I’m definitely in the minority on this one. There were some things I enjoyed, but even more things that didn’t work for me at all. I went DNF at ~30%.
I’m definitely in the minority on this one. There were some things I enjoyed, but even more things that didn’t work for me at all. I went in knowing this book would either be amazing or another disappointing young adult dystopian novel. Sadly, it’s the latter.
I read Neal Shusterman’s Unwind years ago and all I could remember was that it had a unique and fascinating premise but in the end I didn't love it. I feel very similarly about Scythe. The premise was, indeed, spectacular. Shusterman has a truly creative mind. And the pacing was spot on. I was never bored, and that counts for a lot to me. But ultimately, rather than making its way onto my favorites shelf, I decided to give up reading Scythe when it became clear that I wasn’t enjoying it enough to make up for a few glaring issues.
My first issue with Scythe was with the book’s main characters, Citra and Rowan. They weren’t given enough development in this intensely plot-driven novel and, as a result, felt lifeless and bland. I didn’t dislike them – they were both perfectly agreeable – but I also wasn’t invested in them. I expect a writer to quickly, in the space of a few chapters, acquaint me with their protagonist(s), to familiarize me with their motivations and personalities, their likes and dislikes, their histories and beliefs. I was 150 pages in and still felt like I hardly knew Citra and Rowan, and I can’t relate to or empathize with characters I hardly know.
It seemed like Shusterman was setting Citra and Rowan up for a romantic relationship, and because I wasn’t invested in Citra and Rowan individually, I also wasn’t invested in their relationship. I had little insight into their emotions, which is crucial if you’re trying to sell me on the fact that two characters are into each other. And their chemistry was abysmal. In the first 150 pages of the book, they’d hardly spoken to each other, at least on the page.
Moving beyond characters, I also had a major issue with Shusterman’s worldbuilding, which in some ways struck me as utterly unbelievable. Despite being far enough in the future that the world was governed by artificial intelligence and medical science had eradicated disease and conquered death, the world hadn’t changed that much from the world of 2019, which not only seems unlikely but also represents a massive missed opportunity. I’m way more interested in reading a book that takes place in a future that’s utterly unfamiliar to me than one that’s basically a utopian version of the present.
I also had some problems with the concept of the Thunderhead, but since I only learned a little about it, I’ll reserve my judgment. Maybe it gets better in later books. Although I’ll never find out, because I’m not going to read the rest of the series. Suffice it to say I was very disappointed by this book....more
Given this book’s cover and synopsis, I expected something dark and magical, and for the first fifty pages, it seemed promising. The plot DNF at ~50%.
Given this book’s cover and synopsis, I expected something dark and magical, and for the first fifty pages, it seemed promising. The plot took off quickly, with Tea raising her brother from the dead and journeying to a foreign land with another bone witch to learn magic. My only complaint at that point was that everything was happening too fast. I guess I should be careful what I wish for, because at that point, things slowed to a crawl. The lengthy process of Tea’s training was painfully uneventful. There was hardly any magic and the subject matter was, for the most part, light and low-stakes; not at all what I expect from a book about necromancy.
I wasn't a fan of the way the narrative was structured, with alternating chapters showing us the present, when a seventeen-year-old Tea is recounting her story to an unnamed bard, and the past, when a younger Tea is learning to be a bone witch. It made for a choppy reading experience and disrupted the flow of the story. And seventeen-year-old Tea was insufferable. On the other hand, the bard’s chapters offered the only hint of true darkness in the nearly 200 pages I made it through, so I’m hesitant to suggest cutting them entirely.
I agree with other reviewers about Chupeco's overuse of descriptive language. The plot was bogged down by detailed descriptions of Chupeco’s characters, world, and magic system. I don’t always need to know everything that everyone is wearing or every detail of every object in every room. A skilled writer will direct their readers’ attention only to the most important details and trust that we’ll use our imaginations to visualize the rest. That’s half the fun of reading.
I also didn't connect with the characters of The Bone Witch as much as I would have liked to. Tea felt like a cardboard cutout of a young adult female protagonist: curious, outspoken, and powerful. Prince Kance was equally cliché: agreeable, gracious, and handsome. Fox served mostly as a Yes Man who supported Tea in everything she did, rendering him utterly uninteresting. Lady Mykaela was your standard aloof and distant fantasy mentor. And I had no interest in the book’s romance after Chupeco hinted at a love triangle early in the story.
I think Chupeco had a solid concept here. Her worldbuilding and magic system were detailed and complex; if they'd been backed by a stronger plot or stronger characters, they would have provided the perfect backdrop for an epic fantasy trilogy. Unfortunately, this book suffered in its execution, and I'm unable to commit myself to a series that doesn't draw me in from book one with an interesting plot and compelling, dynamic characters....more
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at ~40%.
