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nicobella's reviews
667 reviews
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
3.0
Conceptually this book is brilliant and a unique fantasy experience in my reading history. I suspect for those who need 50-50 character development to plot, or more heavy character development, might not be 100% in love with this book. I’m a very feely person, and there were no feels for the first 3/4 of the book. Action happens, there’s flat dialogue, there’s external conflict, there’s background on characters, but there’s reference to anger and love that only feels like words, not an emotional experience (which is what the strongest books convey in my opinion). Even the stakes never felt very high for most of the book, which they are in the book’s reality.
By page 300 when what I’ve been waiting for finally [begins] to happen, I was getting the feels a bit more but still waiting for the emotional connection for the characters to each other, themselves and to their city. The main characters are avatars for their boroughs, but I never felt the power in what that means, I felt that power the strongest in relation to geography but not its people - though we’re told about each borough’s people a few times. I wish the events and conversations between page 300 and 400 had been moved up earlier, and then expanded much more. The last 50 pages were amazing, interesting and surprising.
The book is 3.5 stars for me. I hope down the road I’ll reread this to see if I missed what I believe is missing and go to the rest of the trilogy.
By page 300 when what I’ve been waiting for finally [begins] to happen, I was getting the feels a bit more but still waiting for the emotional connection for the characters to each other, themselves and to their city. The main characters are avatars for their boroughs, but I never felt the power in what that means, I felt that power the strongest in relation to geography but not its people - though we’re told about each borough’s people a few times. I wish the events and conversations between page 300 and 400 had been moved up earlier, and then expanded much more. The last 50 pages were amazing, interesting and surprising.
The book is 3.5 stars for me. I hope down the road I’ll reread this to see if I missed what I believe is missing and go to the rest of the trilogy.
Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater
4.0
Olivia Atwater just might one day be added to my favorite authors list. Though I didn’t feel this book is as well rounded as Half a Soul, it’s pretty fantastic. Like the first book, this one too covers some positive themes great for teen readers (are these books YA, I keep getting confused). I didn’t feel as interested in our main protagonist or the story as early on as I did with the first book, but well by the middle I was rooting for the main characters and by the end happily surprised by some of the twists it took. Im excited to continue following Atwater and see what they do next.
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
4.0
What a gripping tale with beautiful stories within the story. I’m so happy I continued on with the series. I loved the characters, the storytelling, the fantasy elements and mini-adventure. My issues with the first novella were with the plot and the cohesiveness around tone. I didn’t find those issues with this one. Looking forward to any future adventures of Cleric Chih if Nghi Vo writes more.
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski
3.0
I really did enjoy this short story collection, even though I DNFed it a couple times because I had a hard time getting through the first short story. I devoured the first book (Last Wish) in physical format, I was really enjoying the humorous and witty side of Geralt that you don’t see in the show or video game, and you kind of lose in this book. But I’m not sure if it was an issue of switching to the audiobook for this one, or if his tone really did change. Solid and very enjoyable read overall. I’m going to continue on I think.
The Changeling by Victor LaValle
4.0
So, holy frikken cow. There is so much I could say about this book. My biggest comments for those thinking about picking this up are about the pacing of the fantasy. For the first fourth of the book it reads just like a contemporary intergenerational family story with no fantasy, but the atmosphere is mildly creepy. I didn’t hate this because Victor LaValle could tell me about mundane tasks like making toast or taking the train and about the journey to and of parenthood all day long. Just wow, what a writer. So if you’re thinking of DNFing for that reason but aren’t hating the writing I’d say don’t give up. THEN, at the quarter mark something freakin’ happens and holy holy cow. Then, at the half way mark it really gets into the fantasy elements. If you’re someone who pays attention to trigger warnings, particularly regarding children, specifically >!violent loss of a child!< you will want to evaluate if you want to read this book or not. I think this book has a lot of powerful themes, but this is already too long to comment more, just check it out. Overall, I thought this was fantastic and there is more LaValle in my future for sure. Excellent as an audiobook.
Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear
5.0
I came into this already familiar with some facets mindfulness and habit building, but I still found this non-fiction excellent. For me it reinforced the good things I know, planted food-for-thought, and taught me new things. Highly recommend for all.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, Ken Liu
3.0
This book is primarily plot-driven with a LOT of hard-science-ish jargon rants. Those combined with a slowly unraveling plot, I was very happy when it was over. I think I missed any larger themes I would otherwise find interesting because I was so distracted by the science dumps. The audiobook didn’t help. Although the narrator did good voice acting work, his narration itself was like listening to a war documentary, which did not work for me. It’s not a bad book obviously, it won a Hugo, it was just missing the sci-fi aspects I enjoy in sci-fi and the character development/relationships were weak to not there.
The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold
3.0
A world where elves, vampires, humans, etc. live together...yes please! I was most hooked by the exploration of the species and the society of the book’s main timeline (in fact I ate it up), but Arnold spent a lot of time in flashbacks or explaining the history. This wasn’t really relevant to the plot and seemed like info dumping for world building purposes. In the end made it felt like two different books. Fans of the Dresden Files might want to pick this up to see if it works for them.
Valor by John Gwynne
5.0
It took me less than 20 days to read Malice and Valor (and with a short graphic novel in between). I’m not a fast physical reader, so I say that to show how much I’m engrossed by this series. All I thought about when I wasn’t able to read Valor was crawling into my comfy chair or bed to read Valor. This sequel was much stronger than the first book IMO. I loved everything about it. And all the “tropiness” didn’t bother me one bit, I actually dig it. I think it’s safe to say I’m now a Faithful and the Fallen fangirl.