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logarithms's reviews
167 reviews
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
5.0
4.75
yooooo this book was kinda epic actually. i just picked it up at random cause the cover was cool but unlike other times ive done that it actually turned out to be a really good read!!!1!!
not only was the cover design SICK AF i flipped the page to find the SEXIEST ENDPAPERS IVE EVER SEEN. i think these endpapers alone made the book 10x more enjoyable. i searched around to find the artist and ONCE AGAIN its Will Staehle. how can one man produce so many incredible designs
anyway onto the book
so compulsively readable, v intriguing. i liked the trope subversions, i think they were done well (a woman as the hardened world weary PI, the uninspiring magical school, You Are Not The Chosen One (tm) etcccc). Even though I had literally every plot twist figured out (not to brag but i felt like a bit of a genius) it was still super satisfying to actually find out the details of the twist. (i feel like maybe it happened this way that the reader gets all the clues and can figure it out but the protagonist is drunk/drugged/out of it the entire time so the answers are revealed slower) the clues were all v well placed, no cheap shock value
especially tabitha at the end ;;;____:;;; like...dead mum + 14 years of study into theoretical magic (another interesting use of the trope imo (u know like the mad/evil scientist reanimation trope)) + dead girlfriend = logical and satisfying conclusion tabitha is the 'murderer'. nothing says true love like disassembling their entire body and meticulously extracting the cancer thats eating them alive. im gonna SCREAM
also i love this quoteee
""Do you know what I learned?" Tabitha had a smile playing around the edges of her lips. "I learned that everything they think is impossible is a lie. The boundaries" -she gestured with her hands, describing a shape I couldn't have identified if my life depended on it- "they're imaginary.""
the relationships between the characters were so fleshed out i was like...wow....its been so long since ive read female characters this well written
the teen drama was a bit eh but i did like it as a sub-plotline leading to the subversion of BOTH the chosen one trope AND mentor/student magical school thing (like i said...these trope subversions were basically catered to me personally lmaooo)
very healthy sprinkling of queer characters in this book made me happy ty sarah gailey (big F for the author. the ebook version used the wrong pronouns for them after the authors note :///)
i also loved the magic system!!!!! particularly the healing magic DAYUM those descriptions were PERFECT
hmmm not giving the full 5 stars because i thought the protags introspection on her own relationships (particularly romantic) and their failings read as kinda unsophisticated (esp in relation to her age/experience, i guess?) (this was mostly in the start). but, i liked the ending a lot. it felt like progress without looking like there was any progress? like, not the conclusion u wanted but the one that was right
yooooo this book was kinda epic actually. i just picked it up at random cause the cover was cool but unlike other times ive done that it actually turned out to be a really good read!!!1!!
not only was the cover design SICK AF i flipped the page to find the SEXIEST ENDPAPERS IVE EVER SEEN. i think these endpapers alone made the book 10x more enjoyable. i searched around to find the artist and ONCE AGAIN its Will Staehle. how can one man produce so many incredible designs
anyway onto the book
so compulsively readable, v intriguing. i liked the trope subversions, i think they were done well (a woman as the hardened world weary PI, the uninspiring magical school, You Are Not The Chosen One (tm) etcccc). Even though I had literally every plot twist figured out (not to brag but i felt like a bit of a genius) it was still super satisfying to actually find out the details of the twist. (i feel like maybe it happened this way that the reader gets all the clues and can figure it out but the protagonist is drunk/drugged/out of it the entire time so the answers are revealed slower) the clues were all v well placed, no cheap shock value
Spoiler
especially tabitha at the end ;;;____:;;; like...dead mum + 14 years of study into theoretical magic (another interesting use of the trope imo (u know like the mad/evil scientist reanimation trope)) + dead girlfriend = logical and satisfying conclusion tabitha is the 'murderer'. nothing says true love like disassembling their entire body and meticulously extracting the cancer thats eating them alive. im gonna SCREAM
also i love this quoteee
""Do you know what I learned?" Tabitha had a smile playing around the edges of her lips. "I learned that everything they think is impossible is a lie. The boundaries" -she gestured with her hands, describing a shape I couldn't have identified if my life depended on it- "they're imaginary.""