I wasn’t sure what to exThank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at ~40%.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Catherine House, and it ended up being very different from the types of books I usually read. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; I think it’s important to try new things and expand your horizons. But it also might partially explain why this one wasn’t for me.
The synopsis of this book compares it to Never Let Me Go. The two aren’t exactly the same, but I think it’s a fair comparison. Both take place in isolated boarding schools where something sinister is going on behind the scenes. Both elicited similar emotional reactions from me, a sort of melancholy feeling that’s hard to escape. And both were memorable and left an impression on me, even if the reading experience was unsatisfactory.
The protagonist, Ines, was the main drawback of Catherine House, which is another similarity to Never Let Me Go. I was not a fan of any of the characters in that book, nor was I fan of any of the characters in this one. But Ines, in particular, was an unsympathetic, closed-off, wishy-washy protagonist and I didn’t always enjoy being trapped inside her head. Her narration fit perfectly with the overall tone of the book, but that didn’t make me like her any more, and I can’t get through a book with an unlikable protagonist.
I would say the main draw of Catherine House is that it is a dark, unsettling, mysterious, and deeply atmospheric read. At first, I was intrigued by the house’s secrets and wanted to know more, which kept me reading. I was worried the development of the story would suffer due to its short length, but Elisabeth Thomas had plenty of time for vivid descriptions and the slow build of a general sense of unease. On the contrary, it was too long; the plot dragged, and at a certain point, I knew I’d go crazy if I tried to read this book all the way through to the end.
I don’t think this is a bad book and I don’t think Thomas is a bad writer. Her use of descriptive language, her ability to evoke emotion, and the way she builds an immersive atmosphere are all hallmarks of a very talented writer. My problems with Catherine House are entirely subjective. If you enjoyed Never Let Me Go or if you like the idea of a slow, weird, unsettling little book, you might love this one. But I didn’t....more
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at ~50%.
I got halfway through thThank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at ~50%.
I got halfway through this book only to realize I didn’t care about what was happening or how it would end. It wasn’t a bad book, necessarily, just not a very compelling one.
The Lucky One stars two female protagonists. Alice Fine was kidnapped as a toddler and now works for her father’s construction firm and spends her free time identifying missing persons on a website called the Doe Pages. Merrily Cruz was raised by a single mother and now works a boring office job and has a lucrative side gig as a cam girl. They’re both connected to a man named Richard, or Rick, and their stories intertwine as they try to find Rick and figure out who he is/was.
Unfortunately I thought the characters in this book were mostly weak and underdeveloped, from Alice and Merrily to the modest cast of side characters that consisted of their friends, family, and coworkers. There were moments when I felt a tenuous connection to one or both of the protagonists, but it wasn’t enough to get me fully invested.
The plot, meanwhile, had a slow start, with not much happening for at least the first half of the book, and I was never fully invested. I kept reading mostly out of habit; I wasn’t even that interested to find out how it ended. At most, I was mildly intrigued. It was at that point that I decided to stop. This is a mystery, after all. If I didn’t care about solving the mystery, why keep reading?
I would be open to reading more of Lori Rader-Day’s books in the future, because I think her writing has promise, but only if she upped the suspense and engagement factors....more
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’ Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at ~30%.
My one-sentence review of this Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’ Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at ~30%.
My one-sentence review of this book would be: Lobizona is a four-star contemporary novel and a one-star fantasy novel. In other words, I have very mixed feelings about it. But let’s start with the positive.
Lobizona stars Manu, an undocumented immigrant whose mother brought her to the United States from Argentina when she was very young. She is bilingual, she loves to read, and she aspires to one day work for NASA as an astronaut. Particularly in the first section of the book, Lobizona explores the challenges undocumented immigrants face in America, as well as questions of identity regarding Manu’s physical differences and her father, who she knows next to nothing about.
If you strip away the fantasy elements, Lobizona is a well-written, modern young adult contemporary novel about the immigrant experience. It effectively communicates the alienation, the fear of discovery, and the unrelenting hope that defines Manu’s life as an undocumented immigrant, and it does so in a way that is both accessible to teenagers and enlightening for adults.
But Lobizona is also a young adult fantasy novel – a genre I have a fraught relationship with – and unfortunately, in that respect, it did not live up to my expectations. Although I will say, the one thing I appreciated about Romina Garber’s fantasy world was its basis in Argentinian folklore. I’m always on the lookout for fantasy novels that stray outside the typical Western European sphere of influence.
The novelty wore off quickly, however, once it became clear how utterly cliché the rest of the fantasy elements in this story were. Manu is special: the first ever lobizona (female werewolf), an only child with powers that are usually reserved for the seventh son or seventh daughter in a family. She has golden eyes with silver, star-shaped pupils (yes, seriously). Her werewolf powers include super strength and super speed, no exercise required, as well as super senses. Her transformation began at puberty and brought with it mysterious dreams of a magical world.
I decided to stop reading when the fantasy and YA clichés started to pile up about a quarter of the way into the story. Manu’s first interaction with Tiago was also incredibly off-putting. I have a policy where I quit reading at the first sign of instalove. Since I didn’t finish the book, I don’t actually know if they end up in a romantic relationship, but my YA spidey senses have rarely steered me wrong. I think I’m too far past my YA days to appreciate this book. Teen readers might enjoy it more than I did....more
Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Mountains Sing is a beautiful, heartbreakThank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Mountains Sing is a beautiful, heartbreaking novel of family, forgiveness, and perseverance by Vietnamese author Nguyen Phan Que Mai. It features a split timeline, which I usually avoid in historical fiction because so often one timeline is much better than the other(s). In this case, however, I enjoyed it. The two main timelines wove together to paint a picture of Vietnam’s rich culture and its more recent history.
The first timeline takes place during the Vietnam War and follows teenage Huong living with her grandmother. The second takes place during the French and Japanese occupations of Vietnam and follows Huong’s grandmother, Tran Dieu Lan, as a young woman. There are also a prologue and epilogue taking place in modern Vietnam and following an adult Huong as she remembers her grandmother.
I was hopeful that I would enjoy reading this book because it features several elements that I love to see. First, it has a female-centric narrative. Second, it presents a civilian perspective of war. Third, it’s a family saga, one of my favorite subgenres. My instincts were correct; this was an eye-opening and incredibly valuable read, not to mention well-written. Nguyen’s use of imagery was immersive, painting a vivid picture of the country of Vietnam and the lives of her protagonists. Her writing style is lyrical; I wasn’t surprised to learn she’s also a poet. I loved the way she wove Vietnamese proverbs into the dialogue.
If I had one complaint, it would be that it was very obvious to me that this book was written with modern sensibilities and the benefit of hindsight. Characters espoused opinions that seemed like they were the author’s opinions, not their own. This occasionally took me out of the narrative and damaged the story’s realism.
Although this book covered heavy subject matter, I found it easier to read than many books that cover similar topics. It didn’t dwell on graphic details and included plenty of scenes of happiness and hope to balance out the hardship and despair. I would recommend The Mountains Sing to fans of Pachinko or When Heaven and Earth Changed Places....more
Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake Romance for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
In the Dark has everything you need for a spThank you to NetGalley and Montlake Romance for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
In the Dark has everything you need for a spooky winter read: A remote town in British Columbia. A mysterious lodge surrounded by untouched wilderness. A raging snowstorm. A group of shady rich people. A series of inexplicable coincidences. A police officer and a search and rescue team leader, each with their own tragic backstory. I could go on. All these details add up to the perfect atmosphere and ambiance for a slow-burn novel that seamlessly blends elements from several genres: mystery, thriller, procedural, and a dash of horror.
The story follows three timelines simultaneously. In the first timeline, labeled “The Lodge Party,” a group of eight very different but suspiciously connected people have been invited to an exclusive luxury wilderness resort and spa, a trip that goes disastrously wrong. In the second timeline, “The Search,” police officer Mason and search and rescue team leader Callie search for the missing members of the lodge party. And in the third timeline, labeled “Now,” the sole survivor of the lodge party tells their story. To shield the survivor’s identity from the reader, these sections are written in first person and in present tense, while the rest are written in third person and past tense, alternating between the perspectives of Mason, Callie, and the members of the lodge party.
I enjoy multiple timelines and perspectives in mysteries and thrillers and thought this was an effective storytelling technique for In the Dark. It built tension and kept me turning pages. I enjoyed “The Search” timeline the most; I was heavily invested in Mason and Callie (and Oskar and even Gregson) as characters. “The Lodge Party” timeline was intense and scary, but apart from Stella, I wasn’t as attached to those characters. The “Now” timeline wasn’t my favorite, probably because I prefer third person to first person and past tense to present tense and the switch threw me off.
I had a few other, minor complaints. Loreth Anne White’s writing style is somewhat repetitive, overly relying on short, punchy sentences to make her point. I also thought the “Nine Little Liars” poem was pretty lame. In general, creepy poetry is a mystery trope I could do without. It’s almost never as well-written or clever as it would need to be to add anything meaningful to the story. The dialogue was occasionally stilted.
The ending was complex, and I liked it, but I wasn’t totally blown away. I’m stuck between a three and four star rating for this one. Went with four because I’m feeling generous and it was an enjoyable read....more
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Trace of Evil is a police procedural that Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Trace of Evil is a police procedural that revolves around the murder of Daisy Buckner, a high school teacher in Burning Lake, New York. I’m relatively new to the mystery genre and this is the first book I’ve read starring a detective. I was never a fan of shows like Criminal Minds and NCIS, so I was skeptical that I would enjoy Trace of Evil, but I ended up loving it.
