mesal's reviews
572 reviews

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

If you love excellent fantasy worldbuilding and really well-crafted character relationships then please, please read Hardinge's books. I will say this over and over and over again until more people listen to me, because these books are actually gold.

Noor by Nnedi Okorafor

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

It was just average. Honestly speaking, the writing style and punctuation choices really put me off this novella. It was also very slow, especially in the middle chapters, which made this 212-pages read take much longer to get through than it should have. I liked how the plot finally unfolded, though, and I liked the world, but there was far too much infodumping (which was rarely done in a creative way, save for the podcast) and I didn't feel connected to any of the characters. They did have their own personalities, sure, but this was used merely as background to augment the world and further the plot (Noor's main focus).

The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z. Hossain

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Of Sorrow and Such by Angela Slatter

dark mysterious

4.0

Short, enjoyable, a hooking story. It also refrained from inserting far too many obvious sentences about feminism and women breaking free from the chains of men, despite this being one of the major themes in this novella, and this restraint on the author's part I deeply appreciated.

Good-Bye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton

emotional inspiring

4.0

Petition by Delilah Waan

adventurous medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

another book that i have a ton to say about but far too little time to put together a readable review. anyway i really really really hope my oomfs read this i need to know everyone's opinion this was so close to becoming my new tsok (but not quite there). full review to come!!

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

The writing style is simple and occasionally a bit repetitive, but on the whole, reading this was a very fun experience.

Our Lady of the Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

i have all my thoughts about this book written down in my notesapp but not enough time to really organize them into a coherent review so: rtc!!

The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Nice. Fun. Short. Sweet. I didn't like how easy and formulaic it was, though, even if only a novella: the nuns made Creeper and the captain's progress far too simple a task, regardless of the difficulties the two faced later.

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

3.5