mlfey's reviews
173 reviews

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

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

3.0

Good freshman effort, and has some great ideas, but suffers from trying to encompass too many concepts and themes for its short lenghth.
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Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor

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

4.5

Enjoyable if you’re a fan of the podcast, though like the podcast it occasionally gets lost in the bizarreness of the locale to the detriment of a narrative flow.
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

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

5.0

It is rare that a mystery with as many twists and swerves towards the end at this is both riveting AND sensical in their workings. Did I figure it out almost immediately? Sure! But the journey and the world building and the interactions between the leads was great. It isn't perfect--could definitely have used stronger female characters for instance, but it's still damned good.
Love Potion by Cindy Paul

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

2.5

Serviceable, saccharine, short.
Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile by Kazushige Nojima

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

2.75

Mostly just underwhelming. It does help bridge the gap from FF7 to Advent Children sure, but the way it focuses on characters mostly shows that the author found some (Barrett, Yuffie, Tifa) flat and not worth doing anything interesting with. Nanaki, Denzel and Shrina sections weren’t bad though.
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Final Fantasy VII: The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story by Kazushige Nojima

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

4.25

For an interquel between a video game and a movie this book is….surprisingly good? Translated well in that it was engaging and clear to read, with a good blend of new and returning characters. It leaned on the source property quite a bit but in a way that felt mostly ‘of the setting’ as opposed to fan service. 
Unfortunate Ends: On Murder and Misadventure in Medieval England by Soren Lily

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dark funny informative fast-paced

3.75

It's a fun look at some of the deaths we have records of in Medieval England and what that tells us. Loses some points for having "12 Deaths" but 11 chapters, one of which is a straight paste of a translation without commentary, as well as a few formatting gripes I have with it.
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The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor in Another World (Light Novel) by Kaya Kizaki

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.
Really disliked the characterizations, the way the dude just got to have skills with noeffort and how weirdly anti vegetarian it is.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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

3.25

Fun, easy read. Opens up a lot of further questions I'm sure later novels are intending to cover, and occasionally has some awkward prose and such, but still fun.
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Dubliners by James Joyce

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

4.25