destdest's reviews
2560 reviews

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 10 by Kanehito Yamada

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Still, deeply intrigued with this series. Macht's history is fun.

The demons are still overpowered, but there's always a unique exploitable gap if the person's clever enough.

Barda by Ngozi Ukazu

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.5

Great narrative voice but the romance/connection between Scott and Barda was shallow. Maybe he personified freedom to her, which would explain the attraction. Overall, I still enjoyed the story and thought the author worked well with what they had.

Bunnybirds #1 by Natalie Linn

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

3.5

A Condition Called Love, Volume 1 by Megumi Morino

fast-paced

3.5

 This has my interest so far. A rare look of a male pick-me or diet-yandere for the anime girlies.

I really like how cute and earnest Hotaru is. Hanoi has obvious issues, so we will see how that unfolds. 

Safer Places by Kit Anderson

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

Weeds is my favorite, weird and poignant with many ways to interpret it. I also liked The Biggest Ball of Twine for being emotional with minimum words. 

The Wizard one was okay; spectators thinking him weird or projecting these huge adventures for him when he just simply lived a mundane life. 

Hellaween: Spellbent by Moss Lawton

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Ayee, the sequel’s just as creepy good as the first. No drop in quality! The character designs are so sleek.

I love Hiro and Bea so much! And the fact that they all become friends in the end. This is a perfect ending, but I’d read more in this series.

Time to Party by Molly Knox Ostertag

fast-paced

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

3.0

Cute! I feel like there were a lot of subplots to the point where Olivia had less focus on her own story

The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko

inspiring lighthearted medium-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? It's complicated

2.5

 I feel like Ifueko has a large cast of characters that mainly remain shallow. I loved her Raybearer duology, but it had the same problem here. 

And there wasn’t enough interaction with Sade and Crocodile. Their connection was insta-lovey, but I didn’t dislike them. Crocodile was in-story super fine and progressive, and Sade was resilient but kept her head down. The romance was lacking. But the magical cleaning was fun.

Overall, this had an interesting unique take on activism and class issues— activism will not look the same for everyone. Some will do it from positions of power as politicians, others in grassroots efforts, and some by raising awareness. 

Schnozzer & Tatertoes: Take a Hike! by Rick Stromoski

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.0

 feel badly rating this so lowly for a book I'm not in the audience for, but Tatertoes's dumbness was grating 

Haru: Book 1: Spring by Joe Latham

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

"This is the curse of the living: learning to continue without those we love."

This is the beginning of Haru and Yama's journey to get rid of a cursed item. I liked some of the fantastical elements. There's a whole sequence that gives me major Spirited Away vibes. 

I didn't understand why the other birdies picked on Haru for being so different. Kids don't need a reason to be mean. But I think it's because they're blue? But with the muddy palette, you can't really tell the other birds aren't either. For some reason, Yama is a pig in a class of birds too.

Haru's parentage seems to play an interesting part.

i'd so love a subversion with Goose being the chosen one and not Haru.

Yama reminds me of those infamous stories of people throwing out ouija boards and them appearing back. I told Yama telepathically to leave that mess alone, but she didn't listen to me lol.

I don't know if I like this story or not, but I'd read book 2 at least. This is a laying the foundation part of the story.