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kaistephan's reviews
65 reviews
The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog by Rick McIntyre
3.5
Lots of good information, but it grows repetitive after a while and I had a hard time remembering which wolf was which since they all have numbers instead of names. The author also seems only interested in the behavior and interior thoughts of male wolves, despite mentioning three quarters of the way through that actually female wolves make most of the pack decisions, like a complete afterthought. Learned a lot about wolf behavior but came away feeling like there were a lot of gaps in the study.
Just for the Cameras by Viano Oniomoh
4.5
Very good balance of smut to feelings; keeps you engaged in both without ever feeling impatient for one or the other.
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
5.0
Tamsyn Muir is a master magician who tells you to watch her hand so you carefully look at her other hand and then suddenly she has a third hand and even when you work out how she does it you still ask to see it again and again because it's just so masterful.
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
4.0
It is a beautiful story, with extremely vivid prose and descriptions where the words seem to come to life. It has not aged particularly well, though, even allowing for fairy-tale convention. Maria is extremely passive, letting herself be pushed this way and that by literally everyone else and constantly cautioned against being too curious or too bold. The one act she does do entirely of her own accord is host a tea party, after which everyone lives happily every after without so much as a stomachache. I can't tell if it is simply an old-fashioned story with heavy Christian overtones or if it was seen as didactic and insipid at the time. In any case, the telling of it is so lovely it's easy to forgive its faults and simply let it be what it is, though if you try to give this to a child today, don't be surprised if they're bored by it.
Griffin Ranger: The Monster lands by Roz Gibson
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
3.0
Monster Lands thoroughly answers the questions left at the end of Crossline Plains, and then some. Even though most of the story takes place in our world, Gibson still manages to convey an impressive scope and depth of the griffin world, and never once breaks her commitment to viewing the humans as alien monsters. That does tend to muddle the story thematically, however; with the recurring thesis that humans are uniquely terrible, Gibson never quite manages to show the griffins or other sentients as being uniquely noble, instead giving them a casual brutality that is shocking to most human readers. Nor does any character seem aware of this dissonance, calling into question whether or not it is deliberate or not. In addition, though the story is full of fast-paced action, many of the scenes in the middle grow repetitive after a time. The action is the core of the book, while moments that are supposed to be emotional have little or no buildup and end up feeling hollow. Altogether it is an interesting world with a story that doesn't quite know what it wants to do.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Genocide
A Guide to the Dragon World by Tui T. Sutherland
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
A delightful look into some of the less-explored parts of the Wings of Fire world. Also a wonderful commentary on the importance of paying attention to who is telling a story. The fact that this series is so popular gives me hope for the future.