writingmidnight96's reviews
47 reviews

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I read the Golden Compass and the Subtle Knife as a kid, maybe in 4th or 5th grade. I had remembered a lot of the Golden Compass on my reread, and I had remembered odd specific details in the Subtle Knife, but rereading has been super satisfying. Watching Will and Lyra figure out how to work together and searching for their own goals without understanding exactly how everything is entwined is super satisfying. 

I never got to The Amber Spyglass as a kid, but I'm very eager to see how their adventures continue in the next book. 
Spy x Family, Vol. 12 by Tatsuya Endo

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

5.0

Wonderful as always. I can’t wait to see what the next book brings
A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan

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adventurous dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh my god, poor Mat. He’s my favorite character and I hate Tylin and I want her to suffer some kind of unspeakable fate in the next book for what she did to him.
of course the rest of the book was great and we finally get to see some loose threads from earlier books tying up which will be great. 
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Spy x Family, Vol. 11 by Tatsuya Endo

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

5.0

I love this series. I do have the sense that things are getting slowly darker, slowly more serious as time is continuing to move on. Still light hearted, but I am so looking forward to seeing the cast engage with slowly but steadily higher stakes as we continue. 
Spy x Family, Vol. 10 by Tatsuya Endo

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adventurous emotional lighthearted sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Ah, Sad backstory unlocked!
Poor Loyd, like we all knew he had an awful childhood, and we knew from the cover that we were getting into some history, but I don't know if I was expecting my comedy to go that explicit with it.
I adored it though. I do appreciate the care given here to show the effects of war and how it shapes people though. 
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Spy x Family, Vol. 9 by Tatsuya Endo

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

5.0

It's been a while since I had the chance to catch up on Spy Family, and I've got the next three lined up to go through, which I am super happy about. I love this series. At its heart it's a comedy so it never gets too serious, but god can the author hold dramatic tension well. I love all these dumb characters so much. 
Blue Flag, Vol. 8 by Kaito

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

4.25

So, I find myself a little torn at the end of this series. On the one hand, I did love the journey, and the portrayal of our main characters and their classmates as they navigate the complicated emotions of the drama going on around them feels very genuine and very real. Both the good and the bad of the class interactions feels true to age in this last book especially. I understand that part of the point of this book is partially to convey a romance where characters actually make attempts to talk through their emotions and find ways to articulate the sticky feelings that people normally ignore in this type of story. That hesitation is usually what leads to the endless will-they, won't they (When dear god will they) cycle that is stereotypical to this genre. So, on the one end, I really appreciate the character interactions here.

On the other hand,
Why, for the love of god, can't I see Toma and Taichi be cute on screen together? Yes, technically they are together in the last chapter, but that POV sneak around made me feel a bit cheated.
It feels like the thing that bothers me - characters not being allowed to kiss until the last chapter - being achieved through different means. For a romance novel there is a stark lack of couple behavior in all four corners of the love pennant square.

I was also super torn about Masumi being married to a man at the end. I'm not normally someone who is bothered by characters shifting sexuality or ending in heteronormative relationships if they are bi, but Masumi's dialogue - throughout the series, but in the earlier chapters especially - seemed to imply that she felt no attraction to men, and I had sort of assumed that we were working with four different sectors of the sexuality spectrum and how that affects the way characters interact with each other, (Gay - Toma, Bi - Taichi, Straight - Kuze, Lesbian - Masumi). It's not the end of the world or anything that she wound up with a man in this series, but man it did bug me just a bit that Masumi didn't get a lady at the end.


That said, I like the honesty that for the most part the characters grow up and stay important to each other but less close. I think it's kind of honest that the only two who end up together weren't the two in the high school relationship.
The ending feels really honest, and while I wish we'd had more time to see the relationships shown in the last chapters reach their final forms, I'm not disappointed with the outcomes of any of them. 


Blue Flag, Vol. 7 by Kaito

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

5.0

Blue Flag, Vol. 5 by Kaito

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Someone got together before the last two chapters!
Oh my god I was so Excited. I love all the characters. The artist is so good at conveying all of their emotions in the squish and stretch of their facial expressions. Additionally,
the sudden character development from Mami, while unexpected, was very welcome and fits really well with the rest of the themes of the books.
Overall I'm just really excited to see how we proceed.
Blue Flag, Vol. 4 by Kaito

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So I believe this series is complete with the 8 Volumes that are out. we're at the halfway mark and I'm very hopeful about where the next one will pickup.
It looks like we've got a first couple of some kind about to form - I swear to god if someone doesn't get together soon I'm gonna scream because this'll be veering hard into no kisses till the last 2 chapters territory.