thogek's reviews
419 reviews

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Racism, Death, Gun violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Murder

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

As context, I haven't read Legends & Lattes, to which this Bookshops & Bonedust is a prequel. B&B's story felt fully self-contained to me and I didn't feel I was missing anything for not having read L&L.

And it was kinda fun.

Perhaps a bit simple in some ways compared to many fantasy adventure stories, but still a nice fun entertaining read about a young impetuous orcish mercenary (not nearly as animally brutish as that might sound in some fantasy worlds) and, while recuperating from the injuries of her recent impetuousness in a small town, the varied new relationships she formed, lessons learned, and unexpected threat fought.

Easy read, fun story, and enough to make me consider picking up Legends & Lattes at some point.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Animal death and Blood

Daybreak Zero by John Barnes

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Torture, War, Death, Murder, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, and Slavery

Minor: Rape and Cursing

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

Pimpf by Charles Stross

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Blood

The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Animal death, and Mental illness

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Murder

Fever Dream by Douglas Preston

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Medical content, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, Gore, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Suicide

The Carolina Variant by Brooke L. French

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

3.0

The Carolina Variant is a fun read in an adventurous danger-thriller sort of way with a couple of sciencey twists: one a very slightly science-fictiony bit of genetic engineering and one an interestingly limited case of eidetic memory. Woven together with some decently strong writing (especially during the character developments of the first third or so) and plotting, the result is a fun ride easily worth the time to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Torture, Medical content, Suicide, Genocide, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, and Violence

Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Stalking, Gun violence, and Death

Minor: Blood and Sexual assault