oliverlang's reviews
151 reviews

The Garden of Empire by J.T. Greathouse

adventurous tense fast-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

3.75

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

slow-paced

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

1.5

Absolute load of nonsense. 

There was no clear structure to this at all. It felt, ironically, like the author wrote it by rolling a dice to decide what to make happen next. Entirely making it up as they went along with no forward planning at all. 

I read this book for bi rep but I don't think it even qualifies as that. Don't waste your time with this one.

The Bone Ships by RJ Barker

adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

The Hand of the Sun King by J.T. Greathouse

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved reading this. I can see the parallels people have made with this and The Kingkiller Chronicles too.

I think my only qualm with this story was that it was released in 2021/22 and it lacks any queer characters!! There were perfect opportunities to have some queerness in there, both for the main character and for background characters and there were none which was disappointing. Apart from that though, a very good read! I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

Timberdark by Darren Charlton

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and other stories by Annie Proulx

dark slow-paced

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

2.25

The main motivation for reading this was for the Brokeback Mountain story and if course this was the very last one in the book and the best out of them all which is the reason for the extra .25 on this rating.

This was wall written but i didn't enjoy it. This iis not a collection of happy stories by any means.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

The Bonniest Companie by Kathleen Jamie

reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.0

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

relaxing sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I will never get tired of reading this book.

"Had she really thought I would not know him? I could recognise him by touch alone, by smell, I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world."

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

fast-paced

3.0

More Than This by Patrick Ness

reflective tense 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

3.25