casualvamp's reviews
23 reviews

challenging dark slow-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

2.0

For a book about cannibalism, it turned out to be surprisingly uneventful. Not at all what I was expecting from this book, I must say I'm disappointed. The pacing is increeeeedibly slow, making it a tedious read. The main character is insufferable; while I understand we are meant to dislike her because she's a murderer, her annoying personality made me almost give up on the book. Also, the way Dorothy describes sex made me want to vomit.

"As I tasted the bleach-and-umami flavor of his precum" —girl, what?

It felt more like reading a pretentious early '90s food magazine than a novel about a literal psychopath.

Content Warnings

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

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5.0

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

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5.0

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Deepti Kapoor is an immensely talented author, and this book is exceptionally well-written. From reading the synopsis, it’s not a book I would typically read, but I thought I would enjoy it much more than I did. It took me a really long time to finish because it's very lengthy and disorganized. The switches between POVs were jarring and got confusing in the second half, which made the storyline hard to follow. I found the vast majority of the characters unbearable (except for Ajay), so it was hard to be invested in the story. Ajay's POV had me absolutely enthralled, but once it switched over to Neda's and Sunny's POV, I was barely trudging through it. I almost had to put this book down several times due to its incredibly dark themes and GRAPHIC depictions of violence, which made me genuinely naseous. I felt that for the majority of the book, I was either almost asleep out of sheer boredom or incredibly disturbed by all of the unnecessary violence.

Content Warnings

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-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? Yes

1.5

This book is so, so silly. I thought I'd give it a go because everyone and their mother are talking about Fourth Wing, but seriously? The characters are all so incredibly cliché and annoying. It's like every YA fantasy ever written. There's a love triangle (obviously) between the terrifying "touch her and you die" villain and the sweet, loving best friend—except both of them are HUGE red flags. Honestly, she should not be with either of them. There's an uncomfortable amount of sex scenes, and they're all unbearable. Why is he growling and breaking furniture?? Maybe if there was more time spent worldbuilding rather than describing this man's *redacted*, then this book might actually be good. Not to mention, the BLATANT misogyny throughout and the author's misuse of the Gaelic language. Stop stealing words from other languages because you think it makes your fantasy world sound more exotic, that's just lazy writing. The only redeeming feature were the dragons.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced