foursythia's reviews
150 reviews

The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Sooo fun, I fly through this. Our main character is sleepwalking and there's something else going on and along the short, short chapters & book, we're figuring out what she's been up to & why is she sleepwalking. 

A great choice if you wanna read some Women In Translation work or simply a short, fast-paced book to get out of your reading slump. Also the chapters are so short, this is literally for all of you easily-distracted babies. Go pick up this book releasing soon in September! Thank you to Net Galley & publisher for allowing me access to the eARC.

Unexpected Vanilla by Lee Hyemi

challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.0

As per usual, poetry is still not for me but this was a quick, nice experience anyway.

Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion

informative inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

3.5

An experience. I'd give it 4 stars solely for the part where it works, but it's quite the hit and miss and I know it's not her best book out of them all. So here we go.

Any Person Is the Only Self: Essays by Elisa Gabbert

adventurous informative inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

4.5

A masterpiece. Here's one for the academic journaling girls & boys out there. 

It's a half star away from perfection simply because it's in the form of anthology—which bounds to have its hit and miss, inevitably; though it's mostly a hit for me. 

A book and practically a series of love letters for reading, for culture and art: there's chapters on books, authors, reading, bands, but also loneliness and depression and friendship, humanity. There's everything for everyone kinda and if you don't connect with a chapter you can just skip to the next one and see it might resonate with you better: the joy of essays collection.

Would love to hear this author yap about anything really, such a brilliant & geek research. I enjoyed "A Complicating Energy" & "Somethingness" best while "Nostalgia For A Less Innocent Time" spoke the least to me. Probably because I wasn't living through that era! 

Thank you to publisher and NetGalley for providing me the e ARC of this title in exchange for this honest review of mine.

Mongrel by Hanako Footman

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
Did not finish book. Stopped at 63%.

I want sooo badly to like the book but unfortunately it isn't working for me. By 50%++ mark we're introduced to more characters into the already packed cast and the plot seems to widen but not deepens. You keep opening new ground without really exploring any of the existing lore & plot. Also... I could care less about the characters. Setting description was top notch, but sadly that alone doesn't carry.

Evocation by S.T. Gibson

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

What a treat. 

This is S.T. Gibson on her best: drawing up rich cast of characters amd complex, complicated, yet fluid dynamic between them. Do expect polyamorous bonds, again was Gibson's classic signature. Always love her takes on these eccentric arrangement.

This was such a pleasing esoteric treat, so full of magic of all kinds, so deliriously good. Nailed down the depiction of each magic branches. 

The 0.75 lack from a perfect score was taken from the fact that this would be a 4-books series, and the fact that it's a little too action packed for me—well written as it was.

Blue is a Darkness Weakened by Light by Sarah McCarry

reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

5.0

The One Thing You'd Save by Linda Sue Park

inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre by Cho Yeeun

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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

4.5

Jelly, hot sweaty summer on theme park? Sign me up! I've been waiting to get my hold on this copy, and it doesn't disappoint. While I don't think the story is anything special & out of ordinary, and the writing–typical to that of Korean literature–may falls flat, I find the directness in the writing helps me move & pace through the story quickly. The distantness keeps me engaged, ironically. I still would like to know some more about the ending, tbh. About who is this so called god and how does all these things possibly happen, some sort of explanation? But I made peace with that being left for us to wonder. This was an enjoyable reading experience.