writingmidnight96's reviews
31 reviews

Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

adventurous dark slow-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? No

5.0

Continuing with the series. I did have to restsart this one about 2 months in to reading, but that had more to do with a lack of time to read and then worry that I had forgotten things, than any flaws of this book .The suspense builds a bit more slowly in this entry, but there are enough high drama points to keep the tension building as the plot waits to ramp for a good old fashioned Robert Jordan Finish. As a warning, when you hit the last 200 pages or so, you're not going to want to put the book down as tension hit's it's peak. 

The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey

informative medium-paced

4.0

So I've been listening to Dave's show for a while, picked up the book when I had a chance to go to the studio, but didn't actually read it until after I had paid my debt off. For someone like me, it's interesting but not super useful. The book and the Radio show are very true to one another in terms of the advice given, so you can supplement one for the other. The anecdotes from the success stories scattered throughout are very sweet but also VERY Brief so they are uplifting but the brevity does sort of make them all run together to an extent. 

If you're in my situation I'd say continue to listen to the radio show and you'll get the same fix this book provides. 

However, if you're still in the midst of paying off debt, or just thinking of getting down to the business of paying off your debt, or (in debt or not) unfamiliar with Dave and curious what he's all about, I'd pick it up. It's a much more concise and focused variant of the advice given on the show, which would be much more helpful to someone working through the steps. The back of the book also has worksheets to help you get organized about your money, which would be very helpful to many people who are still on their debt journey. If you're serious or Curious about getting control of your finances, I'd recommend picking up the book. Dave is full of good, common-sense advice and enough tough love to make it stick. Also, if you're still working on your debt, I know it sucks, stay with it and you'll get there. 

Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 4 by Kamome Shirahama

adventurous 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? No

5.0

Things are ratcheting up and I am so invested.

Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 3 by Kamome Shirahama

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

This series is so cute, in spite of the darker themes that are still (for now?) lurking underneath the surface. This is partially due to attempts by the adult characters to protect our younger heroes from the depths of what's going on, though things seem to be ramping up in spite of their best attempts. 

I will say I was surprised by the new information about Tartah, and his silver wash. His experience is very analogous to the disability community, and I wasn't expecting such from this series. I really liked the way he and Coco came together in the second half of this volume, and the representation of his emotions at finding a tool to make the world more accessible.

Readings for Sociology by Garth Massey
Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.

So, this book is quite literally not designed to be read cover to cover.  Its 51 chapters are largely excerpts or summations of larger text that a sociology can pick from to fit an introduction to sociology class. I read probably 15 chapters between 4 of the 6 sections  in such a class back in 2014, and for that purpose, I would give the book a 4/5 stars. But in rereading my college texts to decide if I still want to keep them, this is one that will be permanently leaving my shelves. It’s just not engaging to read front to back with each chapter ranging so widely in subject matter and most of the writers are very academic so the test itself isn’t the most engaging for a casual reader. I’d recommend looking up the chapter list and instead finding the merger text or books that most interest you rather than trying to read this book outside of class. 

That said, I very much appreciated only having to buy one book in my intro to sociology class and the lengths of the chapters mean that they do do an excellent job of their actual function: to be read as brief introductions and conversation starters around broad sociological concepts like ethics and intercultural relations. I would recommend this book as a sociology primer so don’t knock it if it’s been assigned reading in class. 

Record of Ragnarok, Vol. 6 by Takumi Fukui, Azychika, Shinya Umemura, Shinya Umemura

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.75

This series continues to be exactly as the label advertises. Big stupid fun. The character interactions of the audience are great and the backstories are off the wall and the drawings are great. That’s it. The end. 

Hellblazer, Vol. 1: Original Sins by Jamie Delano

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm familiar with Constantine, but predominantly from his appearances in the DC Animated movie. I've always really liked him when I've seen him so I figured I'd try the comics. The art style is very much of the style of the 1980s (From what I've read), but with that little bit of visceral detail that is more common in horror comics in this vein. It's also a wordier panel than I'm used to from comics, and I'm not sure if that's the nature of this story or something from the time that's showing through. It works really well for the story Hellraiser is telling, but also makes for a slower read than most comics, so keep that in mind if you're trying to get through the whole thing in one sitting. 

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 6 by Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

Great continuation of the story. The introduction of some additional characters allows for some much-needed exposition that is very natural in the world, and gives us as readers a lot of context as to what has been going on.

Record of Ragnarok 5 by Takumi Fukui, Shinya Umemura

adventurous 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

3.5

I'm still having some trouble with the pacing issue I noted in my review of the last book, but Hercules might be my favorite character. There's just something about this version of him as a goofy brother type to Goll who wants to fight an honorable fight (Till he realizes who he's paired against).  The series as a whole is particularly irreverent with it's interpretations of traditional myths and legendary heroes, which is a big part of the charm of the series. It's not taking itself too seriously as a mythological retelling and focusing on the selling point of the big damn bombastic fight scenes. 

Record of Ragnarok, Vol. 4 by Takumi Fukui, Shinya Umemura

adventurous 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

3.5

I like the Record of Ragnarock, but the series has a major pacing problem that starts to become super apparent right around books 3-6. Wile each individual chapter is fun, the manner in which the fights are broken up across Manga Volumes leaves the story feeling disjointed. I would much rather see either a more tightly paced story that contains a fight to the number of pages in each volume, or see the manga volumes published at larger page counts so that each volume comprises one fight and the immediate aftermath (+the inevitable hype for the story that comes next). As they are now, fights sort of awkwardly straddle 2 volumes and it feels a bit disjointed getting dropped into a fight that builds builds builds and then having this extra chapter sort of tacked on the back because the story just has to keep going.