rehtaehwashere's reviews
16 reviews

The Sea Is Salt and So Am I by Cassandra Hartt

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.
dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

First book I've DNF'd in years. There were no redeeming qualities for any of the characters - they're all terrible. Plus the animal neglect was disgusting. Also not a fan of the author pretending to be a Mainer in the book biography - you can tell she's a tourist who maybe spends summer in the tourist areas once in a while within the first 3 pages of the book. 
If the story had been more compelling, I would've kept going. I really do enjoy her writing style and descriptiveness, which is why she gets a quarter star. But my toxic reader traits is not reading other books by authors if the first read is disappointing so I'll probably never know if she has anything more worthwhile out there. 
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Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

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adventurous funny slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

 I really wanted to love this book as much as I loved the first, but I just didn't. It was still cute and funny and adventurous with some really nice underlying themes, but I felt it fell short of the first book in quite a few ways, most of which are related to the book leaning into too many common fantasy and romance tropes, which I feel like the first book managed to avoid beautifully. To clarify, there is NOTHING wrong with using tropes, but there are some that have been over done, especially lately, and those were the ones that were primarily used in this sequel, which was unfortunate. 
  • I liked that Evie is becoming
    more of a villain
      and that there's a bigger plot that's been introduced. I enjoyed the character growth from a lot of the characters, especially Becky, and the overall theme that chosen family is just as important as family by blood. 
  • I disliked the constant 'will they won't they' because I enjoy the fantasy and humor more than the romance aspect of these books. I disliked the constant thirsting from MULTIPLE characters this time, and the M
    'not actually dead' family member
    trope - its overdone and old. Also the back and forth going in circles chase to find
    her mother
    got annoying after the first time. I also dislike the constant 'she's so SMALL AND PRETTY AND CAN'T HANDLE HERSELF' crap, which the author tried so hard to turn around and show that the character CAN handle herself, but it doesn't change the fact that she kept writing it AND proving that Evie 'needs' the man to get her out of scrapes. Also a lot of Evie's one-liners in this book weren't funny like they were in the first - they were just cringey.  Also the sentries? Look, actions, even the name are directly out of Hogwart's Legacy. Come on. 
  • Overall thoughts: Genuinely a fun book, I loved the
    cave made of a piece of sky and that Fluffy found his fire
    and chosen family coming together. I love that Evie's
    heart darkening
    is a huge plot line in this book and that 
    Trystan blames himself for it even though it's not his fault, at all
    . I really enjoy the fantasy setting, and that the actual villain
    is the king who is supposed to be the 'good guy' but is actually horrible
    , and that some people will always be horrible and that will never change. I know it's a romance but romance can exist without constant horny thirsting - that gets old SO fast and genuinely started to annoy me. Plus the will they won't they, oh they did, but now they're pretending they didn't think was irritating as well. I genuinely do not care if they ever date in this book, in fact I hope they DON'T, but either make it an actual slow burn or make a decision. 
  • Recommend to a friend? N - I loved the first and would always recommend it but based on the second, I truly think its just going to go downhill from here. 

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Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Shelley

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

3.75

Very sad book. Victor Frankenstein is a terrible person and I love him for that. Getting
married when you KNEW the creature you made threatened you on your wedding night after you stopped making HIS bride when he begged you to relieve his loneliness? Dude... Right to blame yourself for those deaths.
Ditching your living creation moments after he was "born" and blaming him for all evil in your life is just cold. 
3.74 because, as brilliant as Mary Shelley is, the writing is so unnecessarily flowery that she managed to drag out TRAVELLING 😂 Girl please 
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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

2.5

There are books with a slow start, and then there's this one thats almost a no start. The author spents the first 100 pages of a 200 page book describing scenery with almost no story movement/plot momentum going on. This was the first book that I thought about DNFing. The additional 1.5 stars are because once the plot DID come in, it was actually fairly intriguing. Not intriguing enough to make up for the first half of the book, but still intriguing. I wouldn't recommend this one, and I'll think twice before picking up anything else by this author. 
Vicious by V.E. Schwab

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adventurous dark mysterious
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

 
 
