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brennanaphone's reviews
651 reviews
Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution by Helen Zia
4.25
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Osman doesn't really shake up his writing style between series, it turns out. Fortunately he has a very good style.
As with The Thursday Murder Club, this is a very readable book where the humor and the droll interactions are the most interesting part, with the mystery largely serving as a frame. However, I felt like the characters didn't gel quite as well. It's mostly Amy, who is incredibly locked-down as a person and who is hiding a lot of trauma. Unfortunately, she's supposed to be the main character. So I enjoyed Steve and Rosie a lot, but the group dynamic didn't quite sizzle like Joyce and Elizabeth and Ron and Ibrahim. Still a fun and devourable read.
As with The Thursday Murder Club, this is a very readable book where the humor and the droll interactions are the most interesting part, with the mystery largely serving as a frame. However, I felt like the characters didn't gel quite as well. It's mostly Amy, who is incredibly locked-down as a person and who is hiding a lot of trauma. Unfortunately, she's supposed to be the main character. So I enjoyed Steve and Rosie a lot, but the group dynamic didn't quite sizzle like Joyce and Elizabeth and Ron and Ibrahim. Still a fun and devourable read.
Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Really glad I read this trilogy through the end, because the final (and longest!) installment is a real banger. I found the first book a little standard and the second one incredibly stressful, but this one really found the sweet spot: adventurous, reflective, mature, and tense. Fitz is finally growing up, and while his frustration with being lashed to the wheel of fate is a sympathetic plight, he's become a lot more aware that the people around him are as complex and devoted and ill-used as he is. Also, after feeling a bit queer-baited with Burrich in the first book (that man loved Chivalry a lot more than Patience, ya feel me?), I was delighted with the Fool's firm rejection of the gender binary.
Just a really great read. The ending felt a little neat, but only in terms of plot. In terms of character it was as bittersweet and complex as Frodo's return to the Shire in LoTR.
Just a really great read. The ending felt a little neat, but only in terms of plot. In terms of character it was as bittersweet and complex as Frodo's return to the Shire in LoTR.
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
3.0
Funny, light, and frothy. Sort of like reading Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams in that it's having a lot of fun within its genre and the writing is witty and surprising, but don't expect really any character depth or development. It's all about the madcap shenanigans.
The romance is surprisingly sexy (I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting an actual sex scene, so hooray!). The characters are plucky and witty, and the historical part of this historical romance is delightful rewritten so that, due to a magical incantation falling into a society of proper ladies, women are now running a whole cabal of pirates, thieves, and murderers. It made for a lot of fun inversions of usual historical tropes, wherein the women now get to be the bloodthirsty ones, the adventurous ones, the take-charge ones. I liked that part a lot. Not the flying houses part, which was just bizarre (like, just make it historical romance instead of fantasy??), but otherwise good stuff.
I will say that Holton often goes just a step too far, spoiling the effect by hammering home her point. She repeats a lot of her jokes (Cecilia often has the exact same experience of being too close to Ned and suddenly assuming her blush is from the heat of the fireplace and definitely, DEFINITELY not from standing near him, which got tedious after the first three or four iterations), and the gender stuff was so brilliantly done until she started throwing in modern terms and phrases ("fuck off," "the patriarchy," "lesbian," "misogynists") that felt like she didn't trust the reader to understand what she was already accomplishing. The very last page ended the whole story on a meta joke about genre awareness that just left me bemused and a little disappointed.
Overall, though, it's a book that is having a lot of fun with tropes and expectations. It's a very visual way of storytelling, even cinematic, often leaving out crucial description so it can twist your assumptions into a punchline. The most fun I had with it all the way through was puzzling out how Holton was keeping these characters in the reader's good graces, staying away from the grotesquery of actual murder and rape and torture but employing plenty of murder attempts, seduction, gunshot wounds, betrayal, and robbery. It's a fine line, but it's a lot of fun to follow.
The romance is surprisingly sexy (I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting an actual sex scene, so hooray!). The characters are plucky and witty, and the historical part of this historical romance is delightful rewritten so that, due to a magical incantation falling into a society of proper ladies, women are now running a whole cabal of pirates, thieves, and murderers. It made for a lot of fun inversions of usual historical tropes, wherein the women now get to be the bloodthirsty ones, the adventurous ones, the take-charge ones. I liked that part a lot. Not the flying houses part, which was just bizarre (like, just make it historical romance instead of fantasy??), but otherwise good stuff.
I will say that Holton often goes just a step too far, spoiling the effect by hammering home her point. She repeats a lot of her jokes (Cecilia often has the exact same experience of being too close to Ned and suddenly assuming her blush is from the heat of the fireplace and definitely, DEFINITELY not from standing near him, which got tedious after the first three or four iterations), and the gender stuff was so brilliantly done until she started throwing in modern terms and phrases ("fuck off," "the patriarchy," "lesbian," "misogynists") that felt like she didn't trust the reader to understand what she was already accomplishing. The very last page ended the whole story on a meta joke about genre awareness that just left me bemused and a little disappointed.
