kwichris's reviews
127 reviews

Circe is a cleverly written novel about the goddess herself and the experiences she endured from her perspective. This novel spans centuries in time with both well-known and new mythological events and experiences Circe must navigate. Circe is shown as a more fully-developed person than in the minor roles she's played in other grand masterworks of classical literature. She perseveres through more hardships than can be imagined and her shere ingenuity and life-experience guides her actions through each trial and tribulation. Through it all, Circe demonstrates how many of us feel at different points in our lives despite never being bestowed with divinity as she has. Just as Circe is more fully realized in this novel, so too are her accompanying characters often the focus of the story when they encounter Circe. All in all, Madeline Miller has crafted a wonderfully detailed novel encompassing more mythology and the human experience than one might expect. If you're a fan of Greek mythology, history, and novels that really flesh out their characters, then I would highly recommend this book!

Content Warnings

Dead Head: A Dirty Business Mystery by Rosemary Harris

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

So, I probably went about reading this in the wrong way, as I read this book after first reading book 4 in the series. In contrast, I think Slugfest was much better written and engaging than Deadhead, so that at least shows growth on the part of the writer. This was a good mystery, with plausible twists and turns, but it was much easier to narrow down suspects than the 4th book. I'm not sure if it was the version I found at the library or the publisher, but there were a number of spelling and grammar mistakes so glaring that it took me out of the book. Rosemary Harris has a very particular writing vernacular, which I enjoyed, but it may not be for everyone. I would still give this a look as it's a fairly quick read due to a faster pace and structure that helps readers push forward (i.e. short chapters with events moving along steadily in each).

Content Warnings

Slugfest by Rosemary Harris

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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

5.0

I've read quite a few murder mysteries in my lifetime, but I would be remiss if I didn't credit this one as one of the better ones in that bunch. I picked this up at the library on a whim due to the fun-sounding title but with little interest in the gardening focus initially. Boy, was I in for a ride! Rosemary Harris is an excellent writer, whose diction is quite varied as to not alienate readers with a smaller vocabulary but also intrigue those wanting to add some new terms into their lexicon/repertoire. The pace of this book and structure of short chapters really keeps the story flowing, which makes pausing hard when there's always something happening that catches you off-gaurd. Characters are made into fully-realized people who you can either relate with or understand depending on your perspectives. Now that I've read Slugfest, I'll be picking up Ms. Harris's other books as I'm now a fan of her writing style. I highly recommend this if you're a fan of mysteries that do keep you guessing even as the story inches closer to the conclusion.

Content Warnings

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

Murder at the 42nd Street Library: A Mystery by Con Lehane

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.75

Like other folks, this book isn't entirely bad, but it has some glaring issues as a whole. The writer's style of switching between characters/time/place with little notice besides slightly more space between paragraphs instead of clear indications or new chapters is beyond annoying; he also frequently stops a conversation to switch to a different scene only to then jump back to that same conversation instead of just finishing one before moving on to the next. It also baffles me how many spelling and grammar errors are present given that this book had to have been reviewed multiple times before publishing. The casual presentation of topics like pedophilia, rape, and incest is a little unnerving, and this book should clearly denote those as content warnings besides some of the obvious content of "murder" and "sexual content." My last gripe would be over some language use that unless you're a little older and live in the region described, some phrases and verbiage used is not common or something most people would understand even with the context provided, as limited as it often is.

Content Warnings

Aeschylus I: Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides by Aeschylus

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

The Orestes Plays of Aeschylus by Aeschylus

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

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kwichris's reviews 127 reviews

kwichris's reviews
127 reviews