mijtje's reviews
108 reviews

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

Well, so much for my brief sojourn into romantasy. To summarise: not for me. I cringed way too hard.

The book is about a girl who is not that pretty (even though everyone falls in love with her) but really tough (even though she only manages to defend herself once). She sets out to save her town by travelling to the Spirit Realm. Of course, she meets a handsome, mysterious, young dude who wants to help her with his two handsome, mysterious, young sidekicks. (Seriously, everyone is like 20 in this book. Where the fuck are the adults.)

And then follow 100 pages of the girl being saved in different ways by the dudes, her main dude wanting to fuck everyone up who as much as looks at her wrong, and the last 100 pages are a clusterfuck of plot twists and turns and random pages where she’s suddenly dating someone else but then not anymore and honestly I don’t even remember and I read those chapters 20 minutes ago.

Another frustration: main dude lives in a bloody CASTLE but of course, they have to sleep in the same room, in the same BED (but with a divider because the book is very PEGI13). Why? Do you need storage rooms for your 10.000 different outfit changes that are all explicitly described in the book for whatever reason? Special rooms where no one can hear you cry because for some reason all main love interests in these teen books are emotionally stunted men who are depressed all the time but never actually say so?

Still, it wasn’t horrible. Had a good time, it was a cosy read, the writing was fine, and the story wasn’t boring. Recommended if you’re 14. 

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

adventurous dark 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

3.25

Marvel but everyone sucks. 

This book is ok. The writing is ok, the story is ok, the characters are ok, nothing mind blowing or memorable, just ok.

Mind though: the first third of the book is just people trying to off themselves in all possible ways. Massive trigger warning. Have fun, I didn’t.

Also, how many times can an author write that her characters “almost smiled”. What does that even mean. Is that like this? 😐 or this? 😏 or more like this? 🥴 I don’t know. It’s bugging me. What does almost smiling look like? How can I tell if people around me are doing it? It is a massive mystery and I will have to read the other books in the series to figure it out. Will keep you posted.

But oh well, here I am, staying up way past my bedtime to finish this book. That counts for something I guess. Recommended if you like villains, comic books, and constant descriptions of how hot the main characters are in case you forgot.

Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer

funny inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The Fall by Albert Camus

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

I am not intelligent enough to appreciate this book.

Wormmaan by Mariken Heitman

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

Mooi geschreven, interessante thematiek, verbonden door de grote kennis van de natuur van de schrijfster.

Maar ik vond het ook best verwarrend. Twee tijdlijnen kronkelen door elkaar, er is een overvloed aan thema's, talloze metaforen, maar een beperkte ontwikkeling van plot. Daardoor heb ik het idee dat ik de boodschap van het boek in de eerste twee hoofdstukken te pakken had en de rest van het boek toch een beetje uitzitten was. Wel uitzitten met leuke biologielesjes, dus mij hoor je niet klagen.

Ten slotte kon ik weinig sympathie opbrengen voor de hoofdpersoon; ik was na het derde hoofdstuk al wel klaar met haar eeuwige gezeur.

Woman's Lore: 4,000 Years of Sirens, Serpents and Succubi by Sarah Clegg

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

It is no wonder that so many women identified with our monsters: at one point or another, they have embodied almost every aspect of womanhood.

Interesting book. It follows a tradition of female demons, from child-killing demons to seductresses, and eventually to feminist symbols. It was a pleasant and interesting read. Sometimes the jumps from one type of monster to the next (snake to mermaid?) were a bit unclear to me, but oh well.

Morele ambitie by Rutger Bregman

challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.25

Een boek met een goede boodschap, prachtig begin en einde, maar het laat me toch wat teleurgesteld achter. Veel van de voorbeelden die Bregman aanhaalt gaan over de beste Harvardstudenten, mensen die in hun tienertijd al bevlogen en buitengewoon slim waren, miljonairs, etc. Niet direct iets waar ik me in herken.

Dat maakte dat ik het boek las met de gedachte: “ik hoop dat de juiste persoon dit leest, maar dit gaat niet over mij”. Terwijl dit absoluut niet de boodschap van Bregman is. 

Het is een goed boek om je stil te zetten bij wat je zou kunnen en zou willen, en om bewust te worden van de impact die je als individu kunt hebben. 3.5 sterren. 🌟🌟🌟