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third_bookworm's Reviews (135)

The Cybernetic Tea Shop

Meredith Katz

3.0

emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Not long enough for the emotional buildup to be convincing

Amberlough

Lara Elena Donnelly

4.0

adventurous dark 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

The politics of this hit a bit closer to home than I was expecting or was totally comfortable with. It's an intense read for an election year in the US. But otherwise I enjoyed it, mostly. At a few points the character motivations were kind of baffling; I didn't really get what Cyril was trying to do for most of the book on a day-to-day level even though his book-scale goals made sense. I definitely plan to finish the rest of the series, but I need a break before reading the next book.

The Goblin Emperor

Katherine Addison

5.0

emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have read this book before but it is so much better than I remember. Either it had a much more substantial effect on my taste in fiction than I realized or it's just catnip for my tastes in particular. Court politics from the perspective of a protagonist who is a genuinely kind, endearing, optimistic person; vaguely fantasy steampunk ish setting; background implications of complex cultural significance of tea; detailed descriptions of architecture and clothing; significant plot points about infrastructure and engineering; detailed and nuanced takes on arranged marriages... The list goes on. Very much looking forward to rereading again in the future.

Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military

Avis Lang, Neil deGrasse Tyson

2.0

informative reflective slow-paced

This was a slog, and not really what I had been hoping for from it. I think it would have benefitted significantly from a more aggressive editor (the extremely long chapter on the history of putting satellites into space was... less than riveting, to say the least). However, I think the main problems I had with it are that I am not the target audience (it was geared at a general audience; I was hoping for a detailed analysis from someone in the field written for others in astrophysics, and instead I got wave-particle duality explained to me like a high schooler.) and that I find Tyson aggravating as a person, so any time his personality or politics showed through in the writing it annoyed me. It wasn't what I hoped for, but I think that's more on me for the expectations I went into it with.

For all that, there were some genuinely interesting and insightful pieces scattered in.

Also, fairly depressing implications for the ethics of a career in astrophysics.

The Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu

DID NOT FINISH: 31%

Just didn't get into it

The Angel of the Crows

Katherine Addison

4.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Menewood

Nicola Griffith

4.0

adventurous challenging dark slow-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

It's very long, and felt like a bit of a slog at some points. But quite good overall.

Too Like the Lightning

Ada Palmer

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There's a review on the back of the hardcover copy of this book saying something like "Too Like the Lightning will stay in your head for a long time." and man. It sure will.
This book tries to do a lot, and I'm not sure it fully delivers on a lot of it. Super interesting concepts are introduced, but I think it will depend on the rest of the series whether this are really followed through on.

Content Warnings