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ketreads's reviews
307 reviews
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
hopeful
informative
reflective
3.5
I picked this book up many hauls ago but have had my eye constantly drawn to it, yet I never found the right mood to pick it up until now!
I've always had a fascination with the natural world, especially the science that goes into it. This book was a perfect itch for that scratch, though not in the way I wish it was.
From the title, I presumed it would cover the previous extinction events and, in turn, lead us up to the current extinction event and how it came about. Sounds cool, right?
Well, no. Instead, this book is more about the science and history of extinction itself. The history of how we discovered extinction and the animals it affected. How our attitudes towards our natural world and the animals inhabiting it have changed. How the change humanity has made in the face of extinction is underwhelming and doomed.
This wasn't quite what I wanted, but the author still managed to draw me into each case study provided. Some are historical, some being based on personal research. The latter is where the book truly shines. The author has an easy way of describing people she's met and the passion they have for their specialties. Which easily makes us, as readers, both care and relate.
Even if, at the end of the day, this isn't really the book I wanted to read, I still found myself getting a lot out of it and enjoyed the journey nevertheless.
I've always had a fascination with the natural world, especially the science that goes into it. This book was a perfect itch for that scratch, though not in the way I wish it was.
From the title, I presumed it would cover the previous extinction events and, in turn, lead us up to the current extinction event and how it came about. Sounds cool, right?
Well, no. Instead, this book is more about the science and history of extinction itself. The history of how we discovered extinction and the animals it affected. How our attitudes towards our natural world and the animals inhabiting it have changed. How the change humanity has made in the face of extinction is underwhelming and doomed.
This wasn't quite what I wanted, but the author still managed to draw me into each case study provided. Some are historical, some being based on personal research. The latter is where the book truly shines. The author has an easy way of describing people she's met and the passion they have for their specialties. Which easily makes us, as readers, both care and relate.
Even if, at the end of the day, this isn't really the book I wanted to read, I still found myself getting a lot out of it and enjoyed the journey nevertheless.
Unbound by Michael R. Miller
5.0
This is fast becoming a series favourites as I've come to love pretty much everything about these last 2 books!
This book is the 2nd in the Songs of Chaos series and starts almost immediately after the previous one ends, with our main duo of Holt and Ash going off on their quest to unite the wild flights against the encroaching enemy.
In this book, we hit the ground running! Book one gave us time to come to know, understand, and root for our main four (Holt, Ash, Tailia, and Pyra) while book two throws us right into the consequences of book one as well as adding all new PoVs to flesh out the world & story. As frustrating as it feels to see our main characters struggle, the author is able to bring out the best in them in how they choose to tackle these problems. If it isn't already clear, I love that every character feels human, both loveable and (some new) hateable characters, but as a reader you're always able to find an aspect of them that you can understand, even if you don't agree. I think the author does a fantastic job at adding new great character dynamics as well as adding moral complexity to our main characters struggles.
I'm not sure how much I mentioned this in my review of book one but BOYO did I forget just how charming and refreshing this worlds magic system is. To be able to understand and explain WHY dragons bond to humans, and the bonding system they go through to advance in power is honestly so fascinating to me. On TOP of that, we also have our main ''kitchen boy-turned dragon rider'' backstory actually have a massive impact on how he approaches his new life. Food being a major part of magic in-take as well as different dragons have preferences, as well as different foods enhancing certain aspects of magic is such a cool concept! Holt doesn't just become a dragon-rider and nothing else, he takes on the role of dragon rider in ADDITION to being a cook. I love it!
The world continues to feel larger and more mysterious, in addition to having the stories over arching narrative becomes more complex and far reaching. Book one used well known and beloved fantasy tropes in fresh and unique ways, while book two fully comes into it's own as being nothing like I've read before.
I cannot for the life of me guess where this series is going to go but I am happily along for the ride.
Don't mind me while I desperately try not to splurge on book 3 before I finish off my already owned TBR!!!
This book is the 2nd in the Songs of Chaos series and starts almost immediately after the previous one ends, with our main duo of Holt and Ash going off on their quest to unite the wild flights against the encroaching enemy.