  • What I liked: I loved the scientific take on superhumans, and that they're called EOs. I also liked that,
    unlike superhero movies and comics, they're viewed as anomalies because they're people who have technically died and something about their death is what gave them those abilities.
    I like that the most powerful person in the book wasn't the villain
    , Eli, but a woman named Serena who could get whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted.
    I also like that Serena HATED that no one would fight her on things.
    I felt bad for Sydney because her sister
    bought into Eli's 'holier than thou' shit and helped him find her to kill her.
    I like that Victor struggles with his humanity
    but that it isn't because he's an EO - it's
    because he always has. Mitch and his chocolate milk were great, too. I like that Eli's religious delusions make him more and more crazy as the book goes on - true to life, right there.
  • What I disliked: Near the end the author unnecessarily draws out a scene where they're just entering a building (super annoying) and I disliked the dog killing scene.
    I know they brought Dol back immediately, but it just made the killing seem even more unnecessary than it already was like… what's the point of that? Maybe there's a point later on.
    The bouncing back and forth between current time and '1 year ago' or whatever every other chapter was annoying too. I get the author didn't want to give away the backstory all in one but I hate time bouncing in books. It was done well enough in this book for the most part which is why it wasn't a DNF but especially in the beginning it was annoying. 
  • Overall thoughts: A really cool book with an interesting take on superheroes overall. I like how realistic the villain felt and that his own discovery combined with his already insane religious beliefs and psychotic personality made his dive into psychosis after his change feel more real and gave him a good enough motive
    to kill other EOs 'at the will of God' or whatever.
    Especially after taking a last name that's alliterative like Victor's - his friend/enemy - despite thinking he's better than him the entire book. I want to know more about Victor's relationship with his parents which is mentioned frequently but not in any detail,
    and what is happening with Victor after being revived at the end of the book.
    I immediately went out and bought the second one so obviously I liked it. 
  • Recommend to a friend? Y 
 
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

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

4.0


  • What I liked: I liked the portrayal of the gods as they were brought over and believed in by immigrants. I liked that they aren't the ONLY version of that god - that there are multiple Odins and Lokis out there, that there and they differ from the American ones because the beliefs differ in the areas they reside in. 
  • What I disliked: I disliked that Shadow was Odin's son and a demigod and had no idea. I'm also tired of the 'ex-con with a heart of gold' story. I didn't like Shadow's wife coming back as a corpse multiple times or that Shadow was too dumb to realize he was being used when he was literally hired TO BE USED.
  • Overall thoughts: Really cool concept, very well written (of course it was, it's Neil Gaiman). The story overall was interesting and a cool concept but I do feel like it dragged unnecessarily in some places and used a trope I'm not a huge fan of in general. Might need a re-read at some point because I'm sure I missed some nuances. 
  • Recommend to a friend? Depends on the friend

Dogtown by Katherine Applegate, Gennifer Choldenko

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

 
  • What I liked: I loved how heartfelt this book is, and how Chance
    grew to love Metal Head throughout the book
    . I love how Chance and the other 'real dogs' were so bitter about robot dogs
    until they saw Metal Head help an autistic child become more confident, especially with reading, with the lesson that everyone has different skill sets to offer.
    I liked seeing the dogs backstories with their previous lives and how they ended up in the shelter, and the realism with struggling to get bigger dogs adopted.
    I love that Chance found her way home eventually.
  • What I disliked: That the shelter staff were displayed as disliking the animals in their care and that certain sections of the shelter were there to keep dogs out of sight of adopters and were significantly worse than the main areas of the shelter. I disliked that the author quoted the 'one human year is seven dog years' rule which has been disproved, and I disliked that Metal Head
    was depicted as the only robodog WORTH respecting because he was 'different than the others' which just gives bad vibes all around.
    I know it's simplistic because it's a children's book, but still. I also disliked the use of punishment for dogs - people who work with animals know very well that this doesn't actually work to teach them good behaviors and that shouldn't be a modality used in a shelter, fictional or otherwise. I hate that the owners didn't try harder to find Chance after she ran away and that they were never
    suspicious of that dog sitter, and clearly didn't vet her very well, either. Good pet owners know you don't leave your animals with just ANYONE, especially not someone jumping away from your pets affection, and they don't choose someone they don't know or someone last minute. Yikes.
  • Overall thoughts: Cute story overall, I loved the relationships between the dogs and how they all dream of finding homes. I do think the authors need to do a bit more research on what they're writing about overall, though. For children's books they could have simply avoid listing inaccurate numbers (the age 'rule' mentioned above) and they definitely could've given Chance the push to
    run away again without the punishment aspect which, again, is inappropriate. And they could've made Management not act so petty about it the first time Chance returns
    - it doesn't put shelters in a good light when the people working/volunteering there are depicted so poorly and shelters need all the support they can get. Authors really needed to be more careful with this, even in children's books.
  • Recommend to a friend? Maybe not - I work with animals and I don't like how shelters are depicted here even if the overall story is cute. 

