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catlion27's reviews
253 reviews
Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
4.0
A fine installment that felt like it whipped by too fast. I particularly liked the scenes with Murphy and I enjoy how Dresden's friendship with her is developing.
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
This book really captured me from the beginning. I love the written word magic system; I think it would appeal to people who like the logic of Sanderson's magic.
Sanchia is great. I like Gregor but I wish he'd been around more,though I hope future books deal with his stuff more .
I like the thematic focus on what it means to treat people as objects, and how to resist that.
Sanchia is great. I like Gregor but I wish he'd been around more,
I like the thematic focus on what it means to treat people as objects, and how to resist that.
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Utterly delightful. Makes good on the promise of being a space adventure sapphic rom-com. Was it cheesy? Yes. Was I smiling the whole way? Also yes.
I enjoyed the poetry references. The other references either to 2020s tech or to 1990s movies stretched credibility (given that the book takes places in 2060), but ultimately I did not care. Everyone was too loveable. It ends very "just-so", but again, I wanted something cozy and feel-good and this book did that.
I enjoyed the poetry references. The other references either to 2020s tech or to 1990s movies stretched credibility (given that the book takes places in 2060), but ultimately I did not care. Everyone was too loveable. It ends very "just-so", but again, I wanted something cozy and feel-good and this book did that.
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Was there really something wrong with this book? I don't know. I can't put my finger on it. What I do know is that I struggled to finish and had to turn up the audiobook speed to power through. I just wasn't as invested as I wanted to be by the end.
It does manage to have a very DnD party feel to it, in that ridiculous things happen that the characters have to roll with, while still having more serious introspective moments (particularly for the main character who is dealing with how to live in the regular world when you're really good at killing stuff). It was amusing and had some good action, but I feel like it was too long for what it was, which is a riff on "what if mercenaries were treated like rock bands?"
As a side note, this book does NOT qualify for the r/Fantasy 2024 Book Bingo Bards square, which I discovered to my great disappointment partway through. This may have soured my opinion slightly. But only slightly.
It does manage to have a very DnD party feel to it, in that ridiculous things happen that the characters have to roll with, while still having more serious introspective moments (particularly for the main character who is dealing with how to live in the regular world when you're really good at killing stuff). It was amusing and had some good action, but I feel like it was too long for what it was, which is a riff on "what if mercenaries were treated like rock bands?"
As a side note, this book does NOT qualify for the r/Fantasy 2024 Book Bingo Bards square, which I discovered to my great disappointment partway through. This may have soured my opinion slightly. But only slightly.
Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance [With DVD] by Ric Gillespie
adventurous
challenging
informative
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This book gave me an obsession. Everybody I talked to while I was reading this book got to hear my latest Earhart anecdote. (My greatest apologies go to my dear husband, who was regaled nightly.)
There are so many astonishing things about the Amelia Earhart story in this book. The miscommunication, all the tiny things that went wrong but slowly added up, the telegrams, and infuriating decisions, and faint radio messages from Amelia and her navigator after they ran out of fuel and crashed on an island. Did the book get way in the weeds about radio frequencies? Oh yes. Was my attention glued to it anyway the entire time? Also yes.
I greatly appreciated how meticulously fact-checked everything was, and how the author detailed the primary source evidence, as well as providing probabilities when helpful.
This book was fascinating, gripping, frustrating, maddening. I would recommend to anyone who's ever wondered, "What *did* happen to Amelia Earhart, anyway?"
There are so many astonishing things about the Amelia Earhart story in this book. The miscommunication, all the tiny things that went wrong but slowly added up, the telegrams, and infuriating decisions, and faint radio messages from Amelia and her navigator after they ran out of fuel and crashed on an island. Did the book get way in the weeds about radio frequencies? Oh yes. Was my attention glued to it anyway the entire time? Also yes.
I greatly appreciated how meticulously fact-checked everything was, and how the author detailed the primary source evidence, as well as providing probabilities when helpful.
This book was fascinating, gripping, frustrating, maddening. I would recommend to anyone who's ever wondered, "What *did* happen to Amelia Earhart, anyway?"
