_principal_spice_'s Reviews (191)

The Long Way Home

Louise Penny

2.5

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

I felt the writing was fine and I appreciated the reflection. I enjoyed the focus on art and discovery, but I had a hard time feeling like the plot was realistic, I questioned a few moments of characterization, and when I teetered on a 3 star ranking--the end solidified that I just could not. I don't feel 2 stars is warranted, but I didn't have it in me to do 3 stars. I still love Penny's writing, Three Pines, and characters. Being that the 10th book in the series brought me some disappointment, I cannot complain.

Content Warnings

How the Light Gets in

Louise Penny

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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: Yes

I'd give it a 6, if I could. Next-level amazing. I can't get over how each book keeps getting better and better. Just WOW!

Content Warnings

School Law and the Public Schools: A Practical Guide for Educational Leaders, 5/e

Nathan L. Essex, Nathan L. Essex

4.0

informative slow-paced

Informative, but some of the language was out of date

Paladin's Grace

T. Kingfisher

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

Everything and more that you could hope for in a romantacy! Not sure how I am going to wait until I get my hands on the next book, let alone any others of Kingfisher's!

Content Warnings

Metropolis

B.A. Shapiro

5.0

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

WOW! This was a profoundly powerful piece on showing the "ugly" and beauty of life in America by shining light on very real experiences while ensuring dignity is given to human beings in spite of their struggles and attempts to keep moving forward--all while creatively and masterfully navigating a thriller/mystery plot with appreciation for the artistic eye. This is a book I will never forget.

Content Warnings

Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Tomi Adeyemi

3.0

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love the universe and the story idea. I feel like character development could be improved if the story itself had more room for lore development. The series could really benefit from a prologue to bring more depth to the gods, clans, and powers. I find that while I love the story and have a desire for lore development to fill in characters (such as with Wheel of Time), I struggle perhaps with the age range of characters and how impulsive/flighty some of the characters are. I am keeping in mind this is young adult and am trying to avoid it impacting my rating. Some thoughts I have relating to characters include that I want to believe in the strength of each character, but the plot developments through the characters make me struggle with this.

I wanted to love Amari, but how can she challenge an Elder of a clan and practically kill her (do we even find out if she made it???) and then take claim of being an elder, gain no trust or loyalty with her clan she promises to protect, and then decide the throne was top priority? Then, she is confused in Zélie's motives as if she wasn't a firsthand witness, and a part of, her traumas? What? And I also question the decision of Mama Agba and the moonstone with the end of the book. Is this truly consistent with her character? Was the sacrifice even meaningful? How can this be sustained? The end seemed like it was amped up just to be rushed.

There are things that I struggle with in this story development, but I sure do love the idea of it. I have hope for the last installment, but I find that this story and its characters and universe could be so much more and I hope that this author will consider fleshing it out more in the future. There is so much potential!

Content Warnings