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The Princess Bride by William Goldman

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

3.5

 
  • What I liked: I loved how fun and silly and uplifting this book is. I liked that the characters are just as kooky as they are portrayed in the movie. I love that Buttercup isn't this delicate perfect thing that she is portrayed as in the movie and is actually
    incredibly awkward and weird and ostracized from the town for being awkward and weird, and then for being beautiful. I like that she's headstrong and rude and jealous and kind and empathetic.
      She's so well rounded and well written it's amazing. I liked the backstory for both Inigo and Fezzick, and that the Prince is always the Prince and just wants war and fighting and death all the time. I like the speech impediment is written into the book. All the characters except for Vizzini
    (in his defense he died) 
    were very well rounded and had strong motives that the reader got to find out. We knew WHY they were with Vizzini and helping the prince in the first place, what brought them to where they were and how they got their particular skills, and their motivations and values. Fezzick's backstory was especially sad.
  • What I disliked: I don't like the asides put in the book. I know they're supposed to be funny but they interrupted the flow so much for me that I skipped over them occasionally because they were annoying. I was hoping for more depth than what was in the movie (not the book's fault, just me expecting the movie fucked it up as usual and also being very impressed it didn't) and there were instances where there definitely could be… then you'd get one of those asides pretending that it was cut out. Irritating as a fantasy reader who WANTS the monotonous boring stuff lmao.
  • Overall thoughts: The strengths of this book are in the characterizations. They are well rounded, well written, have depth, have motives, everything you could want in a well written character. The only exception is Vizzini
    because he dies
    . The story is fun and cute and uplifting, and I love that the movie is just like the book with some backstory taken out for time. I like that the characters are goofy and fun and that Wesley and Buttercup go from being lovers to arguing every couple of minutes just because they can. 
  • Recommend to a friend? Y but before the movie if that's even possible so it doesn't feel so monotonous lol

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

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

5.0

 
  • What I liked: I LOVED how this was pure fantasy/fairytale. It was well written (ofc it was it's fucking Neil Gaiman) and everything the characters did had a point/appropriate reaction from others. I liked that everyone
    going after the star 
    had a well-defined motive.
    The king who knocked it from the sky wanted the correct heir; the sons going after the star wanted to BE the heir;  the witches wanted their youth back. The main character wanted to impress a girl in his village that he thought he was in love with. 
    I loved that the plot came full circle at all points.
    The witch cursed a sister witch to never recognize the star and when the witch was desperate to find her this curse fucked her over big time. That main character did find a girl he loved, it just wasn't the one he thought. That he didn't force her into the town and kill her even without knowing that would happen simply because he respected her wishes to not enter town. That when the male heirs all died pursuing the star, the slave girl the main character's dad impregnated in the beginning was revealed to be the only daughter of that king and thus the throne still had an heir. That the main character was the first heir to find the star but for completely different reasons than his uncles. 
    I like that all the story lines tied in together and that all the characters came across each other without really necessarily realizing it and that it was wrapped up neatly in the end the way a fairy tale is. 
  • What I disliked: I disliked that the main character's dad
    cheated on his wife for a one night stand with a cat-themed slave girl 
      that really grossed me out. I also didn't like that when our main character realized the
    star was a woman,
      he was still incredibly willing to kidnap her. I don't like that she was so willing to forgive him for that. It fits the fairy tale theme but also feels like it damages her strong character a bit. 
  • Overall thoughts: Really cute story, that's fun and lighthearted and has some great character growth all at the same time, with story lines that fit together amazingly. I feel like the fae fear wasn't as big as it was implied with the guards to the town with everyone willing to go to the fae market and risk it all every 10 years but to be fair, I get it. It's like the one exciting thing they get. 
  • Recommend to a friend? Y 100%

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The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

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

3.0

 
  • What I liked: I liked the play on Norse mythology with the magic in the alternate universe he ends up in. I like that both the
    cop he's friends with and the gang he was actually in 
      are full of trash people which is very realistic. I liked that in the end he got to
    stay with Sefawynn without hurting the wights
    . Really concerned about what that alternate universe's Loki is doing
    with his laptop though that's sus as hell and very in character for him
    . I liked the version of Vikings in this book, too, and that the magic of this world was in being able to read, but it was done in a way that wasn't childish cringe/tacky but in a way that actually worked really really well
  • What I disliked: It was misleading in the title in that it sounded like fantasy-fiction which is what he TYPICALLY WRITES and was actually science fiction. That
    it started off convincing us 
    the main character is a cop in a sci-fi novel which almost made me DNF it
  • Overall thoughts: A really cool book with an interesting take on alternate universes and that supposedly magic isn't real in any of them
    and yet he found the one real fantasy world
    . The cross over between sci-fi and fantasy that happened in this book.
    That it WASN'T the cop book it felt like it was in the beginning and that the romance in the book wasn't the whole point of the book but it was a nice side plot.
      That the whole book was the main character redefining who he is to himself and eventually figures out who he wants to be and
    helps save this alternate reality and build a home there where he felt wanted and appreciated.
      Finding himself and making a home
  • Recommend to a friend? Y but would depend on the friend

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