hedsek's reviews
118 reviews

The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

I found the book really hard to follow, maybe even more so than the first part. Baru seems like a completely different person, which makes sense given the things she's done, but in a very weird teenagery way for some reason. I am super confused  by her relation with almost everyone, but maybe it's supposed to be that way? There was some beautiful prose though, and as with the previous book the ending was very climactic and makes me want to read the next book. 
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Lonely Planet Berlin by Lonely Planet

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adventurous informative lighthearted fast-paced

4.5

Really good recommendations and very up to date information as well as an interesting history section that gives context to the city.
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Again, super cool world and story but pretty bad dialogue and relationships. I rated it a bit lower than the previous book because I really think Lyra went downhill as a character. She was a pretty strong female lead and now she mostly just listens to Will which is a pity. Still, love the religious themes and such.
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The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Absolutely love the worldbuilding and the lore and most things about the story. The ways in which relationships between characters and dialogue are written is not great tbh, but the story more than makes up for it.
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Geïllustreerd botanisch woordenboek by Corinne Décarpentrie

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informative fast-paced

3.5

Erg leerzaam! Ik denk dat het gebruik van een sleutel hierdoor een stuk makkelijker wordt, maar af en toe worden er nog wel termen gebruikt die niet uitgelegd worden. Ik zal de review updaten wanneer ik het boek ook als naslagwerk gebruikt heb ipv het alleen te lezen.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a pretty difficult book to rate! I love the setting and the worldbuilding, although I think some of the details could have been repeated a bit more often because sometimes I felt like I was supposed to remember everything that was mentioned once for the rest of the book to understand what was going on. The plot was quite hard to follow sometimes (might also have to do with the fact that I read this before going to sleep), and I often felt like the motivations Baru had for her decisions were left implicit which confused me. Now that I have reached the ending of the book, this makes more sense though and I feel like I'll have to reread the book to fully appreciate the plot. 
Although I struggled through the first 2/3 of the book, I finished the rest in two days because the ending is just amazing and the buildup towards the climax is so well done. I am really glad I was convinced to continue reading after all. 
Finally, it is just so refreshing to read a fantasy book that is not the same white cishet patriarchal stuff I've come to expect from the genre so that is definitely a pro.
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Close Verse Translation by

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

3.75

This was so much fun! We read the Middle English text with a reading group and I really enjoyed it. The ending is wild and the book is pretty humorous 
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Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

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challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

It's difficult to rate this book, as some of the stories were hard for me to understand without understanding their cultural context. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't able to get at any deeper meaning to some of the more gory stories, which left me with the feeling that things were just done for shock value (which is probably wrong). The concepts and ideas in this bundle are really intriguing and some of the stories do get stuck in your head quite a bit because they are so unique and make you uncomfortable for quite some time after reading them.

The first two stories are very gory, and I don't think they give a very good impression of the rest of the bundle so don't stop reading if you dislike those two. The other stories can be gory as well, but I feel like they have more to offer aside from that. 'Snare' (definitely horrifying in its own way) was my favourite, and the last three stories are a good read as well.

I'm personally not really a fan of the writing style as it can get a bit repetitive, but it's also not offensive and it reads pretty easily.
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The Forager's Calendar: A Seasonal Guide to Nature's Wild Harvests by John Wright

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adventurous funny informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

4.5

This was so much fun to read. It perfectly toes the line between being informative and personal. I like the focus on how to forage responsibly and the inclusion of recipes or tips on how to process the harvest. It's not a guide though (the author makes that clear himself as well), so more fun as a source of inspiration than as a way to actually get started.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

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informative reflective medium-paced

2.75

I did not really enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped, after it was recommended by many different people. The writing style is pretty infantilising at times, often using three different ridiculous examples in a row to illustrate that something is not possible, when one (or no) examples would have been sufficient. I also did not like how the author mixes scientific research with his own opinions without differentiating the two completely. I noticed this especially in the beginning of the book in the linguistics section, where he sometimes phrased things as facts when I know there is no consensus about it at all in the field. This made me wonder about the accuracy of other parts of the book where I don't have knowledge of the field other than what is provided in the book.
I did really enjoy his analysis of the economy as a type of religion, that was very insightful.