Take a photo of a barcode or cover
lanidon's reviews
1838 reviews
House of Blight by Maxym M. Martineau
3.0
The world of this is genuinely so cool and the writing style so captivating that it hurts me to admit the overall book is just incredibly mid. The main issue is that the mc is simply too stupid to exist in this story. She's naive, incurious, overly trusting, easily distracted, and uninquisitive.
Every breakthrough and reveal of the story has to be forced into her hands by another character, begging her to pay attention. She refuses to see what's right in front of her because she'd rather live in her hopeful little daydreams. I swear you could spit in her face and then give her a lollipop and she'd skip off into the sunset like nothing had ever happened.
Your brothers, your only remaining family, are lying in coffins slowly dying and you spend most of your days thinking about romance and sex and friendship and material gains?!?!
It never feels like she is truly training and studying and improving her skills; which is proven when the solution stumbles into her lap. She spends the book lollygagging and flirting and then is pissed when a townsperson breaks her little fantasy by daring to ask about her brothers. She claims to care so much she sleeps on the floor beside their coffins nightly and then she wastes her days doing nothing to help them
It's astounding how one character can fail a story so hard. I wish this book were about her aunt. I wish it were from the perspective of a family member or attendant trying to signal something to this outsider. I even wish it were from the perspective of her little bug shock collar that she loves so strangely. Everyone else is more engaging and more dedicated than the main character and she sucks the potential out of a pretty stellar concept
Every breakthrough and reveal of the story has to be forced into her hands by another character, begging her to pay attention. She refuses to see what's right in front of her because she'd rather live in her hopeful little daydreams. I swear you could spit in her face and then give her a lollipop and she'd skip off into the sunset like nothing had ever happened.
Your brothers, your only remaining family, are lying in coffins slowly dying and you spend most of your days thinking about romance and sex and friendship and material gains?!?!
It never feels like she is truly training and studying and improving her skills; which is proven when the solution stumbles into her lap. She spends the book lollygagging and flirting and then is pissed when a townsperson breaks her little fantasy by daring to ask about her brothers. She claims to care so much she sleeps on the floor beside their coffins nightly and then she wastes her days doing nothing to help them
It's astounding how one character can fail a story so hard. I wish this book were about her aunt. I wish it were from the perspective of a family member or attendant trying to signal something to this outsider. I even wish it were from the perspective of her little bug shock collar that she loves so strangely. Everyone else is more engaging and more dedicated than the main character and she sucks the potential out of a pretty stellar concept
Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.
I'm realizing I either find Backman's compellingly charming or uniquely, utterly depressing and annoying. This was the latter so I'm gonna drop it at 18%
On Screen & Off Again by Caitlin Cross
Did not finish book. Stopped at 29%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 29%.
The definition of telling and not showing
Tales from the Gas Station, Vol. 1 by Jack Townsend
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
This is well written but it's not what I wanted; it feels like every horror trope tossed in one blender and that's just not my thing. It feels like Wayside School for grownups which is great but not rightnow
Till Death by Kellan McDaniel
Did not finish book. Stopped at 2%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 2%.
DNF @ 2%, TWO percent, I've never given up on a book faster. I should've just gotten the library sample before committing to it. This has some of the most painful writing I've read since 2013 superwholock Tumblr posts. It reads like the author is more concerned with accidentally not using the most proper and factually correct queer terminology than,,, writing the story
A Gentleman's Gentleman by TJ Alexander
5.0
I'm begging the author to focus their career on historical fiction now, the writing in this is so much more inspired than the contemporaries and refreshing in the world of modern historical in general
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto
4.0
Way to fumble in the end zone brah.... Neither the heist nor the romance stuck the landing. The heist felt rushed and simple after so much setup, it was just easy. Begging you to make me believe for at least a second that they might not pull it off, that they might not get the ransom, that failure is a potential, that they may need to go into hiding, SOMETHING to bring in stakes
I truly hated the romance, I'm sorry. I love the characters and their dynamic, but they should not have been romantic. I enjoyed them much more as ex siblings, that's a much more compelling and rich concept than stupid dull romance.
Outside of those complaints, the majority of the story is a really fun heist with a great cast of characters and interesting world. I'm mostly hard on it because it had five star potential and the mention ofa stolen dildo being used with this couple I despise just made me wanna vom
I truly hated the romance, I'm sorry. I love the characters and their dynamic, but they should not have been romantic. I enjoyed them much more as ex siblings, that's a much more compelling and rich concept than stupid dull romance.
Outside of those complaints, the majority of the story is a really fun heist with a great cast of characters and interesting world. I'm mostly hard on it because it had five star potential and the mention of
The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst
Did not finish book. Stopped at 48%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 48%.
It lost me about halfway in and I can't even give a reason why. The scope of the book is very broad and I think it made it less gripping. You're seeing all across the land over multiple years. The school parts were the best for me, but you also couldn't write out the other parts entirely without creating holes in the story