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kelsyer's reviews
844 reviews
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
Loved:
- the qoutes at the beginning of the chapters, because they added to the worldbuilding
- the worldbuilding
- the characters
- the stories and what those tell us about ourselves vs what the outsiders tell themselves about us
- how a blind person can be very capable indeed with their hightened senses
- superstition (everyone has something)
- crows (obviously, Corvus cornix is my favourite bird, has been since I remember)
For me, the weakest character was Naranpa, because she reminded me so much of my past self. Trying to be Good, overcoming her roots, so focused on the future that she wants that doesn't realize what's happening in the present, waiting to be saved by someone else etc.
Once upon a time my favorite character was in a certain series that we don't talk about anymore. After that I didn't have any, but now... I've met Xiala.
She is storyteller, a captain, a free spirit (and she can't go home). I aspire to be more like her.
Just don't ask me to Sing.
- the qoutes at the beginning of the chapters, because they added to the worldbuilding
- the worldbuilding
- the characters
- the stories and what those tell us about ourselves vs what the outsiders tell themselves about us
- how a blind person can be very capable indeed with their hightened senses
- superstition (everyone has something)
- crows (obviously, Corvus cornix is my favourite bird, has been since I remember)
For me, the weakest character was Naranpa, because she reminded me so much of my past self. Trying to be Good, overcoming her roots, so focused on the future that she wants that doesn't realize what's happening in the present, waiting to be saved by someone else etc.
Once upon a time my favorite character was in a certain series that we don't talk about anymore. After that I didn't have any, but now... I've met Xiala.
She is storyteller, a captain, a free spirit (and she can't go home). I aspire to be more like her.
Just don't ask me to Sing.
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
slow-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
5.0
Plot/story: 4.5
Writing: 5
Characters: 5
Theme: 5
Enjoyment: 4.5
Re-readability: 5
Who needs the Devil when people can create a hell like this themselves?
Aoki masterfully wove a story for us that is jarring and real, yet also soft and reads like a fairytale.
On paper, it shouldn't go together as well as it does, but it is the life of Katrina.
I am not intimately familiar with musical intruments or donut making, but I am very glad to take part of the journey of both. Made me feel like part of the family.
Now, excuse me, I need to go to drink my tangerine juice, share my donut with the ducks and listen to Bartók.
Writing: 5
Characters: 5
Theme: 5
Enjoyment: 4.5
Re-readability: 5
Who needs the Devil when people can create a hell like this themselves?
Aoki masterfully wove a story for us that is jarring and real, yet also soft and reads like a fairytale.
On paper, it shouldn't go together as well as it does, but it is the life of Katrina.
I am not intimately familiar with musical intruments or donut making, but I am very glad to take part of the journey of both. Made me feel like part of the family.
Now, excuse me, I need to go to drink my tangerine juice, share my donut with the ducks and listen to Bartók.
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Plot/story: 4
Writing: 5
Characters: 4.5
Theme: 4
Enjoyment: 5
Re-readability: 3
This is a short, but very impactful story with a unique premise.
My only real critique here is that I wish we got more background of the worldbuilding. Based on the first few paragraphs of the very first chapter, monsters were everywhere (sadly we know this from our own life).
Lucille did it's own thing or we just don't "need to know" what happened in other cities as it's irrelevent to this story?
How did it came to be that everyone only has a first name? How can Jam feel the vibrations in her house that her parents can't? Etc., etc.
My theory is that the teens feel younger than their 15-16 years is because they could be kids longer. They are in a safe Utopia, after all, they can be innocents.
Writing: 5
Characters: 4.5
Theme: 4
Enjoyment: 5
Re-readability: 3
This is a short, but very impactful story with a unique premise.
My only real critique here is that I wish we got more background of the worldbuilding. Based on the first few paragraphs of the very first chapter, monsters were everywhere (sadly we know this from our own life).
Lucille did it's own thing or we just don't "need to know" what happened in other cities as it's irrelevent to this story?
How did it came to be that everyone only has a first name? How can Jam feel the vibrations in her house that her parents can't? Etc., etc.
My theory is that the teens feel younger than their 15-16 years is because they could be kids longer. They are in a safe Utopia, after all, they can be innocents.
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
oh, my heart
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Plot/story: 3
Writing: 3
Characters: 2.5
Theme: 4
Enjoyment: 3
Re-readability: 2
The premise of the story was interesting. I have been looking forward to reading this for a while. Sadly I think that the most interesting parts were dangled in front of me, just like in a movie trailer: angry female character, action scenes, polyamory! (Possibly Pacific Rim would have been an exciting calling word for me, but I haven't seen it. It did have massive Hunger Games vibes for me and of course the Handmade's Tale, as promised.)
There are two wolves fighting within me.
On one hand, supporting feminine rights and wrongs, rage against the system and oppression, taking back power, funny one liners, raging quotes that I feel in my soul, a love triangle that actually is a triangle.
On the other hand...