the relationships between the characters were so fleshed out i was like...wow....its been so long since ive read female characters this well written
the teen drama was a bit eh but i did like it as a sub-plotline leading to the subversion of BOTH the chosen one trope AND mentor/student magical school thing (like i said...these trope subversions were basically catered to me personally lmaooo)
very healthy sprinkling of queer characters in this book made me happy ty sarah gailey (big F for the author. the ebook version used the wrong pronouns for them after the authors note :///)
i also loved the magic system!!!!! particularly the healing magic DAYUM those descriptions were PERFECT
hmmm not giving the full 5 stars because i thought the protags introspection on her own relationships (particularly romantic) and their failings read as kinda unsophisticated (esp in relation to her age/experience, i guess?) (this was mostly in the start). but, i liked the ending a lot. it felt like progress without looking like there was any progress? like, not the conclusion u wanted but the one that was right
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
3.0
very gripping. i was hooked. i did also hate it most of the time but that's not important.
i love elizabeth so much man what a character. don't like what miller did with the younger female characters tho. truly seems insane to introduce a 17 y/o girl as some sort of homewrecker who's out for blood because she wants to be with a middle aged farmer (and adding the legend of her being a prostitute in london at the end is just???? beyond me. like ok damn sex before marriage leading this christian girl so far astray is the moral i guess)
i did like the parallels with the red scare, a v interesting way to go about it. also the way "you have not hurt these people if they are of good conscience" aka you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide is so universal across time and i didn't even realize it (much 2 think about)
i read my sisters annotated high school copy and it made the experience much more fun. not at all insightful but very charming lmaoo (half her annotations cut off mid phrase. queen of having an attention span)
i love elizabeth so much man what a character. don't like what miller did with the younger female characters tho. truly seems insane to introduce a 17 y/o girl as some sort of homewrecker who's out for blood because she wants to be with a middle aged farmer (and adding the legend of her being a prostitute in london at the end is just???? beyond me. like ok damn sex before marriage leading this christian girl so far astray is the moral i guess)
i did like the parallels with the red scare, a v interesting way to go about it. also the way "you have not hurt these people if they are of good conscience" aka you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide is so universal across time and i didn't even realize it (much 2 think about)
i read my sisters annotated high school copy and it made the experience much more fun. not at all insightful but very charming lmaoo (half her annotations cut off mid phrase. queen of having an attention span)
Glimpses of Utopia: Real ideas for a fairer world by Jess Scully
5.0
very cool and informative. some sections were kinda boring but I like how comprehensive this was (tackling the issues from as many angles as possible)
Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
3.0
I'll b real this book must've gone way over my head cause I don't get the idea.
It just feels like this book doesn't really cover...anything? There were sparse bits that would've been interesting fleshed out, but just kind of weird just left without development (her grief over losing her home followed by returning to find it changed, the people using her as a tool to protect themselves/scare away others, the nature and origin of the seed, the line about africa being used as a testing ground for new tech, the bioengineering company, the robot/surveillance, etc etc) (also the robocop felt kinda goofy. like come on its just a traffic light with a humanoid body what use does it have) (well ok. I'll rephrase this. I get what was being covered in this book but I just didn't find it interesting or ...new?fresh? idk just not for me)
The writing was v cool tho. Great imagery (like i can imagine an artsy film w a mega wide screen of this novella. 10/10 would watch on jelly telly). also I listened on audio and the narration was super engaging so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
It just feels like this book doesn't really cover...anything? There were sparse bits that would've been interesting fleshed out, but just kind of weird just left without development (her grief over losing her home followed by returning to find it changed, the people using her as a tool to protect themselves/scare away others, the nature and origin of the seed, the line about africa being used as a testing ground for new tech, the bioengineering company, the robot/surveillance, etc etc) (also the robocop felt kinda goofy. like come on its just a traffic light with a humanoid body what use does it have) (well ok. I'll rephrase this. I get what was being covered in this book but I just didn't find it interesting or ...new?fresh? idk just not for me)
The writing was v cool tho. Great imagery (like i can imagine an artsy film w a mega wide screen of this novella. 10/10 would watch on jelly telly). also I listened on audio and the narration was super engaging so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
3.0
in the context of this being historically significant (widely regarded as first YA novel) and being written by a 17 year old i thought it was pretty interesting but just as a regular novel it was very below average (just like. on everything. writing, story, ""themes"" etc).
if i read this at 13 y.o tho....ough. the impact would've been crushing
if i read this at 13 y.o tho....ough. the impact would've been crushing
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
4.0
well i had a grand old time reading this
the found family got me ok
the found family got me ok
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
3.0
interesting. kinda relaxing to listen to. similar themes to earthlings but much less unhinged
i cant for the life of me understand why all the author review snippets on the cover say its funny and hilarious. pov u r the side characters?
i cant for the life of me understand why all the author review snippets on the cover say its funny and hilarious. pov u r the side characters?
