhere near bad... It was just predictable. Especially compared to Vicious hehe

If you have ever read any V.E. Schwab book, I think you can agree with me that she has a very unique mood in her writing. A little bit dark, but still captivating and endearing in a way. Her writing style is still one of my favourites.

Honestly, I’m really sad we got less of the magical realism element here. It took a different approach as compared to Vicious and that’s probably why most people were disappointed. Especially with Victor and Eli, we got less time with them and given this is a sequel for their story I guess I just wanted more of them. I didn’t even really realize it until I finished the book so yeah… it just depends on what your expectations are going in.

CHARACTERS: ✦✦✦✦✦
PLOT: ✦✦✦✧✧
WRITING STYLE: ✦✦✦✦✦
WORLD BUILDING: ✦✦✦✦✧
THEMES: ✦✦✦✦✦
PAGE TURNER: ✦✦✦✦✦

a lot of people said that they didn’t enjoy this book as much probably because they were comparing it to vicious. Since it’s been at least a year since I read Vicious this probably lessened my prejudice going into the story. Although, I couldn't help but wish for more magical realism after I finished reading and compare it to Vicious so hehe. I mean it is the sequel. I still feel like something was missing for me in the end… I wanted a closure that I didn’t get (kind of).

At the end of the day, I really did enjoy this book and I would recommend it. Just don’t go into it expecting another Vicious since it leaned more on the crime side.

I seriously need a live action version of this NOW.


VILLAINS SERIES REVIEWS
Book #1 : Vicious ★★★★★
Book #2 : Vengeful ★★★★★

the way that the part i remember most is when they mentioned spotify

I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews for this one but whether you like this book or not, it all boils down to what you enjoy in mystery-thrillers. if you are looking for a tense, atmospheric and classic mystery murders that is fun time, I think that this delivers. But I do have to say that the reveals could have been more complex so if you’re looking for a mind-blowing mystery… maybe look somewhere else.

i do see why people would find this boring, i really do. But it was like a snowed-in murder movie with drama and I actually found myself excited to read it every time I picked it up. It is intense and can possibly be very triggering if you don’t know what you are getting into so… please read the content warnings at the end

I really liked that the character relationships focused more on camaraderie or the closeness you feel from spending a lot of time with certain people, while questioning those relationships at the same time. It’s present in the book that you start to question yourself enough but not too much that the focus of the story starts to go there. Though it was chilling (pun intended) to think about how the murders. This one might be an unpopular opinion but the perspectives that we got were both intriguing and slightly disturbing to read from once you get to the end.

The app part was a bit funny since it was basically an upgraded spotify that I actually laughed when they mentioned spotify in the book HAHA It made an interesting company dynamic though and the tech aspect had some merit to it. The reason this isn’t a 5-star book is because I didn’t like the sub plot in the story that was “revealed” at the end. We ALL knew it was coming and it wasn’t satisfying. By that point, the book was already done for me to be honest. Most of my attention span ended with that rock scene.

I really enjoyed Ruth Ware’s writing style so I might check out more of her books.

↣ It’s a bit slow moving but i really didn’t mind. I think this book delivered what it was supposed to deliver which was a cozy and atmospheric murder-thriller. I really don’t have much to complain about it because it was entertaining and tense when I wanted it to be. ↢

this was so popular in 2020 that i couldn’t get a copy for a year but here we are now

— 3.5 —
⇢ content warnings// Alcohol consumption, Asphyxia (suffocation), Avalanche (on-page & recounted, theme), Bullying, Death of family and friends, Minor Blood, Gore, and Dead Body depiction (described), Murder, Panic attacks & Flashbacks, Poisoning, Sexual assault, Suicide (discussed)


⤜ pre-read review ⤛

everyone's saying that this is their least favorite ruth ware book but it's ironic that this is the one that is the most intriguing to me :3

snowed in people after an avalanche + murder... like? COUNT ME IN.

“He’s looking at me with fierce tenderness in his eyes. Eyes like he loves me.
Now I know I must be dreaming.”

