veryroundbird's reviews
142 reviews

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

bigolas dickolas was right. i DID need to read this is how you lose the time war

no but for real the poetry of this book—sometimes it was hard to imagine what was being described, the way these agents of the future could be and the bodies they could inhabit—but I think that made it all the more beautiful. love as a future beyond imagining, torn from the bloodied jaws of defeat.

Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress! Volume 1 by Ameko Kaeruda

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

2.0

Like a lot of light novels, this is one where I think I'd enjoy it more as an anime—I can definitely imagine the scenes put to movement and the pacing working pretty well that way. I just struggled a lot with this one because there's pretty much no meaningful tension—it's kind of an "all we do is win" montage, but I think an audiovisual medium's methods of using framing / timing / etc. could probably help underscore some parts a lot better.

(There's also some things that I think are just translation choices I might have done differently—"hee hee" just doesn't read so well in English prose as it would in a comic. I presume that's an "ufufu")

That said, it definitely has its niche; like the author says in the afterword, webnovels are pretty saturated with male power fantasies, so why not a female power fantasy? (I could say that a lot of the antagonists were too horrible to be believable, but I also know the author wrote this out of frustration with sexism in Japan and patterned a lot of stuff off of that, so. I guess I can believe it.) I'm also interested in some of the potential conflict it hints at for the sequel that might prove a little more challenging, and also I'm hoping for more of Katherine Foxxi, who turned out to be one of the more interesting characters, so, hey, even if I think there's room for improvement: I'm still reading the sequel.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (Light Novel) by Hajime Kamoshida

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I'm sometimes hard on light novels because while I enjoy a lot of things about them, I tend to find the writing style a little too mired in over-explanation and over-narration; I think Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai manages to hit a good balance and the character voices feel unique and developed such that the tendency to use few dialogue tags isn't an issue.

Also the arc of the story gave me an emotion. I feel like most people would get their heartstrings pulled on at least a little bit by a story about how invisible you can feel when you're growing up and/or struggling in your career. Gets the "hets I care about" stamp of approval.

I'm in Love with the Villainess (Light Novel) Vol. 1 by Inori

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

I feel like this one started to pick up once things start going off the rails for Rae—when her attempts to keep tight control of the narrative she's familiar with start to slip out of her hands. There's also some nice subtle tension with Rae just being fully convinced that the best she can do is to be there to support the woman she loves, rather than hoping to be loved in return—I kind of wish the narrative dwelled on that a little more, because it's an interesting thread.

The main weakness, I think, is that the narrative tends to over-explain itself and tends to stifle emotional moments that way. By the end of the book it's definitely getting better, and I know this was originally published as a serial webnovel, so I expect the following books to improve.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I enjoyed this book but also the characters really stressed me out. Cuts close to the bone, so if you're into that, this book is for you.

Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky, Connie Burk

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

This was one of my best reads of 2023—not that I read that many books since it turned out to be a challenging year. Primarily oriented at care workers, but a useful read for people who find themselves being a caretaker friend as well.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Vol. 1 (Light Novel) by Piero Karasu

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

It's fluffy, lighthearted yuri fare; in general the conflicts are not very tense and are all solved quickly, and the two female leads become friends very quickly. There's a lot of interesting worldbuilding to underpin the plot, although it didn't feel immersive—characters from all walks of life talk about how you'd expect modern people to. I'm told the animated adaptation is fun, and it's entirely possible this adapts better to the screen—in novel format, though, I think it's just not for me.

Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith

emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

adventurous challenging dark 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

The Anti-Christ Handbook Vol. 2: The Horror and Hilarity of Left Behind by Fred Clark

4.0