thomasdm15's reviews
83 reviews

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.25

I think this book is my favorite and least favorite of the three, I was absolutely HOOKED but

I can't help but feel like the end is suuuuuuper rushed and there could've been so much more to this series. I am not unhappy with the ending but it definitely feels like it was cut short, too bad.

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
Did not finish book.

didn't like 1st book, probably won't read 2nd one

Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.

The more I think abt it, the more I know I won't be reading this or the 3 following books in the series

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A really really good book that I enjoyed from start to finish but I wouldn't give it 5 stars because it's not a "masterpiece" so to say. But you should definitely go read this series it's so so so so so sooooooo good!!!!!

My only complaint would be that Curie self gleaning at the end didn't make sense at all because why wouldn't she just... die with Rowan and Citra??? Like the only reason would be to be like "oh yeah now they're all alone and they're gonna find Faraday and seek vengeance for Curie" but it feels a bit forced because there's no way this self-glean is justified???

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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

5.0

THE AUDACITY.

As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

A masterpiece which blew me away and made me feel so many emotions, it's a shame I didn't read it earlier!!

Only ducting .25 because YES WE GET IT YOU LIKE STUDIO GHIBLI PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT IT EVERY 5 PAGES... Like sometimes it did make sense but when it's mentionned so often, it starts losing credibility and I kinda struggle to take the book seriously for a bit... also dk why it's labeled as YA because (TW) of all the war, trauma, rape, etc. in this book. The only VERY YA part is the romance (which does contrast a tad too much with the book, although in no way isn't it justified).

Also I rly didn't expect Layla to be part of her visions and I also didn't expect an happy ending, it felt tense until the very end!!

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

I just want to preface this by saying this is not a bad book at all, I just don't think I could enjoy it because mythology retellings just quite don't work for me and although the book's main thing of seeing the women's side of a mythological war was enticing at first, I got pretty bored after a while because these are all things I already know about the Trojan War... so midway through the book I started being disinterested and I had a really hard time finishing it.
I've got to say, though, that the writing was really really good and I could really FEEL like I was seeing it all through the protagonists' eyes, sometimes forgetting this was written by someone else, really got the feeling I was reading people's journals.
Anyway if you're a fan of mythology retellings with a refreshing (yet horriffying) point of view, this book is for you, too bad it wasn't for me in the end.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

medium-paced

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

3.0

This is an "ok" book, not average because I still enjoyed some parts but more often than not my mind was wandering somewhere else because I couldn't really get into the story.
Promising book at first but halfway through it I wasn't really invested into it and just finished it because I wanted to finish it.
Nothing much else to say, apart from the fact that

the infamous lesbian fisting scene served no purpose apart from being there??? Like I have nothing against sex scenes in a book if it's at least a tiny bit relevant, which here it wasn't at all so yeah...

Vox by Christina Dalcher

adventurous challenging dark fast-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? N/A

3.5

I absolutely loved the base idea of the book and maybe the first half of the book, brought to the table and executed really well.

HOWEVER, I felt like the 2nd half of the book kinda got "too easy" and here's where I put spoilers

for everything that is at stake, it felt very uneventful and too easy for the protagonists, nothing had me holding my breath, waiting anguishingly for the next sentence to unravel in order for me to see what will happen, everything felt very much predictable. Like for example the fact that the whole resistance thingy is barely exploited at all and just serves as a deus ex machina was a total let down for me, it was just the easy way out... also the fact the husband dies at the end playing it all heroic was such an easy way for the author not to adress the whole "should I pick my kids and husband over my lover and soon to be child?"

Also two other things I disliked in the book:
- There's a whole lot of jargon and although I was familiar with some parts (all the things abt linguistics and aphasia), it was kinda hard to follow at times.
- The author tries too much to be all mysterious and elusive like "but I already knew what happened" without EXPLAINING what happened because they think it should be obvious even though at times it really isn't made me quite annoyed because it just feels like lazy writing. The whole "I could say what happened here but I'll make my character hint at what happened rather than be blunt" works in some cases but sometimes you have to be more straightforward.

Although I sound super salty, I did have a great time reading this book but those minor inconveniences made it hard for me to rate it any higher unfortunately ):

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

dark 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 would duct like .25 points because some parts felt "too YA" but this is clearly advertised as YA so I knew what I was getting into. As far as YA books go this is a masterpiece of a novel and I can't wait to read the next books.