rectmetal's reviews
40 reviews

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

adventurous dark 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

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

The Politics of Genocide by David Peterson, Edward S. Herman

dark informative sad fast-paced

4.5

Eye-opening and jaw-dropping.

Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society by Ronald J. Deibert

informative reflective tense fast-paced

4.75

An important view into the black box of surveillance capitalism and the impacts of electronics and social media on society. A very informative read that is scary at times and makes you take a step back to evaluate the ways in which you are manipulated and contribute to the problem. But this book also provides a brief explanation for a way that we can step forward out of the dystopian situation we are rapidly finding ourselves within.

On a side note: I first learned about the Citizen Lab through a presentation a couple of the members conducted during a Political Science class I took at UVic. If any of the members of Citizen Lab happen to see this then I want to thank you for all the work that you do and I hope you know that there are many people out there that admire and appreciate your organization's fight. 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

The Birth of Tragedy and the Case of Wagner by Friedrich Nietzsche

challenging informative tense medium-paced

3.75

Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speaking Earth by Graham Harvey

informative medium-paced

3.0

Informative at times, a manifesto at others.
It is a product of the time it was written at. As such, it could certainly use a revision.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Brilliant, beautiful, and sorrowful.
A magnificent story with exquisitely crafted characters and an excellently developed timeline.
A book that can leave you feeling slightly hollow at the end but thankful for the experience. 

Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology by Jean-Paul Sartre

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

This has been the most challenging book I have ever read, but it was worth every headache, every yawn, every definition search, and every re-read passage required to follow his arguments. This is certainly not a book you can read once and understand; this is a book worthy of revisiting and studying carefully. Sartre helps illustrate the ideas of his predecessors while also opening the door for the works of his contemporaries. As a student of philosophy that has already completed his undergrad, I feel that it was a brilliant choice to tackle this behemoth of a book before delving further into those of his peers and the postmodernists that came after him.