alithea's reviews
47 reviews

Diaspora Ad Astra: An Anthology of Science Fiction from the Philippines by Joseph Frederic F. Nacino, Emil M. Flores
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.

More slow-paced than I expected. I don't know if it's because sci-fi is new to me and this was just a rough starting point or if it was the format that threw me off. Some of the short stories felt lacking, like they weren't supposed to be short form in the first place, and some are just generally weaker than the other stories. Will return to this next time though.

Lost and Found and Other Essays by Rica Bolipata-Santos

3.0

I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee

reflective fast-paced

2.5

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Chapter 9, oh wow—that's all I can say

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

can't wait for the next book, Harry Potter and the Trip to Therapy

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

3.5

I am no longer able to comprehend how people could hate Ron and Hermione being together; they are everything to me

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.5

could've named it Harry Potter and the Authoritarianification of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.5

I feel the need to preface all this first by saying that Goblet of Fire was always my favorite story ever since I was younger and so that carries a lot of weight with the rating I'm giving it. I'm aware a lot of fans consider it their least favorite, but to me, it was a great balance of Harry's school life, the adventures Harry goes through, and the backstory that reveals the main conflict of the entire series. I really enjoyed reading it so much so that I would be comfortable throwing objectivity out of the window and giving it 5 stars if I could, but there's one thing in the story that bothered me a lot. I've been a campus journalist for almost 5 years now and I can say I know journalism fairly well. Though the Wizarding world is fictional and it is in fact a society that's built on an entirely different foundation compared to the real world, I absolutely hated how J.K. Rowling goes about journalism. Normally, with news writing, you're doing your best to present the truth as it is without any bias, but Rita Skeeter obviously doesn't do that and makes sure to litter her news reports with as much negative adjectives as she can throw in there. I'm aware she's a poison-pen writer, but I feel like news like this would be a terrible thing to build your world around, considering that the Daily Prophet is the main news source for the English Wizarding world. Perhaps this is why gossip culture is so strong in Hogwarts as it is a reflection of the bigger Wizarding world's culture and their lack of objective news platforms (going on a tangent, I always thought it'd make the most sense for Hogwarts to have some sort of campus journalism organization if the rumors would actually spread as fast as Rowling had written them). Anyway, this is just a very niche piece of criticism. I'm aware that Rita Skeeter being who she is serves as a plot device for the story, but I just personally didn't like it. I think making the Daily Prophet ethical would have been more interesting in terms of world building in my opinion, but that's probably not the case for some others. Despite the terrible representation of journalism the book gave us, I still did enjoy everything else. I just had to rant and put it out there lol

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5