---------------------
UPDATE (11/14/18):
No time for a planned review but I'm in the mood to type out some of my opinions about this book before everything gets sucked out of my memory.

Just like I always say, some books are rated for how much I enjoyed it and I just would not be able to forgive myself if I rated this less than 5 stars :)

First of all, WE LOVE BOOKS WITH A GOOD CHEMISTRY!! Like, this is one of the most cliche plot lines ever but the conversation just all felt so smooth and natural and did not make me feel like I wanted to puke with the cheesiness. It's funny and entertaining, without being too much.

Aside from that, Sally Thorne was able to add her own touch to our cliche office, co worker, cliche, love story by adding some little details that kept the readers until the end of the book just to find out what some things are really about. And I have to admit that it kept me going when some parts got a tad bit predictable.

Nonetheless, I think this was a really good spin on all those office dramas we kept seeing and if not for the plot, the character relationships and such deserve every star.

---------------------

UPDATE (12/14/20):
I absolutely loved this book the first time I read it and although I don't remember reading about it the first go, it has come to my knowledge that the r slur was used by a non-disabled person to refer to a disabled person. That honestly makes me really mad but I'm going to reread this to confirm for myself. This was a personal favorite but I'm going to clear my rating for now.

Please don't hate me I'm fragile :(

“He’s too perfect. Alex wants to poke it.”

— overall thoughts: 2.0 —
For a book trying to break stereotypes, this sure had a lot of stereotypical characters.

So... I didn’t HATE this book. In fact, it made me giddy the first 25% and probably the last 2 sentences of the book.

But I think the main reason for my rating is probably that this book was overhyped for me and it just did not reach my high expectations.

I loved the premise of the story which was what got me so excited to read it in the first place but the characters started to feel off at some point. It felt like it was trying too hard and it just wasn’t selling it to me for the most part. The idea seemed better than the story itself.

I get the author was trying to tackle these so many different societal topics and issues. It’s not the idea or the plot itself I’m against but the execution. Even then, the flow of the story was just not there, scenes just started out of nowhere that I had to re read quite a few times to understand what just happened.

Representation. Is. Good!!! But not when it’s forced into every character and “plot line” out of nowhere.

There were parts that I actually liked but there were more parts that I couldn’t handle as well. I thought the OTP was cute at first but they just did not have the enemies to lovers trope that I came here to read. I expected most of the story to overcome the line between enemies and lovers but... it did not. There scenes that felt like they were too good to be true and just did not have the proper build up.

Nevertheless, I know a lot of people enjoyed this book and many still might. But I was definitely disappointed ;( especially considering the hype surrounding this book and that it was probably in my feed 100 times before I picked it up.

You guys have no idea how long I have waited for a story about a violinist that feels the burned out feeling and creative block that comes from musicians who have been playing for their whole lives. Even without being on the autism spectrum, it’s a very real thing and I have experienced it (and continue to) with my having played the violin for as long as I can remember. Especially with how well-written that aspect was, this resonated with me on another level.

”Nothing I actually do can compete with the boundless potential of what I could do. But if I allow myself to trap me in perpetual beginnings, I’ll never create again.”

The fact that this book gave me both a reality check and a romance in one is sending me. I loved that even though this was mainly a romance, it was also a very real piece of self-development. The last time i read about a violinist written this accurately was v.e. schwab.

Having to get over the fact that you can’t play a piece perfectly every time or just accepting the fact that it’s okay to make mistakes is a very real thing that I think every musician goes through. It really is a constant battle and struggle, and this is the first time I have read about it in a book. I really feel like I was reading about myself that it was unreal. This book reminded me that it’s okay to lean on other people too and the best thing you can do for yourself, is be kind to yourself.

That said, this isn’t the most lighthearted of romances since it deals with grief, ableism, emotional abuse, and familial denial among other things. It does deal with sensitive topics but I’m happy the taboo around them is slowly being removed in romance novels. But I found it so funny how this book goes from wholesome romantic to steamy to heartbreaking in a page.

