had an interesting premise that deflated instantly for me as a reader who struggles with talky, stream of conscious-like, unreliable narration.

the disappointment I felt when I realized the exorcist didn't actually carry out an exorcism stunned me a little!

northanger abbey was a very breezy introduction to jane austen for me. I loved the tone and sharpness of her writing style, but quickly realized the story itself makes it difficult to rate higher than a weak 3 stars. the plot reads almost like a novella as I was surprised to find out that most of the story and build-up takes place outside of northanger abbey. I wasn’t totally invested in the romantic pairing as I wanted to be, and craved more moments of henry and catherine together. despite the ending feeling so abrupt and reliant on key events that happen off-page, I don't regret reading this since I really enjoyed the memorable cast of characters and their motivations and interactions with one other.

having been a long-time fan of the hannibal television series multiple times, reading red dragon made sense for the completionist in me and it didn’t disappoint. not only was the plot just as fresh and thrilling, but reading hannibal’s advances towards will got me kicking my feet in delight. dr. lecter really was that interested will graham—it’s not even subtext, it’s just text!

and when the source material already comes preloaded with quotes like: “Why shouldn't [killing] feel good? It must feel good to God—He does it all the time, and are we not made in His image?”, it makes perfect sense for a screen adaptation to take all of its darkness and drama and run with it. props to thomas harris for knowing exactly what he was doing writing iconic characters like dr. lecter and francis dolarhyde from the start, all while ensuring the tension and dread leaps off the pages.

god emperor is more tonally inconsistent than I expected, which makes the audiobook an even wilder experience. I was not prepared for the level of insta-lust so many female characters had for duncan idaho, like frank, this is a wendy’s.

outdated sexual identity politics aside, herbert clearly had a lot of sympathy for leto ii’s journey following children of dune as leto takes on the role as the tyrant to end all tyrants while giving up his own humanity to save all of humanity in the process. I just wish frank herbert wasn’t so rambley about it. a more insistent editor could have helped him gotten the point across in half the length, but unfortunately what’s left is a lot of pontificating between interesting plot beats that makes this a little underwhelming for me.