snowbenton's reviews
3306 reviews

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

4.0

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

1.0

Easily the worst one so far. Harry is an emotional baby for the entire book, with not sentence of these 870 dragging pages devoted to self-reflection. He picks fights with everyone and all the fighting took the fun out of this book. Goblet of Fire was also too long, but at least you had the wizard tournament and that kept the pages turning because there was another adventure coming. This book had no plot beyond Harry failing to even try to keep Voldemort out of his head, and it fell very flat.

It hardly bears repeating at this point, but Hagrid is an absolutely terrible person who has no business interacting with children. Dumbledore is at best an idiot, at worst, possessed of a flagrant disregard for children's lives. Molly Weasley is a shrew and Arthur Weasley is an airhead and all the Weasley children deserved better.

Reading this as an adult was a chore.

The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice by Deborah Adele

5.0

This changed the way I think about myself and my life.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

3.0

As an adult I have to suspend so much disbelief to get through these. The world-building is a fucking crime. It's so frustrating. And Harry and Ron and Hermione spend huge swathes of the book mad at each other for dumb reasons and you don't even get much out of the side characters to make up for it. This was much too long for the amount of story it contained, but I can't say I wouldn't have written this much if I had such rabid fans, so I'll let it slide.

Hagrid is the fucking worst. Dumbledore fails Harry again, 4/4, good job. I liked learning more about the Death Eaters. The death at the end was simple and painful and still a gut punch even when you know it's coming.

Thanks again to Dumbledore for the nice summation: "Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake

0.25

I didn't think it was possible but this was actually worse than I expected.

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

2.0

I love a western themed book with a tough female protagonist (True Grit, Vengeance Road) and I generally put up with apocalyptic ones even though if I read one more water-rationing book my eye might twitch right out of my head. So I had high hopes for this one: librarians! lesbians! l'adventure! But it was just dull and predictable and the characters bored me.

Rose/House by Arkady Martine

4.0

Beautifully written and unsettling.

The Hike by Drew Magary

4.0

Kind of like a coming of age story for adults. Full of horror and confusion and physical and emotional gut punches, this was a wild ride that never managed to stray too far from what feels possible (at least, possible to those familiar with fairy tales and video games and folklore). Highly recommend to anyone looking for a strange new read with a satisfying conclusion.

I love that he gets home to realize that his wife went through the hike herself years earlier. It added such a thrill because now, they more deeply understand each other, but it also makes the reader feel like their turn on the hike is just a matter of time.

Landon Calling by Amanda M. Lee

5.0

This was cute. It was fun getting Landon's cheerful perspective on everyone.

Dial W For Witch by Amanda M. Lee

4.0

Not sure I like how spicy Bay is becoming -- she's definitely turning into a young Aunt Tillie. But these remain addictive.