”Stranger doesn’t feel like quite the right word for Quan. But he’s not my one-night stand—not yet. He’s definitely not my lover. Acquiantance seems too distant. He’s talked to me a reasonable amount, listened to me, laughed with me, seen me at my worst, held me while I cried. And he stayed because I asked him to.

I think… he might be my friend.”

I don’t know how to live with the fact that I don’t have my own Quan. Both main characters were Asian and I love that the author didn’t feel the need to have a white love interest. As an Asian person, I just really appreciate that a lot every time. Despite how i felt about it at first, the family dynamics were actually well-written even though her sister was the manifestation of prejudice and judgement put on max level. Even then there were parts that shows the realistic dynamics in Asian families even though it may be complicated to see at first and there were some that were a little dramaticized.

”I want to give in and see what it’s like to not fight so hard.”

I have not read the second book though I did love the first one. But I saw the premise for this third one and it called out to me. No regrets. I loved seeing Michael and Stella in this book since The Kiss Quotient is one of my fave romances and I loved their chemistry there. And even though I haven’t read The Bride Test nor do I remember Quan in TKQ, those were fun easter eggs. I found it really adorable how all of the male MCs in the series are friends because I find that rare? Quan might be one of the most realistic male mcs I have read in a while. I don’t remember him from Kiss Quotient but I wish I did.

Additional note: we love tattooed men

↣ Highly recommended if you like steamy romances that deal with very real themes that also hit all the right ups and down you need in a romance novel. Especially recommended if you are also a violinist or a musician that has gone through or continues to go through that creative block/anxiety struggle. ↢

This book inspired me to pick up my violin again after months and is now my constant reminder that you don’t need to get every note, every crescendo, and every beat perfect. It’s a simple reminder to remember but I know it’s hard to do: Just play from the heart.

For personal reasons, I will now be putting this on my faves list.

“It never gets easier. I fight every time I set my bow on the strings, but I stay true to myslef. I play from the heart.”

— 4.75 —
⇢ content warnings// Grief, Ableism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Anxiety & panic attacks, Depression, Suicidal thoughts & ideation, Infertility, Cancer, Death of a parent/caregiver


⤜ pre-read review ⤛

a violinist

[UPDATE: I made a mistake in my initial review. The sounds that are in between chapters is throat singing from those who are of Inuit heritage, if I'm not mistaken, and I just wanted that to be known because I wasn't aware of it when I read this book.]

---------------
ORIGINAL REVIEW:

This book has really strong themes that was tackled in a very upfront way but it was not for me. And that's fine, I acknowledge it, I will still recommend this.

tw//

Spoiler

sexual abuse, child abuse, explicit content

This is another case of me not being aware of the trigger warnings as well as not really getting along with the writing style.

“We have no power over a universe we can barely comprehend.”

Going into this, I thought there would be a music aspect somewhere but reading the synopsis again I realized that they were talking about the author and not the actual book.

It’s impossible not to face the issues that this book is presenting while reading. Which I think is it's strong point. It has so many positive messages to tell but it was not my vibe. The writing style is very descriptive and metaphorical but I think at one point it was too much for me. It also wrapped up on a note that left me unsatisfied.

I really wished I could have been more attached. It was engaging, at times, to follow how they lived their lives in a place that I wasn't familiar with but was interested in.

But I kept falling asleep while reading this and the story read longer than it actually was. Since I didn't feel much towards the characters, I felt detached from the conflict and the intense parts. I knew they were very intense and serious but I couldn't relate to them emotionally. I really wish I could though because a lot of things happen that just made me think.

The book tackles very heavy and serious issues. Metaphors were used but there were were specific times when I was not quite sure if that specific thing was still a metaphor. Plus there are sound effects at the end of every chapter that sounds very weird when you’re listening at 1.85x speed. It sounded like someone (or a wolf?) breathing really hard.

At the end of the day, I just did not vibe with the style but I see how a lot of people would like this if you are looking for a very hard hitting adult contemporary, especially one that deals with topics like abuse. If you liked Bunny by Mona Awad, this has somewhat similar vibes and plot/writing tools used.

“If only healing was the way of the world.””

