pedanther's reviews
351 reviews

Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.25

It's a first novel, and it's not without its faults, but the fact is it's much better than it needed to be and it's one of the few novelisations I re-read and enjoy for its own merits and not just for sentimental attachment to the thing it's adapting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Racial slurs, War, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexism, Xenophobia, Racism, and Hate crime

Minor: Sexual content, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts

Mists and Magic by Dorothy Edwards

fast-paced

3.5

This book is an anthology of short stories and poems for children, so it should be noted that I'm coming to it several decades late. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot at the target age, but from here I found the stories mostly short and slight, and in many cases was already familiar with the element the story was relying on for novelty. There were a few that I thought stood out, in particular "Christmas Crackers" by Marjorie Darke and the editor's own contributions, "Night Walk", "Witch at Home", and "The Girl Who Boxed an Angel"; in retrospect, all stories where the author had put some extra work into characterisation and the protagonist wasn't just A Generic English Child. "Night Walk" is apparently an extract from a novel, which I'm now interested in reading the rest of.

Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Sexism, Alcoholism, Confinement, Murder, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Terminal illness, and War

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Death, Grief, Murder, and Sexism

Minor: Chronic illness, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Mental illness, Stalking, Infidelity, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, and Addiction

Scandal in Babylon by Barbara Hambly

adventurous mysterious medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Blood, Outing, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Violence, War, Drug use, Sexism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Addiction, Excrement, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcoholism, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual harassment

The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects by Mike Mignola

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

For the first time, I find myself wishing the "Plot- or character-driven?" question was one of the ones with an "It's complicated" option. These stories are not driven by plot or character, they run on vibes and fun moments - one of them has a seven-year-old credited as the co-author, and it isn't noticeably weirder than the stories that don't. I don't doubt the people who gave it five stars, because I'm sure it's awesome if you're in tune with the vibes, but for myself I enjoyed some of the moments but the only story I really liked as a story was "Abu Gung and the Beanstalk", which has the closest thing to an actual plot.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Mental illness, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Cannibalism

The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Child death, Confinement, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Dementia, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Alcohol, Blood, War, Homophobia, Deportation, and Mental illness

Minor: Excrement, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Bullying

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.75

Like the first book, this one is okay. I think I'm just not who these books are for.

Lays of Ancient Rome by Thomas Babington Macaulay

medium-paced

3.75

The lays have some striking moments, but also some bits where the sense is clearly playing second fiddle to the meter, and they probably play better to an audience that already knows the stories they're retelling. I didn't care for them on the whole, and was more consistently interested by the author's forewords about the background of the lays than by the lays themselves. I got on better with some of the other poems in the collection that commemorate events from more recent history, possibly because the subject matter is more familiar (and not just, I'm fairly sure, because they're much shorter). "Sermon in a Churchyard" was my favourite, and the one I'm most likely to re-read at some point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Gore, Murder, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and War

Minor: Rape, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Suicide

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0