Overall, though, it's a book that is having a lot of fun with tropes and expectations. It's a very visual way of storytelling, even cinematic, often leaving out crucial description so it can twist your assumptions into a punchline. The most fun I had with it all the way through was puzzling out how Holton was keeping these characters in the reader's good graces, staying away from the grotesquery of actual murder and rape and torture but employing plenty of murder attempts, seduction, gunshot wounds, betrayal, and robbery. It's a fine line, but it's a lot of fun to follow.
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
3.0
Are there people out there who actually ship Mal and Alina? Because those seem like the kind of folks who'd like to watch oatmeal fuck.
Honestly, I think these books are trolling me. The worldbuilding is pretty good, the fantasy is fun and almost nearly dangerous, but it's like she wrote a romance and then coyly decided that she hates romance. The first book pitted the Bowl of Oatmeal against the Twilight-esque fey dude, and then made that guy the villain, because winning by default is the only way Mal is getting any purchase. Cool, that was a fun twist, even though Alina ended up with a dude who was essentially her brother, never paid any attention to her, but is now in love with her I guess.
Except in this, the second book, we get their incredibly tepid relationship (shocking), which involves--gasp--him brushing his lips against hers. Maybe one time. I feel like the bookend chapters of "the girl and the boy" stuff is supposed to make me think they're end game, that they're destined to be together but are pulled apart by forces like her superpowers and her legitimately concerning intrusive violent thoughts, and her desire to kill people and take power. But honestly, Mal is just an insufferably sulky, jealous little cup of cream of wheat with the sexual charisma of a wet wipe.
And this is where I think Bardugo is trolling me. I think she agrees with me. I think she knows these two people do not want to be in a relationship with each other, and they've confused their codependence and their shared trauma for romance. So she took the Twilight villain out of the mix and gave us Nikolai, a whole grab bag of tropes ranging from smooth-talking pirate to brilliant inventor to ambitious politician. And the thing is? I'm rooting for him to get with Alina. Not because I like Alina overly much, but because they have actual chemistry, and he doesn't make her feel guilty and anxious all the time.
Anyway, there have been like eighteen love triangles and still no one has boned down, so this is getting unacceptable. Bardugo, point me at a ship and set me a-sail.
Honestly, I think these books are trolling me. The worldbuilding is pretty good, the fantasy is fun and almost nearly dangerous, but it's like she wrote a romance and then coyly decided that she hates romance. The first book pitted the Bowl of Oatmeal against the Twilight-esque fey dude, and then made that guy the villain, because winning by default is the only way Mal is getting any purchase. Cool, that was a fun twist, even though Alina ended up with a dude who was essentially her brother, never paid any attention to her, but is now in love with her I guess.
Except in this, the second book, we get their incredibly tepid relationship (shocking), which involves--gasp--him brushing his lips against hers. Maybe one time. I feel like the bookend chapters of "the girl and the boy" stuff is supposed to make me think they're end game, that they're destined to be together but are pulled apart by forces like her superpowers and her legitimately concerning intrusive violent thoughts, and her desire to kill people and take power. But honestly, Mal is just an insufferably sulky, jealous little cup of cream of wheat with the sexual charisma of a wet wipe.
And this is where I think Bardugo is trolling me. I think she agrees with me. I think she knows these two people do not want to be in a relationship with each other, and they've confused their codependence and their shared trauma for romance. So she took the Twilight villain out of the mix and gave us Nikolai, a whole grab bag of tropes ranging from smooth-talking pirate to brilliant inventor to ambitious politician. And the thing is? I'm rooting for him to get with Alina. Not because I like Alina overly much, but because they have actual chemistry, and he doesn't make her feel guilty and anxious all the time.
Anyway, there have been like eighteen love triangles and still no one has boned down, so this is getting unacceptable. Bardugo, point me at a ship and set me a-sail.
Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen
2.0
Kinda fun, very 2010s, if that makes sense. Lot of "nerds vs. cheerleaders" jokes and thinking creepy dudes are funny. There were also some frenetic Sugarshock vibes, which I enjoyed. I found the artwork in the action scenes completely impenetrable.
This story touched on a lot of stuff, but it didn't seem to be about anything. There's the frenemy dynamic between Charlie and Nate, a breakup that literally never gets mentioned and doesn't matter at all, coping with divorced parents, a robot competition, a student body election, and a romance. I wish the story had focused on one or two of these things and made them matter rather than throwing it all at the wall to see what sticks. The romance especially was incredibly underdeveloped.
I think my favorite part of this was the way Charlie over/under/reacted to his parents' divorce, which felt very painful and honest. The things that Charlie chooses not to say to either parent clearly build and eat at him, and I liked watching that tension throughout the story.
This story touched on a lot of stuff, but it didn't seem to be about anything. There's the frenemy dynamic between Charlie and Nate, a breakup that literally never gets mentioned and doesn't matter at all, coping with divorced parents, a robot competition, a student body election, and a romance. I wish the story had focused on one or two of these things and made them matter rather than throwing it all at the wall to see what sticks. The romance especially was incredibly underdeveloped.
I think my favorite part of this was the way Charlie over/under/reacted to his parents' divorce, which felt very painful and honest. The things that Charlie chooses not to say to either parent clearly build and eat at him, and I liked watching that tension throughout the story.