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lodestardirective's reviews
34 reviews
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
4.0
A little slow, with, quite honestly, all the action-action at the end, this is a great read for those who love fairy tales. Arden's prose is wonderful, lilting and flowing, like something out of a ballad. The story itself is a lovely tale, with lots of different elements. The Russian can be a little confusing at times, to a non-speaker, or someone who's not familiar with Russian language conventions, but that's rather minor. The transliterations are usually close to phonetic pronunciations, and there is a glossary in the back with most of the terms featured in the book. The characters are well developed, and there are some parts that are not entirely believable even with the suspension of disbelief required by a fictional book of this nature, but that's quite forgivable. This has been a wonderful read, and I can't wait to start the sequel.
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
5.0
Fantastic read. It's exciting, thought-provoking, mysterious, and even fantastical in the whole quest to solve an ancient mystery way. Sloan's writing is amazing! Funny, quirky, very much reminding me of my own awkward way of talking and the paradigm of professional young adult still doesn't know what to do with their life. And yet the prose is also flowing and subtle, elegantly harkening back to the fantasy books that made many people fall in love with reading, as is reflected with the fictional Dragon-Song Chronicles series in the novel, and the protagonist's love of them. I will absolutely be reading this again someday.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5.0
I cried. Bawled. It's that good. It's a reminder many people need right now in this time of history repeating itself and horrible things happening every day. And, Zusak's voice is amazing in this book.