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gandalf's reviews
705 reviews
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
i give up this book is just plain boring. there's nothing to hold my interest
Fable by Adrienne Young
0.0
Dullest most boring book I've ever read and I'm including math textbooks in that evaluation
A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee
1.0
boring. Read the first 5 chapters and the last 2 and really did not feel like I missed anything. The footnotes were a bizarre stylistic choice.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
0.25
This book had no redeeming qualities. Comma splice on page one (!) and similar grammatical errors appeared throughout. Even beyond the poor editing the writing was pedestrian at best. If I encountered an excerpt of this book online, instead of published and on my library app, I would have assumed it was ripped from a 15-year-old's Wattpad novel.
Half of the words written on the page are describing clothes, furniture, etc. Yet somehow they don't paint any picture whatsoever. The dialogue is stilted and juvenile. It gets especially bad when the MC meets the prince because the author attempts Witty Banter but neither character has any personality to speak of and is frankly lacking in the wits department so some of it is downright nonsensical.
I get a very strong sense that this is one of those books where the author is not thinking of it as a book--she is picturing it as a movie or a TV show as she writes, because that is what she really wants it to be, but writing is "easier" and so she's made it a book instead. This author is, unfortunately, not alone in this. It's becoming increasingly common in fantasy. Especially YA. And it makes for godawful reading. I do not want to read books where the author's main influences were movies and television. I want to read books where I can tell the author ...reads books. And I don't mean fanfiction I mean BOOKS.
Half of the words written on the page are describing clothes, furniture, etc. Yet somehow they don't paint any picture whatsoever. The dialogue is stilted and juvenile. It gets especially bad when the MC meets the prince because the author attempts Witty Banter but neither character has any personality to speak of and is frankly lacking in the wits department so some of it is downright nonsensical.
I get a very strong sense that this is one of those books where the author is not thinking of it as a book--she is picturing it as a movie or a TV show as she writes, because that is what she really wants it to be, but writing is "easier" and so she's made it a book instead. This author is, unfortunately, not alone in this. It's becoming increasingly common in fantasy. Especially YA. And it makes for godawful reading. I do not want to read books where the author's main influences were movies and television. I want to read books where I can tell the author ...reads books. And I don't mean fanfiction I mean BOOKS.
Squire by Nadia Shammas
1.5
Meh. There's nothing special about this book. The art is just fine. It's too short for the characters or setting to have any personality or depth to them; they're all just paper dolls that the author is pushing around to say "Imperialism is bad, kids!" I'd give it a pass because it's for kids, but based on the amount of swears included, it's at least for teens, and kids still deserve nuance and effort anyway. I'm currently reading FMA, which is for the same age group and touches on many of the same topics, but in a much more interesting and impactful way; Squire is pretty dull and clumsy in comparison.