internationalreads's reviews
1628 reviews

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

3.5

Entertaining, and the only thing keeping me from doom scrolling right now, but some pretty blatant jumps in characters’ personalities from the first book without any real explanation. I’m hoping the third book makes more sense in that regard. She’s great at an ending line though, I’ll give her that.

The Favorites by Layne Fargo

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Very entertaining, especially on audio. I was really disappointed by the ending though - Katarina’s arc seemed like a sudden personality change and completely out of character.

The Potato Eaters by Farhad Pirbal
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.

Too absurd/weird for me right now. Might work for me in a different mood, idk.

Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling by Jason De León

informative tense fast-paced

4.0

This book’s main achievement is humanizing smugglers in Latin America. The reader definitely sees beyond the headlines after reading this book. A few irritating points for me, though - he touches on race and gender but not as much I’d like (especially gender), and a lot of the quotes and conversations felt very awkward, like I could tell what the original Spanish probably was and the English translation was stilted. And why were so many presented in Spanglish? Like the author left one or two words in Spanish? Super weird to me. There were also a lot of times the quotes felt way too perfect for the point the author was trying to make.

Overall though a very informative book that Americans especially should read.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Wild Thorns by Sahar Khalifeh
Did not finish book. Stopped at 53%.

I don’t know if it’s the original writing or the translation, but I’m both confused and bored.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

So short I listened to this in one sitting. I can’t decide if I wish it had been longer or if it’s perfect just the way it is.

Vengeance Is Mine by Marie NDiaye

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I think I get what the author was trying to do but the execution was totally off.

John Adams by David McCullough

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Friends & Dark Shapes by Kavita Bedford

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Solid character-driven novel. Don’t read if you need plot. Great writing about grief (of a parent) and sense of place (Sydney).