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matt_and_cheez's Reviews (493)
This is an urban fantasy that blurs the line between story and reality. We follow two characters who are plunged into a fairy-tale world, mostly due to a "curse" in the protagonist's family. Her grandmother's creations have come to life and her mother has disappeared. It's fun and fast-paced with that dark undertone often found in classic fairy tales.
This novel had so many elements that I enjoy in a story: a descent into madness, setting in NYC, a struggling writer trying to find her place, etc. A semi-autobiographical look into a small section of Plath's life, The Bell Jar is one of those novels I'll return to many times.
I'm so glad I decided to give this a listen- Gaiman is successful in making the Norse myths digestible and less confusing than they are when reading translations. Like what was done in Circe, Gaiman tells the myths in a more modern way, providing extra dialogue and details. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This was an extremely exciting steam punk fantasy. My favorite element of the story were the talking cats who joined reluctant alliances with the humans. I'm not normally a lover of pirate/ship stories, but when they're floating ships that somehow makes it more interesting to me. Definitely a new fantasy favorite.
I don't even know how to review this one. It is daunting, long-winded, too detailed, disconnected, which I knew going in. I enjoyed and was semi-successful at following a good portion of this behemoth, but the section detailing *hundreds* of murders got extremely boring and hard to get through. I don't get the overall point of the story, and was glad when it was finally over. That being said, I almost miss it.
Monumentally disappointing... if you want a fantasy filled with as many cliche Tolkien knock-offs as possible, then this one is perfect. I found no connection to any of the characters and just wanted it to be over. The video games are much better in my opinion.
The post-apocalyptic Earth element of this fantasy made it stand out for me. Rather than a whole new fantasy world, this hefty novel presents an Earth far into the future where torture is normal and showing mercy to the victim is unforgivable. The reader follows one of these torturers who is in exile for doing just that. It's a bit of a chore, as many fantasy books are to me, but the blend of sci-fi elements made it refreshing. There is a bit of unneeded sexism I found, which was a little disappointing.
Intense, violent, historically-accurate, and overall gripping, this was a great dive back into manga for me. Future reviews of this series won't be necessary- I think I'll have the same opinion
Ok, going into this book it's important to keep the following in mind:
1. It's helpful to have knowledge about video games and RPGs
2. It's helpful to be familiar with 1980's pop culture
3. Expect over-the-top, sometimes cheesy moments
4. Expect A LOT of info-dumping
I had enough of the above-mentioned knowledge to have fun with this story, but still many pop-culture references went way over my head. It's interesting that this is geared towards a younger audience so I wonder if they run into this problem.
The story overall was exciting- the creator of a virtual reality system dies in the mid-21st century, leaving a scavenger hunt behind as a way to find his fortune. In addition to serious contestants trying to get the money, an evil internet provider is trying to take control of Oasis (the simulation software). There were some twists and the pacing was fast the whole time.
As for the info-dumping: normally this is a little bit tiresome, but I found it really helpful to get some background into the way the game works, how the world looks, and the state of video games and pop-culture in the 80's. Yet, the story was still very immersive, making me feel like I was in the simulation myself.
1. It's helpful to have knowledge about video games and RPGs
2. It's helpful to be familiar with 1980's pop culture
3. Expect over-the-top, sometimes cheesy moments
4. Expect A LOT of info-dumping
I had enough of the above-mentioned knowledge to have fun with this story, but still many pop-culture references went way over my head. It's interesting that this is geared towards a younger audience so I wonder if they run into this problem.
The story overall was exciting- the creator of a virtual reality system dies in the mid-21st century, leaving a scavenger hunt behind as a way to find his fortune. In addition to serious contestants trying to get the money, an evil internet provider is trying to take control of Oasis (the simulation software). There were some twists and the pacing was fast the whole time.
As for the info-dumping: normally this is a little bit tiresome, but I found it really helpful to get some background into the way the game works, how the world looks, and the state of video games and pop-culture in the 80's. Yet, the story was still very immersive, making me feel like I was in the simulation myself.
