monicalaurette's reviews
305 reviews

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

First off with this book, I did enjoy it - I just felt that the sudden switch to two point of views with one being first person and the other being third person was an odd choice. A lot of this book was traveling and just being with Ning while she was walking the universe in search of answers before we came back to Jia, so perhaps I get why we needed to have breaks and see Kang’s POV.

Part of the villain & who he was I was able to pick out before it was somewhat revealed and I can say that even though it was revealed soon, the twist towards the end was a shock but I like how it turned out

and how it was Kang’s father that realized his mistake or what he was taken advantage of and was in a sense willing to go down with the Serpent

I am glad that since we had Shu in this book that we got to see more of her and Ning’s sister relationship. I love seeing sisters in books.

Now while I did like both of these books I am not going to keep them on my shelves. I want to get these out in the world again so that a younger person who would connect even more with these characters is able to get their hands on it.

“We all believe we are the center of the universe, but we forget we are merely specks among the stars.”

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was so fun to read and such a fun concept, magic tea and the magic from those who can pour it. I was so upset that I wasn’t able to actually view them pouring or the magic steam and instead just having to try and imagine it in my head. I may have to try and look up some fanart to see it in action.

I also liked Ning and her love for her father and Shu, the reasons she even went to Jia. So much happened, and sometimes when it would I’d say out loud ‘oh of COURSE this would happen/this person would do that’ but even with those moments that just seemed a little too convenient, the story was surprising and I was gripped to it.

“Strangling me with continuous thoughts of my own inferiority and doubt.”

Very happy that I was able to get both books in a thrift store so I can just start the next one now - so wish me luck!

I just always hated when Shao was in a scene because he was like classic rich boy with connections, but I feel like he might have a change in book 2, or pass away

At first I was like ‘Wenyi no I thought you were chill’ when he messed with Kang’s tea and then when we saw him in the dungeon I literally yelled out ‘OH WAIT YOU’RE STILL CHILL’ and got sad that he wasn’t able to be saved

Was Zhen really going to marry her cousin (adopted or not?) or was she like forced to accept the betrothal?

Content Warnings

Pages To Fill by Travis Baldree

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

This little short story was a fun look into Viv’s life with the crew before her time in Thune. I liked that it threw me right in and not at the start of them getting the job to find Bodkin. And to have Fennus be wrong and Viv & Gallina be right about stuff made me happy. Glad I had the copy of L&L that had this included!

Content Warnings

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

This book was fun and gave me exactly what I expected from it. I wanted a fantasy book that didn’t have a lot of high stakes, and that’s what I got. I also got a little bit of a found family (after the family of Viv’s prior crew) and enjoyed how everything came together.

I’ve seen some people complain about how often Viv had to explain coffee to someone, but I honestly didn’t think it happened much and each time Thimble came up with a new food item I was so happy for him. I think he might be my favorite character out of all of them.

“Things don’t have to stay as what they started out as.”

Not much else I can really say about it without spoiling anything but I’m glad I finally picked this up and interested to see if the prequel story is equally as fun to read.

Content Warnings

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.

So I had heard so many good things about this book and the show, and when I found a copy in a little free library I brought it home. I gave the book 100ish pages to pull me in and I just didn’t care about any of the characters or the story while reading.

Perhaps I’ll watch the show, because maybe it will be more enjoyable to me then. But I’ll put this book back into a little free library for someone else to read and possibly be their new favorite book.

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The Martian by Andy Weir

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful tense 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? No

4.5

This book was a RIDE. I liked that it was sort of mixed media by having the Sol Logs & different messages between NASA & Watney so that helped it get a little easier to get through while reading. I had watched the movie around the time it came out, but I literally only remembered one scene - and it’s a scene that happens relatively early on in the book

of where he blows himself up in the HAB while making water

. So I was glad that I was essentially going into this book blind on what would happen.

Andy’s comedic writing I thought was fun and was also exactly how I would be acting if I had to spend over a year alone on Mars. I found myself laughing at many moments in this book and it helped me to enjoy it even more. I don’t know if I would have liked it as much without the comedic moments.

”Life is amazingly tenacious.”

Watney literally going ‘hey NASA look titties!’ and ‘your mom’s a hoe’ in public forums was UNHINGED and I love it for him

the way Beck & Johanssen thought they were slick and secretive but they all just KNEW was so funny that’s one of my favorite tropes

Content Warnings

On a Raven's Wing: New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe by Mary Higgins Clark, Thomas H. Cook, James W. Hall, Rupert Holmes, S. J. Rozan by Stuart M. Kaminsky

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dark mysterious sad tense

3.0

So this is a collection of works all centered around Poe. I loved the stories more that just used him as inspiration and not the ones that used him as a character. I just felt like they were all just using the name and wasn’t actually him because each ‘Edgar’ had different personalities.

Also I didn’t love enough of the stories to keep the book on my shelves, but I have my reading notes if I ever want to try and find one of the ones I did like.

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

So this book to me had a lot of potential because I like hidden passages and riddles like they were advertised - and luckily I got that and had at least a good time trying to also figure out what those were.

The main thing I didn’t like about this book were the characters and their interactions with each other. All of the romance that was there just seemed weird to me.

Grayson being over 18 and Avery being under 18 just gave me weird vibes when they were having ~moments~ together.

Because I really didn’t care for many of the characters or their storylines as it pertained to the story, I didn’t have as much fun as I could have. The twist at the end was odd and something that I wasn’t expecting - but the additional twists with the Hawthorne family wasn’t enough to make me want to read the next book.

Content Warnings

Babel by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

I knew from the beginning that I was going to like this book, I just didn’t know how much - and isn’t that a lovely feeling?

Part of me wanted to make this review short and almost like a joke by saying “5 stars, made me feel bad for being white” but truly I never felt bad for being white while reading the book so I also didn’t want to be false in my review. I took more time to look at my privileges as a white woman in the USA and what that meant for me and all those around me.

So many people say that books should not be political or talk about controversial topics, but I think having books like that only enhance a person, even if the book is escapism. If a book helps you to understand your place in the real world, but still offers you a haven from it - I think that makes it an absolutely wonderful book and I don’t know why others don’t see it or refuse to allow themselves that sentiment.

But now back to the book because I’ve gone a slight tangent - sorry!

I loved following Robin and seeing things through his eyes and also the fact that he would acknowledge the challenges of all his cohort as the years went on. I also enjoyed the way that Kuang wrote the divide in Robin’s mind about his feelings for Hermes vs Babel. The struggle he went through was so vivid that at times I was feeling conflicted while reading. I was also feeling stressed out while the cohort was preparing for their exams, so much so that I had to not read those parts at work so I could focus better!

"Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes."

Certain parts of this book happened and I said to myself - this is not a middle of the book event, what else is going to happen now that this has come to pass? - and was just taken on a wild ride for the last like 40% of this book. And that 40% had so much emotions swirling in my head that I rarely took breaks unless necessary.

Very happy that this was my first book by R.F. Kuang and looking forward to my other book of hers on my shelf. And I know that the message and characters of this book will stay with me longer than normal while I move on to other books. The way this book ended I feel was such a testament to the characters and what they all stood for in their hearts and how they knew they could change the world both as a group and individually.

"A mind was not meant to feel this much. Only death would silence the chorus."

I liked Miss Piper and hated Lovell from the start - I’m glad those feelings never changed as the book moved forward.

Honestly thought Evie was also a part of Hermes somehow and not really dead - and I know that I trust Griffin’s version of the story more than Lovell’s on what happened to her with the bar.

Had I not been at work when I read it I would have cheered a little when Robin killed Lovell. He would’ve done something to him either while on the boat or when they returned from Canton so to me it was both self-defense AND revenge for his mother.

Removing .25 stars because of Ramy, and listen: I GET why he had to die, but it just made me so incredibly sad when it happened because I never handle character deaths well.

When Robin & Victoire were talking about the tower burning all I could picture in my head was the burning Elmo meme and I’m so sad I wasn’t able to paste it into my reading journal.

Content Warnings

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I was very close to going right back to the beginning of this book and reading it again. I was confused and intrigued and sad through reading it all. I was wondering who everyone was, the motives behind their work, and what was going to happen at the end.

"All good stories travel from the outside in."

I loved that the letters were also at the end of a chapter so you knew when you’d get them and be able to learn more about both Blue and Red.

And then the line about Red loving Blue and wanting to know what that means - I knew it was foreshadowing and I was crying

. But getting to watch the character development of each agent through the letters and story was so beautiful to read.

"Hope may be a dream. But she will fight to make it real."

At the time of writing this I didn’t know what rating I would give to it, but now as I finish it, I’m going to give this 5 stars because it would feel wrong to my heart to give it less. I know this is the end of Blue & Red’s story, but I would so love to read more of their journey hiding from Garden & The Agency forever.

RED BEING THE SEEKER WAS SO SHOCKING (yet not at the same time) TO ME!

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monicalaurette's reviews 305 reviews

monicalaurette's reviews
305 reviews