garrettcz's reviews
364 reviews

Injection, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

adventurous inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

2,000 to 10,000: How to Write Faster, Write Better, and Write More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron

informative inspiring

4.0

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

adventurous hopeful 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? No

3.75

Babel by R.F. Kuang

dark informative slow-paced

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

3.25

I enjoyed elements of this book a lot, but I disliked a lot of aspects of it as well.

Strengths of the book (IMO):

• The author is obviously intelligent and presents information in an easily understood manner. 
• The book's subject matter is well-researched.
• Lots of academic subject matter which will really resonate with some readers.
• Cool, unique magic system.
• Interesting premise.
• Lots of diversity.

Weaknesses of the book (IMO):

• Almost no subtlety. The reader is beaten over the head with basically every point the author makes, to the point where to me it feels like the author thinks her readers aren't very intelligent.
• The same points are made so repeatedly that they become repetitive and at times grating.
• There's a lot of lengthy monologuing, to the point where I was reminded of Ayn Rand (not in the subject matter, but in the delivery).
• The author's tone and how she presents some of her points at times comes across as patronizing.
• IMO the author relied too much upon her own lived experiences and some of the book (especially the second quarter) felt autobiographical, and not in a good way.
• Pacing. Parts of the book were extremely boring (especially the second quarter). Entire sections could have been removed without affecting the story. This book could easily have been 100+ pages shorter. Several times I desperately wanted anything to happen. I made a joke to a friend who was also reading the book that "I never thought I'd be reading a novel in which the central conflict of a massive section was midterms, but here we are." Again, I think the author was relying too much upon her own lived experiences instead of imagining how the world could/would be different.
• The main character is not very exciting or engaging and the story would probably have been better told from a multi-character POV. We get glimpses of this in interludes.
• Not enough magic. The magic is mostly told to the reader, not shown, except for a handful of times, which again made it feel tacked on. It felt like the author thought readers/her publisher wouldn't like a historical fiction novel so she tacked on a magic system to make it more palatable. 
• There is practically zero speculation or extrapolation. The book takes place in a world exactly like ours but with magic, but history still occurs...exactly like ours. Completely unchanged. This is so unimaginative, nonsensical, and implausible to the point of absurdity, and it caused me a lot of frustration with the book. This really reinforces the feeling that the author wanted to tell a historical fiction story (which would have been fine) but decided to tack on a magic system (which is irritating).

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed this book but felt it had a lot of flaws. 

There were very cool elements. The world-building was well done, many of the characters were interesting, and the plot was cool. The cities all felt unique and varied, and I liked the differences in cultures and how this was explored. The magic was cool.

There was a lot of buildup for plot points that were then resolved too easily/quickly. Lots of pacing issues. Lots of time was spent on scenes involving lots of dialogue, while action scenes are VERY rushed, to the point where multiple times I thought maybe some pages had been stuck together and I had to go back and check to see if I missed something. 

Nearly all of the characters felt kept at a distance, and one of the main characters was more or less useless after the first 25% of the book and took up too much of the rest of the book unnecessarily, and it didn't help that I really disliked the character. Especially when another character I liked very much died halfway through the book unnecessarily. I wish the deaths would have been swapped because the other character was a much better character.

There was way more telling than showing. Many of the action scenes felt more like a summary than a play-by-play.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

5.0