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akumi's reviews
9 reviews
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? Yes
5.0
5 stars is too little
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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? Yes
5.0
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
5.0
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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? N/A
5.0
Babel by R.F. Kuang
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
3.25
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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? No
4.5
A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
GOOD STUFF:
First 2 stars are due to the worldbuilding being authentic and interesting. I have never seen a story that features tea-magic so this was quite new to me, and I was not disappointed by the way it was shown. I've given it another extra star (to make it 3) cause I was genuinely impressed by the amount of folklore tales included, which I really love to see in books. I really wished for it to be a 4 star read though it failed in some aspects, but i gave it extra 0.75 cause it's quite apparent how much effort the author put into research of the tea-making topic. I was pleasantly surprised to find a list of all used ingredients by the end of the book with a few sentences for each one of them. I'm sure that took a lot of time so it'd be a shame if it passed without appreaciation.
BAD STUFF:
The writing style was kind of monotone and failed to keep my attention sometimes, so that'd be one star off. Another star was lost at characters in general. The main character was alright, not as unbearable as I expected her to be, though she still irked me sometimes (girlie you sulk after every smallest inconvenience, you can't expect to succeed at solving all problems of the world by yourself (directed to the MC)).
Some side characters were kind of remarkable such as the Princess and her handmaiden, though not enough to have any worth stretching out the story without the main character.
That 0.25 was lost somewhere at the very beginning. The contestants were given 2 hours (or hour and a half?) I believe, to run to the shops and get all the necessary ingredients. Sounds like enough time though our heroine loses quite a lot of it in... some way thats not explained? Then while she is in a HURRY she meets a mYsTeRiOuS guy who is about to become her love interest in upcomimg 2 sentences. She practically started swooning the moment she asked him for his name, which was way too fast and felt forced. Then, while they are in a HURRY, he proceeds to take her out on a cup of tea. She had strict timing necessary to do some stuff that will determine her chances in the competition which literally meant everything to her, and she spent god knows how long just... chilling and sipping tea with her crush she met 15 minutes ago. His real identity was sort of predictable (at least to me) so it did not feel like a plottwist at all, rather stating something already acknowledged aged ago.
I managed to read the whole book in one day so I will read the 2nd book (reading it RN), in which I hope some good stuff goes down.
First 2 stars are due to the worldbuilding being authentic and interesting. I have never seen a story that features tea-magic so this was quite new to me, and I was not disappointed by the way it was shown. I've given it another extra star (to make it 3) cause I was genuinely impressed by the amount of folklore tales included, which I really love to see in books. I really wished for it to be a 4 star read though it failed in some aspects, but i gave it extra 0.75 cause it's quite apparent how much effort the author put into research of the tea-making topic. I was pleasantly surprised to find a list of all used ingredients by the end of the book with a few sentences for each one of them. I'm sure that took a lot of time so it'd be a shame if it passed without appreaciation.
BAD STUFF:
The writing style was kind of monotone and failed to keep my attention sometimes, so that'd be one star off. Another star was lost at characters in general. The main character was alright, not as unbearable as I expected her to be, though she still irked me sometimes (girlie you sulk after every smallest inconvenience, you can't expect to succeed at solving all problems of the world by yourself (directed to the MC)).
Some side characters were kind of remarkable such as the Princess and her handmaiden, though not enough to have any worth stretching out the story without the main character.
That 0.25 was lost somewhere at the very beginning. The contestants were given 2 hours (or hour and a half?) I believe, to run to the shops and get all the necessary ingredients. Sounds like enough time though our heroine loses quite a lot of it in... some way thats not explained? Then while she is in a HURRY she meets a mYsTeRiOuS guy who is about to become her love interest in upcomimg 2 sentences. She practically started swooning the moment she asked him for his name, which was way too fast and felt forced. Then, while they are in a HURRY, he proceeds to take her out on a cup of tea. She had strict timing necessary to do some stuff that will determine her chances in the competition which literally meant everything to her, and she spent god knows how long just... chilling and sipping tea with her crush she met 15 minutes ago. His real identity was sort of predictable (at least to me) so it did not feel like a plottwist at all, rather stating something already acknowledged aged ago.
I managed to read the whole book in one day so I will read the 2nd book (reading it RN), in which I hope some good stuff goes down.
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infertility, Medical content, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Rape
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