The first thing that drew me into this book was Alice Blanchard’s writing style. Her use of descriptive language is captivating. I was transported to Burning Lake, a midsize town in upstate New York that’s basically a second-rate Salem, famous for the wrongful execution of a trio of alleged witches in the eighteenth century. These days, the fictional town has embraced its occult past, and it’s common for Burning Lake teens to go through a witchy phase of their own.
Blanchard’s second strength is her characters, who leap off the page. The story is told entirely from the third person point-of-view of Detective Natalie Lockhart, the BLPD’s only female detective. Her father was a police officer, and her sister was killed by her violent ex-boyfriend when they were both teenagers. Blanchard’s side characters were as complex and three-dimensional as Natalie was. I thought the romance between Natalie and her childhood friend and fellow detective, Luke, was poorly integrated at times, but it was a relatively minor plot point so it wasn’t egregious.
In addition to the murder of Daisy Buckner, there were a few other mysteries that made for intriguing subplots. One of these subplots focused on the Missing Nine, nine transients in Burning Lake whose disappearances or deaths were never solved. Another focused on an unidentified boy who attacked Natalie when she was a child. I sped through this book; it was well-paced and the ending took me completely by surprise. Every time I thought I had figured something out, I was proven wrong.
I had only a few minor complaints. The dialogue was occasionally awkward and the narration occasionally cheesy. The narrative was unquestioningly pro-police, which I always find a little iffy, but I guess that’s to be expected from a procedural.
This book contains multiple descriptions of animal mutilation....more
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book wasn’t at all what I expected, bThank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book wasn’t at all what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It had some flaws, but it featured strong characters and kept me entertained throughout.
Little Secrets stars two female protagonists who couldn’t be more different. Marin is the wealthy, successful owner of a chain of high-end salons, married to business mogul Derek. Their son, Sebastian, was kidnapped a year ago in plain sight. Kenzie is a broke twenty-four-year-old MFA student, barista, and “professional girlfriend” having an affair with Derek. They were complex, well-written protagonists, and very flawed. Jennifer Hillier’s writing style gives plenty of insight into her protagonists’ thoughts and feelings, which drove the story. Her side characters were as complex and flawed as her main characters.
I can understand other readers finding Kenzie and Marin unlikable. While I definitely didn’t agree with some of their motivations and choices, to me, their flaws made them more compelling. In fact, every time Hillier tried to add little details to make either of them more sympathetic – Marin is a #girlboss whose mission in life is to lift up other women (even though she, hypocritically, places the blame for her husband’s affair solely on Kenzie, “the other woman”), Kenzie has to pay not just for her rent and tuition but also for her sick mother – they felt unnecessary. Her protagonists were already sympathetic enough in their imperfect state.
The pacing was excellent. The plot was complicated, sort of in a good way, sort of in a bad way. There were a few different things going on – Marin trying to find out what happened to Sebastian, Kenzie trying to get as much money as she can from Derek, Marin finding out about the affair and dealing with it, and more I won’t give away – and I didn’t know until around the three-quarter mark where it was all leading. There wasn’t a strong, central arc running through the entire story, which kept me guessing but was also a little frustrating. The biggest flaw was that the ending was rushed, felt like it came out of nowhere, and wrapped things up too neatly....more
I don’t have much to say about The Night Masquerade that I haven’t already said in my reviews of BintThis review contains spoilers for Binti and Home.
I don’t have much to say about The Night Masquerade that I haven’t already said in my reviews of Binti and Home. Although The Night Masquerade was longer than the two previous books, it was very similar in tone and quality.
It seems Nnedi Okorafor has hit her stride in terms of plot and pacing. Whereas book one of this series felt rushed – likely because it was the shortest – the following two books have been well-paced, with enough room for development. The worldbuilding in The Night Masquerade was as unique and compelling as I’ve come to expect from Okorafor, although, being the final book in a series, it mostly filled in the details instead of introducing new concepts.
For the first third of the book, Binti annoyed me. She was helpless and confused and her behavior was erratic, swinging from one extreme to another. She became stronger and more self-assured as the story progressed and we finally saw the payoff of three books’ worth of character development. I also fell in love with the side characters more fully than I had in either of the previous books, particularly Okwu and Mwinyi and New Fish. They were undoubtedly the highlight of this story.
I have one final complaint that’s also a vague spoiler. (view spoiler)[Okorafor has a habit of “killing off” characters in this series only to bring them back to life or reveal they were alive the whole time, which I think is lazy writing. I’ll forgive it once, but multiple times? When writers do this, it’s obvious they’re trying to get the emotional payoff of a character death without committing to any serious, irreversible consequences for their characters. You can’t have both. (hide spoiler)]
Overall, a decent conclusion to a decent series. Not my favorite, but certainly enjoyable and extremely unique. I’m glad I gave these books a chance....more
This book is very similar to its predecessor. If you enjoyed Binti, you’ll probably enjoy the sequel, Home. IfThis review contains spoilers for Binti.
This book is very similar to its predecessor. If you enjoyed Binti, you’ll probably enjoy the sequel, Home. If you didn’t enjoy Binti, you can safely skip this one. I was somewhere in the middle on both books: They were a mix of some things I liked and some things I didn’t, but they were ultimately both entertaining enough for me to keep reading.
We’re back with a protagonist I genuinely enjoy. Binti is the same intelligent and earnest individual I remember, a girl who always tries to do the right thing for both herself and others. She has undergone significant development, which of course is great to see; her first-person narration sounded more mature this time around. Perhaps the biggest change to Binti’s character is that we see her struggle with PTSD as a result of the events of book one.
I had more problems with the characters in this book than in the previous one, probably because the bulk of book one involved only Binti and the Meduse and featured little dialogue. Book two introduces many more characters, and not all of their interactions felt organic. Okwu and the Khoush who came into contact with it acted beyond irrationally, to the point where I could no longer suspend my disbelief. In general, I don’t think Nnedi Okorafor is very skilled at writing conflict. However, I enjoyed Binti’s positive interactions with other characters, especially Okwu.
I complained that the plot of Binti felt rushed, especially toward the beginning. That was not the case here. Home had a good, strong beginning and the story moved at a steady pace all the way to the end. The worldbuilding met and exceeded the high standard Okorafor set in book one, expanding on old concepts and introducing new ones. In particular, Home explored Binti’s culture and heritage, something I had wanted to see more of after reading book one. I wasn’t pleased with the cliffhanger ending, but at least the third and final book is already out so I don’t have to wait to learn what happens....more
I had high hopes for Jane Doe, and it blew them out of the water. It was everything I wanted it to be and had everything I need in a book: revenge, feI had high hopes for Jane Doe, and it blew them out of the water. It was everything I wanted it to be and had everything I need in a book: revenge, feminism, good characters, a decent romance subplot, and so much entertainment value. I wouldn’t call it a thriller in the traditional sense because there wasn’t a whole lot of suspense (is suspense what makes a thriller? I’m not sure I know exactly what a thriller is), and it definitely wasn’t a mystery – it was obvious from pretty early on how it would end – but whatever it was, I loved it and I couldn’t put it down.
Easily the highlight of this book was its protagonist. Jane’s first-person narration made this book what it is: witty, engaging, entertaining, unputdownable. When I say I want complex female protagonists, this is exactly what I mean. Jane is calculating and manipulative and unapologetic, but she’s also relatable and funny and real. I could relate to the way she feels different and distant from everyone else and experiences the world in a different way. Obviously any halfway decent protagonist needs a mix of good and bad, strengths and flaws. Jane has that, but what’s interesting about her is that her personality is such a volatile mix of extremes: the very good, the very bad, and a healthy dose of completely neutral apathy.
This book only has a few other characters, but each one of them was masterfully crafted and added something vital to the story. First we’ve got Meg, Jane’s dead best friend, who provides a “normal” counterpoint to Jane’s behavior and thinking patterns. She was Jane’s one tether to the rest of humanity, the only person Jane truly cared about. Even though she’s already dead when the story begins, she was still an important character, because I don’t think I would have liked Jane as much if she didn’t have that human connection, the exception to the rule of her sociopathy.
And then there are two primary male characters: Steven and Luke. They represent opposite ends of a spectrum of male behavior. Steven is a misogynist and an abuser. Luke is a genuinely nice, charming guy. I think the fact that they were both extremes – extremely bad or extremely good – was necessary, even though it didn’t leave room for a lot of nuance. Some other books with protagonists like Jane, jaded women who’ve had bad experiences with men, can kind of give the impression that all men are terrible people, and while I’m not hopping on the #NotAllMen train any time soon, I get why a lot of readers find that annoying. There are plenty of good guys out there, even if there are also plenty of bad ones, so having that representation from Luke was a nice touch.
My one complaint: Jane makes a lot of feminist or otherwise progressive observations throughout her narration, and while I agreed with them, they weren’t exactly anything new or revelatory. It was all a bit Feminism 101, and at times bordered on preachy. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the kind of stuff I’m talking about: Men are taken more seriously than women in the workplace, men are rewarded for having sexual desire and women are punished for it, et cetera. It’s all true, but I’ve heard it so many times before. I’m well past ready to move beyond the basics and get into the nuances of feminism.
