amselot's reviews
338 reviews

The Wild Life of the Fox by John Lewis-Stempel

informative lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

4.25

Magnolia 木蘭 by Nina Mingya Powles

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

What. On. Earth. Was. That!?

First half? Fantastic - Engaging - Great for the fans. 
Second half? !?!?!?!?

Proper Pacing? Who is she? 
Nuanced and gradual character development? Nope. 
Tying up loose ends? No, siree!

It was too long, too awkwardly paced, too winky-winky with its self-references. There were too many forgettable characters, too little comprehensive thought development, too much unnecessary and misplaced tension. It wanted to be everything at once. And ended up not delivering on so many points. 

Huge kudos to Santino Fontana though. He’s got a wonderful reading voice. Look forward to several vlogs of this and then a long rant with my friend.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I felt the ending was a bit rushed and would have loved 20-30 pages more to give it the space it needed. 

Apart from that, this book was near perfect. Beautiful and unique. Definitely a new favourite. 

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death by Caitlin Doughty

funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

Passing by Nella Larsen

emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

exit RACISM: rassismuskritisch denken lernen by Tupoka Ogette

funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

4.5 

This was absolutely excellent. Doesn’t hurt that Tupoka Ogette has a wonderful reading voice either. 

I feel much better equipped to have conversations about race in German now. My bubble is very much English speaking (and US/UK) centric and the people I need to have these conversations with are neither part of that bubble nor a part of those cultures. They’re German, and of the older generation; not familiar with the world of social media and the modern intersectional social justice movements, and I need the words and tools to bring these issues into those hopefully constructive conversations with them.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Did not finish book.

I could tell I wasn’t enjoying myself much. I felt the author jumped too much between storylines without connecting them well enough. I think I will just dive down the internet and read these women’s life stories there. I was quite sad about this since I had hoped to get the alternative narrative to the film adaption. 

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

The Subtle Knife was without a doubt my favourite book in the series. Amber Spyglass seemed so all over the place. It was overwhelming and at times weird to read. Especially the way Pullman wrote about a certain relationship felt kind of iffy and off putting in the last quarter of the book. I also felt there was little follow up with some strands of the story, even though I liked the conclusion overall. 

The Tradition by Jericho Brown

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.0