emmagrace's reviews
218 reviews

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

As much as I find fault in the overbearing prose, the handholding through the mystery, and the questionable backwards-and-bigoted country vs. perfect-and-welcoming country worldbuilding, I have to admit that I'm rather fond of this heartwarming tale of healing. It gripped me from the start and was exactly what I needed at the moment.

Content Warnings

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

The One by Kiera Cass

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.25

Celeste's last minute redemption arc (undeserved) just so we could feel bad when she died was criminal, but against my better judgement, I found america and maxon cute

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I have a lot of feelings about this one. The first half was perfection, but the ending was a bit disappointing. I think it's because the story became more and more untethered as it went on, and it kind of ran away with itself at the end. I still thought it was a great book, just a bit rocky like you'd expect from any debut.
Also, READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS. I can't stress this enough. I thought I was prepared because I'd heard about how traumatizing chapter 21 is, but I was still horrified. I'm glad R. F. Kuang went there because the Nanjing massacre is a terrible part of history that deserves more awareness, but that didn't make it any less difficult to read. I had to step away from the book and recover before continuing. For that reason, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who feels they might have difficulties with the content.

Content Warnings

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A few thoughts:
1. Olivie Blake has a real talent for writing complex inter-character relationships. In the first book, I thought Callum and Reina were both lacking in complexity/attention compared to the other four, but this book really made up for that.
2. While I might have been quick to dismiss the first book as an empty dark academia book (all vibes no substance), this book really does a good job at digging into the relationship between knowledge and power. I look forward to seeing how that develops in the next book.
3. Kind of related to my second point, I think that while book one felt very insular, this book widens the scope and situates the story in the wider world. The world building that initially felt like bare bones is now fleshed out, and I'm sold on it. It's an interesting exploration of our world but with magic where magic isn't the miracle solution to all of our problems, but rather an amplification of the pitfalls of power and greed.
4. My one critique is that the choice in perspective really held back the narrative. By having each chapter be from only one character's perspective, it made for this awkward reading experience where we wouldn't hear from a character for 60+ pages, and when we did catch up with them, several weeks (or sometimes months) will have passed and we have to rewind to where we last saw this character. It was especially annoying when a chapter would end in a cliffhanger and it would take 60 pages to see what happens next.
Aside from my one issue with this book (which was, admittedly, significant), I overall thought this was a great book, and I'm excited for the next one!

The Elite by Kiera Cass

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced