notactuallyharry's reviews
9 reviews

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

challenging emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape

Moderate: Sexism

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Death

Minor: Vomit

King of Foxes by Raymond E. Feist

adventurous 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? No

2.0

Worse than the first one in almost every way. Truly just threw a bunch of plot points at the wall, then refused to let any of them carry any dramatic stakes. Also, wraps up the the protagonists arc in the least sophisticated way possible over the course of about two pages, then the book ends.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Physical abuse

Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

A reasonably interesting (and also not original) premise -- young man goes on a journey of revenge, but it doesn't really have any unifying theme and the plot feels very workman-like, with essentially no build up to the climactic battle. I appreciated that the protagonist veered away from moustache-twirling in victory. He wants his enemies dead, but they don't need to know why. But otherwise the book was riddled with all of the least-interesting choices possible--signature boilerplate fantasy misogyny, a handsome womaniser of a protagonist, a rushed kind-of-romance plot, action sequences with nothing even remotely resembling stakes.

Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicide

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

I remembered thinking this book was pretty good when I first read it, but on a re-read it's actually pretty mediocre. Because the first-person protagonist is a child none of the other characters have any clear motivations and the text is full of so many bland statements of "I was afraid" and "I was hungry" that the overall effect is nothing remotely approaching elegant or interesting. The books overall theme never seems to go beyond "wow isn't it true that adults and kids are so different and adults don't understand kids and adults seem really strange to kids" which is barely an interesting idea at the start, and definitely isn't at the end.

I'm also growing increasingly frustrated by "all powerful beings choose to be old English women living in domestic bliss as though it's still the Good Old Days" as a narrative choice.

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0