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foolishpsychopomp's reviews
19 reviews
Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Unlike CDTH I went into Mister Impossible not really knowing anything about it outside of being the next book in the trilogy and it ended being everything I didn't know I wanted. Though as I have very positive things to say about MI, I can understand ways that this book might end up disappointing people. There's plot from the first book that doesn't get as much attention here, some characters may not have the same amount of page time, and/or just feeling like Mister Impossible suffers from middle book syndrome. While none of these are things that ended up bothering me (or not sure if I really agree with in case of the last point), I think they are things that might end up bothering other people so I figured they're worth acknowledging.
The character work is probably MI's strongest element. Of course I was already in love with them before even starting this book but what characters end up going through or having to deal (or not deal) with was so compelling to me. Watching the characters in the act of trying to find their place while navigating what life has been till that point and all of it's baggage and then throwing that all on top of the various intercharacter dynamics while also dealing with all the plot is just so good. Even when characters aren't making the best of decisions I can't help but still feel for them. Absolutely obsessed with the negative character development <3
The things that were more plot related I thought were super interesting, especially getting to the last like one hundred pages or so, and I can't wait to read the next book.
The character work is probably MI's strongest element. Of course I was already in love with them before even starting this book but what characters end up going through or having to deal (or not deal) with was so compelling to me. Watching the characters in the act of trying to find their place while navigating what life has been till that point and all of it's baggage and then throwing that all on top of the various intercharacter dynamics while also dealing with all the plot is just so good. Even when characters aren't making the best of decisions I can't help but still feel for them. Absolutely obsessed with the negative character development <3
The things that were more plot related I thought were super interesting, especially getting to the last like one hundred pages or so, and I can't wait to read the next book.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
it was too many pages of try hard pretentious nonsense
Iron Heart by Nina Varela
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Overall I feel very similarly about Iron Heart as I do Crier’s War, it has a lot of potential and interesting ideas but ultimately it feels underdeveloped. Just like the first book I had found it hard to completely connect with the characters on any kind of emotional level.
Though with Iron Heart there are two major points that really hurt this book for me. First there were times when plot just happened off screen that didn’t involved either Crier or Ayla and we just have to deal with hearing about it afterwords. And it’s not that I don’t expect stuff to happen outside of what we as the audience are allowed to see but sometimes it came across as if the author didn’t have the time/room/etc to actually include those parts properly. Second, I was honestly kind of disappointed with the final confrontation. I won’t go into detail but it felt really underwhelming and much too easy. Now I don’t always need a final confrontation to be huge and flashy but I felt like this book was setting up the stakes for something a bit more.
All that being said I did enjoy Iron Heart more out of the two books. I thought both the new and returning characters were more interesting this time around. Same with the actual events in the book. I’d go so far as to say Iron heart is a good bit more memorable than Crier’s War. At the end of the day I think despite it’s shortcomings both of these books are still worth at the very least trying out.
Though with Iron Heart there are two major points that really hurt this book for me. First there were times when plot just happened off screen that didn’t involved either Crier or Ayla and we just have to deal with hearing about it afterwords. And it’s not that I don’t expect stuff to happen outside of what we as the audience are allowed to see but sometimes it came across as if the author didn’t have the time/room/etc to actually include those parts properly. Second, I was honestly kind of disappointed with the final confrontation. I won’t go into detail but it felt really underwhelming and much too easy. Now I don’t always need a final confrontation to be huge and flashy but I felt like this book was setting up the stakes for something a bit more.
All that being said I did enjoy Iron Heart more out of the two books. I thought both the new and returning characters were more interesting this time around. Same with the actual events in the book. I’d go so far as to say Iron heart is a good bit more memorable than Crier’s War. At the end of the day I think despite it’s shortcomings both of these books are still worth at the very least trying out.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Crier's War by Nina Varela
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Crier's War has a lot of potential and interesting concepts but I felt a lot of it was really underdeveloped. There were multiple times in which I felt the book just kind of skimmed over parts of world building, plot events, or even just character dynamics/development that I think could of really elevated it for me. I think the biggest problem it caused was being unable to connect to the characters and the things they are going through. So certain story beats didn't really hit for me in a way I think they may have been intended too (e.g. Crier's relationship with both her father and Scyre Kinok).
That being said I still enjoyed the book and would recommend for people to try it out if they were interested. The writing style and pacing make it a really quick easy read. I also did like Ayla and Crier both individually and their relationship with each other. Even if it's not as fleshed out as I might of wanted there is still an interesting world and lore set up that did keep me interesting in seeing how the rest of the book and the sequel played out. Overall Crier's War isn't my favorite book but I certainly don't regret the time I put into reading it either.
That being said I still enjoyed the book and would recommend for people to try it out if they were interested. The writing style and pacing make it a really quick easy read. I also did like Ayla and Crier both individually and their relationship with each other. Even if it's not as fleshed out as I might of wanted there is still an interesting world and lore set up that did keep me interesting in seeing how the rest of the book and the sequel played out. Overall Crier's War isn't my favorite book but I certainly don't regret the time I put into reading it either.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I feel like House of Leaves is more about the actual experience than just story it is telling. Which makes it sound super pretentious, and maybe it is, but that's how I feel about it. I also feel like that is what will make or break this book for people. Either your going to be able to get into the more unconventional presentation or you are just going to bounce right off it. Personally I really enjoyed trying to figure out how to navigate House of Leaves. Following all the winding parts of the story, parsing through the different parts of this book's structure, just trying to figure what is it that is really happening, were honestly such a huge part of the appeal for me. The one thing I was a bit disappointed by was I didn't find the book as scary as I had heard some people say it was. Don't get me wrong I did get plenty unnerved reading it but I was expecting it to be a bit more intense then that.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Certainly not the worst thing I have ever read but it doesn't do anything all that interesting either. The writing style was fine, I liked a few of the characters, and there were a couple of scenes that I really enjoyed but overall there wasn't much there for me. I felt like it wasn't saying anything new or at least trying to say it in an interesting and thought provoking way (which isn't inherently bad or wrong). If I'm being honest I found the book to be really preachy and heavy handed, like I had to have the moral lesson spelled out in big bold letters for me, otherwise there is no way I would of understood what the book was trying to say. I know this isn't marketed at a younger audience but maybe it should of been.
The Terror by Dan Simmons
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? It's complicated
0.5
Just go watch the amc series <3
I read this book in 4 consecutive days. Those are 4 days I am never going to get back and a part of me will always regret putting myself through that. The only saving grace was the fact I borrowed this book from the library and didn't actually spend any money on this flaming garbage. It would be easier to say the (very few) things I liked about this book rather than that which I didn't, but for the sake of an accurate review I can't not talk about it.
Firstly I have to acknowledge how drenched in racism, misogyny, homophobia, and ableism this book is. And the "time period accurate" reason really only goes so far for me. There is such an over abundance in it's use of derogatory language that it feels less like period accurate views and more like Dimmons is just excited to use slurs. Also it's not just "character is racist because well of course they would be" but also the fact he is writing characters into racist/homophobic/etc tropes that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Now I'm not someone who will shy away from a longer book but just because your book can be over 500 pages doesn't mean that it should be. I don't know what happened during the editing stage, whether the editor just did a poor job or Dimmons just ignored any suggestions, but The Terror could of really used a few more passes before being published. The amount of times things are stated, then restated, and stated again in a level of nauseating detail just isn't always necessary (and you're lucky if this isn't happening all in a single chapter). There were times I could swear that Dimmons just copied and pasted a couple of paragraphs and hoped no one would notice.
Another major issue for me were it's characters because if being a slog wasn't bad enough, I could barely bring myself to care about anyone in this book. Not a single character has any depth deeper then a bone dry parking lot. Most of them do not matter in slightest, you could probably swap a bunch of names around and nothing would change. For anyone who as more than 4 lines of dialogue they can be firmly split into two groups; those who are the most insufferable characters in the world (Crozier, Hickey), and those who are tolerable but honestly nothing special (Goodsir, Fitzjames, Peglar). The sole exception to this is Blanky who somehow manages to be the only character I actually liked. Which considering the sheer number of characters is kind of sad.
Other dreadful parts of The Terror: many things happen for seemly no reason or with no consequence, told non-chronologically but only sometimes and for unintelligible reasons, very cringey sex scenes, Irving's music boner, Dimmons being unable to write an emotional scene if his life depended on it, whatever the fuck was going on in the last like 5-10 chapters
I read this book in 4 consecutive days. Those are 4 days I am never going to get back and a part of me will always regret putting myself through that. The only saving grace was the fact I borrowed this book from the library and didn't actually spend any money on this flaming garbage. It would be easier to say the (very few) things I liked about this book rather than that which I didn't, but for the sake of an accurate review I can't not talk about it.
Firstly I have to acknowledge how drenched in racism, misogyny, homophobia, and ableism this book is. And the "time period accurate" reason really only goes so far for me. There is such an over abundance in it's use of derogatory language that it feels less like period accurate views and more like Dimmons is just excited to use slurs. Also it's not just "character is racist because well of course they would be" but also the fact he is writing characters into racist/homophobic/etc tropes that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Now I'm not someone who will shy away from a longer book but just because your book can be over 500 pages doesn't mean that it should be. I don't know what happened during the editing stage, whether the editor just did a poor job or Dimmons just ignored any suggestions, but The Terror could of really used a few more passes before being published. The amount of times things are stated, then restated, and stated again in a level of nauseating detail just isn't always necessary (and you're lucky if this isn't happening all in a single chapter). There were times I could swear that Dimmons just copied and pasted a couple of paragraphs and hoped no one would notice.
Another major issue for me were it's characters because if being a slog wasn't bad enough, I could barely bring myself to care about anyone in this book. Not a single character has any depth deeper then a bone dry parking lot. Most of them do not matter in slightest, you could probably swap a bunch of names around and nothing would change. For anyone who as more than 4 lines of dialogue they can be firmly split into two groups; those who are the most insufferable characters in the world (Crozier, Hickey), and those who are tolerable but honestly nothing special (Goodsir, Fitzjames, Peglar). The sole exception to this is Blanky who somehow manages to be the only character I actually liked. Which considering the sheer number of characters is kind of sad.
Other dreadful parts of The Terror: many things happen for seemly no reason or with no consequence, told non-chronologically but only sometimes and for unintelligible reasons, very cringey sex scenes, Irving's music boner, Dimmons being unable to write an emotional scene if his life depended on it, whatever the fuck was going on in the last like 5-10 chapters
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