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beexfs's reviews
17 reviews
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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? No
3.0
Slapstick or Lonesome No More! by Kurt Vonnegut
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Incest and Sexual content
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
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? Yes
3.25
The Breast by Philip Roth
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I think men would read this book and consider themselves highly intellectual simply because the content involves Russian authors. Though there were a few comical quips, the material was irredeemably vulgar and crass, played out like a WattPad fetish fanfiction from which I cold deduce neither humor nor insight.
Venus on the Half-Shell by Philip José Farmer
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
It's awful, absolutely awful. Needlessly crass and vulgar and sexist and for no real reason. There's no commentary. But Kilgore Trout's books were supposed to be awful, so it certainly is canon in that sense. I'm keeping my copy simply because it completes my Vonnegut collection but I couldn't recommend this to anyone.
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
This book had excellent pacing and I was so relieved that V.E. Schwab is not afraid to kill people off. Some aspects of this book were great as a fantasy novel, particularly the world-building. I felt, however, that the magic system was a bit under-developed. It felt as though the magic operated in a very hand-wavey manner, like there were arbitrary reasons why certain things would or wouldn't work. For example, why would a spell not work for the entire book but suddenly work in the 11th hour?
There is a mark of YA fantasy that made itself apparent here, in which things just work with little negotiation or reasoning. I felt that this element made it very difficult to relate to the characters and limited their growth and development throughout the story. Though V.E. Schwab does not shy away from killing characters, it's more typical of people on the sidelines. I thought much of the dialogue was cringey. I thought Lila, Rhy, and the Danes twins were very stereotypical characters with very little dimension. I grew frustrated with everything "working out" in unexplained ways, there was no error in this book and, if there was, it was resolved with more serendipitous, unexplained solutions.
The book is fine, I'll absolutely recommend it to people. I think my standards are quite stringent, especially for fantasy, and I care very deeply about character growth in my stories. I just found that this story was missing many of the elements I value in fantasy.
There is a mark of YA fantasy that made itself apparent here, in which things just work with little negotiation or reasoning. I felt that this element made it very difficult to relate to the characters and limited their growth and development throughout the story. Though V.E. Schwab does not shy away from killing characters, it's more typical of people on the sidelines. I thought much of the dialogue was cringey. I thought Lila, Rhy, and the Danes twins were very stereotypical characters with very little dimension. I grew frustrated with everything "working out" in unexplained ways, there was no error in this book and, if there was, it was resolved with more serendipitous, unexplained solutions.
The book is fine, I'll absolutely recommend it to people. I think my standards are quite stringent, especially for fantasy, and I care very deeply about character growth in my stories. I just found that this story was missing many of the elements I value in fantasy.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75