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cody_crumley's reviews
162 reviews
The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore
2.0
Nothing about this book stands out as bad or good, it just kinda is. I enjoyed the historical and cultural aspects that the book has at the edges but for a historical fiction book, I don’t want the historical part on the edge it should be at the forefront.
This book felt of the quality of a Hallmark movie, there Ian nothing too deep or anything in this book that will make you think deeply about it. The story focuses more on romance than on the nursing profession. I wish it went into more details about the characters, as the reader we get tiny glimpses into characters like Una or Dru but don’t get enough for me to care about how those characters change over time.
The authors note at the end of the book should be read as it goes into detail about why the author wrote this book, the research she did, and where to go if you wanna learn more.
If you want a easy, light read that is low stakes, than you can do worse. If you are looking for something deeper, that focuses on the historical part of “historical fiction” more than you can easily do a lot better
This book felt of the quality of a Hallmark movie, there Ian nothing too deep or anything in this book that will make you think deeply about it. The story focuses more on romance than on the nursing profession. I wish it went into more details about the characters, as the reader we get tiny glimpses into characters like Una or Dru but don’t get enough for me to care about how those characters change over time.
The authors note at the end of the book should be read as it goes into detail about why the author wrote this book, the research she did, and where to go if you wanna learn more.
If you want a easy, light read that is low stakes, than you can do worse. If you are looking for something deeper, that focuses on the historical part of “historical fiction” more than you can easily do a lot better
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
4.0
Leviathan Wakes is the first book in the Expanse series. Immediately you are thrown into a complicated world with many factions and motivations. The book handles politics and the interacting of Earth, Mara, The Belt, and the OPA by showing what is happening through two different POVs: Jim Holden and Detective Miller.
Holden is the XO for the Canterbury who becomes the captain after the Canterbury gets attacked by a mysterious group, which becomes the catalyst for the underlying tensions of the different factions to start a war with each other. Miller is looking for a missing women as a cop on the shipping station of Ceres. Eventually these two men get sucked into the universe changing events that changes how the solar system power structure works
The strengths of this novel really shine with the interactions with the 4 person crew of the Rocinante (Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Alex) and how they handle the situations they are in. You get to watch their camaraderie build organically after every page.
The only slight I really have towards the book is some of the combat scenes are too fast paced and not enjoyable to read through. The ending is also kinda out of nowhere and completely bonkers, I did not hate it but did not feel it was set up super well.
Definitely excited to continue with the series at some point. It will be nice to have a new sci-fi series to read through!
Holden is the XO for the Canterbury who becomes the captain after the Canterbury gets attacked by a mysterious group, which becomes the catalyst for the underlying tensions of the different factions to start a war with each other. Miller is looking for a missing women as a cop on the shipping station of Ceres. Eventually these two men get sucked into the universe changing events that changes how the solar system power structure works
The strengths of this novel really shine with the interactions with the 4 person crew of the Rocinante (Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Alex) and how they handle the situations they are in. You get to watch their camaraderie build organically after every page.
The only slight I really have towards the book is some of the combat scenes are too fast paced and not enjoyable to read through. The ending is also kinda out of nowhere and completely bonkers, I did not hate it but did not feel it was set up super well.
Definitely excited to continue with the series at some point. It will be nice to have a new sci-fi series to read through!
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
5.0
Storm of Swords is the high mark for A Song of Ice and Fire. Rewarding through this middle chapter of the fantasy epic, you can really tell that Martin has hit his stride with the balance of action, exposition, and world building.
Characters that we have followed through out the first three books are given even more time to grow in front of us, and feel aged beyond their actual years l. Two examples I want to highlight are Sansa and Daenerys.
This book is where Sansa sheds her skin as a young girl, naive to what her actual position is and begins to politic her way around Kings Landing, even if for a time it seems she will be stuck married to Tyrion.
Daenerys on the other hand, who we forget is still a young girl because of the decisions she has made and leadership she has displayed, shows more of her younger side, especially when it comes to dealing with Jorah and who she keeps on her inner council.
