columnclub's reviews
498 reviews

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

4.5 ish, rounded down. A few times I thought this was going to lose me, but it always pulled it back. Such a rich and interesting novel! I loved what it had to say on self pity as a source of harm, and I absolutely adored Jane as a protagonist.

10/10 would let her imperfectly reconstruct me.

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

The Agency for Scandal by Laura Wood

fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 51%.

 DNF at page 193. Skimmed the end out of curiosity; was glad I DNFed. 

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Labyrinth's Heart by M.A. Carrick

medium-paced

4.0

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

4.5

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

emotional hopeful

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Maybe this is a subjective rather than an objective five-star rating, but who cares? In the first 100 pages I occasionally thought, "oh, this writing style's a little pretentious sometimes". Then I got so emotionally invested and so thoroughly on board with everything Gabrielle Zevin does in this book that even the choice of words like "ersatz" became endearing. This book joins the rare club of books that made me cry, sitting up there with my beloved Anne of Green Gables, and I'm looking forward to eventually rereading it.

Rule by Rowenna Miller

emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

3.25

I definitely enjoyed this one more than Harrow, and a lot of that was down to Camilla and Palamedes (my beloved). While I didn't fall completely in love with Nona the way I was told I would, the central mystery behind her identity is genuinely interesting and comes to a satisfying conclusion. The same frustrating habits keep cropping up, though – of hiding everything from the reader unless our protagonist can eavesdrop something about it, and dropping an out-of-place meme reference at the worst possible moment. I was too often frustrated to rate this one higher.