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
My first novel of Seanan McGuire's did not disappoint. It has all of her effortless, stark, beautiful prose that I've grown to love from Wayward Children, but it doesn't feel like a Wayward Children book (though there's a bit of thematic overlap).
The beginning throws you in the deep end, but push through. Ride the waves of confusion to the shore. Then fall in love with Roger and Dodger like I did. Their relationship is the emotional core that really fueled this for me.
The book also tackles a tricky plotthe time loop aspect really well, in a way that doesn't feel confusing. Gold star there too.
The beginning throws you in the deep end, but push through. Ride the waves of confusion to the shore. Then fall in love with Roger and Dodger like I did. Their relationship is the emotional core that really fueled this for me.
The book also tackles a tricky plot
Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire by Preston M. Sprinkle
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Really excellent. Sprinkle thoroughly examines the Scriptures and how Israelites and Christians have engaged with politics and empires, and then asks some good questions about how Christians now might use that knowledge in their own contexts. The focus is always on Jesus as King, and I especially appreciated that even as he highlighted the political dimensions of various biblical texts, he didn’t neglect the spiritual dimensions (the way I think books like Jesus for President do).
There were a couple spots that I thought were a stretch or could've used more explanation, but on the whole I loved the book. I have felt increasingly uncomfortable with the left-right political binary in the US, so it was gratifying to have someone recognize that, call it out, and offer ways that Christians might engage with that reality.
This book has also challenged me and galvanized me to look for more ways to be distinctively Christian in my local contexts, and to look for concrete ways to serve my neighbor in order to create the kind of polis the Bible calls the Church to be, even as exiles. Highly recommend.
"Instead of starting with the left/right categories of Rome (or Babylon or Panama or the United States or wherever), we need to start with teh political vision of Christ. We need to cultivate the habit of letting Christ's kingdom and its ethic determine our political values, because Christ's kingdom - and our membership in it - *is* a political identity."
"We live lives of qualified submission to whatever nation God has placed us in, but our allegiance is always to Chris and his global, multi-ethnic kingdom."
There were a couple spots that I thought were a stretch or could've used more explanation, but on the whole I loved the book. I have felt increasingly uncomfortable with the left-right political binary in the US, so it was gratifying to have someone recognize that, call it out, and offer ways that Christians might engage with that reality.
This book has also challenged me and galvanized me to look for more ways to be distinctively Christian in my local contexts, and to look for concrete ways to serve my neighbor in order to create the kind of polis the Bible calls the Church to be, even as exiles. Highly recommend.
"Instead of starting with the left/right categories of Rome (or Babylon or Panama or the United States or wherever), we need to start with teh political vision of Christ. We need to cultivate the habit of letting Christ's kingdom and its ethic determine our political values, because Christ's kingdom - and our membership in it - *is* a political identity."
"We live lives of qualified submission to whatever nation God has placed us in, but our allegiance is always to Chris and his global, multi-ethnic kingdom."
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart: And Other Stories by GennaRose Nethercott
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Beautifully strange and rich stories about love, death, longing, and hunger. Definitely recommend. I don't know that I have a standout favorite, but the themes were so tightly woven through all the stories that they felt "connected" despite not having narrative connections to each other.
The prose is excellent. You can tell Nethercott is a poet, but its poetry doesn't make it hard to read; instead it draws you in. The stories are all very *visceral*. I appreciate how tangibly she deals with bodies, and the way she takes metaphorical or abstract concepts, and spins out a "what if" that grounds them in the real, physical world. There were a few stories that finished with too open of an ending for me, but that didn't detract from the vibes, which I really loved.
I would not call these stories horror but a dark magical realism - they are typically set in a normal setting with some element of the uncanny, the darkness of which varies.
I enjoyed the format of A Diviner's Abecedarian and Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart because the "story" is peaking out through the background progressively more and more as the story goes. The style reminds me of some creative nonfiction I've read, and I liked this use of it.
I enjoyed the format of A Diviner's Abecedarian and Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart because the "story" is peaking out through the background progressively more and more as the story goes. The style reminds me of some creative nonfiction I've read, and I liked this use of it.