I debated rating this book five stars, but that Feminism 101 stuff is a major pet peeve of mine so I have to go with four. But honestly, everything about it, other than that, was perfection. The plot was a pretty basic revenge storyline, but I’m a sucker for revenge, so it was right up my alley. The pacing was quick. The ending was everything I hoped it would be. I will definitely be reading the sequel....more
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Better Liar is a captivating thriller wiThank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Better Liar is a captivating thriller with an engaging plot that gradually unfolds as secrets are revealed and lies are uncovered, building tension slowly until you have no choice but to keep reading through to the end. It features a pair of female protagonists who couldn’t be more different. You’re not sure who to root for or who you can trust.
Tanen Jones writes from a first person point-of-view, alternating between three different perspectives. Our first main character, Leslie, is a happily married new mother who was recently fired from her job and needs the money her father left her to keep her lifestyle intact. Our second main character, Mary, is a waitress who agrees to pretend to be Leslie’s dead sister, Robin, in exchange for Robin’s half of the sisters’ inheritance. There are also brief chapters from the point-of-view of Robin’s “ghost.”
This narration style worked well, telling each side of the story. Despite the first person point-of-view, there is minimal introspection, which allows Jones to reveal only little bits and pieces of her characters’ lives and inner workings, teasing their deepest secrets without fully giving them away until the end. The result is that, although you’ve caught intimate glimpses of Leslie, Mary, and Robin’s thoughts and feelings, you don’t feel like you truly know them. This fits right in with the theme and tone of the book.
This book wasn’t what I expected at all. It kept me constantly on my toes wondering what would happen next and what it was all leading to. However, I wasn’t a fan of the ending. It would have worked a lot better if the book was written in third person. It turned out the protagonists were both holding pretty crucial information from the reader, which made the ending seem to come out of nowhere and have no build-up to it. It wasn’t a terrible ending, but it wasn’t satisfying.
This book contains a brief scene depicting animal abuse and animal death....more
I read mixed reviews about this one so I’m not too surprised it was a middle-of-the-road experience for me. Nonetheless, I’m glad I read it.
The best fI read mixed reviews about this one so I’m not too surprised it was a middle-of-the-road experience for me. Nonetheless, I’m glad I read it.
The best feature of Binti, for me, was the worldbuilding. Nnedi Okorafor has created a truly unique world that lit up my imagination. Her exploration of Binti’s Himba culture and upbringing was undoubtedly the highlight of the story. Many of the book’s strange science fiction concepts went unexplained, but through context clues I was able to get the gist of it. I’ve said before that I much prefer a little confusion to a lot of infodumping, so that was fine.
This is my first novella, which might explain why the plot felt rushed. I’m not used to digesting an entire story in such a short span of time. It was entertaining – I devoured it in a single sitting – but there were parts that would have been much more impactful if they’d had more time to develop. The beginning, in particular, should have been longer. Too many important events had to be condensed and, as a result, had little emotional impact.
I absolutely loved Binti. She came to life off the page. The plot may have felt rushed, but thankfully Okorafor spent plenty of time establishing Binti as a character: her personality, her feelings, her strengths. I think Okorafor’s use of first-person narration was essential in accomplishing that. Her writing style seemed like it was specifically designed to tell Binti’s story; it captured her youth and earnestness.
As of now, I plan on reading the rest of the series. I’m curious as to where it will take me....more
I love reading neat little novellas like this one that revolve around such a unique concept. In Sisters of the Vast Black, that concept is “nuns in spI love reading neat little novellas like this one that revolve around such a unique concept. In Sisters of the Vast Black, that concept is “nuns in space.” I am not religious and my knowledge of the Catholic Church is limited to what I’ve learned from movies and television, so I was a bit wary picking this one up, but that ended up not mattering at all. This is definitely a book you could enjoy regardless of your beliefs.
What I liked best about Sisters of the Vast Black was the worldbuilding. Our nun protagonists travel in a living ship called Our Lady of Impossible Constellations (what a cool name), which serves not just as their method of transportation but also as their convent, their home. Lina Rather spends a good chunk of the book describing the ship and exploring the concept of living ships and it was fascinating stuff.
The larger world of the book consists of Old Earth, ruled by Earth Central Governance; the rest of the “first system,” or our current solar system; and other systems that humans inhabit, numbered (presumably) in order of when they were colonized (second system, third system, etc.). Earth Central Governance used to rule all these systems with an iron fist, but a recent war granted them independence, at a high cost.
The Catholic Church is alive and well, sending emissaries out into space to preach, perform rites, and provide aid. Sisters of the Vast Black touches on some of my favorite themes: space travel, colonization, politics, power, and war. The plot was well-paced. It had some intrigue to keep me turning pages but was also fairly simple and straightforward, which I think is appropriate for a novella. I would love to read a sequel if Rather decides to publish one.
The only weakness was the characters. They were complex and interesting, but I wasn’t as invested in them as I like to be. The story had four narrators: the Reverend Mother, Sister Gemma, Sister Lucia, and Sister Faustina. I think this split perspective was the culprit behind my lack of connection. It’s difficult enough to adequately develop a single protagonist over the course of a novella, let alone four protagonists. I just don’t think there was enough time....more
Wow. That was incredible and not at all what I expected. I couldn’t possibly rate this book any lower than five stars. One of my top 10 books of 2019!