*Thank you to the publicist at -Penguin Random House- for sending me an ARC to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

This can be an exhausting book to read because you can just really feel the pain and weariness of everyone around her from her perspective. But at the same time, I found that it was what made me not want to put the book down.

”This face says I have lived, I’m alive. This face says I’ve known joy and pain, known them both. I’ll know them both again.”

This book is basically about a woman who is the director of this theater/play that is living with chronic pain and some supernatural stuff happens. I love how mona awad’s stories are funny, in that dark humor kind of way.

I also want to point out this quote:

”I don’t know what you see in that girl,”
”Everything.”

…because if you pull it out of context, it sounds romantic. But it’s actually between a teacher and her student and I think that makes it extra beautiful and heart-warming because how often do we get perspectives from teachers loving their students? There’s more to nuance to it within the story but we’re not talking about that now.

Other prevalent topics that consumed me:
* when people assume that they know how other people feel
* when people compare their own pain instead of listening

I think something we can all agree on is that the description of chronic pain was so well-explored, creative, realistic and descriptive that it left the page and entered my body. While trying to not give spoilers, the way mona awad had Miranda approach her own prejudice against someone who has something similar to her condition was kind of ironic that it becomes very “in your face” and I really liked how it was tackled.

”People will get sick and people will get better, and it has nothing to do with us.”

But more than that, I felt oddly attached to Miranda?? I don’t know if it’s just me but I love how there’s some aspect of questioning whether or not we have an unreliable narrator. She personifies the description of her own chronic pain and has a sort of hyperbolic way of describing other aspects of the story that it makes you question some details. Which is an aspect I’m finding is something that I think Mona Awad does really well in her books (which is questioning your sanity as the reader).

Even the descriptions on her relationship with her therapist was similar to how you would think romantic relationships are described… which makes sense because therapists are just like any other kind of inter-personal relationship. Though I really loved that, this was also like the intense horrification of my fears from when I do physical therapy. Go figure.

”It makes him understand that pain is not just a guide, not just simply information, not just a friendly teacher of lessons I need to learn.”

Anyway, this was still so incredibly heartfelt and touching while still being so incredibly real and dark. Even though i barely know anything about shakespeare, there are some lines in the normal dialogue that sounds like it came from shakespearean plays which i found contributed a lot to building the sort of brooding but dreamy atmosphere.

This becomes as dramatic as any kind of musical play or theatre and it was WIDLY entertaining to me. The characters are easy to empathize with no matter their role in the story.

“As if such impossiblity wasn’t the whole point, wasn’t the whole magic of the play himself”

If you like morally questionable and generally questionable characters that are strong-willed… this is it. I think this is one of the most well done morally grey main characters i have read that you have to admit is more on the… not so good side. There’s something intriguing about arguably “evil” and sadistic characters and I hope that doesn’t label me under weird.

Because even though you understand where they’re coming from, you still know it isn’t right.

↣ I’m starting to realized that I think I like absurdist books. For a horror/mystery/thriller novel… this made me laugh and tear up in heartfelt-ness more than I thought it would. It sn’t that scary or creepy in my opinion but it can be disturbing. Highly recommended if you want something of the kind. ↢

Something about the ending was oddly reminiscent, in a way, of the idea in “All’s well that ends well”, like if you think about that saying itself. And this was definitely a satisfying horror novel if I ever read one.

"But not too much pain, am I right? Not too much, never too much. If it was too much, you wouldn't know what to do with me, would you? Too much would make you uncomfortable. Bored. My crying would leave a bad taste. That would just be bad theater, wouldn't it? A bad show. You want a good show. They all do. A few pretty tears on my cheeks that you can brush away. Just a delicate little bit of ouch so you know there's someone in there. So you don't get too scared of me, am I right? So you know I'm still a vulnerable thing. That I can be brought down if need be.”

I just think that this was beautiful and I don’t care if anyone thinks otherwise.

P.S. I think this is better read as an audiobook.

— 4.5 —
⇢ content warnings// Drug (prescription painkiller) and alcohol use, Substance abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic pain/illness, Medical trauma, Medical gaslighting, Mild Violence