arealswellfellow's reviews
174 reviews

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was my first Brandon Sanderson book, and it was a lot of fun! I’ll probably read some others.

Lots of twist and turns. A fun thrilling time!

Berserk, Vol. 40 by Kentaro Miura

adventurous dark hopeful tense 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

4.5

“Our whole journey has been about this from the start”

On the sun dappled ground is one of the best chapters of Berserk so far. Honestly could have been an ending right there.

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

4.0

Understanding Distributed Systems: What every developer should know about large distributed applications by Roberto Vitillo

informative medium-paced

3.0

Last page of the book said to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. But I’m reviewing on here instead!

I think this book is a good refresher but I wouldn’t recommend it too much for learning distributed systems for the first time. I feel it can best be described as broad but not too deep. There are also a lot of technical terms the book assumed you know instead of defining.

This book would make a great checklist to remind you of what is needed when building a system. But if you actually want to understand each part you’ll need to do a lot more learning. Each topic of this book deserves its own book not just a short chapter.

All that said, it does have its uses and I definitely had a few “aha” moments based on the way things were described. 

Tl;dr great refresher for experienced programmers. Not the best for people new to the area.

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman

funny inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

A really unique look at an interesting person’s life. This really doesn’t read like a biography of a renowned scientist. It just feels like a guy telling you fun stories about his life.

I think Feynman is a great storyteller so this is just fun to listen to. His perspective on his life is hard to describe. It’s just feels like a pure joy for being alive. It’s not overly critical or judging. He captures a unique optimism, informed naïvety, and a vulnerability I haven’t really read in other memoirs.

I don’t think this was perfect but it was very enjoyable and made me think.

The Invasion by Michael Grant, K.A. Applegate

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Animorphs is such an interesting concept. I feel like most people know about it just for the iconic book covers.

Admittedly that is all I knew before, a children’s book with weird pictures kids turning into animals.

But this book is kind of crazy. For a middle grade level book it is very dark and deals with mature themes. I feel like KA Applegate is also a pretty cool author. Idk maybe I haven’t read enough middle grade books, but it’s really interesting to see how serious and dark they can be.

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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? No

4.0

Terry Pratchett says Goblin Rights.

Also sorry to say, ACAB included Stinky the Goblin.

This was the first Terry Pratchett book I read and I liked it a lot! I’ll definitely read more discworld, although I’m not sure how I started with the 39th one.

Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card

adventurous tense 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? No

2.5

Not as strong as some of the other books. It feels like the characters became caricatures. And I feel like the way Petra’s character was taken was a huge disservice.

Review for the whole shadow series. Definitely read Ender’s Shadow if you liked Ender’s Game but you can skip the rest.

Berserk Deluxe Volume 13 by Kentaro Miura

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.5

Volume 37: 4.5 stars
Volume 38: 4 stars
Volume 39: 4.5 stars

The journey is finally coming to a conclusion and it’s much more emotional than I expected. Really some great chapters in here.

Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This is a huge change of tone from other Ender’s Game books. It’s hard to say if this even counts as sci-fi, it’s more of a political intrigue/thriller.

I think I would rate it higher if I knew what to expect, but I was expecting more sci-fi stuff so I was a little disappointed.

I really like Card’s style of writing though.