promisedlostboy's reviews
82 reviews

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

emotional fast-paced

Okay so I'm reading this book right,, and I'm like more than halfway through the book, and I'm not really getting the appeal of it,, like it's engaging enough for me to continue but not interesting enough to stick out in my mind...
 And then the conclusion comes and everything falls into place perfectly and wow,, it actually made the rest of the book worth reading. 

The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan

Wow that was something,, and just like that I've fallen in love with this world all over again

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Oh god those last few pages really ripped my heart out,, I didn't even realise I was feeling so much for these characters

The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

dark funny reflective

3 stories in which the men are all incompetent to the point where it becomes a detriment to the women in their stories... Except the rocking chair one, no matter how stupid the men were, they couldn't do any harm to our ghoulish gal. 

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

the depiction of a Malaysian folklore was absolutely beautiful and had me engaged throughout the story. The decisions the kids make are kinda silly, but definitely feel like decisions kids would make at that age. loved it very sweet 

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

Was I initially confused out of my mind about what i was reading? Yes.
Was I simultaneously enthralled by the beauty of what I was reading? Also yes. 

The letters between our main characters are truly some of the best writing I have ever read. 

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

really pretty writing,, makes it feel like the book was written long ago(in a good way).
Loved the chapters focused on Medusa and her sisters.
Love the way the gods are portrayed as completely out of touch with the mortal realm.
perspectives were a bit all over the place.
for a book supposedly about medusa, she's hardly in it.
Perseus' chapters were insufferable,, although I think that was the intent, so it's okay,, just wish there was less of him and more of Medusa.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I read "Eliza and her monsters" before I ever read this book, so when I first started reading the book and began to understand the premise, I was worried that it was just an Eliza clone. Not realising that Radio Silence was released a year before Eliza, and delves into topics deeper and in more interesting ways than Eliza had. 

That being said, a book should be reviewed on the basis of it's own content, not another. Radio silence beautifully sidesteps the expected tropes of boy meets girl, to tell a lovely story about the pressures and expectations of youth, the meaning of family, and forms of expression.

If I had one critique of the book it would be that near the end, it kinda gets a bit clunky in the way it talks about certain things, especially since the rest of it was so perfectly woven into the story, that I never questioned it for a moment.

loved this book quite a lot.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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

Lord Henry terrifies me,, because everything he says is absolutely horrendous, and yet I know that i would be charmed by him, the moment he steps into a room.

really beautiful writing...

feel like I should've been able to predict the ending... but fortunately or unfortunately, I'm a dumbass. 

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective

Erin Morgenstern has a way of writing where I am able to exist within her worlds in a way that I can't even in the real world. Despite being confused and feeling like I actively have to solve puzzles, I read on because I adore her style of writing and she has a way of weaving narratives that is an absolute pleasure to watch unfold. 

I am still able to revisit the night circus with just a thought, and I imagine I'll be able to conjure up the smell, sight and feeling of the Starless Sea, in the blink of an eye.

At this point, I will read anything she writes.