kaadie's reviews
158 reviews

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Shadow and Bone was a reasonably enjoyable read. It contained an interesting world with a well constructed villian and a relatively unique reiteration of the fantasy-scape. However, it also contained many of the more negative hallmarks of YA fantasy. The main character was naive, insecure, self-involved and painfully unsure of herself. She spent far too much time preoccupied with petty squabbles with mean girl tropes and her pretty poor love interests. 

The main character has a rare and essential ability and for majority of the book was more intent on using her abilities to impress a man as opposed to exploring her talent and making use of it for herself. She has the ability to make light literally shine out of her and she felt more proud of the fact that a centuries old man was interested in her (smh); cough cough grooming. What a creepy choice to make the Darkling a love interest. 

The character had very little agency and was really just buffeted from place to place. Where were her motives and desires? She had all of this power and influence and hardly ever made use of it. She really was just happy to go with the flow and believe that the people in power could be trusted for the most part. I suppose she is young and a peasant so she was raised to think highly of nobility but really?

I just feel that the author defaulted to tried and true YA character tropes and story lines. So guaranteed success but a relatively uninspired derivation of everything else currently available. 

Still, it's relatively fast-paced and very easy to read. 

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

It was a good depiction of the complexities of adolescence. How overwrought and alone you feel. I liked that we were never told why the Lisbon girls killed themselves. It lent itself well to the general reflective and mysterious feel of the book.  The narrative style was interesting. I wasn't left feeling particularly moved by the book but I thought it was well written. 

Good Material by Dolly Alderton

lighthearted reflective relaxing 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? Yes

3.0

I didn't find the book laugh-out-loud funny, like I didn't even chuckle but it was fun. The story did kind of lose me in the beginning. Andy whines a lot and while it is completely understandable 200+ pages of it is a bit much. However, I did highlight quite a bit and Andy's letters to Jon and Jen made me tear up. The book was definitely a good combination of thoughtful and lighthearted but generally speaking I was not enthralled. Nonetheless the last few chapters really pulled me in and Jen's perspective in particular was a lovely offset to everything we had experienced with Andy. So weirdly, while the first 200+ pages were a mediocre and semi-frustrating read everything thereafter was heartfelt, interesting and absorbing. A lovely and surprising journey.

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I did not enjoy this book, which is particularly disappointing since I was looking forward to it. I found it quite upsetting and I did not resonate at all with any of the philosophical assertions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

emotional reflective 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

4.0

'Bellies' was a really good read. There were some lovely prose and I found myself highlighting lots. Perhaps some of it was familiar but Nicola Dinan has a refreshing reality to her writing while still mixing in some poetic embellishments. 

Ming and Tom were wonderful characters. They were so full and complex, which made the read so engrossing despite the actual happenings in the book being quite mundane. 

It was a lovely, quiet novel about two people navigating the world together and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

Whenever I read books like this I always wonder, why? Not in a bad way. I'm just genuinely curious about the intention behind the book. Is it meant to disturb? Entertain? Shock?

The book was an interesting dissection of alienation and trauma but definitely not my cup of tea. Quite unsettling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism and Pedophilia

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

The story was okay. I found the "reveal" to be quite anticlimactic and the characters a little rudimentary. I'm not sure if that was on purpose, to tell the story almost from the perspective of a child. Simple and whimsical but lacking a bit of sense. 

Yeah, it was fine. Can't complain but wasn't wowed either. 

Normal People by Sally Rooney

emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

To borrow a phrase from the book, it was "sad and puzzling". 

20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo

lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

Good read. Some lovely insights. 

It's the perfect book to curl up with and escape into for a brief moment. 

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved the African folklore and mythogy in the book. The cities were also really well constructed. However I found the authors writing style quite brutal and vulgar. Every horrible thing imaginable happens in these societies and the description of all of the environments required there to be a number of bodily fluids present. I can't tell you how many times I read the word "sh*t" in this book. I just wasn't  fan of the horrific cruelties described in the book. I also wish there was a little more explanation behind some of the folklore since I am not familiar with most African fiction and stories and it was a little hard to follow sometimes.

Finally, I'm not really sure that you can proudly describe your book as lgbtq+ if you make use of the dead lesbian trope. I was really disappointed that the author decided to kill Mossi.