unboxedjack's reviews
1237 reviews

House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense slow-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

3.5

I admittedly was not in a good mental space reading this so it took me a while, but I enjoyed the plot for the most part. Tchaikovsky did an excellent job continuing the world building and characterization he did well on with the first book of the series, but he seems to suffer from padding, which makes the pacing a bit off-kilter; that's the primary reason I rated this a 3.5/5 instead of 4/5. Granted, my own attention span could have been the biggest part to blame in that, but I hold firm that this book probably could have been at least 50 pages shorter. Enjoyable, nonetheless.
Little by Edward Carey

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dark reflective sad 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

4.0

Mister Magic by Kiersten White

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dark funny reflective 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

2.75

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

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funny mysterious 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

3.75

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

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

2.5

Blueprints of the Afterlife by Ryan Boudinot

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challenging funny reflective slow-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

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challenging dark reflective 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

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
I got through 20% of this book and I would say that throughout 80% of the time I read that small amount, I was rolling my eyes. With a promise of being something akin to The Midnight Library and The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, two books I greatly enjoyed, I expected something unique, thoughtful, and, at the very least, readable. I'll give Brown credit for creating something unique here. I love a good story about books imbued with magic and the aftermath of this being discovered. Yet Brown's talents end there. Between his "man writing women" way of characterizing any female identified character (i.e., the protagonist and her friend yammering on about food, bodies, and weight as though that's all women care about), two-dimensional personalities of any character, and blandness of prose, this book was simply not enough to capture my attention. Brown struck me as an adolescent attempting to write like an adult. And perhaps that would work better as a middle grade book rather than something marketed towards adults, but it still wouldn't overshadow the fact that Brown simply seems to be unable at creating a readable or captivating story. 

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC copy.
Big Machine by Victor LaValle

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adventurous funny reflective 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

3.5

The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe

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

2.75