charms92's reviews
184 reviews

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

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adventurous 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

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

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adventurous funny relaxing fast-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

4.0

Artemis by Andy Weir

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adventurous funny tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Artemis is a great book for beginners to sci-fi. The plot is fairly easy and basic. We follow Jazz who lives on Artemis, the first city on the moon. Jazz wants to live a simple life, get rich, and have no worries. Unfortunately, she is flung into an adventure of crime, conspiracy, and corruption. Her main driving force is to repay her dad for a mistake she made in her youth. Jazz tends to make everything worse with her antics but as expected with books like these, everything works out.

I honestly did not enjoy Jazz very much. She acted like someone in their late teens/early 20s so when I found out she was 26 I was shocked. I love an FMC with a sarcastic, sassy side but Jazz overdid it and it felt like everything she said was dripping with sarcasm. Honestly, she needs to grow up!

Another thing that I did not like was the fact that Jazz broke the fourth wall and talked to the reader which was very distracting and took away from the story.

However, the science in this novel was easy to follow and understand which again makes this the perfect beginner-friendly sci-fi.

Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns

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funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

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adventurous reflective tense slow-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? No

3.0

I think we should remember how repulsive our carnivorous habits would seem to an intelligent rabbit.

This novel has been a cornerstone in the sci-fi genre since its conception. As someone who does not tend to reach for sci-fi books, I keep coming back to this one. Most notably, this novel provides a commentary on war and its destruction. One thing that stood out to me is how the smallest organisms can be the most destructive to the Martians. But what I enjoyed were the parallels between the Martians and humans themselves. In the novel, the Martians arrive and use humans as sustenance. To them, we are simply a food source and nothing more. Just as animals are to us in most cases, this provides food for thought.

As far as the characters were concerned, I found the Martians the most interesting. They did not need digestive systems because their brain and nervous systems had fully taken over. Instead of consuming blood in the traditional sense, they inject the blood. This is an interesting take on what evolved lifeforms could look like.

Overall the main takeaway is that horror and disgust are subjective and that we could be considered the Martians concerning 'lesser' lifeforms.

3 Stars, since I felt like some parts were hard to get through, but would still recommend this to anyone who wants to dip their toes into sci-fi.

Twisted Games by Ana Huang

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emotional medium-paced