julis's reviews
538 reviews

Strike the Zither by Joan He

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

3.0

I do not remember why this wound up on my to-read list. I was underimpressed. The biggest problem through the whole book is I needed slightly more context and explanations for just about everything. I don’t know if this is He’s fault (general pacing problem, slow it down and let everything breathe a bit!) or editor’s fault (YA has to be under X,000 words) but jesus christ.

It’s not an inability of mine to read into implications either, it’s that He outright does not even imply what’s going on with the government: She gives a couple of broad statements and then cruises onwards. Nor do I know why I should give a damn about anyone in this book, Xin Ren included. Which is a bit of a problem, because her loyalty to Xin Ren is Zephyr’s primary motivator and it is completely inexplicable.

The SECOND problem is that if you are going to go “hah! the gods are real!” midway through, there has to be some setup on the way there. You cannot just pull that out of your ass 50% in. And I’m not talking “oh but Zephyr would’ve dismissed things because she’s a skeptic” I’m saying there is ZERO mention of magic or gods before that point. The most we get are a couple conversations about stars and the Empress. That’s it. Then the plot hinges on the reality of the gods and I’m going. What. Come back here and give me just like 2-3 rumors, Zephyr dismissing them as peasant superstitions and it would’ve been FINE I would’ve been COOL but NO– 

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I liked this better than JS&MN, the pacing was much better. Obviously in conversation with Plato, Borges, etc, does anyone else think it’s also in conversation with The Secret History?

Characters suitably deranged, setting nuts, etc. Both this and JS&MN are thinking a lot about giving information to/keeping it from the reader: JS&MN has the infamous footnotes, which I loved, and this is from the POV of someone who at first knows nothing at all. For periods of the book the reader knows more than he does. 

Puppy Socialization: What It Is and How to Do It by Marge Rogers, Eileen Anderson

informative fast-paced

5.0

This is it, my favorite puppy socialization book. It balances “but I want my adult dog to be people/dog neutral” with “also I’d like her not to want to eat the delivery person” and “what if dogsports!!!!”. It’s slightly overwhelming but so is owning a puppy, and it is EXTREMELY straight forward. They do not give options, they give directions, which is exactly what puppy owners need. 

Social, Civil, and Savvy: Training & Socializing Puppies to Become the Best Possible Dogs by Laura VanArendonk Baugh

informative fast-paced

4.0

Guess What I Just Got A Puppy.

This is a lovely and very approachable book on puppy socialization for most people. For me it’s a hair short and cursory. I bookmarked a couple of exercises I’ll be using with puppy, and it is going on my recommendations list, but it’s not the BEST for ME. 

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

dark fast-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? Yes

4.0

Another Dover Thrift Edition with 0 commentary, although this one was originally sold for $1.50 and also apparently it’s been on my bookcase for thirteen years. Anyway.

I do have thoughts on the play but they’re messy and disorganized, I think primarily I’m struck by just the. slow series of revelations, the catastrophic dramatic irony of knowing who Oedipus is the whole time, watching everything fall down around his ears, that he’s initially TRYING to save his city but promptly loses his temper in the worst way–yowch.

Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change by Thor Hanson

challenging hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

VERY nice. Realistic attitude towards the current situation (published 2021) without being pessimistic or defeatist. Wide-ranging, honest about our impact on the world, but also full of reminders that life will survive. That doesn’t excuse our current behavior: What’s coming is decades of incredible suffering for humans largely in the Global South and non-human animals. But we can also dial back the fatalism just a smidge. 

Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee

adventurous 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

4.0

Mixed! I really liked the series and I liked this book, but: The writing was frequently clunky and just needed a second pass; there were WAY too many side-plots and digressions, which ALSO needed a second pass & the ability to cut about 100k; and goddamnit Shae and Ayt Mada should’ve fucked at least once. 

Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler

challenging reflective tense medium-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

4.0

First thing of hers I’ve read and I’ll be back for more. Also definitely a first book, the pacing and development are a little clunky at times.

That being said: Very, very solid, thought provoking worldbuilding, complex characters, storytelling that shows you just enough to piece together other backstories, other characters. 

My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

medium-paced

2.0

So first didn’t read the subtitle (a novel), thought this was going to be a nonfiction history book, it wasn’t (it’s historical fiction), that’s on me.

But uh. Chapter 2 is infodumping on family history so heavy that I was 100% convinced Mary Sutter was a real person right up until I finished the book and googled her (she isn’t). The whole book is in extremely awkward conflict between infodumping on her OCs’ backstories a la a history book and actually telling any sort of narrative, and I have no idea why the editor didn’t take an axe to the whole thing.

Also: Only a tiny fraction of it is actually on the purported topic–nursing during the American Civil War. Jesus fuck. 

Fermat's Last Theorem: Unlocking the Secret of an Ancient Mathematical Problem by Amir D. Aczel

fast-paced

3.0

Unexpected problem here: It’s not long enough. It’s 142 pages and covers 2-3 thousand years of mathematics, the last 300 years of which have been exponentially more complex, and it’s just. Not long enough. I don’t walk away feeling like I understand the math, I don’t walk away feeling like I understand the people, there’s a (predictably!) large cast of characters but I don’t know any of them. I don’t understand why this was so short–was the publisher not willing to take a chance on a 300 page book?