cdonegan's reviews
125 reviews

Driftwood by Marie Brennan

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Didn’t realize this was middle grade when I bought it. Very fast read, managed to start and finish it on my ~1.5 hour flight lol

Enjoyed it for what it was but it’s definitely meant for a younger audience! I will add this to my list of evidence though that kids can handle darker/more mature content than people realize. I mean I grew up reading Warriors for god’s sake
The Maker of Swans by Paraic O'Donnell

Go to review page

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Confusing. I still have lots of unanswered questions about things in this book but maybe I just missed things
The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really excited to replay Wicked Eyes & Wicked Hearts with all this background now. Oddly enough I like Gaspard a lot more now even though I know he’s a dick in the game. And honestly in this book as well. Also I don’t hate Celene as much as I thought I would? Everyone’s so conniving, they all deserve each other.
The Lark and the Wren by Mercedes Lackey

Go to review page

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-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? No

3.0

If I had a nickel for every book I really liked otherwise that then sprang a student-teacher relationship on me, I’d have two nickels… not exactly a student-teacher relationship, but a similar dynamic at first and a big age gap. Bleh. Didn’t like that.

Also, I know it wasn’t really seen as a slur in the 90s (at least it wasn’t common knowledge), but the gratuitous use of the g-slur for Romani people was a bit uncomfortable. I did like how it was quite sex worker positive overall, and very critical of corruption in the church.

It was very funny to me the couple of times that Rune would get frustrated that she couldn’t just evade taxes, and someone had to explain how government worked to her. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Tevinter Nights by Christopher Morgan, Matthew Goldman, Chris Bain, Patrick Weekes

Go to review page

4.5

Last Flight by Liane Merciel

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

If this were a standalone book I’d maybe rate it slightly lower, but I really like how it fits into the world of Dragon Age. Easily my favorite of the DA novels! Isseya’s story is so tragic — she had to sacrifice so much of herself to end the blight, and I wanted things to be different for her the whole way through but I always knew her story had to end in tragedy. And yet she managed to keep some hope for future generations at the very end… the only DA book to make me tear up!

Edit: my biggest complaint about Veilguard is what they did to Isseya :’) the character assassination of it all… why they made that choice is beyond me
Dragon Age: The First Five Graphic Novels by Alexander Freed, David Gaider, Greg Rucka

Go to review page

adventurous fast-paced

3.0

Honestly don’t love any of the Dragon Age comics. I feel like very little actually happens in them, and some of the character choices feel odd. At least the art looks nice
The Calling by David Gaider

Go to review page

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

3.5

Duncan my BELOVED. Can't believe Maric cured Fiona with his magic dick. Crazy
Asunder by David Gaider

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Absolutely loved Cole's part of the story. I wanted to like Rhys so bad, but it was a kinda bizarre choice to have his ending essentially be... him becoming a centrist in an act of rebellion? Lmao okay