podanotherjessi's reviews
823 reviews

Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

This is a book I'm rating 4 stars mostly because of what I wanted it to be and what I would have thought it was if I hadn't looked up interviews with the author. Factoring in her explanation of this novel lowers my opinion of it significantly, but that's not a fair way to assess.
Okay, the positives. This book is beautifully and uniquely written. I love the way dialogue sometimes fades into poetry, and the script sections created an interesting variation to the prose. The characters were also so interesting, and the emotion came off of the page so clearly.
Some sections of the book didn't quite work for me. In particular, I think I would have preferred the book as a whole with Part Three removed entirely. But the overall story was really good.
But then there's the theming. I was just hoping for something a little more specific and deeper than a general theme of loss and grief. It felt like there was just something missing. It was beautiful, but it almost felt like something was holding it back from being as impactful as it might have been.

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

I'm just bored. I know thrillers have to build up to the exciting parts, and I wasn't even far in. But in that time, I didn't find myself growing interested in the characters at all, and I knew without that I wouldn't ever be any less bored.

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

emotional reflective slow-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

4.25

This is such an incredibly rich and layered story. I often cared more about the robot plot than Zelu's unfortunately, which did make the story drag at times. That said, Zelu is so complex and tragic and interesting to follow. A really great book that I would highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

The Will of the Many by James Islington

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

For most of this book, I was thinking "well, this is good, but it's just good." The last 15% elevated this to great. Vis ends up being a really compelling character despite seeming rather passive and basic on the surface as the book starts out. He interacts with great friends, enemies, and everything in between. There were some big moments that I saw coming but still landed. And at the heart of this, is the mystery that proves to be very compelling. This book somehow absolutely deserves all the hype it's getting, and I don't even know how that's possible.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

sad slow-paced

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

1.5

I should have put this book away after the first couple of pages when it was clear the kind of caricature of mental disability it was presenting and given up. But I thought surely it would have something worth wild to say. Needless to add, it doesn't. It's offensive, it's infantilizing, and it's just generally pointless.

Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee, Fonda Lee

adventurous 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

3.5

Big disclaimer for this review that it's hard to read this and not compare it against what I know Fonda Lee is capable of (namely, Green Bone), which is obviously an unfair comparison. That said, I still think my overall opinion of this book would remain more or less the same without her name attached; I'd just be less disappointed.

This book was fine. It's not bad by any means, and honestly it's even good. But it's not terribly memorable, and there's nothing compelling me to continue the series.
The characters are interesting if relatively surface-level. The book definitely suffers from being told by the least interesting character in the story. Jun is fine, but I'm just not nearly as intrigued by him as I am by literally everyone else we meet. But the story being told has to be told through his eyes, and I can mostly live with that. The plot is good if predictable. Nothing surprised me. But that's sometimes a comfort to readers, and I do think I could still broadly recommend it to fantasy fans and fans of kung-fu movies. The world - namely the magic system and the history - were maybe the most compelling parts of this story, but there was unfortunately very little of those. And honestly, the whole thing could have ended quite a bit earlier, and I would probably have been anticipating a sequel more.
Overall, I think this review comes across more negative than I actually feel. I did like this book, and I had a good time while reading it. I just would have rather been reading Jun's story honestly. And this definitely joins the ranks of books that I will be first in line to see the movie version of. 

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.75

This was definitely an improvement over the last book! I got really fed up with Violet and Xaden's relationship this book, and I would have liked more from the side characters that I'm starting to really miss, but I loved the plot. The questing was really fun, and I liked the expanding of the world. I'm glad I picked this up after being so uncertain after Iron Flame. I'm excited to see what happens next!

Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews

mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I loved 90% of this book. It's incredibly creepy, and the vibes were amazing. I found so many beautiful quotes, and the ace rep had me happy crying as it always does. Really interesting characters and compelling plot. But the end just fell a little short and unfortunately brought the whole thing up a bit short of the 5 stars I was feeling for most of the novel.
This meets somewhere between Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton and The Wicker King by K Ancrum. Codependency, body horror, and tragedy

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

I don't really know how to review this book. It's slow and honestly kind of plodding and on the surface it doesn't feel like it's saying anything. But in the questions it poses, it lets the reader reflect. This isn't generally what I want in a reading experience, but it's really well done, and this is the kind of book I think many people could get a lot out of.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This joins the ranks of "wow, that was an amazing book that I'll recommend heavily, but it was so not for me!" The big strength that really kept me going through this book was the characters. I was fascinated by Baru and her thought process and genuinely wanted to see more. The plot is good, but it's very politically focused and very military strategy focused, and while I think both were executed incredibly, they just aren't things I tend to enjoy in my books. And I also just like a little bit more hope in the things I read, no matter how dark they get.
Overall, this is great if this is what you look for in fantasy. I won't be continuing the series, but I will give Exordia a chance. This would be like a 2.5/5 if I was rating based purely on my enjoyment, but I genuinely respect and think this is a great book, so it's closer to a 4 for the objective quality.