My favorite of the new POVs is Jamie. His growth from pompous, spoiled Lannister to a defeated, insecure, but possibly more honorable knight is masterclass and something I will not forget.
I do think some characters like Arya and Davos take a step back in this book, more because the focus was not on them but events that happened around them and less about the actual writing of their chapters.
Also the Epilogue of this books is well done and where the books and the shows start to splinter. It is a introduction to a unique character that was not given their due in the show, which was less because of it.
Characters that we have followed through out the first three books are given even more time to grow in front of us, and feel aged beyond their actual years l. Two examples I want to highlight are Sansa and Daenerys.
This book is where Sansa sheds her skin as a young girl, naive to what her actual position is and begins to politic her way around Kings Landing, even if for a time it seems she will be stuck married to Tyrion.
Daenerys on the other hand, who we forget is still a young girl because of the decisions she has made and leadership she has displayed, shows more of her younger side, especially when it comes to dealing with Jorah and who she keeps on her inner council.
My favorite of the new POVs is Jamie. His growth from pompous, spoiled Lannister to a defeated, insecure, but possibly more honorable knight is masterclass and something I will not forget.
I do think some characters like Arya and Davos take a step back in this book, more because the focus was not on them but events that happened around them and less about the actual writing of their chapters.
Also the Epilogue of this books is well done and where the books and the shows start to splinter. It is a introduction to a unique character that was not given their due in the show, which was less because of it.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
4.0
This novella might have the most beautiful prose I have read in a book. The story of Red and Blue, two soldiers on opposite ends of a never ending time war between the Agency and the Garden is a romantic gut punch through time and space.
The letters that they back and forth are beautiful and especially later on, filled with raw emotion that comes out of the page. This novella is going to be off putting for some people who crave or need the traditional trappings of science fiction, which is understandable giving that science fiction usually is a genre that offers escapism into more fantastical worlds so the use of plainer writing makes sense.
Even with myself I struggled with the onboarding of this book, the first twenty or so pages really were a pain because of being dropped into this poetic time war. Once I got past that, the idea and what I think the authors were going for clicked with me and I was hooked.
It is a story about a feeling, not about a plot. A story that begins after they meet and ends before they are together. I don’t want to say much more, but if you are wanting to broaden your horizons within the science fiction/time travel genre, do yourself a favor and give Time War a shot, it deserves it
The letters that they back and forth are beautiful and especially later on, filled with raw emotion that comes out of the page. This novella is going to be off putting for some people who crave or need the traditional trappings of science fiction, which is understandable giving that science fiction usually is a genre that offers escapism into more fantastical worlds so the use of plainer writing makes sense.
Even with myself I struggled with the onboarding of this book, the first twenty or so pages really were a pain because of being dropped into this poetic time war. Once I got past that, the idea and what I think the authors were going for clicked with me and I was hooked.
It is a story about a feeling, not about a plot. A story that begins after they meet and ends before they are together. I don’t want to say much more, but if you are wanting to broaden your horizons within the science fiction/time travel genre, do yourself a favor and give Time War a shot, it deserves it
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
4.0
“You are no longer quite certain what side of the fence is the dream” is the final quote from Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus and I can’t think of anything more apt in describing this book.
Having read her second book (The Starless Sea) first and coming back to her first novel, I see the beginnings of what made that book so “magical” in The Night Circus. Her prose and writing style is just as beautiful and really does a wonderful job of engrossing you into the material. Like I wrote in one of my book updates while reading, where The Starless Sea felt like a ode to her love of storytelling, this felt like a similar nod at her love for the performing arts and what we consider “magic”.
This books narrative is held up by the intense and fiery romance between Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair, who are bound to each other in a game between their teachers. Anytime they are in the same room together, their attention to one another just exudes intense passion, especially in the second half of the book. One of the best romances I have read in a long time.
