mesal's reviews
572 reviews

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Volume 5 by 싱숑, sing N song

adventurous emotional funny

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Volume 4 by 싱숑, sing N song

adventurous emotional funny

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

4.0

This volume started out with one of the best arcs in the entire series, and I mean this from the perspective of fandom creators being given a lot of material to work with. One of the issues I faced with this novel was Dokja's insane jump in skill level near the end that was inconsistent with the pace the author kept for the rest of the series. The other major issue was that the emotional he-will-die-soon scenes came a little too early on in the novel, making it difficult to believe they would carry much weight when there were still several episodes left to fix everything. 

Venus and Aphrodite: A Biography of Desire by Bettany Hughes

informative slow-paced

4.0

Until love is redundant, the goddess of love looks unlikely to lose her appeal.

This was a very gripping exploration of the origins of the myth we now call Aphrodite, her journey as deity through countries and through names to the most commonly held perception of her today. A generous number of illustrations featuring paintings and sculptures of Aphrodite-Venus and her predecessors augment Hughes' research, as do digressions about what life in the times of these various versions of her might have been like. The latter tended to detract from the overall scholarly tone—words like "perhaps" and "maybe" were used over fifteen times—but they did make for a more absorbing read. 

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Volume 3 by 싱숑, sing N song

adventurous emotional funny

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

5.0

This volume had the best cover, an excellent collection of scenarios, and heavy focus on reader/writer meta, so of course I loved it. It was also the volume where Han Sooyoung and her story finally started interesting me, and that says a lot considering how I truly did not care for her in the earlier chapters.

Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales by Naguib Mahfouz

informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

I'd already read one of these stories a very long time ago, so accidentally discovering a collection of similar ones from an excellent writer made for an engrossing way to spend my time. 

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Volume 2 by 싱숑, sing N song

adventurous

• 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

By the time I reached Volume 2, I had gotten so used to the translation with all of its errors and inconsistencies that I stopped minding them at all. The focus on Dokja's experiences in the 73rd Demon Realm may have been entertaining to read about, but it also had me antsy for a reunion with all of his companions, one which seemed further out of reach with each progressive chapter. (It finally happened, though!) If the entire translation hadn't already been released by the time I started reading this series, the cliffhanger at the end of this volume would have made me weep. 

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

challenging dark informative medium-paced

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

4.0

After my initial discomfort over having to read from the perspective of the first narrator, Minor Detail actually got immersive pretty quickly. The second narrator's perspective was better in that regard, despite the repetitive nature of the language used (I am aware that every word choice was deliberate and purposeful, considering how this is a book about—amongst other things—the fragility of language). The motifs, however, and the cyclical nature of the plot, were excellent to discover while reading. 

The Perfect Match by Ken Liu

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

2 B R 0 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut

dark reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster

challenging reflective 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

4.5

Night and day, wind and storm, tide and earthquake, impeded man no longer. He had harnessed Leviathan. All the old literature, with its praise of Nature, and its fear of Nature, rang false as the prattle of a child.