nat8655's reviews
10 reviews

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

adventurous funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.75

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

adventurous mysterious tense

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

4.0

A good book. Not as much mysterious and fairytale-like as i thought it would be but it definitely has me hooked to get the next book. Good plot, a bit slow paced but i think it was definitely worth it on the end. It doesn't have a plot twist or anything but it dives more into fantasy as the book goes on and i really enjoyed those parts. 

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Quite a good dark mystery - fantasy book. I have to admit that at first, even though excited, it was a bit hard to get through because of the amount of world building. Very much worth it nonetheless since it describes a very wonderous place full of mystery and majestic rooms with statues and weird other phenomena.
I don't want to spoil anything but the ending was definitely unexpected, it had a lot more Fantasy elements than i anticipated.

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Kept me tense from start to finish. It also had an unxpected twist in the end that had me wondering. Brilliantly crafted but also sadder than i expected. 

Dceased by Tom Taylor

dark tense fast-paced

4.25

Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong

adventurous informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

A truly controversial book in my opinion. Nature and animal cruelty is a quite delicate matter but it's basically the main plot of this book. Many times I've found myself wondering why i kept reading, since sometimes it was a bit boring but also bcs animal cruelty was at times applauded in order to keep the balance of the pasture - which i guess can be somewhat understandable since it was a battle of survival, at least at first. After finishing this book though i have to say the message is actually quite beautiful and sad bcs it shows the harsh reality and cruelty of the human nature. I'd say this book as boring or intense as it may sometimes be, it delivers a very strong message on how we should respect nature and the majestic creatures that live in it. 

Besides that the book illustrates incredible images that will transfer you to the beautiful greenery of Mongolia and also the ways of life of the people who specialize in livestock farming there. Really really stunning descriptions, although personally i think sometimes they were really dragged out. 

Note : Whoever loves wolves will be frustrated, but also because those events have and will continue to happen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Blood

The Red Book by David Ellis, James Patterson

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Found myself laughing a number of times. Had a nice little play of a plot twist at the end which was tense to read. Other than that it's just another good police-crime themed book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Child death

Moderate: Trafficking and Gun violence

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

5.0

In general a very good book. Just when the plot seems to become just a tiny bit boring something new comes up. It has greatly succeeded in capturing the vibe of a dark academia's college students with neutral morality. The characters seem very shallow and hollow sometimes i'd say but it's what makes them more intriguing and their overall friendship all the more interesting and mysterious. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Drug use, Incest, and Suicide