Wow. That was incredible and not at all what I expected. I couldn’t possibly rate this book any lower than five stars. It’s almost like it was written specifically to appeal to me. I loved every single thing about it. I have to read the rest of the series immediately.
Murderbot is officially my new favorite character, of all time, ever. Its narration was, without a doubt, the single greatest feature of this book. Its feelings of awkwardness and otherness around humans, its discomfort with emotions, and its uncaring (but also secretly caring a little) approach to life were highly relatable. Murderbot has such a unique voice, such a concrete and well-developed personality. I’ve always had a soft spot for robots and Murderbot was no exception.
Although Murderbot was obviously the highlight of the story, the side characters were just as well-written. Some of them were more developed than others, as I would expect from such a short book (you can only fit so much in 150-ish pages), but they clearly all had a lot of heart. Their genuine concern for Murderbot and for each other sold me on them. As a result, I was one hundred percent invested in the safety and well-being of each of Wells’ characters.
The plot was simple and straightforward but also well-paced and engaging, which is ideal for a novella. The worldbuilding was excellent. All Systems Red offers glimpses of the world of The Murderbot Diaries, teasing you with just enough information to keep you interested and help you understand what’s going on without giving everything away. This is my absolute favorite approach to worldbuilding. I hope the following books in the series expand upon what we’ve learned so far to paint a more complete picture as we go.
Also, that ending! It wasn’t at all what I wanted to happen but it certainly left me wanting more. Now I have to know what happens next....more
This is my first Becky Chambers read and I’m already completely sold on her as a writer. I have to read the rest of herOne of my top 10 books of 2019!
This is my first Becky Chambers read and I’m already completely sold on her as a writer. I have to read the rest of her work immediately. I enjoyed everything about this novella, which is no surprise, because it’s chock full of elements that I love to see in science fiction: space travel, teamwork, scientific research, other worlds... I could go on. This one was an easy five stars.
I’m not sure I can put into words all the things I felt reading this book, but I’ll try. I’ll start with the worldbuilding, which was amazing. To Be Taught, If Fortunate takes place entirely off Earth. Our four-person crew of main characters – Ariadne, Chikondi, Elena, and Jack – travel aboard the spaceship Merian to four alien worlds: Aecor, Mirabilis, Opera, and Votum. Each world is completely different from Earth and from the others, populated with fascinating new forms of life, and Chambers describes and develops them beautifully.
We also see glimpses of life on Earth, both before the crew left (in the form of memories) and during their mission (in the form of news updates from Open Cluster Aeronautics, a citizen-funded space agency of the future). We learn what it’s like for the crew to live in such strange circumstances, traveling for years in torpor (akin to cryosleep or stasis) to worlds unlike their own with only each other for company. Our main characters go on a psychological journey as well as a physical one, which made for a profound and emotional reading experience.
I loved the scientific approach Chambers took with this story. Her main characters are scientists and engineers. They have a deep appreciation for the scientific method and a passion for exploration, knowledge, and discovery. Chambers introduces a unique concept in somaforming, or humans changing their bodies to adapt to space travel and to other worlds rather than changing their environments to suit them. Chambers’ creative mind was on full display throughout the novella.
Chambers spends a lot of time developing the relationships between her four characters, and I enjoyed this immensely. I got a strong sense of Chikondi, Elena, and Jack’s unique personalities, but the narrator, Ariadne, remained somewhat vague and undefined. I had plenty of insight into her thoughts and emotions but not into what she was like as a person. Normally I would complain about this, but here it allowed me to insert myself into Ariadne’s place and experience her journey as if it were my own. She was an everywoman.
This book brought me to tears and made me consider the universe in a new way. I recommend it to fans of Good Morning, Midnight. I would love to read more deep, psychological, emotional science fiction like this. I look forward to reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and anything else Chambers publishes....more
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from thThank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book but I took a chance because it had quite a few elements that appealed to me: high fantasy, deadly races, reincarnation, a desert empire, and two strong female protagonists.
Race the Sands features two main characters, alternating between their perspectives and, occasionally, the perspectives of other side characters, from a third person point-of-view. I won’t give too much background on them because you’ll get it fairly early on in the book; all you need to know is that Tamra is kehok racing champion-turned-trainer and Raia is her student.
Tamra is easily one of my favorite characters of the year. She’s stubborn and straightforward and confident and tough. She has a major attitude, but underneath her spiny exterior, she genuinely cares for her daughter and her students. Raia is more sensitive, but with a similar determination and drive. They were both realistic and well-developed characters, with strengths and weaknesses.
