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writingmidnight96's Reviews (53)
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent
Child abuse is a 1-pannel slap, child and parent deaths are implied and happens off screen after a military action.
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
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.
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:
Complicated
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.
On the other hand,
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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
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
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.
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am loving this one so far. The characters are great and I adore the development that we're starting to see from most of the principal cast. This particular volume has one scene where one of the key conversations lost me a bit. It's an important conversation that lets us into some of the main character's mental state and sets up a good chunk of the conflict for the volume (and I suspect moving forward), but as it comes off from a conversation with similar themes it feels like it just goes on a bit too long, and I feel like that has more to do with the dialogue. This author has so far done a great job keeping me engaged, but this one just felt a tad repetitive and it took a bit of the bite out.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really liked this book. The very rapid but extremely easy to follow evolution of the two main characters and their relationship to each other is truly the driving force of the story, and it is brilliantly executed.
In the first part of the book I couldn't shake the feeling that there were references being made that I wasn't catching, and I never quite figured out if these were references to our modern day or if the characters were self-referencing things that don't exist in the real world and that was just a little disruptive to my personal reading experience for about the first fourth of the book.
However as the plot ramps up that little niggling that I was missing something clever started to fall away and the first 1/4 of the book is really only about 50 pages so all and all it wasn't a barrier to actually getting into the plot once it had started taking off.
In the first part of the book I couldn't shake the feeling that there were references being made that I wasn't catching, and I never quite figured out if these were references to our modern day or if the characters were self-referencing things that don't exist in the real world and that was just a little disruptive to my personal reading experience for about the first fourth of the book.
However as the plot ramps up that little niggling that I was missing something clever started to fall away and the first 1/4 of the book is really only about 50 pages so all and all it wasn't a barrier to actually getting into the plot once it had started taking off.
challenging
lighthearted
slow-paced
Okay, It took me a year and a half, but I have finished the book cover to cover. I love Art Nouveau, and picked this up thinking it would be a relatively quick read with a broad overview of the movement that a flip through showed included a lot of very high-quality photographs of the artworks being discussed.
Clearly, I was wrong about the pace, because while the photos are numerous and large the text is dense and tiny. It is a very in-depth overview of Art Nouveau. It is an excellent resource that is well organized. The writing style of the main text is not dry, but it is very straight to the point, intermixed with quotes contemporary to the movement that add quite a bit of color to the individual sections.
I'd highly recommend this book either as reference or as a cover-to-cover read if you're very interested in Art Nouveau, It is also a lovely page though if you read art historical texts more for the images than the text. I would not recommend sitting down to read the whole thing at once, I basically worked through it 1-2 chapters a month some months with some months taken off when I didn't have the time or the brain space for something this dense. But it is an Excellent history of the movement.
Clearly, I was wrong about the pace, because while the photos are numerous and large the text is dense and tiny. It is a very in-depth overview of Art Nouveau. It is an excellent resource that is well organized. The writing style of the main text is not dry, but it is very straight to the point, intermixed with quotes contemporary to the movement that add quite a bit of color to the individual sections.
I'd highly recommend this book either as reference or as a cover-to-cover read if you're very interested in Art Nouveau, It is also a lovely page though if you read art historical texts more for the images than the text. I would not recommend sitting down to read the whole thing at once, I basically worked through it 1-2 chapters a month some months with some months taken off when I didn't have the time or the brain space for something this dense. But it is an Excellent history of the movement.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I picked this up on a book swap recommendation where the prompt for the book swap was "A Genre I didn't read much of last year". I gave a historical Fiction and received Horror/Thriller in return and I absolutely loved it. As the person who recommended it stated "this book is bonkers." The plot is very entertaining though not exactly Fun, and the main character's simultaneous descent into madness/ascent into her own agency makes her fascinating and highly sympathetic. Though, I weirdly kind of loved most of the characters in the book?