nerdatlas5's reviews
1701 reviews

Crowded, Vol. 3 by Ted Brandt, Christopher Sebela

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think vol. 2 fell off for me, but I liked the series overall. Adding Circe to the mix really turned things around for me cuz that was also the point where Charlie started to develop further as a character 2 and the relationship between them and Vita was very fun.
Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

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adventurous funny relaxing slow-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

2.75

The front half dragged quite a bit, however it was very fascinating to listen too. The dialogue was a little bit hard to follow, partly due to the accents the narrator used, and also because the audiobook swaps between reading the dialogue like you would in a book (he said this, she said that, etc...) and other times would adopt more of a playwright's method of denoting dialogue. I do like how it all went down in the end tho, and I appreciate that Lord Whimsy isn't like, a super genius, he himself acknowledges that he's just a rich dude with a funky hobby that he picked up from reading too many mysteries as a kid. The brief little commentary on PTSD and it's many forms after WWI was also a nice touch of depth. Unfortunately the audiobook I checked while came from a downloaded copy of a CD, and disc 4 must've been scratched cuz I missed a little bit at the end of the disc. 
While it was overall fun to read, and I still want to read Strong Poison due to seeing the play adaptation in college, I probably won't go out of my way to read every book in the series.
Crowded, Vol. 2 by Christopher Sebela

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

3.75

Thrown in the Throat by Benjamin Garcia

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

5.0

I loved just about every poem in this. Garcia has such a strong voice in his poetry and I loved the way he plays we language. The pop culture references can be a bit overused, but for the most part I thought they were used well. My favs were all of the odes to different flowers, cuz I'm a sucker for nature themed poetry.
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Super interesting to read a huge classic of Gothic literature. The depictions of Carmilla's obsessive sapphic desire for Laura was extremely interesting, like her poetic declarations of Laura dying for her were like, peak vibes. Unfortunately there isn't much of that and it felt like Laura was too passive in the end.
A Case of Possession by KJ Charles

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

4.0

This immediately gets a boost for fixing the one flaw I had with book 1 by being longer. I thought book 1 moved a little too fast. As far as how it compares to all of Charles's works I've read so far its my favorite. I just really love a good Victorian fantasy murder mystery. 

I liked how the relationship between Crane and Day progressed here too. We got to see the relationship actually develop. If you don't want anything too explicit... well, maybe don't read this. But I thought the sex scenes were well written and its clear both from the reviews I've seen beforehand and from reading this that Charles places a lot of value in writing healthy romantic relationships both in and out of the bedroom so it's refreshing to see the kinky stuff be written with this in mind.
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The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

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

4.0

Gotta say, I was a little worried about starting this because I found Khaw's other novella, Nothing but Blackened Teeth difficult to follow to a negative degree, but this was a huge improvement. I enjoyed how she played with the way fairytale's betray the bias' of the teller and how she twists them to a much darker form. The horror of it was also well done, especially hearing some of the body horror being described made me pretty squeamish. The characters of the mermaid and plague doctor were done well, and their developing relationship with each other felt so real and full of depth. And for the most part the story did a good job balancing unveiling information to drive the plot while still giving enough to make it understandable. Overall an excellent horror novella.
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The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles

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

3.5

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty

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

4.75

I loved this book. It took longer for me to read, not cuz it wasn't good, but because I loved all of the cast of the Mawarati so much I had to pause for the day if the book was at a particularly tense moment. I really appreciated that the book choose older people to fill out the cast. The themes of bringing the gang back together, of trying to reconcile past mistakes with their faith and their current selves were really well executed.

My one twinge is that I didn't always like the ping ponging between telling the past and returning to the current story, but once we get to know who our narrator Jamal is in relation to the rest of the crew it made so much sense in hindsight. Its just I find it really difficult to pull off the bouncing between 2 different pltolines, whether it's between past and present like this one, or between 2 different povs. This almost pulled it off. It is certainly a good use of that style of writing, but it was part of what slowed me down when reading it.

But that's neither here nor there. I 100% recommend this book for anyone who wants an adult fantasy with a rich world and a fun cast of characters.
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This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0