olivyre's reviews
47 reviews

Normal People by Sally Rooney

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

3.5

Spoilers!

It was certainly good as I read it over two days. It was pretty easy to read except for the annoying lack of quotation marks which made me read everything as if it was the character’s internal monologue. I guess it was a good kind of effect to bring the reader out from the world – to make it like you are experiencing life from the character’s point of view but also are not quite there (because the characters themselves don’t belong).  But still it was annoying.

I didn’t really like any of the characters except for Joanna and Evelyn and they were the most minor characters ever but that was supposed to be the case. It just made me marginally worried that I'd end up like Marianne or something.

 ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me, says Marianne. I don’t know why I can’t be like normal people.’

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Spoilers!

I read Gideon the Ninth very disjointedly because of exams but still it retained my engagement and was very good honestly. 

I loved the writing style and the humour, though some of the setting descriptions could probably have been toned down a little as I found it hard to understand what I was reading if I picked it up in such a section - but that was on me for only reading every few days. I did want to read more and I would have done if not for the timing.

I will definitely be reading Harrow the Ninth though, I was extremely disappointed that Gideon and Harrow did not admit feelings for each other and must find out if Harrow admits later. Of course they sort of share (?) a brain now so maybe they know. I’m also not sure how the universe works exactly as the world-building is very detailed and I cannot remember it all. I don’t think we were told everything either.

That one chapter where Harrow says she is undone without Gideon though was absolute perfection and just the best. I waited a long time for that.

The gore was probably fitting for a necromancer book. So much boiled fat for some reason.

‘’I have tried to dismantle you, Gideon Nav! The Ninth House poisoned you, we trod you underfoot – I took you to this killing field as my slave – you refuse to die, and you pity me! Strike me down. You’ve won. I’ve lived my whole wretched life at your mercy, yours alone, and God knows I deserve to die at your hand. You are my only friend. I am undone without you.’

… ‘ Too many words,’ said Gideon confidently. ‘How about these: One flesh, one end, bitch.’

…'One flesh – one end,’ Harrow repeated fumblingly, and then could say no more.’

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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

2.75

Spoilers!

Caraval was a really cool concept and I loved the soft magic system, but it didn’t appeal to me because it felt like it was written for a much younger audience so I found it a bit meh.

 I’d have loved it as an 11 year old, though I might have scoffed at the romance.

 I feel like it has potential to be scaled up above a children’s book because all the information is there, it was just written in a way that events just unfolded and there was little intrigue until halfway through, and then only minimal at best. 

The revelations were interesting at the end but I didn’t care enough to be mind blown. There were also some very weird phrases used. I can’t remember any right now but some of the stuff to describe how Scarlett felt about Julian was strange.

Oh and of course they all come back to life in the end because it’s a kids book and there mustn’t be any sacrifice. That annoys me.

‘Some things are worth pursuit regardless of the cost.’

The Drowning Faith by R.F. Kuang

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Spoilers!

This is a 15 page novella that I wish I’d read right after the main Poppy War series because I was a bit disconnected from the plot line and had to process it all again while reading this.  But it was really good! For 15 pages it made me really sad! We got Nezha’s unrequited love for Rin that I never knew ran so deep (I know they were sort of love interests but there wasn’t that much on Rin’s behalf, so Nezha was just suffering quietly) and another look into the toxicity of his father.

‘She’s the only divine thing he’s ever believed in.’

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

challenging dark emotional relaxing 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

4.75

It’s amazing, I wish the characters were more diverse and the author was a little more inclusive but it’s a great book other than that. Which is a big thing but imagination is key. It’s my comfort series ok.

‘You know, I think it might be very easy to love you, too, Feyre. Easier to be your friend.’

New Scientist: The Origin of (Almost) Everything by New Scientist

challenging informative lighthearted fast-paced

3.0

Ok so this book was good – well written, digestible, interesting – but it was still a slog to get through. I think I just don’t like non fiction. It was very interesting though and I learnt some cool stuff. It just took 11 whole days to read 300 pages.

‘Modern shoe-wearers have wimpy little toes.’

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Spoilers!

I’d give it more stars if I could. I felt physically sick at the end, my face must have had a fixed horrified/ disgusted expression for so very long. 

This book was so insightful and clever and explored racism and sexism so well, and the brutal part is that it is based on history. Apart from the silver work, obviously. And it was so brutal.

It had a slow build up, but I didn’t mind because it was still engaging, but when Robin killed Professor Lovell was when it really took off. It was so stressful and tense and it never eased off. Not until the last chapter, which was soul sucking and devoid of hope. Kuang is really good at those scenes.

I loved the magic system with the silver and differences in translation and all the tiny nuances. I really loved listening to the audiobook on the bus, the voice actors were very good. The footnotes being in another voice was clever too. That person has a nice voice.

I want a spin off with Victoire continuing the battle against colonisation. And a final encounter with her and Letty where Letty dies, please.

Also, fuck Letty.

‘A great paradox: the fact that, after everything they had told Letty, all the pain they had shared, she was the one who needed comfort.’

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Spoilers!

This was incredible. A style of writing and a genre that I’ve never read before – this doesn’t even fit into the same categories as any other book I've ever read.

It was just astoundingly written and executed. 

I called it that Evelyn’d like girls, having had seven husbands. I thought she’d ask Monique to euthanise her, as Monique had written about assisted suicide, so I assumed foreshadowing. In retrospect it was much more fitting as an implied suicide at the end. 

Evelyn was an absolute queen. Savage and ruthless with limited empathy and such power yet her character was not unlikable. 

What an amazing book. It feels like Evelyn exists in the real world right this second. (Or it did until she died.)

‘You do not know how fast you have been running, how hard you have been working, how truly exhausted you are, until someone stands behind you and says, ‘It’s OK, you can fall down now. I’ll catch you.’

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

adventurous challenging dark 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

Spoilers!

Initially this book had a huge shock factor over the treatment of girls. It was 100% a 5 star book for a good 200 pages, but once that wore off, it dropped a little as I found myself less invested. 

For a good while all the odds were stacked against her but when she got powerful there was significantly less things stopping her. She just won over and over in everything she did.

Gotta say though, I loved the first half so much and the latter half was still very good – just not to the same standard I think.

I understand that there are more books but I have liked to know more about the Hunduns because I really didn’t care if they lived or died.

I did like the take on a love triangle where it’s at first a boring choice for her between two guys but she doesn’t make the choice she takes both but with no lack of communication. They understand she can have room for multiple people. Then the guys like each other also and they are polyamorous. That bit was cool.

I really liked the concept, and the execution was pretty good. I just don’t care about the outcome as much as I probably should.

‘’People who refuse to break under any number of harsh strikes and any amount of loud words, but crumple as soon as someone touches us gently or speaks to us softly.’’

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Spoilers!

Isn’t orange a lovely colour? I love the front cover of this book. It compelled me to buy it. I was not disappointed. One might say I was appointed?

This was the first lesbian relationship I’ve ever read ever (or seen in general since I’ve never watched one either) so I was super enthusiastic about that. I dogeared all the cute moments of Ead and Sabran because I thought if this was going to be my favourite book, I have to read it properly and not care if the spine is broken etc.

I was quite literally wiggling my feet in happiness from the cuteness of Sabran and Ead. 

I very much liked the women as the main characters as normally epic fantasy is covered head to toe in men with the occasional really badass woman, but this one turned that on its head. 

And there were dragons and pirates and courts with nobles and queens and romance and an itty bit of spice and it was *chef’s kiss*. 

The world building as well. I swear they went to every place on those amazing looking maps and each place was its own. I loved referencing where they were in the map and especially liked that Ead circled around places rather than journeying straight through and never returning anywhere. It made the story come together.

And when Niclays’ perspective linked with Ead’s through Sulyard and then Tané linked with Niclays and everything came together – it was so satisfying.

I just loved this book.

Actually there was something I didn’t like: the huge build up to the Nameless One and they were defeated so fast and we never learnt why it was bad other than vague stuff about the Grief of Ages. Maybe that’s in the prequel.

And I think this should have been a series. It was a lot to fit in one book so some things were sacrificed (Tané and Susa, Ead and Chassar, the ladies of the bedroom, idk what Aralaq was, how they realised Crest was the cupbearer, how they defeated her so fast, I’d have lived more background stuff with Ead in the Priory). Yeah this would have been one epic series. A series would’ve been perfecto.

‘‘I think you a self-righteous fool whose head is harder than a rock. And I would not change you for the world.’

Sabran finally looked at her.

‘Tell me, Eadaz uq-Nāra,’ she said softly, ‘am I a greater fool to want you still?’

Ead crossed the space between them. ‘No more a fool than I,’ she said, ‘to love you as I do.’’