mad_bandersnatch's reviews
55 reviews

Winter by Marissa Meyer

adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

Fantastic conclusion to the saga.  Loved the characters more and more as this series has progressed.

Cress by Marissa Meyer

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.75

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.75

More investing than the first one, characters still falling in love and trusting strangers far to easily in only days of meeting but that's fairy tails for you.  

Better character focus and development than the first of the series.   Was rather pulled out of the first book by the seemingly disregard for the deaths of different family members from mutiple characters. This second installment gave those relations a bit more depth and focus, instead of skimming past them making it easier to be more invested in the characters and what they are going through.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Over all pretty good story. Fun reimagining of certain elements of the Pinocchio story, found family, father son relationships and what it means to be human.  The coach man was a fun twist, the blue fairy on the other hand was definately a different take. Still undecided on how I felt about them.

World building was a bit lacking, I found. Certain things hand waved that I wanted to know more about and the structure of the robot society was rather lacking in detail or making much sense at all.

But five stars for Rambo who is the bestest vacuum of all time.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

Another fun little high fantasy adventure as is the rest of the series. 

Most of the conflict could have been solved by the two main characters having an actual conversation for more than 2min.  Which is both amusing and frustrating.

<Spoilers>



Love the giant fluffy cat that pretty much made them all her pets in the end.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

Kind of terrible but in the fun trashy fiction short of way.   Main character is hilariously clueless about so many things, leaving all common sense and self preservation at the door as soon as a hot guy walks into her restaurant.
Cliche but not too over done on the vampire/supernautal tropes.
The attempts at hot vampire sex scenes had me just about rolling on the floor with laughter.
Will continue with the series as a good train wreck is hard to look away from.
Will give credit where credit is due, while most of the book's mysteries are pretty obvious and easy to figure out right from the start, did not figure out the killer till the very end.  Could also be because the murder plot is treated like a slight inconvenience that is happening in the background up untill then as well. 

Over all a so bad its fun kind of book.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Good slow burn adventure. As most of us already now the plot and out come of this classic it was still a fantastic read to let unfold. Loved the journal entry style that let us see the inside thoughts of the same events from different characters.  

On a personal note love that the whole main vampire hunting squad seams to share one brain cell. For the first 20% of the book it's held by John and from then on its shared by Vanhellsing and Mina, the rest are mostly along for the ride ☺️

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro, Daniel Kraus

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Wonderfully worded and written.  Slow burn of different character studies in to madness or self realization depending on the character.

Villan you love to hate but also feel sad for as he descends deeper and deeper in to madness.  And others you grow to love as they come to realize their full potentials. 

(Spoiler warning)



And yes there is some monster love.
But honesty if you read the description at all this should not be a shock.