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
4.0
oh mein gott.....
this fucked me up alexa play fuyu no hanashi 10 hours
my dumb ass did think this was gonna be scifi. i saw only the small cover thumbnail and thought it was a robot hand....i dont wanna talk about it....(but also oops i like never read the supernatural genre so i feel like any genre/trope references went right over my head)(cover designer has a cool lastname btw shoutout to my grape queen)
i enjoyed it but the pacing was kinda off. and i feel like the murder mystery was too straightforward (not enough moving parts, with only 3 main suspects, and 1 gets eliminated early on. although) so the whole thriller aspect fell kinda flat. although my fave bit of foreshadowing/clues (idk whats it's called) was still 4 stars despite the flaws cause grief stories resonate w me.
oh i liked how they wrote the internalised homophobia/repression. u can tell they've read a lot of theory/memoir/lived experience cause it's almost like an academic study through the main character, v interesting/cool
number of words i had to google cause this author is either being held hostage by thesaurus.com or is in the top 0.00001% for english vocab size: 11 (not that bad but my average is usually like 1, and 8 of them were early on and it had me panicking. what the FUCK is a sepulchral vibe)
PLEASE,,,,STOP having characters litter all th time to show how theyre edgy and acting apathetic/uncaring or whatever....im fine with drugs, substance abuse, speeding, arson, etc but I DRAW THE LINE AT LITTERING. feel free to be self destructive but no junking up the planet #environmentalist #green #relatable
oh also LOL. TIL that tor.com is a sff magazine/publishing company (????) and has NOTHING to do with the onion router....................no wonder it made no sense in my head..............oops
um i also really like the authors playlists. classic emo vibes.
peace ✌
this fucked me up alexa play fuyu no hanashi 10 hours
my dumb ass did think this was gonna be scifi. i saw only the small cover thumbnail and thought it was a robot hand....i dont wanna talk about it....(but also oops i like never read the supernatural genre so i feel like any genre/trope references went right over my head)(cover designer has a cool lastname btw shoutout to my grape queen)
i enjoyed it but the pacing was kinda off. and i feel like the murder mystery was too straightforward (not enough moving parts, with only 3 main suspects, and 1 gets eliminated early on. although
Spoiler
suspect 2 is pretty much immediately eliminated aswell cus it would just be a rlly bad look if one of 2 black characters was the killerSpoiler
when troth said "the bit about the young husband is familiar. people will go far for love, further than you'd expect" like way to expose urself dude. but idk if thats foreshadowing if it happened 70% in loloh i liked how they wrote the internalised homophobia/repression. u can tell they've read a lot of theory/memoir/lived experience cause it's almost like an academic study through the main character, v interesting/cool
number of words i had to google cause this author is either being held hostage by thesaurus.com or is in the top 0.00001% for english vocab size: 11 (not that bad but my average is usually like 1, and 8 of them were early on and it had me panicking. what the FUCK is a sepulchral vibe)
PLEASE,,,,STOP having characters litter all th time to show how theyre edgy and acting apathetic/uncaring or whatever....im fine with drugs, substance abuse, speeding, arson, etc but I DRAW THE LINE AT LITTERING. feel free to be self destructive but no junking up the planet #environmentalist #green #relatable
oh also LOL. TIL that tor.com is a sff magazine/publishing company (????) and has NOTHING to do with the onion router....................no wonder it made no sense in my head..............oops
um i also really like the authors playlists. classic emo vibes.
peace ✌
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
3.0
enjoyed this :-) good read
kinda devastated i didnt read it when it came out i wouldve liked it way more back then
kinda devastated i didnt read it when it came out i wouldve liked it way more back then
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
3.0
damn that man sure is bug
ill admit i did zone out through like half of this because i was sewing but its still a funky little classic that kept me company
i know the true meaning is often speculated upon but i feel like my takeaway was bug = metaphor for being chronically ill (in kafkas case i think mental illness?) (like, having different needs than others, feeling like a burden, struggling to be conventionally 'productive', feeling alienated, all zat)
i have....only read this once WHY doesgoodreads want to spread misinformation
ill admit i did zone out through like half of this because i was sewing but its still a funky little classic that kept me company
i know the true meaning is often speculated upon but i feel like my takeaway was bug = metaphor for being chronically ill (in kafkas case i think mental illness?) (like, having different needs than others, feeling like a burden, struggling to be conventionally 'productive', feeling alienated, all zat)
i have....only read this once WHY doesgoodreads want to spread misinformation