thattheatrekid's reviews
104 reviews

Normal People by Sally Rooney

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

Honestly I don’t see the hype of this book. Maybe it’s just because romance isn’t typically my thing, but I found this boring and the characters one dimensional. They also had to spell out every character trait for you rather than just acting out said trait. The ending wasn’t that satisfying and I found it easy to zone out and lose track because the dialogue didn’t have quotation marks. I liked the character development and how realistic the situations were but I think I’m just not the right audience. 

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.25

I read this book on a whim after seeing it on someone’s instagram story. I had the day and read it nonstop 3-11pm. I really enjoyed it and there were parts I was invested and parts that had me rolling my eyes. 

Things I Liked 👍:

- The character development. Wow was the character development good over the entire course of the book, and it’s smooth. I just got to point B and looked back at point A trying to figure out exactly where the change happened but it was so smoothly done. 
- The family relationships between the siblings. I loved Mira and Violet’s relationship and how much they care for each other especially in the midst of an unemotionally available mother.
- Ardana. Good lord I love her, she’s so cute and her power is unique. 
- The world building. I like how immersive everything is.
- The dialogue. Aside from the sappy/spicy scenes where the couple regresses to teenage speak, the dialogue is very well done and realistic. It really pulled me into the story. 
- The plot twist at the end. Was it somewhat predictable? Yes. Was it still epic and made me gasp? Also yes. 

Things I Didn’t Like 👎:

- Xaden. Not that he was unlikeable in the story (though he was at points); he just filled way too many tropes for me to not roll my eyes. Dark emotionally repressed mysterious shadow boy, basically. 
- Violet’s entitlement. I didn’t like her “f off” attitude towards everyone who was kind to her. She was also incredibly rude to the dragon that was supposedly one of the deadliest and could incinerate her at the smallest sign of disrespect. Some of the people she was rude to just didn’t deserve it. It’s also kind of annoying how every single man in her life wants to protect her because she’s so weak and fragile; it’s unrealistic to such a dog-eat-dog environment.
- The author was clearly reaching for some clever hot nickname for Xaden to call Violet…but let me tell you, Violence wasn’t it. That’s all I have to say on that but just…no.
- Maybe this is more of a me imagination problem than anything, but it was sometimes hard to visualize the proportions described. For example it was said that Violet was the size of a dragon’s tooth and the dragons were around 25 feet tall…that’s freaking massive. And then later it talked about having to climb the dragons foreleg to mount. It’s just weird to keep those proportions in mind through the whole book. 

Overall a great surprise read and I’m excited for the next. I really hope it doesn’t do what most series do and go downhill with every sequel though. 

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? No

3.75

I wanted to give this book at least 4 stars; I really did. But the writing was just terrible. The events cut to my soul and reminded me again how heartbreaking the Holocaust is and how important it is to never forget it, but it wasn’t because of the author. I wish the dialogue was better because it felt like a middle school easy reader book if not for the content. It is nice to see at least one story with a happy ending from the Holocaust, but that ending was only as happy as you could get after being traumatized to an unimaginable degree. For me it only highlighted the vast amount of people who didn’t get that. Good story and I see God’s hand in it, but also I wish the writing was better and that it was 100% fact since I want to know what parts were made up. 

American Royals II: Majesty by Katharine McGee

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

I’ll be honest, I barely remember this book, lol.

Cursed by Marissa Meyer

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked this book! I read it in half a day. However, I agree with other reviews that it moved either very slow or very fast in parts and the whole pacing was very weird. Also, this had a darker tone than the last one (especially at the beginning) and there were a lot of moments that the situation seemed impossible. Normally I’d say that’s a great thing for a book but Meyer really walked the line between hopeless/depressing and tense/hopeful. Most of the book I wasn’t hopeful or excited to see how Serilda would navigate the situation; it was more like wondering which characters would get killed off next. I was so used to important characters dying that I didn’t get attached too quickly because for all I knew, the story could not have a happily ever after at all. It’s either good writing or bad writing and I can’t decide which. But Meyer as a writer is very gifted and I love her other books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Violence

