alphonzs's reviews
61 reviews

Critical Failures by Robert Bevan

adventurous fast-paced

1.5

the further I went the worse it got. Audiobook narration added an extra layer of cringe to the cliched bad taste jokes.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Racism

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

The author's first book, The Mountain in the Sea, led me to read this, and I wasn't disappointed. This light novel, in a short span of under 100 pages, packs quite a punch. 

The main events deal with poachers, elephants, and their ancient cousins the mammoths. It speculates on de-extinction and narrates cruel events in a human greed impacted future. I was a bit confused at the start, which always happens to me when there are POV changes or time shifts, but by page 30 I was settled in the story and enjoyed a direct ride until I finished it.

The writing feels very well researched, it brings fictional events to a very near feel of reality –of what is and what could be.

Loved it 🧡

Moonbound by Robin Sloan

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I feel like summarizing anything might ruin the surprises along the read. It's mostly sci-fi and fantasy —there are castles, "dragons", wizards, a scholars college, talking beavers, a boy on a quest, an adventure— It has lots of weird, fun ideas and turns, with threads of technology and modern culture references that enrich the setting, making it a very interesting world.

It's been a while since I got the tingly feeling of excitment and surprise while reading an adventure, those moments of revelation that surprise you when you thought that you knew where things were going next, or push you into an even more mysterious —don't know what is happening but I'm enjoying this ride— direction.

There is a pulse in this story that pulls me to try mapmaking, to explore, and to creatively experiment. For me it was a spark that ignited some slumbering ideas and made my imagination crank up a few revolutions.

I had a really good time reading this!

The White and Blue Between Us by Kiyuhiko

fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

It's very mid in most aspects. 
The art looks good but nothing remarkable. 
The story starts OK but it falls off the cliff real fast. The conflict is set well in the first part, then we don't get much explanied and suddenly all is solved and it ends. Has a spicy scene in between.

Edition and translation feel well done.

Robotics;Notes Volume 1 by 5pb.

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

4.0

 The story follows Aki and Kai, the only two members of a Robotics Club at their high school. Aki is super optimistic, and her only goal is to finish building a life size robot left behind by her older sister and founder of the club. Kai is mostly there because Aki has been his friend since they were children, he's more into an online robot fighting game, and will only agree to do anything being asked from him if you can beat him in a fighting match. 

 

Having played the original Visual Novel in japanese I can say that the translation is great, at least I have a feeling of consuming the same story. It has character profile pages in between chapters and I always love when they have them. Only weird thing is that some of the onomatopoeia aren't translated, so you see a "Buzz" next to japanese characters. 

 

The art is nice and doesn't go over the top, which is what puts me off from reading certain manga, it conveys the scenes really well. 

 

Overall a great localization of a science adventure story. Can't wait for the next volumes.

Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

 Horror is a genre that I haven’t really touched until now. I’m more of a sci-fi and fantasy reader, but I set myself the goal to read outside of my comfort zone for this year, and I’m very glad I did. 

Maggie’s Grave is a campy slasher 80’s horror story, and an incredibly fun read at that. It’s gory, has lots of action, and it offers plenty of over the top moments -ritual sacrifice with james blunt soundtrack- that are kind of silly but in a really fun way.

Totally recommend it if slasher horror sounds like something you might enjoy. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood

System Collapse by Martha Wells

adventurous emotional reflective fast-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

5.0

System Collapse is the direct sequel to Network Effect (Book 5), therefore, it is highly recommended to review it prior to diving into this one. There is no introductory summary, and initially there are characters aplenty that would make you feel confused if you've totally forgotten the previous story.

Murderbot is having more feels, even if it doesn't like it. It continues bonding with more humans, and consuming digital media on the side to help it cope with everything going on. We still see it analyzing and overcoming the many situations it gets into (or rather dragged into by its humans), but it is struggling as it bears the weight of the recent events.

This new story has a more introspect and trauma-overcoming tone compared to Fugitive Telemetry's murder mystery and the action-focused Network Effect, but the action scenes are still there and still great.

The series has been really relatable to me so far, and this is no exception. I continuously see glimpses of my own experiences and inner monologues in Murderbot. This one went a bit deeper though. I also have a diary where I've redacted a traumatic event that I tend to not think or talk about, and I had to learn how to process it. I don't blame Murderbot for not knowing how to process things; I'm human and I don't know how to process 90% of my emotions (yeah, I just had my performance reliability drop by 4 points). This read left me feeling emotions so I'm going to the couch to process them in private.

I'm really glad to have given the whole series a read over the last couple of months 🤖💜

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

Murderbot has hacked himself out of main control.

The idea of an android, part bot with lingering organics, gives rise to ideas of a machine that sometimes feels human, a very introverted and relatable human; with its increasing independency situations develop more unexpectedly than what I anticipated, and that kept me reading the whole book almost in one sitting.

The secondary characters add enough depth to the story and help the development of Murderbot throughout it, queer characters are also a welcomed presence.

It was a very fun and fast read 😁

Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer

medium-paced

4.5

Fascinatingly disturbing. I arrived at this book with just a vague recommendation. What I found is hard to place. Feels like sci-fi and urban fantasy dipping into grotesque body horror, and I absolutely enjoyed it.

At first I found myself lost, much like when I read the Neuromancer, until it started to unfold. It’s a futuristic setting where bioengineering experiments have found a place in society, a city, and the story of 3 characters struggling in this place and its many floors below ground. The descriptions are very graphical at times, but it’s a gripping journey into strangeness.

”Soon he would bend into a totally new shape altogether. He welcomed that. He wanted that. Maybe the new thing he would become would no longer hurt, would no longer fear, would no longer look back down into the void and wonder what was left of him“