Where the narrative begins to lose some of its luster is with the game/challenge itself, which just seems like a convoluted plot device where the competitors don’t really win but just survive till one can’t anymore. She does not spend too much time on it and I kinda wish it was not there at all, seeing as it wraps up pretty quickly and neatly at the end.
The other characters in this novel are okay but none of them reach the heights of Celia or Marco, but that is okay they all had a role to play in the Le Cirque des Rêves.
Morgenstern really has done a great job of making a gothic style romance with magical performing arts that if it clicks with you will be hard to put down.
Having read her second book (The Starless Sea) first and coming back to her first novel, I see the beginnings of what made that book so “magical” in The Night Circus. Her prose and writing style is just as beautiful and really does a wonderful job of engrossing you into the material. Like I wrote in one of my book updates while reading, where The Starless Sea felt like a ode to her love of storytelling, this felt like a similar nod at her love for the performing arts and what we consider “magic”.
This books narrative is held up by the intense and fiery romance between Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair, who are bound to each other in a game between their teachers. Anytime they are in the same room together, their attention to one another just exudes intense passion, especially in the second half of the book. One of the best romances I have read in a long time.
Where the narrative begins to lose some of its luster is with the game/challenge itself, which just seems like a convoluted plot device where the competitors don’t really win but just survive till one can’t anymore. She does not spend too much time on it and I kinda wish it was not there at all, seeing as it wraps up pretty quickly and neatly at the end.
The other characters in this novel are okay but none of them reach the heights of Celia or Marco, but that is okay they all had a role to play in the Le Cirque des Rêves.
Morgenstern really has done a great job of making a gothic style romance with magical performing arts that if it clicks with you will be hard to put down.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
4.0
Station Eleven has been one of the more interesting post apocalypse worlds I have visited in media. The way that Emily St. John Mandel crafts her story timeline can be confusing in the beginning but the way items and people show up to be connected with later in the novel is extremely exciting.
When you start to learn more about what Station Eleven is, why it is so important to these characters, it really reminds me of a better version of the Citizen Kane reveal.
The world building is absolutely amazing and the main characters are fleshed out in some interesting ways. The big picture stuff is handled so well that it does kinda stand out with the smaller stuff is not handled as well l, which is my only very small complaint.
This book only being slightly over 330 pages but is so dense with information that it feels longer in all of the best ways. This has made me excited to see what the mini series on HBO Max is like and to start Mandel’s other books.
When you start to learn more about what Station Eleven is, why it is so important to these characters, it really reminds me of a better version of the Citizen Kane reveal.
The world building is absolutely amazing and the main characters are fleshed out in some interesting ways. The big picture stuff is handled so well that it does kinda stand out with the smaller stuff is not handled as well l, which is my only very small complaint.
This book only being slightly over 330 pages but is so dense with information that it feels longer in all of the best ways. This has made me excited to see what the mini series on HBO Max is like and to start Mandel’s other books.
A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
3.0
This is the first book in my Song of Ice and Fire revisit that my opinion of a book has gotten worse from how I originally felt about it the first time through.
I enjoyed the fresh perspectives that Martin provides us with, the standouts being Cersei and Jamie who have so much depth to their characters and provide interesting contrast to one another on how they have changed as the series progressed.
The POVs from Dorne and the Iron Islands were also well done and I enjoyed how they shifted around to different people, meaning they were perspectives of of a location more than they were the perspective of a person. It also helped give a bigger world view and not just confining the reader to King’s Landing or the North.
The other perspectives were all meandering at best, and really only interesting in their final chapters. Brienne has probably the worst set of chapters, which is disappointing since her character has all the ingredients of having a interesting character journey.
Overall I think the new things Martin tried to do in this book were worth the risk but all of them did not land.
P.S I listened to the audio book for about 75% of this one and really enjoyed but it made me realize how Martin focuses on the female image A LOT in his books, and kinda made me uncomfortable listening to it. Just a thought I had during my re read.