In this book, we hit the ground running! Book one gave us time to come to know, understand, and root for our main four (Holt, Ash, Tailia, and Pyra) while book two throws us right into the consequences of book one as well as adding all new PoVs to flesh out the world & story. As frustrating as it feels to see our main characters struggle, the author is able to bring out the best in them in how they choose to tackle these problems. If it isn't already clear, I love that every character feels human, both loveable and (some new) hateable characters, but as a reader you're always able to find an aspect of them that you can understand, even if you don't agree. I think the author does a fantastic job at adding new great character dynamics as well as adding moral complexity to our main characters struggles.
I'm not sure how much I mentioned this in my review of book one but BOYO did I forget just how charming and refreshing this worlds magic system is. To be able to understand and explain WHY dragons bond to humans, and the bonding system they go through to advance in power is honestly so fascinating to me. On TOP of that, we also have our main ''kitchen boy-turned dragon rider'' backstory actually have a massive impact on how he approaches his new life. Food being a major part of magic in-take as well as different dragons have preferences, as well as different foods enhancing certain aspects of magic is such a cool concept! Holt doesn't just become a dragon-rider and nothing else, he takes on the role of dragon rider in ADDITION to being a cook. I love it!
The world continues to feel larger and more mysterious, in addition to having the stories over arching narrative becomes more complex and far reaching. Book one used well known and beloved fantasy tropes in fresh and unique ways, while book two fully comes into it's own as being nothing like I've read before.
I cannot for the life of me guess where this series is going to go but I am happily along for the ride.
Don't mind me while I desperately try not to splurge on book 3 before I finish off my already owned TBR!!!
Network Effect by Martha Wells
adventurous
emotional
5.0
As always, this instalment of our friendly neighbourhood murderbot comes in with a homerun!
✨️ SPOILER FREE ✨️
Just when the series and its various one-off adventures barely touch the relm of fatigue, this longer form novel comes in to give us all the charm of previous murderbot novellas with the added charm of a more, dare I say it, character-focused narrative. Don't get me wrong, the book still has engaging mystery, fast-paced action, and a whole lot of murdering, but it also manages to be more of a culmination of the sum of previous glimpses we've seen in past novellas. We truly have come to know and love Murderbot and now get to see just how far they've come since their lonely, media-filled existence. Though, of course, there's still plenty of media being watched!
The whole story hit even harder on a section read, and also the details a little less confusing, as murderbot likes to nickname elements or people without easy explanation (for someone with mild dyslexia!). All in all, it's a fantastic instalment, and I'm even more excited to see where the story goes now that murderbot has completed the first step in their soul-searching journey.
✨️ SPOILER FREE ✨️
Just when the series and its various one-off adventures barely touch the relm of fatigue, this longer form novel comes in to give us all the charm of previous murderbot novellas with the added charm of a more, dare I say it, character-focused narrative. Don't get me wrong, the book still has engaging mystery, fast-paced action, and a whole lot of murdering, but it also manages to be more of a culmination of the sum of previous glimpses we've seen in past novellas. We truly have come to know and love Murderbot and now get to see just how far they've come since their lonely, media-filled existence. Though, of course, there's still plenty of media being watched!
The whole story hit even harder on a section read, and also the details a little less confusing, as murderbot likes to nickname elements or people without easy explanation (for someone with mild dyslexia!). All in all, it's a fantastic instalment, and I'm even more excited to see where the story goes now that murderbot has completed the first step in their soul-searching journey.
Dawn's Cozy Horror Corner: a queer Chinese horror short stories anthology by Dawn Chen
adventurous
hopeful
4.5
I was sent the ARC of this ebook from the lovely author, Dawn Chen, but none of that will effect my review of it. Which is: this was fantastic.
I don't want to say I'm surprised, (as I was more than sure Dawn was competent and enjoyable author) but I'm so surprised that I loved this anthology.
I've never really connected well with short stories, but the way these stories are presented as almost character studies I found myself so easily connecting and empathising with them. Each story has it's own unique hook but even when that hook is literally told to us, the way the story flows almost feels tragically poetic. These stories often touched upon race, SA, and other serious topics (all of which are in the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book) but they're delt with in a way where the emotions are raw but are respectfully done.
