marleysclassics's reviews
298 reviews

Soul Food by Elizabeth Acevedo

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

Epic, emotional and the most intruiging (fantasy) story I've read for quite a while. Tracy Deonn really knows how to write a story full of plot twists that had me gasping of shock or positive surprise approximately every ten pages, how to create characters that you care for and fall in love with, that you root for or hate from the bottom of your heart - but that still fascinate you. 
While I already loved the first book of the Legendborn Cycle, Bloodmarked had an even stronger grip on me. The whole story as well as the ones of the individual characters expand with every page, become more and more multilayered. A little bit of found family, a captivating (and sometimes annoyingly difficult to assess) romance subplot, an amazing character arc for Bree - Bloodmarked gave us (or at least me) everything. My only, tiny critique is, that I found it a bit too much when it comes to the world-building. As mentioned, everything is expanding in this book and thus the magic system is, too. As a result I was quite confused at times and am relatively sure that I will have to reread Bloodmarked before the third volume comes out (though to be honest: is that really that bad?). 

Sofies Welt: Roman über die Geschichte der Philosophie by Jostein Gaarder

funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Legendborn - Der geheime Bund by Tracy Deonn

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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? N/A

4.25

Queen of Gods by Katharine Corr, Elizabeth Corr

adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

adventurous funny inspiring fast-paced

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

4.0

Never having read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass as a child, I was curious to experience these stories now - and I think that Virginia Woolf's description of Lewis Carroll's work which is included in this edition: "the two Alices are not books for children; they are the only books that in which we become children", is very much correct.
The world(s) which the author created here are so immersive and the fact that they seem to make so little sense makes it hard or even impossible to think about it having a fixed setting or a certain plot. Hence everything felt kind of limitless, just floating around somewhere in endless space. While both of these books together don't even fill 250 pages - and still these histories feel so big. 
To be honest, this only has its downsides as the whole thing drags a little from time to time. But then you reach a certain point where you get sucked into this humorous, magical weirdness again. How tf did I develop an emotional connection to a mad hatter, the Ceshire cat and an egg with a tie?? 
Also the writing style is great. It captures the vibe of Alice's journey(s) and especially the poems and songs that are included here and there - together with the gorgeous illustrations of course - make for a reading experience that is immersive in so many ways. 

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

adventurous informative mysterious 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? N/A

3.0

Why Jules Verne's stories have been thrilling their readers for more than a hundred years, I have to admit that compared to other books that tell of adventures and voyages, this one wasn't my favorite. Of course there might be a lot about this which I didn't get that the initial readers were enthralled by. But as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was written as captivating entertainment, I have to admit that for me, it worked only in parts. While long descriptions of fish and geographical data are included to inform the reader, to educate and entertain them at once, these parts were rather boring most of the time. I just couldn't get into it. Maybe that would have been different if I understood all the scientific terminology that is used, which would probably have been the case had I read a translation in my mother tongue. Still, I don't regret reading the English version as the writing style is quite captivating and comfortable to read. Thus, the scenes that actually describe events and exciting plotpoints were able to gain my interest and finally get me invested in the story. Unfortunately, this was only the case for about half of the book. 
What normally works as a counterbalance for lows in the plot are, of course, a book's characters. Unfortunately, the ones in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea felt quite flat most of the time. Captain Nemo has a lot of potential, so why can't we look deeper inside this person? Our protagonist Mr Aronnax on the other hand doesn't seem to have any character traits at all but solely plays the role of a moderately scientific observer, judging everthing and everyone around him while being rather boring himself. His companions Conseil and Ned Land are flat as well but they surely bring a little humor into the story from time to time which I enjoyed. Can't there be a tiny bit more? 
In conclusion: Yes, premise, setting, plot and characters have potential but they aren't what I think they could be. Still, I mostly had a good time with the book, except for the pagelong enumerations of species, longitudes and latitudes which I sometimes only skimmed. I can recommend it for today's readers, but maybe you shouldn't expect the most thrilling experience that will capture your attention from the beginning to the last page.
PS: And maybe there could have been a little less slaughter of animals??  

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

Auf den ersten Seiten dieses Buches sind meine Erwartungen erstmal sehr weit gesunken. Das lag ganz einfach daran, dass dort sehr viel passiert. Klar, die authentische Reaktion einer Jugendlichen, wenn sie von den eigenen magischen Kräften erfährt, ist allgemein schwer zu finden. Aber die Geschwindigkeit, in der das hier abgefrühstückt wird, gefolgt von 19472 anderen Ereignissen auf 50 Seiten - das ist mehr als das, womit ich als Leser*in mitfiebern kann. Unmengen an Drama, dabei kennt man die Figuren noch gar nicht. Wie soll mich dann bitte ihr Schicksal interessieren?

Glücklicherweise legt sich dieses rapide Fortschreiten der Handlung irgendwann. Ab da kam ich dann nach und nach in die Geschichte rein. Sobald klar ist, welche Figuren nun tatsächlich wichtig sind und welche Rolle sie so ungefähr einnehmen, ist es spannend, die Vorgänge und Entwicklungen mitzuverfolgen. 

So entdeckt man gemeinsam mit der Protagonistin die Welt, in sie da eigentlich hineingeraten ist. Wer ist sie eigentlich? Wer ist ihre Familie? Und wie zum Teufel können wir a) deren Tod ungeschehen machen und b) unseren eigenen verhindern?

Auf dem Weg entwickeln sich die Beziehungen verschiedener Charaktere zueinander. Dabei habe ich vor allem auf Aaron und Joan gehofft, da mich die beiden ein wenig an Gwen und Gideon aus Kerstin Giers Rubinrot erinnert haben. (Jedoch leider mit etwas weniger Eigenheiten und Erinnerungswürdigkeit, wenn ich ehrlich bin.) Aber auch die (Liebes-)Geschichten verschiedener Nebencharaktere haben alle ihren Reiz und machen das Lesen unterhaltsam, sogar wenn die Haupthandlung mal durchhängt. 

Der Erzählstil ist einfach, aber angenehm zu lesen. Folglich bin ich zumeist echt durch die Seiten geflogen. Dabei gibt es kaum einen Aspekt dieses Buches, den ich überragend finde – so gemein das jetzt auch klingt. Somit fand ich Only a Monster ziemlich durchschnittlich. Weder Plot noch Figuren oder Weltenaufbau sind überragend, schlecht sind sie aber ebenso wenig. 

Damit bin ich völlig okay. Das Einzige, das mich aber genervt hat, ist, wie dramatisch zum Teil erzählt wird. Es tut mir leid, diese Story ist kein siebenbändiger Fantasy-Epos voller tiefgründiger Charaktere, die man auf unzähligen Abenteuern begleitet hat. Trotzdem kommen immer wieder dramatische Aussagen, die genau das vermuten lassen. Dass ich die nötige emotionale Verbindung zur Geschichte nicht gespürt habe, hat das jedoch eher pathetisch wirken lassen. 

Meine Fazit:

Vanessa Lens Only a Monster, Band eins der Dynastie der Zeitreisenden, konnte mich unterhalten. Ich interessiere mich nun insoweit für die Geschichte, dass ich die Reihe vermutlich weiterverfolgen werde. Falls ihr nach einem eher leichten Fantasyroman für Zwischendurch sucht, der ein wenig an Rubinrot erinnert, kann ich diesen hier durchaus empfehlen.