I enjoyed the fresh perspectives that Martin provides us with, the standouts being Cersei and Jamie who have so much depth to their characters and provide interesting contrast to one another on how they have changed as the series progressed.
The POVs from Dorne and the Iron Islands were also well done and I enjoyed how they shifted around to different people, meaning they were perspectives of of a location more than they were the perspective of a person. It also helped give a bigger world view and not just confining the reader to King’s Landing or the North.
The other perspectives were all meandering at best, and really only interesting in their final chapters. Brienne has probably the worst set of chapters, which is disappointing since her character has all the ingredients of having a interesting character journey.
Overall I think the new things Martin tried to do in this book were worth the risk but all of them did not land.
P.S I listened to the audio book for about 75% of this one and really enjoyed but it made me realize how Martin focuses on the female image A LOT in his books, and kinda made me uncomfortable listening to it. Just a thought I had during my re read.
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
3.0
I don’t know if it was expectations that were set too high or just the book not living up to the message it was trying to carry but Take My Hand never felt like it got out of first gear.
The books subject matter is extremely important and disheartens to hear how true it all is. The fact that the US Government was taken advantage of poor, Black women and children, sterilizing them without their knowledge for years is horrible. If the book was a non-fiction book or put more of the focus on this happening then I think it would be a better book.
Instead, it is through the character Civil Townsend, who is a black women from a nicer part of town, who does not face the economic or social challenges that the Williams family does. What could have been a great character in Civil I feel like is undermined by the constant romance/flirtation with the various men in the story, she loses some of what makes her s great character because of that.
Like I had said throughout the reading updates for this book , it felt like something was missing and the book never finds it by the end, with the ending just kinda falling flat. We don’t see why Civil goes and becomes a doctor after fighting it the entire time, nor what happened with the girls growing up. The book felt like it was setting you up for answers that it did not want to give.
Overall I think it is a easy read and a important topic that should be discussed more, that is even more relevant now with Roe v Wade and abortion rights under attack. I just wish the book was more impactful like I know it could have been
The books subject matter is extremely important and disheartens to hear how true it all is. The fact that the US Government was taken advantage of poor, Black women and children, sterilizing them without their knowledge for years is horrible. If the book was a non-fiction book or put more of the focus on this happening then I think it would be a better book.
Instead, it is through the character Civil Townsend, who is a black women from a nicer part of town, who does not face the economic or social challenges that the Williams family does. What could have been a great character in Civil I feel like is undermined by the constant romance/flirtation with the various men in the story, she loses some of what makes her s great character because of that.
Like I had said throughout the reading updates for this book , it felt like something was missing and the book never finds it by the end, with the ending just kinda falling flat. We don’t see why Civil goes and becomes a doctor after fighting it the entire time, nor what happened with the girls growing up. The book felt like it was setting you up for answers that it did not want to give.
Overall I think it is a easy read and a important topic that should be discussed more, that is even more relevant now with Roe v Wade and abortion rights under attack. I just wish the book was more impactful like I know it could have been
Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth
3.0
I think it is a interesting start to a new universe. The concept of following what happens to the heroes after they defeat the villains they were promised to defeat. How they deal with depression, PTSD, and the fallout of what you are supposed to do next.
Those concepts are in Roth’s latest but eventually does transition to a more normal science/magic style story with worlds colliding.
The ending definitely is left as a cliff hanger for a setup to more books. I kinda wish this was a one and done but the story is left in a interesting spot that if done right could be pretty great to explore in the next book.
As her first foray into adult fiction after penning the Divergent YA novels, Roth has done a good job of creating sure footed platform that could get better.
Those concepts are in Roth’s latest but eventually does transition to a more normal science/magic style story with worlds colliding.
The ending definitely is left as a cliff hanger for a setup to more books. I kinda wish this was a one and done but the story is left in a interesting spot that if done right could be pretty great to explore in the next book.
As her first foray into adult fiction after penning the Divergent YA novels, Roth has done a good job of creating sure footed platform that could get better.