My favourite of the stories was "Judge of the Underworld Household" where I could of easily read a whole 500+ page book about these characters and their adventures. 🥹
My only minor gripe, which is preventing this from being a full 5 stars, is the dialogue didn't quite work for me. The stories themselves were so beautifully written that it'd often draw me out of the story when characters would speak outside of this style. Truly the minorest of gripes!
Overall I devoured this whole work in record time and would 10/10 reccomend it. I can't wait for the release of Dawn Chen's full length novel, From The Ghost of Ash Monroe 🤩
I don't want to say I'm surprised, (as I was more than sure Dawn was competent and enjoyable author) but I'm so surprised that I loved this anthology.
I've never really connected well with short stories, but the way these stories are presented as almost character studies I found myself so easily connecting and empathising with them. Each story has it's own unique hook but even when that hook is literally told to us, the way the story flows almost feels tragically poetic. These stories often touched upon race, SA, and other serious topics (all of which are in the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book) but they're delt with in a way where the emotions are raw but are respectfully done.
My favourite of the stories was "Judge of the Underworld Household" where I could of easily read a whole 500+ page book about these characters and their adventures. 🥹
My only minor gripe, which is preventing this from being a full 5 stars, is the dialogue didn't quite work for me. The stories themselves were so beautifully written that it'd often draw me out of the story when characters would speak outside of this style. Truly the minorest of gripes!
Overall I devoured this whole work in record time and would 10/10 reccomend it. I can't wait for the release of Dawn Chen's full length novel, From The Ghost of Ash Monroe 🤩
Lokant by Charlotte E. English
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
There's something about Charlotte E. English's writing that I find so enjoyable to dive into.
This is the second book in the Draykon Trilogy. It kicks-off almost immediately after the previous book ended and while it does follow some characters we've come to know and love, mainly Llandry & Eva, we also get all knew PoVs adding both more mystery and depth to the world English has created. What the book does best is the fantastic world, or rather universe, building! The world we were introduced to in the first book, Draykon, is imbued with such a classic fae-inspired fairytale with such a strong sense of jamais vu (familiar yet unfamiliar). The descriptions of the world, creatures, and people that inhabit them feel so effortlessly fantastical and continue to be so throughout this novel. We do get even more reveals at the same time as being introduced to all knew mysteries within the world.
The characters are so easily likeable, each having their own distinct thoughts and feelings which we're given glimpses into during their PoV chapters. While not all characters are in perfect moral alignment, you're able to truly appreciate and empathise with them all throughout.
Personally, this series is fast becoming my go-to comfort read as some how, even if the topics are darkly nuanced, I still find myself able to cosy up under a warm blanket and feel fully soothed by the act of reading this.
This book lacks the 5 star rating as I personally didn't find the storyline and pacing as strong in this instalment, even if I loved almost everything else about it.
This is the second book in the Draykon Trilogy. It kicks-off almost immediately after the previous book ended and while it does follow some characters we've come to know and love, mainly Llandry & Eva, we also get all knew PoVs adding both more mystery and depth to the world English has created. What the book does best is the fantastic world, or rather universe, building! The world we were introduced to in the first book, Draykon, is imbued with such a classic fae-inspired fairytale with such a strong sense of jamais vu (familiar yet unfamiliar). The descriptions of the world, creatures, and people that inhabit them feel so effortlessly fantastical and continue to be so throughout this novel. We do get even more reveals at the same time as being introduced to all knew mysteries within the world.
The characters are so easily likeable, each having their own distinct thoughts and feelings which we're given glimpses into during their PoV chapters. While not all characters are in perfect moral alignment, you're able to truly appreciate and empathise with them all throughout.
Personally, this series is fast becoming my go-to comfort read as some how, even if the topics are darkly nuanced, I still find myself able to cosy up under a warm blanket and feel fully soothed by the act of reading this.
This book lacks the 5 star rating as I personally didn't find the storyline and pacing as strong in this instalment, even if I loved almost everything else about it.
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
4.5
This was such a fantastic start to a classic fantasy adventure!
The Dragonbone Chair is a book I've heard many things about, including it being a big inspiration for a lot of modern fantasy authors, and have had the whole series on my shelf for over a year! (I found them all on Vinted for a steal!!)
In this book we follow our main character of Simon (and a few other PoVs sprinkled in), a castle-born kitchen boy with very little adventure in his life. Through him we are introduced to the world of The Dragonbone Chair, it's politics, secret societies, world history, and a foretold war to come.
The book itself starts out slow, taking us through Simons day-to-day life and his wanting for more out of his life. As the chapters continue, we get more and more hints of something deeper going on within the castle itself while our fear for Simon and those around him increase. Tad Williams did a fantastic job of giving us time to truly get to know Simon so we could really appreciate the changes the boy goes through. Once the adventure kicks-off, it does not stop! Williams is somehow able to not only continue the momentum of his own story, but add to the underlying anxiety and fear we have for the characters we come to love. My favourites of which are, obviously, Binabik and Maegwin who I hope to see more of in the coming books!
The pacing, other than the very slow beginning, felt remarkably well done and our ending truly latched me onto the series. I can see how many authors were inspired by The Dragonbone Chair but cannot believe this book isn't more talked about. The world feels similar to others we've read before, but also distinguishes itself enough to feel mysteriously fascinating. Every new chapter, especially nearing the end, added more mystery and depth to the world that made it feel so real. The characters, even side characters, made realistically driven decisions that made sorrow and loss even more impactful. I highly recommend this book, even with it's slow start.
I can't wait to continue the series!
The Dragonbone Chair is a book I've heard many things about, including it being a big inspiration for a lot of modern fantasy authors, and have had the whole series on my shelf for over a year! (I found them all on Vinted for a steal!!)
In this book we follow our main character of Simon (and a few other PoVs sprinkled in), a castle-born kitchen boy with very little adventure in his life. Through him we are introduced to the world of The Dragonbone Chair, it's politics, secret societies, world history, and a foretold war to come.
The book itself starts out slow, taking us through Simons day-to-day life and his wanting for more out of his life. As the chapters continue, we get more and more hints of something deeper going on within the castle itself while our fear for Simon and those around him increase. Tad Williams did a fantastic job of giving us time to truly get to know Simon so we could really appreciate the changes the boy goes through. Once the adventure kicks-off, it does not stop! Williams is somehow able to not only continue the momentum of his own story, but add to the underlying anxiety and fear we have for the characters we come to love. My favourites of which are, obviously, Binabik and Maegwin who I hope to see more of in the coming books!
The pacing, other than the very slow beginning, felt remarkably well done and our ending truly latched me onto the series. I can see how many authors were inspired by The Dragonbone Chair but cannot believe this book isn't more talked about. The world feels similar to others we've read before, but also distinguishes itself enough to feel mysteriously fascinating. Every new chapter, especially nearing the end, added more mystery and depth to the world that made it feel so real. The characters, even side characters, made realistically driven decisions that made sorrow and loss even more impactful. I highly recommend this book, even with it's slow start.
I can't wait to continue the series!
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
challenging
dark
mysterious
4.0
This was probably one of my favourite vampire stories.
I buddy read this with a friend but ended up zooming ahead as I was having such a joy (or rather more aptly, I was drawn into the story emotionally). This is one of those stories where the author does such a fantastic job of telling a story that you lose yourself in the mystery of it all.
While, stupidly, I didn't realise this would take place as a first-person narration I quickly came to love this authorial choice. We get to truly know and understand, not only Louis but his estimation of other peoples emotions and choices. Louis is introduced as a surprisingly empathetic character, even after his turn to vampirism.
The mystery of vampires being a mystery to even our main vampire character was such a fascinating take on vampire lore. Every teased or minor detail given to us only made me more curious as to how this world and vampires functioned. I love that the main character was also an active participant in this mystery, often bringing up intelligent observations that even I missed.
To say I love the character of Claudia is an understatement. She was probably one of my top characters in fiction as it stands. She was such a complex, hypocritical (in the best ways), and loveable character to follow. Watching through Louis eyes the development of her character and the consequences surrounding their choices was heart-breaking.
