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wynonnar's reviews
233 reviews
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey
3.0
The story is fine. However the writing just doesn't encapsulate me. It doesn't keep me wanting to read. It feels like the ending of this series is just people realizing that love can break these aliens taking over the world and that's just not enough for me.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
5.0
I find this book so fast paced. The emotional roller coaster even until the very end was just so jarring. I love the characters and their quick but concise progression in this novel. I can't wait to read more.
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
5.0
I really enjoyed this novel. The writing style is clear and concise. Characters that grow so much in 210 pages really speaks to the author's talent. I plan to read more from Nic Stone.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
3.0
This was my second time reading this book. I'm giving it 3 stars because while the writing was fantastic and I enjoyed the characters. The storyline even beyond the fairy tale retelling was predictable. I felt as though as soon as you started to hear about these side plots that were happening with the android and the information off of the android that I knew what the big twist ending would be.
I find Dr. Erland to be a very interesting character and I'm hoping more can be expanded on him in the future novels. While predictable I'm still curious to see how this series plays out. I do think this book could just be the very start to the twists and turns in the next novels and for that reason, I plan to continue these books. They've had such rave reviews by the book community, so I'd at least like to try out the next novel.
I find Dr. Erland to be a very interesting character and I'm hoping more can be expanded on him in the future novels. While predictable I'm still curious to see how this series plays out. I do think this book could just be the very start to the twists and turns in the next novels and for that reason, I plan to continue these books. They've had such rave reviews by the book community, so I'd at least like to try out the next novel.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
4.0
I really enjoyed this novel. I enjoyed Percy as a character. I felt that the novel was fairly fast paced and didn't have a lot of downtime, which I find to be very well suited for a middle-grade novel. I especially enjoyed the supporting cast, Grover and Annabeth were strong characters with their own quirks. I find most interesting how well researched a novel this is, I enjoy a fiction novel especially for children to have some learning aspects of it beyond vocabulary and reading comprehension.
The descriptions of these fantastical places, Olympus and the underworld to be very well described. The throne room, even the dreams that Percy was having felt very well described.
One thing I would have enjoyed more of, that I'm sure the other novels might touch on, is more Greek mythology. I want to know what Percy learns staying at Camp Half-Blood and learning about his father and the history of the Gods. I definitely plan to move forward with this series although it is a massive series. I think this journey with these friends, family, and enemies will become quite interesting.
The descriptions of these fantastical places, Olympus and the underworld to be very well described. The throne room, even the dreams that Percy was having felt very well described.
One thing I would have enjoyed more of, that I'm sure the other novels might touch on, is more Greek mythology. I want to know what Percy learns staying at Camp Half-Blood and learning about his father and the history of the Gods. I definitely plan to move forward with this series although it is a massive series. I think this journey with these friends, family, and enemies will become quite interesting.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
5.0
Angie Thomas writing style is what really carried this book into a 5-star rating. I loved the characters and their growth throughout the novel. While Star had always dealt with the problems in her neighborhood, a separate layer to this novel is added when she has privileged friends and a significant other that couldn't possibly understand her struggle when they go to a prep school and live in safe neighborhoods.
The family dynamics explained a lot about how black families raise their kids vastly different from white families. Another aspect of the family storyline that showed another layer is that sometimes people in bad situations do things someone from another background might feel is stupid or unwarranted. A good example of this was when Star's dad took a plea for a gangbanger because he knew that it would get him out of the gang eventually being able to provide a better life for his family. I don't know a lot of privileged families that can say they would do the same because they will never have to face that issue.
There are a lot of layers to this novel and the characters within it. But it showed how white people are so quick to turn a blind eye to a problem they have never had to face, especially with how Hailey reacted to the stories online and in the media about Khalil, she just assumed that because he was a drug dealer that he was automatically a bad person that deserved what happened to him.
It shows that you need to look deeper into an issue before you assume that the person you view as bad is bad. I don't think it will ever be easy to completely understand the struggle that black people face and they don't have to explain themselves to anyone but I like how books like "The Hate U Give" and "Dear Martin" are taking on these subjects in a way that will show young people of a new generation how black people view the world.
The family dynamics explained a lot about how black families raise their kids vastly different from white families. Another aspect of the family storyline that showed another layer is that sometimes people in bad situations do things someone from another background might feel is stupid or unwarranted. A good example of this was when Star's dad took a plea for a gangbanger because he knew that it would get him out of the gang eventually being able to provide a better life for his family. I don't know a lot of privileged families that can say they would do the same because they will never have to face that issue.
There are a lot of layers to this novel and the characters within it. But it showed how white people are so quick to turn a blind eye to a problem they have never had to face, especially with how Hailey reacted to the stories online and in the media about Khalil, she just assumed that because he was a drug dealer that he was automatically a bad person that deserved what happened to him.
It shows that you need to look deeper into an issue before you assume that the person you view as bad is bad. I don't think it will ever be easy to completely understand the struggle that black people face and they don't have to explain themselves to anyone but I like how books like "The Hate U Give" and "Dear Martin" are taking on these subjects in a way that will show young people of a new generation how black people view the world.
Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer
3.0
While I enjoyed this book it wasn't what I was expecting. I think the characters were given the presidents' names just for the sake of having the presidents' names. It seemed as though these characters were kind of written as what a meme would envision President Obama and Biden would be like outside of the oval office. The story was interesting although I guess I was hoping for a more comedic effect, which is no fault to the author that's just the impression I got from the synopsis.