caroline_mclaughlin's reviews
58 reviews

King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.0

This book is like 3 times longer than it should be and even though there is quite a bit of action, it’s so boring. There are three perspectives, but if you didn’t title them, there would be almost no way of knowing they’re different people. Not a single one of them has a unique voice and literally all 3 of them spend a good majority talking about maven/cal or their brother, because they all have one that is often their primary motivation. The only difference is Evangeline barely had her pov introduced and it was already more interesting than the entire previous book. Even despite this, all three spend far too much time reiterating the same things and even repeating info from the previous books which further adds to their lack of distinction. They each have to describe every motion and feeling that crosses their mind, and though I also feel that need in my day to day life, it creates the dullest reading experience. I don’t need to know that you can feel the lighting under your skin for the 50th time or that you miss your brother, I could pick that up from behavior if the author actually trusted the reader to draw the occasional conclusion.

Beyond this, the world building is terrible. I never know where we are or who is fighting who or why or what the locations mean. Not a single aspect of this book has personality or individualism and that really makes it all blend together. Not only was the plot meandering yet again, but I still don’t find most of the characters compelling at this point, and the story is almost finished. As someone who genuinely feels like they have to read every series they start, including little one off books or short stories, this book is making me seriously reconsider.

It’s really just an unfortunate mix of every other book in the genre that is much better than it (shadow and bone, cinder, and even winters promise or cruel prince), and even the worst of any of these has been better and even just shorter than the best of this series. I’ve never struggled so much to remember which things were from this book as opposed to the others while I was reading. I would recommend any of those series over this one, and I can’t imagine that the last book is going to change my mind at all.

The Memory of Babel by Christelle Dabos

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This one took me a bit longer to get into than the previous, likely just because of the time jump and the new location, but I still really enjoyed it once I got into it. The world is just so interesting and it’s nice getting to explore all of its eccentricities. It really reminds me a lot of A Series of Unfortunate Events in the sense that the world is an odd hybrid with technology that seems to exist outside of time and characters and places filled with eccentricities to be explored. I love the new characters introduced, and if it wasn’t for the romance established previously, I could’ve rooted for Octavio and Ophelia easily. Loved Blaise and thought Mediana would’ve been interesting to see more of, but I also really missed old characters like Archibald and Fox. 

I do wish that the romance was a bit more fleshed out as I’m not totally convinced by it. The two characters have hardly interacted enough for them to claim they’re passionately in love with each other. I’m all for a slow burn, but this book tried to pick up where the last book left off in their romance, but there was a very long time skip in between that I feel should’ve factored into their relationship. 

Also, I would love if these books had a different translator. Some things are definitely getting lost in translation and some are being translated far too literally for this book. There are also a lot of descriptions of people and words used that were offensive, but it was very hard to tell if these were just mistranslations and our closest English terms just hold negative connotations. Would love to read it in French one day to see if that changes anything!

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

slow-paced

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

1.5

I already didn’t enjoy the first book, but this one takes everything bad about the first book and makes it worse. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so bored reading a book, especially ya fantasy.  This book absolutely suffers from act II lull and it’s felt like the characters were wandering relatively aimlessly throughout. In the end, it felt like little progress had been made and there was little intrigue as to what will happen next, despite the story absolutely trying to convince me I should care. I’m pretty sure the 1 min pov dystopian story tiktoks have more depth than this and don’t waste hundreds of pages just reiterating the same boring lines over and over again (“I’m the lightning girl” “anyone can betray you” etc). 

And, as far as mare goes, I know she has a “special power”, but she really thinks highly of herself and her abilities despite literally no evidence of her skill. She has no personality, and despite her romance occurring throughout, there is essentially no indication of her romantic interest in any of the men. The only time she has called people attractive is when she referred to Evangeline or other women, and she frequently displays disgust at Cal and other’s attempts to show her romantic affection. I’m not convinced she actually likes men, despite the book half-heartedly trying to state otherwise.

Also this book is so full of weird or badly stated metaphors that make the writing seem juvenile. The one I remember best is “they followed us like rats would a mouse,” and I have no idea what that’s supposed to indicate. Once it said something like “he lifted his palms up like a man surrendering to a battle” and I don’t understand why she didn’t just say “he lifted his palms, surrendering…” I was so confused by so many choices made throughout the story though that, after a while, noticing how bad the literary devices were was just funny.

Out of Love by Hazel Hayes

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

From the beginning, I knew this book wouldn’t be for me, but since I typically love most things I’ve seen from Hazel (short films and music videos), I wanted to give this story the benefit of the doubt. However, as someone who has followed her career, this book felt far too autobiographical to enjoy. It often felt like I could cast every character in the book as someone I’ve seen her collaborate with, and this made me spend a lot of the book just wondering if the real people did some of the things the fictional versions did.

The story had a clear plot despite its jumps through time in each chapter, but it almost felt more like a collection of essays or notes app rambling journals about grieving the end of a relationship more than a true story.  My favorite chapter was between the sheets, which felt like a poem, and my least favorite was the bodies chapter as it exemplified one of my biggest issues with the book. Throughout the book, I felt like I was being forced to agree with the protagonist, even though I often found her opinions to be misguided. I understand it’s a complicated look at the relationship, but it still often felt like it was missing nuance. I don’t think there’s enough mystery chapter to chapter either. Unlike most stories that go in reverse, it doesn’t feel like new things are revealed that were obscured before as much as just reiterated from the previous chapter. This makes it very easy to lose interest as literally everything has already been revealed and there is absolutely no suspense. I’m really hopeful that Hazel will continue to write and create new interesting stories, hopefully more along the horror/sci-fi genre where she does so well.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

adventurous 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? No

2.0

This book feels like a rough combination of all other dystopian societal commentary ya books. The main character, whose name I will always read as “bone marrow,” is exactly the classic archetype of outrageously beautiful but doesn’t know it, clever and insolent but in a charming way, and a heartbreaker to every man she will ever interact with over the course of the story. The setting is indescribable in the sense that I have no idea what the environment of this book is. It’s a weird blend of monarchy/medieval content blended with modern day urban dystopia, but not in a way where it is clear or makes any sense. Also the names of all the different powers are the cringy sort like magnetron?? Shiver?? Every single issue brought up in the plot is either immediately resolved or forgone for a bigger plot issue that somehow makes the one that arose 2 pages before obsolete. It’s incredibly predictable to the point where I guessed entire plot twists chapters in advance. This whole story unfortunately just felt vapid and empty, and I’m thankful it was such an easy and fast paced read or else it would’ve been even more of a slog.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

3.0

Cute little character study. Would’ve enjoyed it much more if the author had chosen to explore similar ideas without the incel character plot line, but I still found it to be an interesting read generally.

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.75

A quick and easy read, but overall just didn’t work for me! Some good conversation about cptsd and trauma but none of the characters were interesting enough for me to care very much or to truly be able to tell them apart, especially Tiffy’s friends.

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a really solid ending to the series especially after the lull of the second book. Bardugo has a good grasp of comedy and dialogue that I really appreciate and I feel like it shows in this book. 

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

dark reflective sad medium-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

1.0

Another book in the genre of “thinly veiled autobiography.” I genuinely think this may be one of my least favorite books of all time. The entire book is conversations between people and then conversations discussing or relaying those conversations to other people. It’s so incredibly repetitive, I could’ve zoned out at any point and caught up easily. I’m so confused how this book managed to stay the test of time and still be considered relevant and important today.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

To me this book is a strong reflection of the, particularly American, obsession with WWII. Although there are many moments of decent prose, the story moves too quickly between the narrators, never allowing the reader to become situated with their story. The three page chapters make it hard to connect with the characters and even harder to remember where in time and place you are and who many of the characters were if you ever put the book down. Overall, I found this book incredibly difficult to get through and once it was finished, I found it had nothing very new to say about the issues and history presented. Though it’s intended for a different age group, The Book Thief presents the same discussion of morality and complicity in a much more nuanced and creative way that is also less convoluted and bogged down by perspective and time shifts. These time shifts only convoluted the timeline and didn’t create suspense as much as confusion.

“He feels as if he is shitting out the last of his civilization” is by far my favorite quote though. I felt like half of the book was trying too hard to make certain metaphors work and create quotable sentences, while the other half was desperately trying to shove in references to peeing, and this is a great example of a combination of the two.