miclikesbooks's reviews
431 reviews

Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

A lovely companion piece to the first Mistborn series.  This provides some cool backstory as well as some closure that we touched on in the series, but is much more fully realized here.
It's a quick read and any more analysis deals with spoilers.  I'd heartily suggest it AFTER reading the first trilogy.

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

This was a well-written book.  It got a legitimate emotional response from me.  I was invested enough in the characters.  

That being said, this book was not for me.  I wasn't the audience for it.  A lot of repetition, a lot of cow-milking, and

I felt like the ending was an unnecessary punch in the gut.  You have a character develop, just to kill them off?  I don't think the payoff was earned there.

Again, I can't say it was a bad book.  Just not for me.

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Part Good Omens, Part House at the Cerulean Sea, and Part Mort, this was absolutely written for me.  Beautiful, quirky characters, funny, yet meaningful, dialogue, and enduring themes of love and mortality have earned this place a permanent spot on my reread bookshelf.

It honestly should get it for this line alone:
" Fond as I am of him, he does chronically suffer from a touch of motherfucker"

The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.5

This book is pretentious, dry, and not as clever in its concept as it seems to think it is.  I do get what it is trying to do, but the excecution of what is, essentially, just a shitty, watered-down Blade Runner from the POV of mundane workers, does not work for me.  The only reason it's getting as many stars as it gets is that there are a few lines of nice poetry in there. And the book was short.  Thank goodness.

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really thought I was going to hate this book.  Or rather, I thought it was going to pale in comparison to the first one.  The last book ended in such a way that there was no need to read further.  Especially

with the death of Kelsier

. I was so pleasantly surprised when this book not only lived up to the first, but exceeded it.  I couldn't put this one down.

As this is a sequel, a lot of this review might be spoilery.  I'll do my best.

What worked for me:

• The premise of
  what do you do with a kingdom once you've overthrown it's ruler
  is awesome.  I loved all the political/military intrigue.
• The characters, once again, shine, especially now that they are in a whole different role.
• Sanderson can write action scenes that rival Abercrombie and Sapkowski, who are my gold standard.  Battles were fun, brutal, and never felt like they were dragging.
• There were several bits,
  and two betrayals
  that I did not see coming at all.

What didn't work for me:

• Some explanations were a little repetitive.  I didn't need a learners course in alchemy again.  I did, after all, read the first book.
• There's a love triangle that, while not terrible, feels a little forced and rushed.  Ultimately, it feels like it doesn't really go anywhere.  Not a big deal, just nitpicking.

Overall, I think this is a more impressive novel than the first, though I could see where the change in status quo could be rough for some readers.

I was honestly going to are a break before reading the last one, but that ending...
I'm off to read Hero of Ages now...

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I went into this book knowing only one thing: It has a cool magic system. With memorable characters, some really unpredictable WHAM scenes, and a cool world, this fantasy heist did much more than advertised. And yes, the magic system is cool too. 

Sanderson creates a unique and engaging fantasy world, but does not sacrifice character to do so, which is a flaw I find in many other fantasy books.  His dialogue is quick, his descriptions are detailed without feeling self-indulgent, and dammit, I just really like this book.

Fast Food Nation: What the All-American Meal Is Doing to the World by Eric Schlosser
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.

Lost interest. Might return to read the full thing.  Mostly was using it to teach.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls by Ben Farthing

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a legitimately creepy book.  And I'm a person who loves puppets.  Tying in the feelings of grief over a loved ones loss alongside feelings of nostalgia, this quick read taps into a very human feeling.  And then just ruins your whole day.

The ending was both awesome and a bit of a bummer for me.  Though I am kind of here for puppet apocalypse.

. I would definitely suggest reading the afterword as well