If a nation of people has been suppressed for centuries, the main character have little contact with outsiders (she learns the concept of gravity from one of them and to learn how to use a future Google search bar), how the hell does she grow the balls of the size of the moon to take back the power? More importantly, how does she instinctively know how to do something that has been never done before (to your knowledge)?
I can't help but compare it to the Poppy War trilogy. I am sorry, but the Vermilion Bird and fiery "superpowers", added that the books have been read within 3 months to each other, an easy comparison comes up in my head.
Rin was preparing to go to the school for years. She was training to become a soldier for another year. Then boom, powers.
Here? It seems like a freaking divine intervention.
I get what the point of this book is, we fairly early on know about it (it is in the description after all!). Sadly we don't expand out from there, Zeitan's character doesn't develop depth besides the fact that she is Fury in a human form, who is angry, mad and pissed of. Sometimes horny. (And just want to be loved.)
"Women will hate you for carrying yourself with the kind of domineering confidence they wish they had; men will hate you for scrambling their minds and luring their thoughts toward places they know they shouldn’t go. But their hate will scorch so hotly under their skin that they won’t be able to look away or stop talking about you."
Yes, a man said this, a man who knows how the people's minds work and who was great at it.
And you know what? If this "domineering confidence" he talks about means that I snarl back to anyone, put down other women as weak and stupid, unvalidating parts of womenhood, raging against the system that supressed everyone, all the while somehow being the perfect vengeful killing machine yet "charming" and mysterious and "not like the other girls" female character? I don't want to be confident or domineering. Which might be a reason while I didn't connect with Zetian.
For a long while I was thinking that Iron Widow reads like a parody or even a fanfiction where we don't know the original story (because of the lack of world building in this book), but I realized that it reads like a diary of a young woman. Only keeping the things that she believes are flattering or making her look good/badass/smart/powerful and a lot of the information that we receive are not a dialog that we can "see" happening, just her summary of what she thinks we need to know. That's actually genious in a way.
Sad that everything happened so fast and it wasn't a question of why, rather the action of DIE!, because while I do understand that the system is bad, very closely mirroring our life, and there are lies woven into everything, I don't care about the characters or the world. And I don't care that probably the worldbuilding comes in the second book, because (as far as I know) it's a duology.
Is this my sign to not buy the trophies before reading and loving the story? Because I see a pattern developing in this past 3 months alone.
Writing: 3
Characters: 2.5
Theme: 4
Enjoyment: 3
Re-readability: 2
The premise of the story was interesting. I have been looking forward to reading this for a while. Sadly I think that the most interesting parts were dangled in front of me, just like in a movie trailer: angry female character, action scenes, polyamory! (Possibly Pacific Rim would have been an exciting calling word for me, but I haven't seen it. It did have massive Hunger Games vibes for me and of course the Handmade's Tale, as promised.)
There are two wolves fighting within me.
On one hand, supporting feminine rights and wrongs, rage against the system and oppression, taking back power, funny one liners, raging quotes that I feel in my soul, a love triangle that actually is a triangle.
On the other hand...
If a nation of people has been suppressed for centuries, the main character have little contact with outsiders (she learns the concept of gravity from one of them and to learn how to use a future Google search bar), how the hell does she grow the balls of the size of the moon to take back the power? More importantly, how does she instinctively know how to do something that has been never done before (to your knowledge)?
I can't help but compare it to the Poppy War trilogy. I am sorry, but the Vermilion Bird and fiery "superpowers", added that the books have been read within 3 months to each other, an easy comparison comes up in my head.
Rin was preparing to go to the school for years. She was training to become a soldier for another year. Then boom, powers.
Here? It seems like a freaking divine intervention.
I get what the point of this book is, we fairly early on know about it (it is in the description after all!). Sadly we don't expand out from there, Zeitan's character doesn't develop depth besides the fact that she is Fury in a human form, who is angry, mad and pissed of. Sometimes horny. (And just want to be loved.)
"Women will hate you for carrying yourself with the kind of domineering confidence they wish they had; men will hate you for scrambling their minds and luring their thoughts toward places they know they shouldn’t go. But their hate will scorch so hotly under their skin that they won’t be able to look away or stop talking about you."
Yes, a man said this, a man who knows how the people's minds work and who was great at it.
And you know what? If this "domineering confidence" he talks about means that I snarl back to anyone, put down other women as weak and stupid, unvalidating parts of womenhood, raging against the system that supressed everyone, all the while somehow being the perfect vengeful killing machine yet "charming" and mysterious and "not like the other girls" female character? I don't want to be confident or domineering. Which might be a reason while I didn't connect with Zetian.
For a long while I was thinking that Iron Widow reads like a parody or even a fanfiction where we don't know the original story (because of the lack of world building in this book), but I realized that it reads like a diary of a young woman. Only keeping the things that she believes are flattering or making her look good/badass/smart/powerful and a lot of the information that we receive are not a dialog that we can "see" happening, just her summary of what she thinks we need to know. That's actually genious in a way.