After the rollercoaster of emotions that ending was, I definitely needed a few days to gather my thoughts after finishing the book. But I did love it. I would highly recommend it if you have any interest in vampire-focused stories.
I buddy read this with a friend but ended up zooming ahead as I was having such a joy (or rather more aptly, I was drawn into the story emotionally). This is one of those stories where the author does such a fantastic job of telling a story that you lose yourself in the mystery of it all.
While, stupidly, I didn't realise this would take place as a first-person narration I quickly came to love this authorial choice. We get to truly know and understand, not only Louis but his estimation of other peoples emotions and choices. Louis is introduced as a surprisingly empathetic character, even after his turn to vampirism.
The mystery of vampires being a mystery to even our main vampire character was such a fascinating take on vampire lore. Every teased or minor detail given to us only made me more curious as to how this world and vampires functioned. I love that the main character was also an active participant in this mystery, often bringing up intelligent observations that even I missed.
To say I love the character of Claudia is an understatement. She was probably one of my top characters in fiction as it stands. She was such a complex, hypocritical (in the best ways), and loveable character to follow. Watching through Louis eyes the development of her character and the consequences surrounding their choices was heart-breaking.
After the rollercoaster of emotions that ending was, I definitely needed a few days to gather my thoughts after finishing the book. But I did love it. I would highly recommend it if you have any interest in vampire-focused stories.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
fast-paced
3.0
A book that I'm surprised to find I actually didn't hate!
I really enjoyed a lot of what this book had to offer.
While I do agree with a lot of critics that this book doesn't break any new ground when it comes to fantasy writing, I did appreciate the authors attempts to add her own minor flare to tropes we know well. We follow the main character of Violet, someone I found a lot less annoying than I see most negative reviews found her. Violet has spent her years growing up weak from a childhood disease and training to be a scholar. When days before entering what is this world equivalent of university, her high-ranking-dragon-riding mother forces Violet into dragon riding school. One which is well known for it's mortality rates!
I won't lie to you (and it's probably blaringly obvious from my page) but I love me some dragon-based fantasy. This book had me hooked from the offset. While we do encounter a lot (ok, a lot a lot) of more YA leaning tropes, the book still overall managed to keep my attention and curiosity throughout.
Onto the negatives: the world makes 0 sense. I won't get into the specifics but ask my reading buddy and you'll hear all about my ''ok but explain again to me how massive 5Xs the size fire-magic breathing dragons don't decimate a population of griffons'' rants throughout the book. I also felt the dragons being built up as such powerful, awe-inspiring, and ruthless harmed the book more than helped. Especially when the only dragons we get any time with spend the book acting like fellow sarcastic teenagers??? The dialogue was not it.
In the end, I still found myself enjoying the story's journey & never felt the urge to DNF or throw it at the wall as I see some peers doing.
I really enjoyed a lot of what this book had to offer.
While I do agree with a lot of critics that this book doesn't break any new ground when it comes to fantasy writing, I did appreciate the authors attempts to add her own minor flare to tropes we know well. We follow the main character of Violet, someone I found a lot less annoying than I see most negative reviews found her. Violet has spent her years growing up weak from a childhood disease and training to be a scholar. When days before entering what is this world equivalent of university, her high-ranking-dragon-riding mother forces Violet into dragon riding school. One which is well known for it's mortality rates!
I won't lie to you (and it's probably blaringly obvious from my page) but I love me some dragon-based fantasy. This book had me hooked from the offset. While we do encounter a lot (ok, a lot a lot) of more YA leaning tropes, the book still overall managed to keep my attention and curiosity throughout.
Onto the negatives: the world makes 0 sense. I won't get into the specifics but ask my reading buddy and you'll hear all about my ''ok but explain again to me how massive 5Xs the size fire-magic breathing dragons don't decimate a population of griffons'' rants throughout the book. I also felt the dragons being built up as such powerful, awe-inspiring, and ruthless harmed the book more than helped. Especially when the only dragons we get any time with spend the book acting like fellow sarcastic teenagers??? The dialogue was not it.
In the end, I still found myself enjoying the story's journey & never felt the urge to DNF or throw it at the wall as I see some peers doing.
