third_bookworm's reviews
99 reviews

Menewood by Nicola Griffith

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

It's very long, and felt like a bit of a slog at some points. But quite good overall.

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

There's a review on the back of the hardcover copy of this book saying something like "Too Like the Lightning will stay in your head for a long time." and man. It sure will.
This book tries to do a lot, and I'm not sure it fully delivers on a lot of it. Super interesting concepts are introduced, but I think it will depend on the rest of the series whether this are really followed through on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Hild by Nicola Griffith

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This was very good. A+ fictional sibling relationship between Hild and Hereswith.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and War

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Very effective! Also just absolutely wild.

Exordia by Seth Dickinson

dark reflective tense medium-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

5.0

Truly loved this book. Deeply bizarre, quite upsetting at points. I love and respect Seth Dickinson's ability to introduce a horrible possibility that all the characters work to try to avoid, and then to investigate what happens if that comes true. Deeply compelling relationships between characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Rape, and Death of parent

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

Very excited to read the next one when it comes out.

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This was so good... Absolutely adored the main character. Not nearly as large-scale as The Goblin Emperor, but a really lovely book with really well-developed characters. Not super plot-driven, very much about the characters and their relationships.

For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History by Sarah Rose

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

This was fine... My main complaint was that only the British perspective on this was ever shown, though I admit this is may be due to limited primary sources, and it seemed like the author was including some really virulent racism from the primary sources with minimal commentary/criticism or contradicting points of view. The Chinese intermediaries and servants that Fortune hired were a substantial, influential part of the story, but they were never portrayed sympathetically.

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

Very very good conclusion to this duology. I loved the greater number of perspectives that we got to see in this book compared to the first; it was fun to see into everyone's heads. Also loved that

Ma got to be foregrounded for the end.

My one complaint was that one of the character arcs was not resolved as satisfyingly as it could have been;

as much as Ouyang's ending made sense for him, it really seemed for a bit in the middle like he was going to find a way to live past his revenge. I think it would have been more consistent with the ending tone of forgiveness + letting people grow past things if he had been able to overcome his suicidal revenge ideation... But I also don't know how that could have worked in the plot. Still, I am sad for him as a character.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

What a gorgeous book.
I am very amused that Dorian is named after Dorian DragonAge and not Dorian Gray.