honeyreads1066's reviews
335 reviews

The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake

adventurous emotional reflective tense slow-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

3.0

To be completely honest I felt like this book was a bit of a dissapointment as an ending to its counterparts. I just feel completely unsatisfied an  quite frankly a little annoyed at how the stories of each character ended.

I felt as though the most important parts, the parts that were the most interesting were left to be open ended, im not entirely sure how to describe it except from unfinished.

As always the writing was good, there was a healthy amount of words and concepts too large that I could not wrap my head around which is what I had grown to expect from reading the other two so it is easy to say that this book has been consistent in that regard. The actual personality and grown aside from one character I felt like fit exactly where we left off, it felt natural and I understood why each character made the decision they did.

What I didn't understand that with the large events that happened which was very late in the book i felt like there were no consequences. Chracaters were able to do what they wanted with little blowback, it just felt like a hey everything is fine now situation. Also, with the exception of Parisa I don't feel like anyone actually did anything from the end of the first third to the finale.

Overall as I am sure is obvious it just didn't live up to the expectations I had and I don't feel fulfilled with this ending even though I'm not mad with the actual events that happened. I just don't believe that if fit with the narrative that the book set out.

Goddess of Filth by V. Castro

adventurous dark hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

With Teeth by Brian Keene

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The Darkest Temptation by Danielle Lori

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The Maddest Obsession by Danielle Lori

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The Sweetest Oblivion by Danielle Lori

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

My Dark Romeo by L.J. Shen, Parker S. Huntington

dark tense fast-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

4.5

Sunny Disposition by Deanna Grey

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

Nothing to say except I ATE THIS UP

Horrid by Katrina Leno

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories by Eric LaRocca

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

I was struggling a lot when it came to reviewing this book. 

Inevitably with a short story collection, I found it difficult to have an overall opinion because there were stories I found significantly more interesting than others and vice versa. Here of course there were stories that I connected with and stories I did not. 
I felt as though a lot of these stories were very surface-level and did not provide characters that were particularly fleshed out. It made it difficult to care for their well-being and the plots of some of the stories were not enough to hold the story on its own. 

Despite that, there were absolutely stories where I connected deeply and was extremely invested. Easily that could have been a full-length novel. That brings me to my second and only other problem, the order. The order of stories in a collection is key in terms of gripping the reader and I felt as though in terms of themes and energy we went up and down and then down and up. It made It hard to have an overall opinion of the book 

Overall, I would give it a go both if you have and haven't read his most famous book as I think there will be something in them for everyone.