cassiecollins's reviews
267 reviews

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.5

Definitely not the author's best showing from this series. Between the multi-year time lapse in the beginning and the brand new cast of characters, the pacing is dragged near to a halt very often by the sheer amount of exposition. I'm already invested in the setting (and the dragons—mostly the dragons), so I was a bit disappointed that I struggled to connect as well emotionally with some of the characters. I'm hoping that because a good chunk of the setup is done here, the rest of the series will be more pure character-focused like previous books.

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

dark mysterious tense fast-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

1.0

Okay, genuine question: how on earth did this make it through the process of traditional publication? Like, this is second draft quality, at best. You're telling me no one—agent, editor, etc.—read this and clocked the stilted prose? Cliché dialog, shallow characters? Absolute nonsense of an investigation and ending reveal? To the author's credit, I've read a more recent book of hers, and she has definitely improved. But, the fact that this got published as-is and is relatively popular just baffles me.

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

It's a little difficult to describe my feelings about this book. It's well-written—the prose in particular is lush and rich with detail. I also enjoyed the infusion of Jewish and Hungarian mythology. Though in the first half especially, it felt like the author was trying to cram as many myths and monsters and miracles into the narrative as possible. As far as the main narrative, it was...frustrating. We watch the protagonist get, quite literally, beaten down over and over and over again, then the way to overcome the oppressors is

to replace them with...a slightly nicer oppressor?

That all combined with a bland romantic lead and a sticky-sweet ending kind of cheapened the effect that the story wanted to have about the horrors of religious intolerance.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

informative slow-paced

2.5

I really wanted to like this, but man, I found it boring. For something pitched as "narrative" non-fiction, this has the dry prose and constant digressions of an old textbook. It's certainly well-researched, but I feel the actual scope of what the author was trying to cover was just too broad and manifold to maintain my interest. (I promise I do not need to know about every single tiny bit of minutiae that's only just tangentially related to the wreck itself—just tell me about the wreck!) Maybe that works for some people, but it was not my thing.

Gluttony and Other Hungers by TJ Nichols

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

A satisfying conclusion to the series. The ending was a bit too sickly sweet for my tastes, but it wrapped up Edra and Jordan's story well while leaving plenty of threads open for additional side stories.

Wrath and Other Troubles by TJ Nichols

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

This was definitely the best entry in the series so far. Tension and pacing were good, and the romance was sweet. I liked the approach the author took to the narrative and conflict here. Looking forward to the wedding and the last book's wrap up!

Sloth and Other Delights by TJ Nichols

dark emotional tense medium-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

3.0

I've got to give it to the author, the quality of their work is very consistent. Yet, the pacing and character choices did get a little weird again in this one (e.g. "We found the bad guys and the magic we've been looking for, but they're about to steal it forever! Oh, but before we go after them, let's have a quickie first."). Also, the fact that the final pseudo-battle for the unicorn turned into a

giant dance party

made that whole sequence far more silly than tense.

Vanity and Other Monsters by TJ Nichols

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I got this for free as part of Stuff Your Kindle Day. I was happy to see some of the plot threads come together here, the tension built up well. However, the pacing was a bit off at times (Edra's fighting for his life in the vampire enclave in one chapter, while the next has Jordan playing matchmaker). I do think this is an overall, if minor, improvement over the previous entries, and I'm looking forward to the final few to see how everything unfolds.

Envy and Other Cravings by TJ Nichols

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Similar feelings with this one: solid romance, middling mystery. Hoping we can get more satisfying conclusions for the crime-solving beyond "powerful and/or dangerous mytho kills perpetrator and everyone shrugs their shoulders" sometime soon, especially as some of the plot threads begin to come to a head.

Greed and Other Dangers by TJ Nichols

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

3.0

Not as much clunky exposition in this one, and the mystery-solving is more on-page, which I appreciated. The lack of communication between Jordan and Edra got a bit frustrating, but I'm glad they figure it out in the end. The layers of mystery are starting to build up now, so I'm definitely interested to see how it progresses in future books.