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immakingt0ast's reviews
853 reviews
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
lighthearted
reflective
slow-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
2.5
Lu and Ren's Guide to Geozoology by Angela Hsieh
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for the honest review.
This was cute and had a lot of things I really like to see - colorful illustrations, an interesting world, POC characters, an ownvoices author. There is a lot to like here, but this is (I believe) the author's first graphic novel and it does show a bit. While the pages are colorful, the storyboarding is hard to follow in parts, and the worldbuilding could be stronger, especially considering the actual concept of Geozoology is absolutely amazing. A great effort but I am not 100% sure I'd read a sequel.
This was cute and had a lot of things I really like to see - colorful illustrations, an interesting world, POC characters, an ownvoices author. There is a lot to like here, but this is (I believe) the author's first graphic novel and it does show a bit. While the pages are colorful, the storyboarding is hard to follow in parts, and the worldbuilding could be stronger, especially considering the actual concept of Geozoology is absolutely amazing. A great effort but I am not 100% sure I'd read a sequel.
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire
adventurous
reflective
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
4.5
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for an honest review.
There's a lot of interesting stuff here. First, the premise. We follow Cora, a Chinese American, and a few of her Chinese American friends in New York during the height of COVID, where they are working as crime scene cleaners. They are noticing that they have been cleaning up a LOT of murdered Asian women... and then they start finding bats at the crime scenes. Oh, and they start seeing ghosts of the murdered women.
I really appreciate what the author was trying to do here. Telling the stories of Asians during COVID who are dealing with all the hate and violence directed at them during that time is SO important and quite frankly I would really like to see more of it. There is also some really cool cultural information shared over the course of the novel and I always love to that.
That being said, as much as I loved the premise, I'm not 100% sure I loved the execution. Cora isn't really that interesting of a character (though I did love Aoife and Harvey). But my biggest gripe was that I really didn't love how the mystery unfolded. The whole book is a slow burn, and the ending feels a little rushed and not very satisfying. That could have been an intentional choice of the author (the character mentions this specifically) so this is probably just me wishing everything could be wrapped up in nice bows. But still, even a vague ending can be a good one and the last 10% just felt rushed for me.
Overall 3.5 stars rounded up and I'd like more Asian ownvoices covid stories please
There's a lot of interesting stuff here. First, the premise. We follow Cora, a Chinese American, and a few of her Chinese American friends in New York during the height of COVID, where they are working as crime scene cleaners. They are noticing that they have been cleaning up a LOT of murdered Asian women... and then they start finding bats at the crime scenes. Oh, and they start seeing ghosts of the murdered women.
I really appreciate what the author was trying to do here. Telling the stories of Asians during COVID who are dealing with all the hate and violence directed at them during that time is SO important and quite frankly I would really like to see more of it. There is also some really cool cultural information shared over the course of the novel and I always love to that.
That being said, as much as I loved the premise, I'm not 100% sure I loved the execution. Cora isn't really that interesting of a character (though I did love Aoife and Harvey). But my biggest gripe was that I really didn't love how the mystery unfolded. The whole book is a slow burn, and the ending feels a little rushed and not very satisfying. That could have been an intentional choice of the author (the character mentions this specifically) so this is probably just me wishing everything could be wrapped up in nice bows. But still, even a vague ending can be a good one and the last 10% just felt rushed for me.
Overall 3.5 stars rounded up and I'd like more Asian ownvoices covid stories please
String #1 by Paul Tobin
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This one really didn't do it for me. The art was cool but for some reason I couldn't get past the fact that the MC was Korean for no apparent reason? She doesn't really have a backstory except that her parents were murdered so it just seemed a... strange choice. It does not seem to inform her character or her decision making in any way, so it just seemed off. Ofc diversity is cool but it just seemed like it was inserted for the sake of diversity, both with the race of the MC and other characters.
The rest of the novel was pretty okay, the art was so colorful and great to look at but the story did not really draw me in.
This one really didn't do it for me. The art was cool but for some reason I couldn't get past the fact that the MC was Korean for no apparent reason? She doesn't really have a backstory except that her parents were murdered so it just seemed a... strange choice. It does not seem to inform her character or her decision making in any way, so it just seemed off. Ofc diversity is cool but it just seemed like it was inserted for the sake of diversity, both with the race of the MC and other characters.
The rest of the novel was pretty okay, the art was so colorful and great to look at but the story did not really draw me in.
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
Favorite book of 2025 so far!!
Hilarious and flawed mc, neat magic system, a mystery with incredible twists and turns and a cute romance. Absolutely devoured it and I'm sad it's over.
Hilarious and flawed mc, neat magic system, a mystery with incredible twists and turns and a cute romance. Absolutely devoured it and I'm sad it's over.
よつばと! 1 by Kiyohiko Azuma
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
Not vibing with the audio but the story is interesting. Setting this aside to pick up in print at a later date
I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying by Youngmi Mayer
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
23:45 by Ohana
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-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
3.5
Art: 5/5
Story: 5/5
Ease of Comprehension: 2/5 lol
So, this might be a "me" problem, but as much as i loved the art and the overall story of this, I found it really hard to understand. It's in English, mind, and there are no problems with the actual text localization which is perfect native English. The problem for me is that the story is kinda in "stream of conciousness" format, where thoughts overlap and flow into each other and characters are speaking and thinking at the same time, and I had a really hard time following it. This is definitely not my first time reading manga, and while I wouldn't consider myself a manga afficionado or anything, I'm not exactly a stranger to it and I found it really hard to figure out what character was saying what, which bubbles were thoughts, and what was the narration. It was really jarring at times because I would have to flip back a few pages and try to figure out what was going on, which kinda killed the simmering, emotional buildup the author was trying to achieve. I'm not sure if this would be easier to understand in the original Japanese, or the localization editors could have done a better job, or if I just kinda suck at reading manga but unfortunately this fell a bit short of what it could have been.
Story: 5/5
Ease of Comprehension: 2/5 lol
So, this might be a "me" problem, but as much as i loved the art and the overall story of this, I found it really hard to understand. It's in English, mind, and there are no problems with the actual text localization which is perfect native English. The problem for me is that the story is kinda in "stream of conciousness" format, where thoughts overlap and flow into each other and characters are speaking and thinking at the same time, and I had a really hard time following it. This is definitely not my first time reading manga, and while I wouldn't consider myself a manga afficionado or anything, I'm not exactly a stranger to it and I found it really hard to figure out what character was saying what, which bubbles were thoughts, and what was the narration. It was really jarring at times because I would have to flip back a few pages and try to figure out what was going on, which kinda killed the simmering, emotional buildup the author was trying to achieve. I'm not sure if this would be easier to understand in the original Japanese, or the localization editors could have done a better job, or if I just kinda suck at reading manga but unfortunately this fell a bit short of what it could have been.