skconaghan's reviews
443 reviews

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

Song of the Nile by Stephanie Dray

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.0

An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted 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 Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

What a storyteller. Beautiful writing. Captivating characters. McBride is one of our modern literary geniuses, capable of lacing honest humour through a complex web of tense community politics in a delicate period of history. The plot weaves and dips across cultures over time and draws humanity together against common evil, while slipping in a poignant social commentary of America, relevant to the 30s, and still even now.

I ended this one with a smile sending the tears over bumps and wrinkles to run down the sides of my cheeks. The best moving and satisfying way to end a novel…

The Cradle of Ice by James Rollins

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis

adventurous challenging informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

A Young Shakespeare, fresh off the heels of several plague scares, desperately seeking the alternative entertainment to Bear Baiting, comes up with an early draft for easing the public into ‘less vile content’ than what they’re faced with in their everyday post-medieval lifestyles by crafting this early Renaissance piece of gory horror, twisted up in a convoluted and hyperbolically violent plot that makes Kill Bill look mild to the modern audience.

2-stars for this violent plot
5-stars for the full cast performance.

.. still notably better than several novels I’ve DNFd lately…