graywild's reviews
657 reviews

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

clever story about Annie (a sentient robot) and her owner Doug.  Annie has feelings and is aware.  She struggles with understanding her emotions and much of the time is very anxious about pleasing Doug so he won't ship her back.  Complicated story about the growing emotional awareness of Annie dealing with the behaviors of Doug, who doesn't appreciate this side of Annie.  Recommend.
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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

2.0

I thought the premise of this story was decent.  Cult following a crazy guy who might have figured out how to put magical spells into movies and get benefits for himself and maybe some of his followers.  It took too long for the story to play out for me.  Too much backstory lore.  The ending was find but I struggled to get into the story.
Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions by Steve Martin

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funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

2.0

Half the book is a short memoir of Steve Martin and his most memorable movies.  The stories are very short and are illustrated in cartoon form.  The second half is one page/panel cartoon that remind me of Sunday paper cartoons.  Some made me chuckle but basically getting 2 different books in this one.  I wish the memoir was expanded.  Not really a recommend.
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Even though this is over 400 pages I read in one day.  Powerful story of Salama who is living in Syria.  She works at a hospital as a doctor even though she only had a few years of pharmacy school. Difficult to read as the dictator of Syria was oppressing parts of the country and arresting anyone who protested.  Salama has PTSD (as many do) and complicates her life and decision making.  Very well written.  Highly recommend.
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

All the stories center on broken or breaking relationships.  The writing is good but at times I wished the short stories had a little more closure instead of just a snapshot in time of the story.  Borderline recommend if you like short stories.
Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear by Robin Wasley

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

On the surface the story is centered on a magical town that is protected by Guardians and is suddenly overrun by zombies.  In reality it is a story about the fight between people who have magical powers.  Some use this power for evil and this makes others fight for their lives and the lives of the other people in the town.  Decent pace and would recommend.
The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

Angrboda is a witch who seems to be able to survive death.  She ends up marrying Loki, the trickster god, and they have 3 children together.  At first Loki seems like an ok god but later in the book he betrays Angrboda and their kids.  By the way Thor and Odin are terrible gods. Angrboda foresees Raganrok (the Norse apocalypse) and tries to figure out a way to save her children and her friend Skadi.  I am not familiar with any Norse mythology and I liked the overall flow of the story.  Recommend.
Lilith by Nikki Marmery

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This was an audiobook for me. I haven't read the mythology of Lilith so I was interested in the story. The story starts with Lilith as the first woman/angle/immortal who is the wife of Adam, covers the Bible up thru the Passion of Christ, skips to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and end in present day.   Since it covers such a big history there are alot of characters introduced and it dilutes the story IMO. All the males are one dimensional and only there to treat women as child bearers.  All the women are oppressed and many get assaulted/raped over and over again in the book.  I found myself not really caring about the character of Lilith and toward the end found myself zoning out but I wanted to finish.  Not recommended.
Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ziva is a bladesmith who can also apply magic to her weapons - cannot be broken, always hits the target, etc.  She is commissioned by a warlord to make a weapon and Ziva accidentally magics the weapon to have long range striking and reveals the secrets of the victims to the holder of the sword.  She realizes it is too powerful and runs of with her sister, a librarian and a mercenary to try and hide the sword.  The story was ok but not enough to interest me into reading the rest of the series.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I really liked Station Eleven so this book was a let down for me.  In the end I didn't care about any of the characters and there were alot of characters. The general story moved at a slow pace for me and it just didn't make me engaged.  Don't recommend.