Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
slow-paced
From the moment I began to read this book, something about it annoyed the fuck out of me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly it was. I think it was the character interactions. I found them to be just sooooo unrealistic in a way that made me unable to immerse myself in this book at all and actually even pissed me off a little. Alex…oh my fucking god I was ready to murder someone over how he kept attributing Nate’s very logical questions and assumptions to him being a journalist, like no dude I actually don’t think someone has to be inclined towards journalism to want to know why the fuck random strangers broke into their house. Genuinely don’t know why Nate didn’t call the police or Big Eddie or someone on Alex and Art immediately tbh. Or why Alex and Art didn’t immediately skedaddle and go to a different cabin once they realized the one they broke into was already occupied. Nate’s initial panic was logical, but I hated how it gets brushed off by the other characters, and then his panic again when he learns what’s actually up with Alex and Art felt so drawn out it started to really annoy me . But I kept pushing on because I was just interested enough to want to know exactly where Klune was going with this. As it turns out, the answer was nowhere. The dialogue was so cheesy, the character interactions felt so forced, the romance and found family dynamics were uncompelling, the plot, while it did have it’s moments that kept me just interested enough to read to the end, ultimately it was bland and boring, and the ending was terrible. I also highly disliked how this book gave me a time period of when it was supposed to take place and yet it didn’t feel like it was taking place in the ‘80s at all. Genuinely didn’t get what the point of dating the setting of the book like that was. Just an incredibly disappointing read all around
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright, having lost his parents, estranged from his brother, and fired from his job, goes to his family's cabin, that he inherited, in the mountains of Oregon, hoping to find purpose. He finds the cabin isn't empty; a man named Alex and a strange little girl named Artemis Darth Vader are inside. Artemis is not what she seems, and special forces are coming for her. Nate soon realizes he must choose between dwelling on his past or fighting for a new future with this special girl.
I just love the way TJ Klune writes. I am always completely enamored with his characters. This book was no exception. From the very beginning I was drawn into this story, and Nate's heartbreaking history with his family. Full transparency, I, at no point in this story, had any clue what was going to happen next. This book was very different from what I expected, but in the best possible way. It was hard to even define a genre label because it was so many different things to me. Artemis Darth Vader is in the running for best ever TJ Klune character. I laughed out loud multiple times at some of the insane shit she would say, but then on the next page I was incredibly emotional and near tears. This was a beautiful, Queer, dynamic story of found family and overcoming trauma. I loved everything about this book
I just love the way TJ Klune writes. I am always completely enamored with his characters. This book was no exception. From the very beginning I was drawn into this story, and Nate's heartbreaking history with his family. Full transparency, I, at no point in this story, had any clue what was going to happen next. This book was very different from what I expected, but in the best possible way. It was hard to even define a genre label because it was so many different things to me. Artemis Darth Vader is in the running for best ever TJ Klune character. I laughed out loud multiple times at some of the insane shit she would say, but then on the next page I was incredibly emotional and near tears. This was a beautiful, Queer, dynamic story of found family and overcoming trauma. I loved everything about this book
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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:
No
As I was reading this, it felt very familiar. Kind of like the Wolfsong series but without the “pack”. There’s the younger, emotional man and older, gruff stoic man. There’s a young kind who is special in some way and must be protected from bad people.
I’m not complaining, mind you, I really really liked the Wolfsong series. Klune is fairly masterful at creating a small group of folks you fall in love with quite quickly. It doesn’t really matter where they go or that they’re mostly hanging around in cabins, or that nothing much happens. What fascinates me is how and when the characters fall in love with each other and then make a found family.
Klune’s work is all about found families. And in this one, when Nate goes to his inherited cabin in Oregon and finds a man with a gun and a mysterious young girl named Artemis Darth Vader– you know what is going to happen right away.
There’s helicopter crashes and car chases and running from bad men. But really there’s just Alex making coffee for Nate the way he likes it, and Art being mysterious and blurting things out loud, and Nate trying to reconcile his wounded heart with the possibility of acceptance.
This one gets a little preachy– Klune uses Art to say really blatantly schmaltzy things. But its still lovely and comforting, and Klune can just go on writing found family books with any kind of scenario and I’ll read it. In the afterword Klune says his previous publisher found this one “weird.” And I think to anyone who reads science fiction (Where are my Escape to Witch Mountain fans) or watched The Last of Us on TV or has read literally *anything* Klune has ever written before would disagree.
His story’s stay with me for years and this one is no different
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes