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kristallmarie's reviews
196 reviews
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom
2.0
Not one, not two, but three BookTubers I really like and respect recommended reading this book. I was hoping it would break a streak of low-star reads, but nope, it's just added to it. Three low-star reads in a row. I hate giving such low ratings, but this was not good. The writing style was lovely, and that just makes it worse, because you know the author has talent and it's just not being utilized. The main character is "not like other girls" in the most annoying and anachronistic way, and the story runs obscenely long. Getting cut down to a quarter of its final length would've made it so much stronger! The concept is interesting and had so much potential, but the execution is just... It's not good. Get this man an editor who's willing to take a machete in hand and chop off some of the length, and this might have been really good! As it is, though? It's a no from me.
The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert
1.0
First off, many thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book as an audio ARC! I greatly appreciate it!
I don't like giving low ratings to books, especially ARCs, but this was a mess.
I fell asleep listening to it a few times, though the concept sounded really cool and I was so ready to dive into this story. The opening really interesting! I even gasped at the end of the prologue! That's not a thing that happens! Then the inciting incident happens and we're saddled with Nora, whose weird, slightly toxic relationship with Becca is the only interesting thing about her. Now Becca. Her, I would have liked a book about! And then we have the male love interest, whose only personality trait is that he's dark and broody and artistic and "not like other guys." Yuck. I don't know what's going on, but this is the second book I've read in a row where the leading lady is obsessed with another girl, yet somehow ends up with a guy. What's that about? The plot started strong, though that didn't last long, and towards the end, it seemed like the plot got lost entirely. And that ending? Wow, a kiss! Why is the forced romance the focus of the ending? Ugh.
One star out of five for The Bad Ones, because as far as books go, this is one of the bad ones.
I don't like giving low ratings to books, especially ARCs, but this was a mess.
I fell asleep listening to it a few times, though the concept sounded really cool and I was so ready to dive into this story. The opening really interesting! I even gasped at the end of the prologue! That's not a thing that happens! Then the inciting incident happens and we're saddled with Nora, whose weird, slightly toxic relationship with Becca is the only interesting thing about her. Now Becca. Her, I would have liked a book about! And then we have the male love interest, whose only personality trait is that he's dark and broody and artistic and "not like other guys." Yuck. I don't know what's going on, but this is the second book I've read in a row where the leading lady is obsessed with another girl, yet somehow ends up with a guy. What's that about? The plot started strong, though that didn't last long, and towards the end, it seemed like the plot got lost entirely. And that ending? Wow, a kiss! Why is the forced romance the focus of the ending? Ugh.
One star out of five for The Bad Ones, because as far as books go, this is one of the bad ones.
The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale
1.0
First off, many thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book as an audio ARC! I greatly appreciate it!
I don't like giving one-star reviews, especially to books that haven't even come out yet, but man. This was not good. The writing was lovely, and that makes it even worse, because then you know the author is capable of writing well. But the characters! And the plot!
On the characters: Our main girl (I literally had to check the description because I forgot her name, apparently it's Rosie, though I may have just forgotten because first-person POV), spends the whole story complaining about being poor even though she has a fancy place to live and nice clothes. Yes, she has to save up for expensive things, but so does everyone else. Suck it up, princess. Then there's Annelise, who's kinda fun, but really just a generic modern hippie. I did like her, though despite the mystery of who she is, we never learn much about her outside of that. Cressida was interesting, at least. Horrible, but interesting.
The plot is the worst part. Nearly three-quarters through the book, this goes from being a really interesting story about a girl who's obviously into this weird, mystical girl to being about a girl who has a thing with a guy she met one time before because he has a cute puppy? It feels like the author got sick of the original story and decided to write a new one instead of finishing the first one? I've never been this disappointed and frustrated by the direction a book took. Shaking my head, man.
I don't like giving one-star reviews, especially to books that haven't even come out yet, but man. This was not good. The writing was lovely, and that makes it even worse, because then you know the author is capable of writing well. But the characters! And the plot!
On the characters: Our main girl (I literally had to check the description because I forgot her name, apparently it's Rosie, though I may have just forgotten because first-person POV), spends the whole story complaining about being poor even though she has a fancy place to live and nice clothes. Yes, she has to save up for expensive things, but so does everyone else. Suck it up, princess. Then there's Annelise, who's kinda fun, but really just a generic modern hippie. I did like her, though despite the mystery of who she is, we never learn much about her outside of that. Cressida was interesting, at least. Horrible, but interesting.
The plot is the worst part. Nearly three-quarters through the book, this goes from being a really interesting story about a girl who's obviously into this weird, mystical girl to being about a girl who has a thing with a guy she met one time before because he has a cute puppy? It feels like the author got sick of the original story and decided to write a new one instead of finishing the first one? I've never been this disappointed and frustrated by the direction a book took. Shaking my head, man.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
3.5
This is, for the moment, the last of the "books I saw as movies first" books. I think, in this case, I liked the movie better. Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy the book! It's just personal preference. Mrs. Frisby is still an absolutely wonderful protagonist: You don't see mothers as heroes very often, and she's so brave in the face of horrors for the sake of her children! It's amazing! The rest of the characters didn't make much of an impression, including Jeremy, who's much less present here than he is in the movie. That surprised me a little. I do like how scientific the story is, though. Do you suppose it counts as sci-fi? Because I think it should!
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
4.0
I'm on something of a streak reading books with movies I saw first! I knew that, like with Jurassic Park, this one was pretty different from its adaptation, and while I adore Studio Ghibli's version of the story ,I might just like this, the book version, more! Though that feels a bit like comparing apples and oranges in this case. Yes, the stories share a lot, but the vibe is totally different! The book has a more urban fantasy than fairytale feel, and Howl is so much more likeable here! He's such a loveable little scoundrel! Sophie's much the same, though she's less morose, which I really appreciate. This is, as they usually are, a case where the book is better than the movie, and with a movie that good, that's saying quite a lot!
The Ruins by Scott Smith
4.0
This is another case of my reading the book after seeing the movie, but this is also one of the rare cases where I liked the movie better. This was a good book, I just think the movie made better choices. That being said: I wasn't bored even once during this whole story, and that's hard to do! It was disturbing and gross and I loved it! The only thing I didn't like, the thing that brings down the star rating, is the weird sexual stuff. Now, I'm not one of the people who thinks sex doesn't belong in books. If it fits what's going on, sure! But these didn't fit at all. In fact, the way the author used clinical terms like penis and sperm instead of the more appealing words makes me wonder if they were supposed to be gross. Because they had my skin crawling!
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
5.0
It's official! I've read all of the books Caitlin Doughty's written so far! And like the others, I loved this one! I love her YouTube channel, though, so that's kind of a given. These books all read like longform essays strung together. More a podcast than a book, and honestly? I'm about it, especially considering her subjects are so interesting. I knew of the existence of the catacombs in Mexico (Thanks, Ray Bradbury!), but I'd never heard of the angelitos, or the high-tech columbarium in Japan, or any of these other traditions! Fascinating stuff! And she manages to do it without getting bogged down in the grimness of death, which, being a horror reader, I run into a lot. Here's hoping she's working on a new book soon!
When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw
3.0
I know I say it all the time, but this one's especially hard to rate. I loved the setting and the references made the story feel really grounded, but I finished this book before bed last night after being in its universe for over a week, and I couldn't tell you the main characters' names. One of them is into fashion, and one of them is into movies, and they have opposite family lives, and that's really all I could tell you about them. That being said, I did cry a few times. The writing is nice and it hit pretty hard, given I'm a queer nineties baby myself. Not a bad story overall, I just wish the characters were more fleshed out. If you're a fan of Pose, give this one a read!
Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne
2.0
This book wasn't what I expected. I expected bones and plant magic and Southern Gothic vibes, and while I got that, I also got a bunch of dull-as-dirt characters and one of the least interesting romances I've ever come across. Were it not for their having different names, I would've thought all the leading men (There's three? Or four? I can't remember, they all blur together) were all the same person. Our MC, Laurel, is somehow flatter than Kansas while also being "so quirky!" She gave up college to collect bones? So unique!
I could let all that go were it not for the fact that the writing here is absolutely gorgeous. It's atmospheric and eerie and I absolutely loved it! Like, seriously, this is some of the most beautiful, flowing writing styles I've ever come across.
And that just makes me even more annoyed, given how much potential this story had. It's a real shame.
I could let all that go were it not for the fact that the writing here is absolutely gorgeous. It's atmospheric and eerie and I absolutely loved it! Like, seriously, this is some of the most beautiful, flowing writing styles I've ever come across.
And that just makes me even more annoyed, given how much potential this story had. It's a real shame.
The Lost World by Michael Crichton
1.0
I read the first Jurassic Park book not long ago, and it was amazing! And I had lots of people on Twitter telling me I should read the second one, and I listened because if the first book was great, it stands to reason that the second one would be, too, right? Wrong. Hoo, boy, wrong! This book was as big a disappointment as I've ever read. The characters (Including the resurrected Ian Malcolm, who I loved in the first book) are obnoxious, especially the kids, there's far less action, and any time a meaningful conversation is being had, it gets cut off for "Oh, look, a dinosaur!" Snoozefest seems an apt descriptor for this book. Such a shame, too, when there was so much potential!