veeronald's reviews
119 reviews

Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon

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

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Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-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? No
More than a little disappointed in this book because although it's kinky and silly and has characters who genuinely care about each other, it's really tone deaf to context and content. It's a dumpster fire for lack of consent, so as much as individual circumstances are cute or sexy, viewed in context they're... uncomfortable.

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Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted sad 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? No

4.0


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The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

Stunning. Thoughtful. Grim.

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Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-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? No
I honestly would have preferred if the book was only about Manon.

Aelin reaches an all-time goody two shoes standard of Mary Sueness and awkward dialogue in this novel where so much of the action happens after the fact and the characters can't stop farting out awful, cringe-worthy one-liners.

It's honestly insulting how much the book is absorbed with how *amazing* Aelin is, and gives the bare minimum psychological processing to enslavement and war and the fallout of living through it all. I get it, Maas doesn't want to talk about it because she just wants to show how powerful and generous Aelin is, and how attractive (?) Rowan is. But it's a book about war. Make it about war, please. Anything else is insulting.

And should I even get into (again) how hypocritical this book is? Aelin (and the tone of the book) makes a big statement about who can be forgiven for being enslaved, and then goes ahead and blames someone for being enslaved because she never liked them. Yet again, the book presents a certain argument about inclusion or forgiveness or hope, but then only offers that to a select group of Maas' choosing. (I'm being vague for spoilers). Don't promote one thing and the in the very fabric of your book fail to do that very thing that the characters become so high and mighty about. The same thing happened in ACOTAR.

I'm tired of these half-assed books.


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Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

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Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

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adventurous challenging informative reflective relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

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Did not finish book.
Thought this was a reflective memoir (a genre I'm trying to get into), but turns out this is just fictional dialogue about violence the author witnessed as a kid (so far), that he frames as learning experiences

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Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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