chrishammer's reviews
67 reviews

Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream by Blair Imani

informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

A Murder of Quality by John le Carré

dark sad fast-paced

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

3.5

A step up in the le carre early writing, excited to start the heavy hitters.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

funny 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? No

1.5

An incredibly uninteresting journey. There should be a warning on the cover that this book does not attempt to tell anything remotely close to a complete story arc. 

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

3.75

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.25

A pinch of this teen dystopian and a dash of another. Feels like a pillaging of the specific items that other series have become known for and an attempt to smash them together. This ultimately adds up to a world that's characterized with a heavy hand. Obnoxiously clear class structures, predictable twists and turns, and politics that border on boring. However the writing of the action and scene to scene charcters provides a momentum that often covers up or even mends these flaws. I'm not sure if I'll continue the series.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

hopeful fast-paced

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

3.0

Falls well short of it premise failing to explore the collapse of society, the intersection of these people's lives, or what it means to make art in a post virus world in a meaningful way. 

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

dark informative tense 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? Yes

4.0

A fairly neat middle book in this trilogy. Not quite as engrossing and historically referential as the first, though some of the interrogations are excellently written. I'm excited for the third. 

The Shortest History of Europe: How Conquest from the North, Culture from the South, and Religion from the East Forged a Continent by Rino Serù, John Hirst

informative fast-paced

3.75

It's ideas and themes as catalyst for progression through the classical and medieval periods were informative and felt to be laying a good base for someone looking to explore more on their own. The more modern eras, especially 19th century and beyond felt stuck in the middle. To much detail to boil down to themes and trends, to little detail to answer all your questions. 

Notes from a Sickbed by Tessa Brunton

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.25

A quick story with some fun styling but ends rather abruptly. 

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

challenging lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

There's extreme talent and skill on display here, but in an effort to read this as a book it begins to drone on. I guess there's a reason why in school we read extracts rather than whole collections.