Gilded by Marissa Meyer

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Excellent book with great writing: Meyers does such a good job with her fairy tale retellings. However it was slow moving at points and toward the end took a much darker turn that should have impacted the heroine a bit more than it did. There were also a couple twists that felt like they were only there for shock value. Regardless it’s a fantastic story and the main character is likeable and developed. I wish it were a standalone since I’m tired of all these series though.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

What. A. Beautiful. Book.
 This is one of those reads that leaves you speechless, processing, and wanting to recommend it to every book lover whilst completely unable to articulate what it’s about. The Starless Sea was a masterpiece and a tribute to reading itself. As for plot or even the most basic idea of the story…I can’t find the words because the whole tapestry that is this book is so enormously complex. The smallest details are called back throughout the book, and the ending is perfectly tied with all the motifs yet still leaving you with questions. You are putting the pieces together with Zachary and it is the furthest thing from predictable. 

And the WRITING. Never have I encountered such captivating writing; every sentence was carefully crafted. 

I’ve seen many people saying that the many small stories told throughout the book are distracting and frustrating. However for me they were one of the best parts! Every one was relevant or metaphorically related to the main plot, and were so creatively well done. 

As for why I had to remove .5 stars…

The book moved rather slowly in the middle. Not as slowly as everyone is saying since I had no problem continuing to turn the pages, but the plot slowed down and became very distorted. Characters were introduced that never got a full resolution.

I don’t understand the Eleanor/Simon plot much at all. How do they know each other? Why are they separated? The ending also confused me. Why did the keeper and mirabel kiss? That was weird; and I see that Dorian and Zachary became a guardian and keeper but what does that mean? What do they do now?

Furthermore, all the romance elements were very rushed and I didn’t like them because there wasn’t a good reason for them to exist. 

Lastly the characters were rather flat. Did I care and was I still very much invested? No and yes. But if you’re someone who can’t get past that you’ll be frustrated. This book isn’t a straightforward, clear cut story with a plot and characters; it’s full of twists, turns, loops, rabbit trails, metaphors and double meanings. A puzzle within a book. You aren’t here for the character development or even the plot, but for the journey and this love letter to stories. 

Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller

adventurous funny mysterious 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

3.75

This book started really strong. I loved the premise and was intrigued about a character with social anxiety, which is very relatable to my past. I feel like it could have been done a little better though because the anxiety became her whole personality with no real endearing features aside from relatability to anxiety. 

However, when the love subplot started it made everything more clunky and messy. The author unintentionally tells rather than shows a lot (for example one of the character’s weaknesses is vulnerability and rather than just showing us how he doesn’t like to be vulnerable she just tells us over and over again that he’s uncomfortable with it). The mc had something of a backbone and then when you brought the love interest in it was all she was thinking about even in the midst of life or death situations. Not my favorite. It also didn’t help that I thought this book was a standalone when I got it and then I found out there was a sequel. 

But, this was a great read to get me back into the swing of reading and I loved the world building and concepts. The writing just could have been better done. 

Winter by Marissa Meyer

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

Majesty by Katharine McGee

emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

I liked this book but not enough to give it 4 stars.

Pros: 

• I loved seeing more of Beatrice and her being fleshed out
• Great plot in that people were falling for different people than they were before, and old romances also resurfaced 
• Everything was painted as real life, even in casual wording of sentences, and didn’t feel too bookishly perfect 
• I loved Daphnes character journey

Cons:

• Several sentences were way too dramatic or corny for the situation or age of the person saying them and made me physically cringe 
• The male characters were not fleshed out at all, like I still don’t understand what makes Jeff so great and he was barely in the book
• Nina also felt quite underdeveloped 
• Sometimes the emotional timeline seemed to move unrealistically fast
• The themes of feminism and modern “antiracism” were not subtle or presented tastefully; they just made me roll my eyes because they are thrown brashly in the face of the reader
• The girls never ever talk about anything other than the royal system or more often, boys. I really wish they were given more conversations with no mention of romance drama, just because it would flesh them out more. Also having them only talk about boys for the entirety of the book up to the end kind of undermines the theme of feminism the author is attempting

Solid sequel and I’ll finish the series, but the first one was definitely better.

Update: so I just went back and read my review for the first one and it basically says all of these things as well. In other words, the author needs to flesh out the males and stop trying to present feminism if the book isn’t feminist.