lokasreads's reviews
40 reviews

The Father She Went to Find by Carter Wilson

adventurous emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

The author's messaging got lost in the cracks, and the theme and character development felt forced and hollow. He wrote the 21-year-old protagonist more like a 15-year-old pickme who suddenly realizes she's just as unique as everyone else. I was planning on giving this ~3 stars, but the writing really went off the rails at the end. The mystery that I'd stayed to unearth, the mystery of Penny's missing father, was solved in yet another hollow, empty fashion. 

And please let characters be autistic. Penny's accident gave her autistic traits - more than just the acquired savant syndrome - and another character explicitly asks if she's autistic. It could have been a commentary on the time period, women going undiagnosed despite clear symptoms, but it wasn't. The author wanted a quirky genius without the dirty label of autism. It's a tired trope. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting

No Tomorrow by Luke Jennings

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 5%.

Couldn't get immersed in the writing style. Should have read a sample first, maybe can try again if I'm more accustomed to/in the mood for older classics like this. 

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book, and this series, explores morality and forgiveness in the complex shades of grey they always are. I rarely see such an accurately nuanced perspective - books in this genre especially will often cast people and actions in black and white, purely good or purely evil, with a nicely packaged resolution. Like a fantasy. Laura Sebastian paints a real world, warts and all. 

Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The writing fell a bit flat at times, but I still devoured the book and loaned out the third immediately. 

Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I enjoyed the writing style and the book itself and plan on reading the sequel, but the author struggled with telling instead of showing for almost anything that wasn't Villanelle's character/personality, most notably things centering Eve. Her character and personality was only proven much later in the book; her growing distance from Niko and mirrored growing obsession with Villanelle felt very abrupt, without basis, and I reread previous pages trying to see if there was something I missed that would explain it. This disjointedness was distracting enough to bring the overall rating of the book down.

Also, as someone coming to the book from the show, I wish we had more Konstantin. 

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Did not finish book. Stopped at 42%.

I enjoyed the writing style, but the pacing killed me. As a post-apocalyptic book, it took 1/3 of the book for things to start feeling apocalyptic. I kept pushing forward, hoping for action to start, but got almost halfway through before deciding there were too many other things I was more interested in reading. 

Uncultured by Daniella Mestyanek Young

challenging emotional fast-paced

4.0

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0