kabelon97's reviews
21 reviews

Vinland Saga, Volume 4 by Makoto Yukimura

adventurous informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Vinland Saga, Volume 3 by Makoto Yukimura

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

Innovation: Shaping South Africa Through Science by University of Pretoria, Sarah Wild

informative fast-paced

3.5

Great book. Really enjoyed reading about all the amazing innovation occurring in my country. I really hope this does become a series in the future as people often aren’t aware of the incredible research occurring in South Africa.

Introducing Quantum Theory: A Graphic Guide by J.P. McEvoy, Oscar Zárate

informative slow-paced

3.0

Good book. Isn’t the most accessible but if you do have a chemistry or physics background it is a good read. If you don’t have a science background, it’ll be really tough to read.

Vinland Saga, Volume 2 by Makoto Yukimura

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Another great read. The pacing and character work in this series is really amazing. I am actually so mad at myself for watching the anime first because reading the manga is so fun!

Vinland Saga, Volume 1 by Makoto Yukimura

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

I watched the manga before reading this but I still ended up really enjoying it. It was a great read with amazing artwork

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

Didn’t really enjoy this book. It was very exhausting to get through as the middle of the book dragged and the characters were incredibly boring. 

Wang was a very forgettable character and we follow him for most of the book. I also didn’t like how boring the dialogue was and how the writing style in this book mostly consisted of info dumping. This is probably one of my least favourite books I’ve read since high school, I had to fight every fibre of my being to not DNF. I would give it a lower rating but the world in this book is so incredibly cool, and the authors imagination is incredible. It’s just the writing and the characters that sucked. Also so much telling and no showing, like we would be told characters are in love with each other, and we would never actually see it, so when something happened to these people I didn’t really care. I genuinely think this is the first time I finished a book not caring about a single character, maybe Da Shi and that’s it.

It might be because the last Sci-Fi book I read was Dune which had such incredible dialogue and cool characters, and coming to this book felt like a genuine downgrade. I was also reading the manga Vinland Saga which has such an interesting main character that reading about Wang felt like actual pain. Or Project Hail Mary which isn’t hard Sci Fi but is so fun to read, this was not fun to read for me at all. 

Overall, if you don’t really care about interesting or compelling characters (except Ye), great dialogue or you don’t mind info dumping but want an incredibly interesting world, then I would recommend this book to you. If you care about any of these things I mentioned, I would caution against reading this book, it was really rough to get through at times.

We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds by Sally Adee

slow-paced

4.5

Loved this book! I loved how it went through the history of bio electricity research and how it fell out of favour in biology. Also love how the author emphasizes how the research still has a long way to go and doesn’t entertain quackery. My favourite chapters were definitely the ones concerning cancer and how bio electrical signals could be used for cancer diagnosis. Absolutely awesome book!

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.5

Great book! Really enjoyed how scientifically accurate it was. Also loved how many twists and turns this book had and the amazing character work. This book is also, at times really funny. So fun and easy read, got through it in a week, would highly recommend to anyone having a reading slump.