The main plot was an underdog story with a twist that made it more unique and raised the stakes. The entire book was extremely well-paced, neither too slow nor too rushed, and I was never bored. Most of the plot developments were heavily foreshadowed and easy to predict, but there was one twist that genuinely caught me by surprise.
Aside from the characters, the worldbuilding was the highlight of Race the Sands. I enjoyed every aspect of it: the kehok racing, the reincarnation, the augurs, the politics of the emperor’s court, the threat of a hostile neighboring country. Durst introduced and built upon these aspects gradually and organically throughout the story.
I did have some complaints that kept this from earning a full five stars. The dialogue and narration occasionally felt trite. There were moments I could tell Durst was trying to be inspirational and deep, but she did it so often that the effect was muted. I wasn’t a fan of the romance, which was unnecessary and underdeveloped, but thankfully it was a minor plot point. I didn’t love the ending – I thought it was cheesy – but I didn’t hate it either.
Overall, Race the Sands was a thoroughly enjoyable standalone fantasy novel. You’re not going to want to miss this one....more
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I have a lot of complicated feelingsThank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I have a lot of complicated feelings about this one, which always seems to be the case with three-star books. Little Gods features three main characters who are all connected to a fourth character, Su Lan; their perspectives combine to create a portrait of her. Zhu Wen lived in the same building as Su Lan in Shanghai and helped her raise her infant daughter. Yongzong went to school with Su Lan and later married her, leaving her on the day of their daughter’s birth. And Liya is Su Lan’s only child, who spent most of her life in America but returns to China with her mother’s ashes.
The characters were easily what I liked best about this book; they were complex and realistic and sympathetic and flawed. I appreciated the deep dive into the three main characters’ lives. Over the course of this short book, I came to understand their histories, motivations, and personalities surprisingly intimately. Learning about Su Lan through their eyes, with only their memories and impressions of her and no insight into her innermost thoughts and feelings, was fascinating. It makes you wonder what people think about you, and what they’ll remember about you after you’re gone.
There were a few things that bothered me about the writing style: the lack of quotation marks to indicate when characters are speaking, the use of second person language when Zhu Wen or Yongzong referred to Liya. Nothing I thought was objectively bad but things that, subjectively, just weren’t to my taste. I always prefer when authors stick to the traditional way of writing rather than getting all experimental, which distracts from the story. Maybe that’s why literary fiction isn’t my favorite genre. In addition, the brief explanations of the theoretical physics concepts that Su Lan studied were over my head.
Little Gods navigates the relationships between people: friends, husbands and wives, mothers and daughters. It seamlessly explores themes of immigration, disability, grief, memory, revolution, and the forward movement of time. I’m torn between three and four stars because I wasn’t consistently drawn into the story and for the most part found it easy to put down, although there were points, especially toward the end, when it succeeded in making me feel very strongly....more
Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book takes off running, offering little explaThank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book takes off running, offering little explanation and a lot of unfamiliar terms, but I know to expect that from science fiction and I vastly prefer it to pages of tedious infodumping. The world of Ancestral Night was introduced gradually and, for the most part, seamlessly. I often cringe when authors invent their own future slang because so few can pull it off effectively. Elizabeth Bear is one of the few; her future slang fits the tone of the book and clearly involved a lot of careful consideration. The names she comes up with for characters and species were appropriately strange without being unpronounceable.
I was ambivalent about the book’s protagonist, Haimey Dz. She had an extremely cliché personality for a female science fiction protagonist: She’s independent, she’s practical, she’s tough, she’s snarky, she’s got a rough past and emotional issues... she’s not anything I haven’t seen a million times before. Her first-person narration went off on tangents so frequently that it was difficult to follow what was happening at any given moment. I adjusted to her narration style after a few chapters, but I would have enjoyed myself a lot more if it had been more focused. I did appreciate the development Haimey goes through over the course of the plot; she becomes more relatable and less cliché.
I commend Bear on the diversity in her cast of characters. I don’t understand why anyone would even bother writing science fiction that wasn’t diverse; it’s just not believable. We start out the book with Haimey, a female human salvager and a black lesbian; her business partner, Connla, a pansexual male human salvager; and their “shipmind,” Singer, a male-identifying artificial intelligence. There are more exciting and diverse side characters introduced later in the story but I won’t give too much away. Bear’s dialogue left much to be desired, frequently spinning off topic and descending into philosophical, political, or scientific discourses that added little to the plot. Combined with Haimey’s narration, it made me want to scream “get on with it, already!” more times than I can count.
Despite these obstacles, something about Bear’s writing style made it so easy to keep reading. The plot was incredibly slow-paced, yet for the most part I wasn’t bored. Ancestral Night had so many characteristics that seemed specifically designed to appeal to me: space travel, friendship, mystery, lesbians, ancient aliens, utopian societies. It was worth the read, even if it didn’t end up becoming a favorite....more
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