aphrael's reviews
719 reviews

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

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dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book was well-written but seemed a bit caught between trying to update the story for current audiences and staying true to the original. The original story is grand and dramatic, and I appreciated the way the story was fleshed out while staying true to the original but I didn't really connect to the vengeful nature of the characters. As a drama I love it but it seemed to me that the project of the book was to make the characters relatable, and in this it failed for me.  I liked 'a thousand ships' by Natalie Haynes better mainly because it was a retelling without pretensions at a lot more. That said, I did enjoy Electra, just not as much as I hoped I would.
The Humans by Matt Haig

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medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No

2.75

Interesting premise but maybe not great execution. The narrator is an alien who is sent here to find some information/assassinate people, and appears in the guise of a human who was disappeared earlier. The writing is very vivid, and the alien's account is written as if it's towards other aliens. This means that a lot of the information about what the aliens are like is written in either memories or 'oh you're an alien I don't have to tell you we do x' while still telling us that because in real life the writer is a human writing for humans. That kind of exposition gets real old real fast. I would have loved a scene at the start in the alien world or true flashbacks or something, rather than this kind of exposition. 

It's nice that the alien discovers emotions and compassion, but while the book is getting more relatable the further you get into it, the story still felt a bit distant to me. While the plot and the writing drew me in, I found it hard to keep interested and relate to the characters.
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The Magician's Daughter by H.G. Parry

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adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.25

Loved it! Truly a coming of age story where not just a character finds their strength and their place in the world, but also their changing relationship with their parent is taken into account. The island is a safe haven, and
her 'father'  is the best and most wonderful person at the start of the book
. But life is complicated, people are complicated, politics are complicated, and we get to find that out together with the main character. I love that this isn't a 'farmboy goes on a quest with strangers' type book, her family is central to the story while she is also growing on her own. A very tricky balance that the writer definitely struck.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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3.0

Honestly these kinds of books are my guilty pleasure.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This book has a lot of lovely descriptions and character sketches, but overall it feels more as a vehicle for feminism 101 speeches than a character driven story. The world of the book (and the feminist speeches) don't feel as historically grounded as for instance The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. Also, the main character(s) are impossibly good at pretty much everything. Because of this, it felt more like a sort of alternate history.

Lessons in Chemistry deals with some pretty serious stuff (
rape, death of a partner, gender discrimination, issues with parents
) in a book that felt to me very superficial. I do think the writer can write really well, I just wish she had written something where the tone of the book and the characters were more in line with the seriousness of the things that happen.
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

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adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

It just feels so wonderful to inhabit that world of the illiad and the odyssey again! I adore the chapters about the Trojan women, they're quite brutal but you really relate to them. Everything is quite tragic anyway but that's part and parcel of the source material. I love how these women are brought to life, and I kept having Natalie Haynes voice/energy in my head since I listened to her podcast before I knew she was a writer. 

I didn't quite connect to the Calliope chapters, but I can see what the author was going for, it just didn't work for me. Personally I think the Penelope chapters were the weakest, which was extra disappointing because I always loved her. The way she just retells Odysseus' story with only a few lines about herself just didn't really add much of interest and was temporally very out of step with the rest of the book. I would have loved to have a bit more of an exploration of how it was for Penelope to be on her own but instead her chapters mainly focused on a retelling of the Odyssey.

I still really enjoyed the book though, and will try to read more from this writer!
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

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  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I quite liked this book, but it was not a super easy read. There were a lot of details and moving pieces. A lot of characters emotions are very understated, which means that you do get to know them maybe better than in characters in other books, since there's so many nuances shown, but on the other hand I didn't feel like I really related to them a lot. The plot is interesting but has a very wide reach but also is very detailed. It just felt like there's a really good story there and really interesting dynamics between characters, but there's so much other stuff that as a whole it was more work than I wanted it to be.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

2.75

I quite enjoyed this book, it's a lot of normal stuff but still written in a fun and cute way. However, the ending quite annoyed me. I liked the premise of the book that the main character didn't want to be what people expected of her anymore. But in the end
she doesn't have to make that choice, she just lucked out that the main baddie likes her pastries.
. So the ending felt a bit of a cop out to me. That said, the whole building up of the word and characters was lovely.
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

I quite liked this book. It has a strong every day life feel where it's normal people doing their things but also being extraordinary and caught up in huge goings on. Quite a bit of coincidence but the book was grounded enough for that not to matter. I liked the premise of the temple children and the religion, and the way you only find out about it all very late into the book. I also loved that apart from the king guy we never meet nobody is especially evil.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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adventurous funny informative inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

As always the love of science and math is just amazing in Weir's books. I loved it. However, I don't think the main character made much sense emotionally, I couldn't relate much. The ending was absolute bullshit to me because of this reason. The science and mcgyvering was amazing as always, but the rest was meh. So far I still like Artemis the best of all his books <3