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
2.0
This book is one I'd passed many a time in a bookstore. The cover is gorgeous and the concept of a fabled tower (Babel) being repurposed in a colonial society had me intrigued.
In short: this book wasn't it. At least, for me. It had all the trappings of what could have been a fantastic book, but fell short in both its pacing and choice of narrative style.
We follow our main character of Robin a child taken from his home land of China and bought up as a scholar of languages to benefit the tower of Babel. A tower rebuilt in England, where this world's magical source (bars of silver) are created. I loved the uniqueness of the magic system, especially how well language and it's uses fitted in well to the story Kuang wanted to tell.
My main issues started with how Kuang decided to tell this story. At key moments throughout the book, we'd often have an interruption of context from a voice outside of the main story. At first, this context was much appreciated, but wore on me the further we got into the story. I'm not sure how it's presented in the book, but this interruption could happen MULTIPLE times throughout a single conversation. While I understand and appreciate the context in Kuang's world, I feel like this information could have been better presented outside of "lore dump". Which is a very generous assessment seeing as it wasn't even weaved into character dialogue more then literally dumped on the page regardless of current happenings.
A similar narrative technique I didn't enjoy was having us stop mid-climatic scene to have the narrator tell us the outcome of events & it's impact in years to come.
Overall, while the I did appreciate and enjoy the ending, I felt the journey there both a drag (for the first half) and then rushed (the second half). We ended up with a pretty predictable story, even if the elements surrounding it felt unique in their own ways.
A bit disappointing. :(
In short: this book wasn't it. At least, for me. It had all the trappings of what could have been a fantastic book, but fell short in both its pacing and choice of narrative style.
We follow our main character of Robin a child taken from his home land of China and bought up as a scholar of languages to benefit the tower of Babel. A tower rebuilt in England, where this world's magical source (bars of silver) are created. I loved the uniqueness of the magic system, especially how well language and it's uses fitted in well to the story Kuang wanted to tell.
My main issues started with how Kuang decided to tell this story. At key moments throughout the book, we'd often have an interruption of context from a voice outside of the main story. At first, this context was much appreciated, but wore on me the further we got into the story. I'm not sure how it's presented in the book, but this interruption could happen MULTIPLE times throughout a single conversation. While I understand and appreciate the context in Kuang's world, I feel like this information could have been better presented outside of "lore dump". Which is a very generous assessment seeing as it wasn't even weaved into character dialogue more then literally dumped on the page regardless of current happenings.
A similar narrative technique I didn't enjoy was having us stop mid-climatic scene to have the narrator tell us the outcome of events & it's impact in years to come.
Overall, while the I did appreciate and enjoy the ending, I felt the journey there both a drag (for the first half) and then rushed (the second half). We ended up with a pretty predictable story, even if the elements surrounding it felt unique in their own ways.
A bit disappointing. :(
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
hopeful
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Once again, Becky Chambers takes my heart, holds it close and then crushes it slightly.
Weird analogy but I'm sure you get the picture!
Chambers has such a fantastic way of writing a mundane yet compelling look at the far flung future and humanities place within it. This installment is a tale following the humans who fled earth when the ecosystem finally collapsed. Becky Chambers manages to capture the core good side of humanity and make you feel as though all are connected through a long grown cultural core.
I can't but love every character she introduces. Every character feels real, complex, and easy to sympathise with making the whole story such an emotional ride.
I can't recommend her wayfarers series enough, but if you want a cosy, found family, and easy to read scifi world: a long way to a small angry planet (her first book) is made for you.
Weird analogy but I'm sure you get the picture!
Chambers has such a fantastic way of writing a mundane yet compelling look at the far flung future and humanities place within it. This installment is a tale following the humans who fled earth when the ecosystem finally collapsed. Becky Chambers manages to capture the core good side of humanity and make you feel as though all are connected through a long grown cultural core.
I can't but love every character she introduces. Every character feels real, complex, and easy to sympathise with making the whole story such an emotional ride.
I can't recommend her wayfarers series enough, but if you want a cosy, found family, and easy to read scifi world: a long way to a small angry planet (her first book) is made for you.