This was fun! I enjoyed the twist on fairytale tropes. It was fun to have a cast of characters who were all sensible and clever about their problems. And the dust-wife seemed very Granny Weatherwax inspired, so that was fun.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

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dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

The only reason this isn't 5 stars is that I think I tend to rate things as 5 stars or 1 star and I need to start exploring the middle ground a bit. This was very good though! I think it would have been especially powerful when it was initially published, as the societal Cold War nuclear annihilation fear has subsided a little bit. It was a very interesting idea executed very well, though.

They put those monks in space!

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was so, so good. I enjoyed this way more than I expected to. I loved Weir's versions of alien life here. This book got close enough to my own areas of scientific interest that I was worried there would be jarring inaccuracies or things glossed over that bothered me a lot, but there weren't any that I noticed so huge props on that one. Cannot recommend this highly enough.

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This kept making me think of Lessons in Chemistry despite being wildly different from that book in most respects. Take Lessons in Chemistry, make it about a biologist in the nebulous present day rather than a chemist in the 60's (? it's been a while since I read that), make the protagonist a deeply antisocial person whose entire life revolves around her work, give her a clone of herself made to be a perfect housewife, and make the central conflict covering up a murder instead of being a single mom. It's great, I loved it.

Ammonite by Nicola Griffith

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hopeful reflective 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

5.0

This book reminded me of The Left Hand of Darkness, but hopeful where Left Hand was melancholy. It accomplished what it attempted very well. There were some slightly weird bioessentialist implications of the worldbuilding, but that wasn't really the point of the book so it didn't bother me too much. Would definitely reread.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

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adventurous dark 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

4.0

This book did an excellent job of portraying morally grey protagonists. I had a lot of fun with the incredibly violent revenge arc, and finding characters that the rest of their society absolutely sees as villains very endearing.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

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dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.5

Slightly darker (more in tone than actual content) than Harrow's other books that I've read, but very good. Love the Gothic haunted house thing it has going on.

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third_bookworm's reviews 90 reviews

third_bookworm's reviews
90 reviews