brudanos's reviews
13 reviews

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.5

Claymore, Vol. 11 by Norihiro Yagi

adventurous 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? No

4.5

Claymore, Vol. 10 by Norihiro Yago

adventurous 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? No

4.25

Claymore, Vol. 9 by Norihiro Yagi

adventurous fast-paced

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

4.0

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 What impressed me the most about this book was the authors ability to fluidly transition through the narrative by giving you just enough to fully comprehend without sacrificing any of the emotion required for the story to hit. It was like sitting on the back porch and listening to an elder recounting the stories from their youth, while you sit fully engaged trying to process how this is even real. This book doesn’t dedicate multiple paragraphs/pages to outline the horrors happening but established the cruelty of this world so effectively that a simple line that reads, “at midnight the fans bellowed its news to the half asleep but that didn’t tell them who was getting ice cream”, is enough to send shivers down your back. 

From the very first chapter, The Nickel Boys makes a bold statement and immediately challenges you to want to know more. Rarely have I been so satisfied with the ending of story than how I was here with just how beautifully the beginning was tied to the end in the final paragraph. This is one of the best books I have ever read and one that will sit with me for a long time. 

Bloodborne Vol. 3: A Song of Crows by Aleš Kot

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

This is a very confusing one. I love the character of Eileen The Crow and this seems to tell a bit of a back story to her, but in a very cryptic way. You don't get a lot here and it is really up to your own interpretation of what is going on.

Due to that however, I just really couldn't get into it. It took me about 15 minutes to get through the book since there is very little dialogue. The art continues to shine, especially as we get to Rom.

Bloodborne Vol. 2: The Healing Thirst by Aleš Kot

dark emotional informative mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a much better follow up to volume 1. I really enjoyed the story as it was split between the perspective of faith and science, as two unlikely people work together to understand the origins of the ashen blood. I also feel like we get more context to the world of bloodborne, especially around Yharnam right before the events of the game. 

The art continues to impress me as they capture the details of Yharnam, I especially loved getting full pages of the church and red moon. 

Bloodborne Vol. 1: The Death of Sleep by Aleš Kot

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I'll take any excuse to dive back into the dark gothic world of bloodborne and the art of this book really does a great job of capturing the feel of the world. Bloodborne lore is very dense and I was disspaointed that this story just felt like a very vague quest side mission. It doesn't really add anything, it really just felt unecessary.

It appears to question, "what it means to be a Hunter," as the protagonist is dealing with a bit of an idendity crisis. A never ending nightmare of hunting, dying, escaping the dream and hunting again. Why do they hunt? and who are they hunting? All the beasts used to be people and the story of The Hunter attempting to save the Paleblood is a way of gaining clarity for themselves.

With that said, we do get some beautiful art, it is fun to see characters from the game interact and I enjoyed the action, even though it was brief. Seeing some of my favorite locations of the game in these panels was a real treat.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

As a long time Turtles fan, I was really excited for this dark and gritty tale and I am happy that the book delivered. Some of the action was muddled but the blade runner styled setting really made up for it. The inner battle of the last remaining turtle, along with the back story of how his family was lost was heartbreaking and it stayed true to who the Turtles are.

I read the entire book in two sittings as I could not put it down and it has made me want to go back and read other TMNT books I may have missed. I definitely recommend this one for all the Turtle fans out there. Oh, and Splinter is a bad ass.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

2.75

This is a story that was written with good intentions and deals with subject matter that I believe is immediately relatable to almost everyone, regret. The questions of, "what could my life have been, if only..." and the coming to terms with what that really means and how life is simply influenced by perception.

Although the author wants you to believe it is dealing with dark and emotional themes, it never fully commits to digging deep into those to make you actually feel for the protagonist. I've said this before and I'll say it again, this reminded me of the film Bedazzled where Brendan Fraser, wishing he had a different life, makes wishes to embody that dream only to run into problems based on unforseen outcomes to what he asked for. Not the greatest film but one I feel had more heart, emotion and entertainment value than what I got here.

With that said, the second half of the novel makes improvements to the story after a tedious first half and the ending ties everything up nicely.