edrickashay's reviews
49 reviews

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

As someone who usually reads fantasy, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. If I ever have kids and they want to know what COVID was like, I'll hand them this book. Wonderfully real characters that seem to cope in their own realistic ways, and lots of nuggets of wisdom involving grief and personal growth that I wish I had time to process. This book could change someone's life, I think, if they read it at the right time for themselves. 

Thank you to my Nana, for recommending this book to me and introducing me to this author.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

5.0

Fireborne by Rosaria Munda

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

adventurous hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

Alice-in-wonderland vibes with a naive human making deals with an attractive and manipulative god. The writing itself is nothing remarkable and at times cheesy, but this was a good enough time that I wanted to finish the book. 

It was a silly good time with lots of plot shifts in the begging and around 60%, with vampires then randomly thrown in. Again, a silly good time. You'll enjoy this book it you don't take it too seriously. 

My main qualms with this book include that I want to know how many Fates there are and what makes them Fates - they seem tarot card inspired rather than deck of cards inspired, but their lore isn't really explained other than that they're sort of Gods but not really. My other qualm is that some of the lines in this book had the opportunity to be deep and reflective about life - the kind of quotes you want to highlight - but came off feeling cheesy or too obvious. I wish the author trusted us more to see our MC changing instead of spelling it out for us.
 

I don't mind our MC's optimistism and positivity even though it makes her a hopeless naive romantic.

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

medium-paced

3.0

The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black

medium-paced

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

4.0

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs
Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

4.0

The Wicked King by Holly Black

5.0

Southern Sun, Northern Star by Joanna Hathaway

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was long, grueling, had me on the verge of anxiety attacks, begging for it to end, begging for it not to end the way it sounded like it was ending. 

I read this when I did not have the mental capacity to really appreciate it, and I still left thinking "wow. This. This is storytelling." Confusing and hard to keep up with at times. But yeah. What an ending. 

*spoilers after this*

 

"You already have my heart. Take my lungs too." Wow slap in the face great lines go off loved 

This entire series could've been solved if Dakar saw his son in love with the princess and decided to get them married, kill Reni, have Ali and Athan inherit the throne.