bwandyn's reviews
175 reviews

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.25

People push this as a "sci-fi" novel too much. Not that misleading labels made me dislike it. Being boring as hell did. I'm just saying. This is general literary fiction with a sprinkle of dystopia, it's a lot more about interpersonal relationships than the world at large.

Dune by Frank Herbert

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib

emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney

informative slow-paced

3.75

Very enlightening. Very well constructed argument. Very very very very dry. Rodney’s voice comes back towards the end, but a good chunk reads like a textbook. Not that the several examples aren’t important, but some could use more interjection and commentary.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

dark informative sad medium-paced

5.0

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

No amount of beautiful prose attempts and quotable one-liners about the human condition from Ogawa can mask how goddamn boring and repetitive this book is. I don't mind vague. And I can handle a corny meta-narrative about authors preserving memories. But this book is so boring that I switched back to Dune for a bit. Dune has more engaging pacing. Dune. Maybe the Memory Police should disappear novels so I can forget the time I wasted on this.

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.75

For Legends fans, a bunch of fun Thrawn tactical scenarios. For Canon fans, more background on Lothal and its Govenor Pryce prior to the Rebels show. For general sci-fi fans, blue Sherlock Holmes.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5