aruarian_melody's reviews
455 reviews

You Are Here by David Nicholls
Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%.

Picked this up because I remember liking One Day way back in the day. Only made it 50 pages in until the awkward dialogue was too hard to handle. In general I liked the introspective beginning but didn't love the interactions. I was hoping this would be one of those rare exceptions in genres I don't typically enjoy, but this just isn't for me. 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

I really liked this book at first but lost interest as the story progressed and became more plot-heavy. What I enjoyed most were the flashbacks with the depiction of a hive mind. However, those elements vanished around two thirds in and only played a role in every second chapter until then. I would absolutely read something else by the author that is focused (with it being the main POV) on the hive mind and questions around individuality of segments connected to it. As far as I can tell, this series isn't going in that direction, so I'm going to quit it here. 

Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare Vol. 2 by Yuhki Kamatani

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Had its good moments but I'm just not connecting emotionally. It feels like it is trying to cover too many things too fast/with too little depth. 

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.

Probably good as a historic reference book but not the kind of autobiography I enjoy. I thought it is a very distant writing style with many details that don't seem to impact the overall story. Contains a lot of name dropping (which I assume is meant to give credit to other important people - which is very considerate - but doesn't help with the flow of the story at all). I think this could have benefited from tight editing and some footnotes for (optional) details and explanations. 

Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare Vol. 1 by Yuhki Kamatani

emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Important topic (especially in Japan) and gorgeous art, but some things/interactions felt a bit weird to me. Still, I'm intrigued and will continue the series. I imagine that publishing this in Japan must have been difficult and I applaud the author for their courage. 

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.

Picked this up because it came up when I looked for character driven stories similar to Robin Hobbs work. Unfortunately, this one didn't work for me. Loved the first few chapters and th general setup but when the story really started I felt very distanced from it and its characters. I also wasn't a fan of the 35 year old protagonist lusting after his 16 and 19 year old charges. In the end I decided to dnf around a third into the book because I just didn't feel like picking it up anymore.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious slow-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

4.75

I really enjoyed this one and especially loved the main character, Maia. It was very interesting to see him deal with suddenly becoming an unwanted emperor and I loved seeing the different relationships he developed. This was a surprisingly cosy read, given the court intrigue and murder plots. The only thing keeping me from giving this 5 stars is the world building. It was fine in general, but the huge cast had very similar names and often additional titles, but few characteristics to keep them apart (at least for anyone outside of the core group of 10-15 people). Combined with all the other titles and terms, which also were hard to distinguish, I just gave up on trying to keep up with the court intrigue part. I don't normally have problems with following stuff like this in complex fantasy settings, but the names/terms were too similar and too surface level to sink in within one single novel. Still, I really loved Maia and the more immediate group surrounding him and had a great time with this. 

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Did not finish book. Stopped at 46%.

Very cool concept but the book just didn't manage to pull me in. I'm nearly 50% in and I just don't feel like picking it up again. DNFing to move on to other books. 

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.

Couldn't get into it. I think it's jus too bleak for my current mood. 

Quallen altern rückwärts: Was wir von der Natur über ein langes Leben lernen können by Nicklas Brendborg

funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

Picked this up by chance and had a good time with it. Interesting and entertaining, this book found a great balance of details and the big picture. While I personally don't care much for finding ways to live longer, the book contained many interesting things about how the human body works in general. I have a background in science but very little knowledge about biology, so this was a cool excursion. At times I felt like some nuance was missing, but overall the author did a great job.