2treads's reviews
488 reviews

The Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler

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mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I love when a small book packs a punch with the characters and the story it's telling. Here we have an older woman in a diplomatic post, in a world ravaged by climate devastation, interrogating her role, memory, and place in this collapsed world. We see how privileged one has to be to have access to green spaces and to drinks  such as tea and coffee. A chance encounter with an entity that is unexpected has Breoné beginning to look beyond what is known. The writing is soft yet philosophical and makes the reader both relate and question the world.
The River Judge by S.L. Huang

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

3.0

I enjoyed this prequel to The Water Outlaws where we get an origin story of a character we know so that we can understand their motivations and convictions.
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A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 19%.
I'm not in the right headspace for this right now and the writing is coming across as dense and not easy to be immersed in.
The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri

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

4.0

I had a much better time with this book and prefer it to the series opener. We get more of the motivations, cruelty, mindsets, and machinations of protagonists and antagonists. Also certain reveals and spiritual manipulations heightens the stakes and I can't wait to see where these moves and choices take us in the concluding book.
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The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I had fun with this one. What is lacking in world building is made up through character  dialogue and pacing.
The Believers: Stories by A.K. Herman

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

These stories reflected on characters and their situations that are very familiar. That our society is mired in and is troubling. However the last story where I think the author fumbled as it could have added a deeper, unique, cultural, and folkoric aspect to the collection.
A Map to the Door of No Return by Dionne Brand

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reflective medium-paced

3.0

Brand has a way with words and she uses them here to examine a relationship, a longing for, a self, an identity that is linked yet separated from her ancestors' home. I really enjoy how she uses various map descriptions and literature that also looks at belonging or as she says here unbelonging.

So much keeps us bonded to Africa, the history we share, the cultural practices that were kept and yet there is so much that keeps us apart.
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One Blood by Denene Millner

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

4.0

Milner's multi-generational story traces the lives of 3 women connected by more than just blood. Grace, Lolo, and Rae share the multitude of hardships, abuse and expectations that many Black women experience  The way society has been built as to erase them and strip them of autonomy and dreams.  


I appreciate how she did not shy from showing how women themselves perpetuate these harmful perceptions and expectations; how your own family can be your biggest hurt, and how hard it can be to deprogram oneself to reclaim one's power.
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Warrior of the Wind by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

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

4.0

I was happy to return to Oon to see where Okungbowa would take his characters and readers next. at times I did find the pacing slow but that did not impact my engagement with the story at all, because Okungbowa knows just where to interject action or a new person/place that adds another layer of complexity to his world. and he continues to build the world, as he takes us from desert to swamp to the sea. I cannot wait to see what the conclusion to this series brings.
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

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

3.5

Imagination is impressive. I love that she uses dreams and dreaming as the foundation to explore power dynamics and belief here. I was hooked from the beginning and as the story progressed and the world building expanded, the characters and their motives and reactions became clear, even though the machinations on both sides remained shady. I love that I now have to take what I know and make a decision on who's the bad guy.
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