blrobin2's Reviews (550)

The Buried Giant

Kazuo Ishiguro

2.5

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This Thing Between Us

Gus Moreno

3.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Frans de Waal

4.0

funny informative reflective medium-paced

The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt

3.5

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Part V fumbles hard, but the rest of the book is enjoyable

Never Have I Ever

Joshilyn Jackson

DID NOT FINISH: 22%

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After 3 hours, I had no idea what the stakes were or what the book was about 

A Gathering of Shadows

V.E. Schwab

3.0

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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One long wind-up to a cliffhanger.

God Emperor of Dune

Frank Herbert

DID NOT FINISH: 13%

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Weirdly fascist

My Dark Vanessa

Kate Elizabeth Russell

4.5

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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The most nuanced and intelligent way of writing about this that I can imagine

Night Film

Marisha Pessl

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wylding Hall

Elizabeth Hand

2.5

dark slow-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

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This book is a perfect example of the author doing all of the research but failing the bullshit test. Also, this is a short story stretched into a novella.