Sad that everything happened so fast and it wasn't a question of why, rather the action of DIE!, because while I do understand that the system is bad, very closely mirroring our life, and there are lies woven into everything, I don't care about the characters or the world. And I don't care that probably the worldbuilding comes in the second book, because (as far as I know) it's a duology.
Is this my sign to not buy the trophies before reading and loving the story? Because I see a pattern developing in this past 3 months alone.
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Kicking of the Trans Readathon 2025 with this absolutely beautiful story.
I love
- the humour - I was giggling to myself almost the whole time I've read it (except when it made me tear up.) Have some tissues if you have family issues!
how there are different magical foci in this world
- the loving, kickass, supportive Nanas (you dare to hurt our granddaughter?)
- Tatiana and the friendship with her
- how the art is not picture perfect, but rather real and cosy
- the cats too, of course how they are trying to clean Tam's hair, how they hide their eyes with their paws or when they are snoozing on top of the books, happy to be included but at a distance
- how things are not perfect, because that leaves us room for improvenent and to *do better*
- and of course I love our main characters as well!
They just fit well together (from Nova's hearing aids matching the steak in Tam's hair to their peaceful companionship) A true friends to lovers YA romance, with nods towards their childhood friendships woven into the story.
There are some scary elements as well, which makes it a perfect read (or re-read) for spooky season as well!
I love
- the humour - I was giggling to myself almost the whole time I've read it (except when it made me tear up.) Have some tissues if you have family issues!
how there are different magical foci in this world
- the loving, kickass, supportive Nanas (you dare to hurt our granddaughter?)
- Tatiana and the friendship with her
- how the art is not picture perfect, but rather real and cosy
- the cats too, of course how they are trying to clean Tam's hair, how they hide their eyes with their paws or when they are snoozing on top of the books, happy to be included but at a distance
- how things are not perfect, because that leaves us room for improvenent and to *do better*
- and of course I love our main characters as well!
They just fit well together (from Nova's hearing aids matching the steak in Tam's hair to their peaceful companionship) A true friends to lovers YA romance, with nods towards their childhood friendships woven into the story.
There are some scary elements as well, which makes it a perfect read (or re-read) for spooky season as well!
The City & the City by China Miéville
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-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? No
4.5
Plot/story: 5
Writing: 4
Characters: 4.5*
Theme: 5
Enjoyment: 4.5
Re-readability: 5
I've read two books by Miéville in the past and this was different from what I lives in my head as his style, but it was still done in a skillful way.
The characters were not gripping me at the beginning, but that's on me, I've had a hard time focusing this week.
Noir murder mystery x 1984's Thoughtcrime x Fringe (the tv show), set somewhere in Eastern Europe.
It's twisty, a unique blend of genres that you can't shove into a single genre and wash your hands after.
I think that's what I love most about Miéville's writing.
Writing: 4
Characters: 4.5*
Theme: 5
Enjoyment: 4.5
Re-readability: 5
I've read two books by Miéville in the past and this was different from what I lives in my head as his style, but it was still done in a skillful way.
The characters were not gripping me at the beginning, but that's on me, I've had a hard time focusing this week.
Noir murder mystery x 1984's Thoughtcrime x Fringe (the tv show), set somewhere in Eastern Europe.
It's twisty, a unique blend of genres that you can't shove into a single genre and wash your hands after.
I think that's what I love most about Miéville's writing.
The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Binti's story is full of change and transformation, searching for answers and dealing with the answers we are given.
"If I was meant to find out, I would. If not, then I would not. If there was one thing I had learned in all my strange journeys it was that what would be would be and sometimes you wait to see."
This last part of the series was something that I can't wrap my head around and also the most natural continuation at the same time.
Note to myself, because I always forget: DO NOT break up series!
"If I was meant to find out, I would. If not, then I would not. If there was one thing I had learned in all my strange journeys it was that what would be would be and sometimes you wait to see."
This last part of the series was something that I can't wrap my head around and also the most natural continuation at the same time.
Note to myself, because I always forget: DO NOT break up series!
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Stories are wild creatures (...) When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?"
I wish that I could send back this book to my 8 year old self.
I wish that I could send back this book to my 8 year old self.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I am someone, who has never seen the movie or read the book before.
If you are in a similiar situation, GO AND READ THIS BOOK! Right now.
Just be careful not to interrupt your flow.
I enjoyed this fairytale wrapped in a frame of a modern story, especially the (very important and often hilarious additions, which I have been guilty of doing ever since I remember).
If I want to be totally honest though? What I will take with me from this story is I am Inigo Montoya and I do not accept defeat.
If you are in a similiar situation, GO AND READ THIS BOOK! Right now.
Just be careful not to interrupt your flow.
I enjoyed this fairytale wrapped in a frame of a modern story, especially the (very important and often hilarious additions, which I have been guilty of doing ever since I remember).
If I want to be totally honest though? What I will take with me from this story is I am Inigo Montoya and I do not accept defeat.