raesengele's reviews
301 reviews

Unmemory by Kristi DeMeester

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dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I get the hype now. I'm on the train. I'm on the caboose with how late I am, but I'm on it. The fact that it took all the way up to the last 150ish pages to get me on board did loose it a star however.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

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challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-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? Yes

5.0

The Heroine's Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture by Gail Carriger

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informative inspiring fast-paced

3.0

The information about the Heroine's Journey and how it differs from the Hero's Journey in this book is 5 stars. Unfortunately, there are a lot of repetitive or even unnecessary chapters once you get past that information. It really felt like Carriger wanted to write a general book about writing and a book about the Heroine's Journey but didn't want to split them up. What results is her breaking one of her own rules: I walked into this expecting a dissertation on the Heroine's Journey and what I got was 5 chapters on the Heroine's Journey; a chapter, two subsections, and an epilogue whining about how no one respects the genres Carriger writes in; a chapter long history of gothic and genre fiction (two words she frustratingly uses interchangeably); and two separate chapters about reader expectations that could have honestly been a paragraph. That's four chapters and a handful of subsections I would have cut entirely and told Gail to put into a separate book. (Minus the whining about mainstream respect. Can I just vere off for a second? I'm so sick of traditionally and successfully published authors whining about mainstream "respect." You have an audience! People are reading your books and loving them enough to justify continued book deals! You have respect, who cares where it's coming from? Stop whining! Besides the mainstream is a fickle bastard. Any respect you get from it will only last until it turns on you. Cult followings are more loyal than anything mainstream success has to offer.) That being said, the information on the Heroine's Journey is worth picking up a copy, but know there's a chance you'll be skimming through the second half the way I did.

Before I end this, I have a huge bone to pick with her about her whole subsection on "writing for yourself is selfish and leads to marginalized voices being minimized."

First, and I admittedly have a long standing beef with this, "write for yourself" doesn't mean to ignore audience expectations or criticism. It simply means that when you sit down to write your first draft it should be for you. It should be the story that you want to hear and to write. You can go back later and adjust for criticism later, but that first draft should be something you love and want to put out into the world enough to sculpt as close to perfection. IT'S NOT SELFISH TO WRITE THE STORIES YOU WANT TO SEE THAT AREN'T BEING WRITTEN OR PUBLISHED.

Secondly, marginalized voices/stories/characters aren't being silenced because authors are only writing for themselves. They're being silenced because publishers/producers are using audience expectations against creatives to force them to write within a white, straight, cisgendered mold. Writing for yourself and writing the characters and stories YOU want to see in the market is how those things get made, not by following audience expectations. That's the very reason I write by the "give your audience what they didn't know they wanted" philosophy, because an audience can only expect what they've already seen before.

Thirdly, do not hide behind this claim that you write the Heroine's Journey solely because it's what your readers want. You wrote an entire book justifying it's use, which includes an entire chapter, two subsections, AND an epilogue complaining about how the mainstream devalues the Heroine's Journey. Why did you begin writing the Heroine's Journey to begin with? Before you had an audience telling you they love the Heroine's Journey? Is it for the reason that you state on page 4 that "the moment I did study [the Heroine's Journey], I noticed how much I was drawn to this narrative." Because YOU enjoy the Heroine's Journey? Because YOU enjoy reading the Heroine's Journey? Because YOU enjoy writing the Heroine's Journey enough to write an entire book justifying it's usage? Is that selfish or is it simply writing your first draft for yourself?

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIE IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE!!!

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 42%.

I haven't touched this book nor felt compelled to since 2016. I think it's time to admit defeat and DNF it. Charlotte Bronte just is not for me and I'm not going to force myself to read anymore of it. Sorry.

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

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dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced