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sindri_inn_arsaeli's reviews
1146 reviews
The Book That Almost Rhymed by Omar Abed
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.5
If you've read The Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas, this is an adorable next step! Thomas's book brings rhymes to the littlest readers in a funny, easy story. In The Book That Almost Rhymes, Abed has imagined a child who already recognizes and loves rhyming paired with a younger sibling just starting to play with these fun word sounds! The art is charming and lends to the imaginative story, and the story is a simple and engaging play time narrative that allows young readers to laugh out loud when they try to finish a rhyme and the little sister gets it wrong. By allowing the sister's "wrong" answers to have their own rhyming pattern, there's both a wonderful lesson for big brother, and some excellent word play from the author going on! Great book to read together, and very fun to share out loud. My kid readers had a blast reading the sister's part!
Quidditch Through the Ages by J.K. Rowling, Kennilworthy Whisp
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Six Great Sherlock Holmes Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Stanley Appelbaum
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Franklin Pierce: The American Presidents Series: The 14th President, 1853-1857 by Michael F. Holt
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Troll Magic: Hidden Folk from the Mountains and Forests of Norway by Theodor Kittelsen
dark
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
Highly evocative and atmospheric, both in the lyrical translation of the text and the dark, beautiful illustrations.
Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
The best I can say for it was it was fast. I read the whole thing in two 20 minute chunks, and I'm still not sure why I came back to finish it. It was basically a kitchy themed blood fest. There's surely an audience out there for it, because the art was pretty well done, but turns out it's definitely not me.
The art was good for the style, well matched to the story, and in a different book I probably could have enjoyed it a lot more. But there was very little in the way of actual story building or character development. There was also significantly less of any type of food description than I expected from something with Anthony Bourdain's name on the cover. The majority of the book was build up to large spreads of gory violence. As far as content warnings, there was really only minimal sexual content even, this was just about blood. Apparently there's at least one sequel - I will not be picking it up.
The art was good for the style, well matched to the story, and in a different book I probably could have enjoyed it a lot more. But there was very little in the way of actual story building or character development. There was also significantly less of any type of food description than I expected from something with Anthony Bourdain's name on the cover. The majority of the book was build up to large spreads of gory violence. As far as content warnings, there was really only minimal sexual content even, this was just about blood. Apparently there's at least one sequel - I will not be picking it up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Classism
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-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? No
4.75
A coworker recommended this title to me, and kept pushing it up my reading list until I had to read it. Fast paced, great characters, GREAT exposition on the world building, I'm so glad he did! My only personal dip in how I'd rate it comes from my general complaint with pretty much all books in the genre, which was also why I didn't read it sooner: I tend to be fairly picky about YA books, because the "being a teen" part of these stories often feels like it's more important than the main plot of the story, and I can no longer relate I suppose. Case in point, I come from the genres of adventure, fantasy, and mystery, so I was definitely ready for the missing artifact to be a major plot point, and I expected a search to happen at some point. In my usual fantasy fare, the potential impeding catastrophe would supercede any concerns for things like school, but in a magical realism YA book like this, school and what socially happens there is more important. There were also some background details that could have been a product of YA fiction, or could have been just a young author, as I'm less familiar with this genre it was harder to tell - background characters had a tendency to feel like they were waiting around for the main characters to perform any actions, and how there was no description of time passing unless the moment was about the main characters. Towards the end, the boys wake up in the morning and go shopping, and with very little other action described, it's suddenly dusk.
A few SPOILERS to follow up some nice foreshadowing (I'll try to keep them vague):
I liked that I really didn't start to suspect the villain until right up to the end. I only had about a chapter or so to think, "oh no, is it going to be this character?"
Towards the very beginning, knowing that the book was going to include teen romance, I didn't think I was going to like what I suspected the outcome to be between a ghost and a living person. I expected an ending that was overly contrived that would make me roll my eyes. But while I did guess the main fact of the ending, the way it played out fit so much better with the rest of the story than I had been expecting, and I ended up really enjoying it!
A few SPOILERS to follow up some nice foreshadowing (I'll try to keep them vague):
I liked that I really didn't start to suspect the villain until right up to the end. I only had about a chapter or so to think, "oh no, is it going to be this character?"
Towards the very beginning, knowing that the book was going to include teen romance, I didn't think I was going to like what I suspected the outcome to be between a ghost and a living person. I expected an ending that was overly contrived that would make me roll my eyes. But while I did guess the main fact of the ending, the way it played out fit so much better with the rest of the story than I had been expecting, and I ended up really enjoying it!
I Am the Storm by Rebecca Guay, Jane Yolen
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
This is a reassuring and gentle book for young readers about severe weather. The pictures are soft, and focus on a family in a safe place from the weather, and doing something fun to pass the time. And the repeated refrain is that "when the storm passes, as storms always do," life will eventually return to normal. A sweet, easy, and comforting read.