spinstah's reviews
1425 reviews

Fire Exit by Morgan Talty

reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

A lot of this book is the main character, Charles, processing his own grief and trauma about his childhood, and caring for his mother and an alcoholic friend. The storyline about his daughter felt like a subplot and not the foccus the blurb makes it out to be. It's a very sad book.

The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister

dark medium-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? Yes

4.0

What a weird little story. It's not really horror, it's more of a strange coming of age tale involving generational trauma, and maybe a little magic? Or maybe a group hallucination? You decide. I thought the ending was appropriately ambiguous.

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

What a lovely, sad story. I did find first chunk I read to be a little confusing, but I reread the synopsis and it all came together. (I suspect this was a me problem, though.) There were maybe a few too many characters for something this short, but I think it worked and it gives you some different perspectives on the mammoths themselves. 

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This is extremely twisty and convoluted - maybe too twisty, especially at the end - but I did not get a single thing right except the fact that

the house does finally collapse into the sea

at the end. The overwrought POV of the heroine was a little tiring at times, but it's a hallmark of gothic literature so you just have to kind of go with it. I listened to this and I think it was a good pick for this book, the narrators were good and listening meant I couldn't start skimming, which I think I would have at points if I was reading.

Withered Hill by David Barnett

3.75

I liked the split timelines, and I think that worked really well. But I think it would have been better with a little bit more foreshadowing and a more clearly problematic main character. 

Interstellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 39%.

The blurb is not doing this book any favors. As it turns out, the cooking competition is not the focus of this novel, and it flits by very quickly. It is grappling with a lot of big concepts like xenophobia and how cultural dominance is expressed in a socialist environment, but so far it doesn’t really seem to be doing much with that other than laying it out. There’s also a lot of technobabble and either very specific descriptors that seem to just be there as a shorthand form of world building and it just wasn’t working for me. 

The Bang-Bang Sisters by Rio Youers
Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%.

The concept of this sounds so great but the execution wasn’t working for me. The villain is cartoonishly evil and the relationship between the sisters just seemed off. I think this would work better as a movie where you could either lean into the villain’s silliness or play him as a psychopath. And the scenes with the sisters doing their thing could be filmed in the very stylish way that I think the author is going for. 

Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance by Jonathan Strahan

4.5

I thought the best stories were all towards the end, but that does make me wonder if I just wasn’t into the early stories or if it was my state of mind. In any case, they were:

• Romance : Historical 
• A Letter to Merlin 
• Dead Poets

Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

I enjoyed this story of two friends over many years. But there are a lot of topics being introduced in the London section, and I wish there had been a bit less of that and a bit more insight into how each of the characters felt about their relationship with the other, particularly given how their professional lives are at odds with one another. 

The Rivals by Jane Pek

3.5

This was ok. I think there were too many threads introduced and a couple of them really didn’t do anything for the main storyline. I also just didn’t care about the mystery, in part because you don’t really have any character who is feeling any consequences, besides one who you barely get to know.