sydneysbooknook's reviews
216 reviews

Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Race To Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Gods of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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

4.75

Tears in the Water by Margherita Scialla

emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Letting Go of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction for White Students by Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides, Carlin Borsheim-Black

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

I realize that the average person who isn’t going to become a teacher is most likely not going to read this book. But that does not mean that everyone shouldn’t hear about it! It might not be the most exciting book in terms of plot or characters (because it doesn’t have any), but it is exciting in the fact that it shows practical ways to interact with and challenge the current literary canon, purposefully building antiracist literature instruction, which will affect the future generations of students! Sarigianides and Borcheim-Black emphasize the importance of reading through a critical race lens, which will help students build racial literacy and create meaningful discussions about race and literature, working toward the goal of being actively antiracist in all aspects of life. I encourage everyone to read this book, but it is especially important for teachers! 

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

I’ve been wanting to read Kaikeyi for such a long time, so I have to once again give a shout out to the Aspec Book Club for giving me the push to read it as our April book! I haven’t read a novel that has had an enormous amount of impact on me in quite a while. At its heart, Kaikeyi is the story of a woman doing what she can, in a world of oppressors, to not only prosper, but thrive. Kaikeyi takes the power she has (political and magical) and uses it to transform herself from an object to be sold and bartered to the person with the bargaining power. And once she does this, she uses her status to help other women. But she is not perfect, which makes her even more admirable to me. She has flaws that she must confront, which makes her more well-rounded and relatable. Everyone should read this book. It reads as an epic (which it should, because it is based off of the Ramayana), but also offers a well-written character study.