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kimreads14's reviews
72 reviews
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
If you're looking for hard SCI-FI this is probably not the book for you. Yes, most of the story takes place on a spaceship, yes there is AI, and technology that we can only dream(?) of right now. But this is very much a character-driven book where the overall SCI-FI aspect only sort of scratches the surface to get the story going. Really it's more a background feature than the main
I personally really enjoyed the alternating storylines which allows the reader to understand both the background of the space mission and of the main characters.
It's definitely a very strong debut novel and Kitasei is particularly good at character crafting and development. She also masterfully offers a conversation around our real world and how if things and behaviors don't change, we're F****. (Sorry I don't think there's a better way to phrase this 😅)
Overall a good mystery in space ☺️
I personally really enjoyed the alternating storylines which allows the reader to understand both the background of the space mission and of the main characters.
It's definitely a very strong debut novel and Kitasei is particularly good at character crafting and development. She also masterfully offers a conversation around our real world and how if things and behaviors don't change, we're F****. (Sorry I don't think there's a better way to phrase this 😅)
Overall a good mystery in space ☺️
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
5.0
WOOF 5⭐️
It took me a while to get through this book. Not because it was badly written or uninteresting (quite the opposite actually) but because Doughty does not sugarcoat it.
This work was mind-blowing! It highlights how much of a taboo death has become in the West, and how the best way to make the passing of a loved one easier would be to lift the veil surrounding the natural aspect of life.
It's crazy how sometimes you find a book (or a book finds you) at the most perfect time in your life. My dad has been sick for the past 2 years and there have been multiple times when his medical team and I thought it was the end. It put me in a constant state of anxiety and fear. Yet, after reading this book, while not healed from this anxiety, I have to recognize that if tomorrow is the day then it will be easier. It's always the not knowing that plays with your head, but thanks to Caitlin Doughty's work, I'm very much more knowledgeable about the "after", not just for my dad, but also for my other loved ones and me.
Doughty offers so much information on how other non-Western cultures handle death and how it was also handled in the past in the West. I loved how all the information she gave was always linked to a small story of things that happened during her career.
On top of that, Doughty will make you cry (kinda hard not to, seeing the topic of the book 😅), but she will also make you laugh out loud! This book was fascinating. But FYI you might very much need to be kind to yourself and read it in more than one sitting.
It took me a while to get through this book. Not because it was badly written or uninteresting (quite the opposite actually) but because Doughty does not sugarcoat it.
This work was mind-blowing! It highlights how much of a taboo death has become in the West, and how the best way to make the passing of a loved one easier would be to lift the veil surrounding the natural aspect of life.
It's crazy how sometimes you find a book (or a book finds you) at the most perfect time in your life. My dad has been sick for the past 2 years and there have been multiple times when his medical team and I thought it was the end. It put me in a constant state of anxiety and fear. Yet, after reading this book, while not healed from this anxiety, I have to recognize that if tomorrow is the day then it will be easier. It's always the not knowing that plays with your head, but thanks to Caitlin Doughty's work, I'm very much more knowledgeable about the "after", not just for my dad, but also for my other loved ones and me.
Doughty offers so much information on how other non-Western cultures handle death and how it was also handled in the past in the West. I loved how all the information she gave was always linked to a small story of things that happened during her career.
On top of that, Doughty will make you cry (kinda hard not to, seeing the topic of the book 😅), but she will also make you laugh out loud! This book was fascinating. But FYI you might very much need to be kind to yourself and read it in more than one sitting.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 63%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 63%.
I’ve decided to DNF this book at around 60%…
It’s probably my fault but I assumed this book to be Adult but to me this read very YA.
While I love a good YA book I just couldn’t let go of my expectation for the story evolve into a more mature voice. When I say mature I don’t mean spicy. However, I am getting bored of the YA trop that shows perfect FMCs. FMCs who have no training and still end up being the best and strongest with little to no training 😒
I also didn’t buy the whole love triangle so that’s that I guess 🤷♀️
I do want to give props to the author for creating a world that felt unique, but not special or interesting enough to keep me reading unfortunately.
It’s probably my fault but I assumed this book to be Adult but to me this read very YA.
While I love a good YA book I just couldn’t let go of my expectation for the story evolve into a more mature voice. When I say mature I don’t mean spicy. However, I am getting bored of the YA trop that shows perfect FMCs. FMCs who have no training and still end up being the best and strongest with little to no training 😒
I also didn’t buy the whole love triangle so that’s that I guess 🤷♀️
I do want to give props to the author for creating a world that felt unique, but not special or interesting enough to keep me reading unfortunately.
Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
- 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
4.5
Thank you to NetGalley, Interstellar Flight Press, and Sam Kyung Yoo for providing me with this ARC
4,5 ⭐️ rounded up to 5 ⭐️ for NetGalley and GoodReads.
This was an absolute banger for me!!
So bear with me. I don't really do novellas. Once in a while, I'll pick one up but I always find them lacking either in world-building or character-building. But Small Gods of Calamity had none of these issues!! In 151 pages (according to my NetGalley app), Sam Kyung Yoo manages to create a fascinating world of spirits, and a cast of characters who are perfectly unperfect.
Sam Kyung Yoo also manages to touch upon queerness and transphobia in an elegant way. These topics can be so rough and complicated to touch upon, and yet they manage to do so by allowing the characters to be something other than just their sexual or gender identity.
I was fascinated with the paranormal aspect of the story and loved the added mystery elements. I wish that Wonshik (Hang-gil's partner) had been more present in the story, especially at the end. A bit of a missed opportunity for me I think, as having a "non-spirit practitioner" (is that how we should refer to them?) discover this world.
Finally, I absolutely loved the complicated relationship between Hang-gil and Yoonhae. From their rough start to their new comfort around each other in the end. I'm hoping we'll get to see more of these two in hopefully later books.
So why not a full 5 ⭐️ rather than 4.5 ⭐️.... I WANTED MORE!!! More of the story, more of Wonshik, and more of Hang-gil and Yoonhae's relationship... hard to do with only 151 pages I know! But I guess that's a me problem.
EDIT: I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT THE COVER ART 😱 It's so beautiful, I love it. I also really appreciated that a small bio and link to the artist's website were included in the book. In my book (see what I did here 👀), Riotbones really managed to catch the essence of this book.
4,5 ⭐️ rounded up to 5 ⭐️ for NetGalley and GoodReads.
This was an absolute banger for me!!
So bear with me. I don't really do novellas. Once in a while, I'll pick one up but I always find them lacking either in world-building or character-building. But Small Gods of Calamity had none of these issues!! In 151 pages (according to my NetGalley app), Sam Kyung Yoo manages to create a fascinating world of spirits, and a cast of characters who are perfectly unperfect.
Sam Kyung Yoo also manages to touch upon queerness and transphobia in an elegant way. These topics can be so rough and complicated to touch upon, and yet they manage to do so by allowing the characters to be something other than just their sexual or gender identity.
I was fascinated with the paranormal aspect of the story and loved the added mystery elements. I wish that Wonshik (Hang-gil's partner) had been more present in the story, especially at the end. A bit of a missed opportunity for me I think, as having a "non-spirit practitioner" (is that how we should refer to them?) discover this world.
Finally, I absolutely loved the complicated relationship between Hang-gil and Yoonhae. From their rough start to their new comfort around each other in the end. I'm hoping we'll get to see more of these two in hopefully later books.
So why not a full 5 ⭐️ rather than 4.5 ⭐️.... I WANTED MORE!!! More of the story, more of Wonshik, and more of Hang-gil and Yoonhae's relationship... hard to do with only 151 pages I know! But I guess that's a me problem.
EDIT: I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT THE COVER ART 😱 It's so beautiful, I love it. I also really appreciated that a small bio and link to the artist's website were included in the book. In my book (see what I did here 👀), Riotbones really managed to catch the essence of this book.
The Traffic Lawyer by Norval Ecir
funny
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy of The Traffic Lawyer by Norval Eric.
This book had such a fun and interesting background idea. An ex-superstar Yale law graduate has become something of a failure by simply handling out-of-state speeding tickets. When attending his class reunion (something he had no intention to do, at first), he ends up representing his ex-bff who is accused of murder. Cool right? Well yeah, the premises were setting you up for a great story...
The execution, however, was very poor 😩. The story is all over the place, and the plot is hardly believable. The mystery/crime aspect of the novel is borderline SCI-FI. Actually, it's not borderline SCI-FI it IS. And while I am a big fan of SCI-FI, the injection of the genre did not work here.
There are also technically 3 to 4 plot lines at the same time, but they all 'converge' at the end wrapped in a pretty if not clumsy bow 🎀 . The whole thing is seriously messy, and I'm surprised that the author's team didn't try to reign in all of this. The dialogues were hardly credible and most characters felt very caricature-y, and were just not likable.
On top of all that, the background idea I thought was great just became annoying. The constant reminder of how amazing he was, how great Yale Law school is etc. I also wonder if the author is aware of a little thing called Bar Reciprocity. If you know any lawyers, even ones from Yale Law 👀, you know that they don't just pass 40 bar exams for fun.
Unfortunately, this book was incredibly messy and poorly executed. 1.5⭐️ for me
This book had such a fun and interesting background idea. An ex-superstar Yale law graduate has become something of a failure by simply handling out-of-state speeding tickets. When attending his class reunion (something he had no intention to do, at first), he ends up representing his ex-bff who is accused of murder. Cool right? Well yeah, the premises were setting you up for a great story...
The execution, however, was very poor 😩. The story is all over the place, and the plot is hardly believable. The mystery/crime aspect of the novel is borderline SCI-FI. Actually, it's not borderline SCI-FI it IS. And while I am a big fan of SCI-FI, the injection of the genre did not work here.
There are also technically 3 to 4 plot lines at the same time, but they all 'converge' at the end wrapped in a pretty if not clumsy bow 🎀 . The whole thing is seriously messy, and I'm surprised that the author's team didn't try to reign in all of this. The dialogues were hardly credible and most characters felt very caricature-y, and were just not likable.
On top of all that, the background idea I thought was great just became annoying. The constant reminder of how amazing he was, how great Yale Law school is etc. I also wonder if the author is aware of a little thing called Bar Reciprocity. If you know any lawyers, even ones from Yale Law 👀, you know that they don't just pass 40 bar exams for fun.
Unfortunately, this book was incredibly messy and poorly executed. 1.5⭐️ for me
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill
3.0
I’ve rarely been this confused about a book, so I can’t even imagine what the author must have felt like for 20 years.
This book doesn’t give any answers, so if that’s what you’re looking for… bad luck 🤷♀️
It will make you into the caricature of your favorite conspiracy uncle the whole time you’re reading it. But in the end, it’s likely that you won’t really remember anything other than everyone who worked on this case when the murders happened seem to have been dirty 👀
It’s not a masterpiece, it’s not horrible… it just is, and sometimes you have to accept it ☺️
This book doesn’t give any answers, so if that’s what you’re looking for… bad luck 🤷♀️
It will make you into the caricature of your favorite conspiracy uncle the whole time you’re reading it. But in the end, it’s likely that you won’t really remember anything other than everyone who worked on this case when the murders happened seem to have been dirty 👀
It’s not a masterpiece, it’s not horrible… it just is, and sometimes you have to accept it ☺️
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
First rating 3.75⭐️… but I think I need to digest it a bit more before sticking to a final rating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Grief, Self harm, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Xenophobia, Violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Torture, War, Death, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Colonisation, Drug use, Excrement, Genocide, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
- 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
Brilliantly funny!
A feel good “WTF are we going to do” book, with a pinch of romance!
The aunties are hilariously fabulous.
When the description says “laugh out loud” it isn’t an hyperbole!!! I looked like a lunatic LOLing in the streets while listening to this book, but it was worth it ☺️
Excited for the next one
A feel good “WTF are we going to do” book, with a pinch of romance!
The aunties are hilariously fabulous.
When the description says “laugh out loud” it isn’t an hyperbole!!! I looked like a lunatic LOLing in the streets while listening to this book, but it was worth it ☺️
Excited for the next one