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woodiefrog's reviews
135 reviews
My Life as Emperor by Su Tong, Howard Goldblatt
3.75
A bit repetitive during the middle, and some plot too melodramatic and without any buffer of logic to my taste (like the death of the troupe including Yan and little girl; who would travel willynelly to enemy-occupied capital not thinking it’s going to lead to disaster? Kinda too plot-devicy). Also I see the trend with Su Tong’s writing. Female characters/innocent appear, don’t expect them to even die well lol Could tune down the cruelty and violence and still make it work. So is it a bit like the “dark fantasy masquerading as ‘historically accurate’ but for dark’s sake in truth” criticism.
Beautiful words, bizarre setting, historical feel without actual context.
Beautiful words, bizarre setting, historical feel without actual context.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Child death
Binu and the Great Wall by Su Tong
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Four star for reviving my memory of my usage of my native language. The often-contrive attempts at fostering a elegant simplicity in English cannot be more bruisingly obvious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death
All The Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
adventurous
emotional
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Solid but not surprising prose, own voices, and family drama crossover literary fiction.
The biggest enjoyment for me came from the wonderful narrator Rose Akroyd, who did a breathtaking job in characterization and accents (the latter especially important as it is a crucial part of social mimicry for our protagonist ). The plot is not unpredictable, but I suppose most family drama aren’t. The major side characters, (the supposedly “bird hearts”) the flamboyant couple from London,
however, are portrayed very stereotypically. While I feel I could see how the author was really trying to sublimating the prose at the ending and epilogue, somehow it landed a bit preposterous to me. Could simply be a matter of perspective; I lack certain insights as well as gained in others comparing to the author, so certain sentiments of the protagonist as a love-labored, misunderstood mother with autism leaves an embittered taste.
The biggest enjoyment for me came from the wonderful narrator Rose Akroyd, who did a breathtaking job in characterization and accents (the latter especially important as it is a crucial part of social mimicry for our protagonist ). The plot is not unpredictable, but I suppose most family drama aren’t. The major side characters, (the supposedly “bird hearts”) the flamboyant couple from London,
however, are portrayed very stereotypically. While I feel I could see how the author was really trying to sublimating the prose at the ending and epilogue, somehow it landed a bit preposterous to me. Could simply be a matter of perspective; I lack certain insights as well as gained in others comparing to the author, so certain sentiments of the protagonist as a love-labored, misunderstood mother with autism leaves an embittered taste.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
A Trap for Cinderella by Sébastien Japrisot, Helen Weaver
challenging
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
4.0
A masterful exploration on form, but not to say the content itself isn’t enthralling to read. Even though it’s translation. Without spoilers for neither the structure nor plot, this is a thriller and great subversion on the amnesiac protagonist troupe.
We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets
challenging
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
A strange book, maybe not correctly categorized. I think it’s more of a psychological thriller with lesbian romance B plot that ends up totalling A plot 😂
At various points in reading I started to wonder if we are perhaps taking on the role of the voyeur like in-story interlopers, so eager to hear the gruesome bits of somebody’s life revealed to us (and disappointed when it’s not how we think it’s going, as many other readers here echo in their reviews). And if we are perhaps supposed to be aware of this fact. If the writer was intentional on this point, I applaud her. Clearly it worked. On the other hand, however, the story does feel derailed by the problematic relationship (which I enjoyed; let there be more portrayals of all relationships, toxicity is not exclusive to heteronormativity and we need more affirmation on that in our media), and the premise that starts the intrigue went absolutely nowhere. Overall, a good quick read with unexplored potential.
Did you know some 14% Americans reportedly have sex in their workplace? I did not. But thanks to some stuff in this book I did a very quick and inconclusive research on Google, and now you know too 🙃
At various points in reading I started to wonder if we are perhaps taking on the role of the voyeur like in-story interlopers, so eager to hear the gruesome bits of somebody’s life revealed to us (and disappointed when it’s not how we think it’s going, as many other readers here echo in their reviews). And if we are perhaps supposed to be aware of this fact. If the writer was intentional on this point, I applaud her. Clearly it worked. On the other hand, however, the story does feel derailed by the problematic relationship (which I enjoyed; let there be more portrayals of all relationships, toxicity is not exclusive to heteronormativity and we need more affirmation on that in our media), and the premise that starts the intrigue went absolutely nowhere. Overall, a good quick read with unexplored potential.
Did you know some 14% Americans reportedly have sex in their workplace? I did not. But thanks to some stuff in this book I did a very quick and inconclusive research on Google, and now you know too 🙃
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Cozy Fantasy is not my thing, potentially. But also, I had to skip from chapter 3 to the ending chapter because boi does it get tiring all the awkward references. Is this what author of his generation think of as what Gen Z are like? 🤦🏻
Jeannette Illidge’s reading saves a lot of the writing for me, but the gilded glee of a characterization is still gilded. And frankly I am getting tired of female protagonist written as gay or bi and behaves like a dog in heat for no reason (actually the reason is probably the same with any guy writing les fantasy, plus your publisher gets a LGBTQ check 😑) Swearing=cool & quirky Murdering as butt of joke=morally ambiguous & independent AHHH come on Absolutely a mess of worldbuilding and a very tired troupe for someone growing up having read so many Chinese webnovels; portal fantasy and its gazillions of subgenres are so overdone but okay I guess it’s just catching on here.
Jeannette Illidge’s reading saves a lot of the writing for me, but the gilded glee of a characterization is still gilded. And frankly I am getting tired of female protagonist written as gay or bi and behaves like a dog in heat for no reason (actually the reason is probably the same with any guy writing les fantasy, plus your publisher gets a LGBTQ check 😑) Swearing=cool & quirky Murdering as butt of joke=morally ambiguous & independent AHHH come on Absolutely a mess of worldbuilding and a very tired troupe for someone growing up having read so many Chinese webnovels; portal fantasy and its gazillions of subgenres are so overdone but okay I guess it’s just catching on here.