cdonegan's reviews
125 reviews

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett

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

3.0

As with the first book, I have mixed feelings. I think Robert Jackson Bennett does really well with lore, setting, things like that, but the characters are fairly weak and the writing style isn’t my favorite. The story in this one felt a lot less urgent, like the characters are just waiting for things to happen, despite how serious the threat actually was.

I don’t really feel much of a connection to the characters, and I don’t really understand their motivations — like, was Orso always this radical? Where did these political beliefs come from??? Not that I’m complaining, I agree with what he says, but I don’t remember him being like this in the first book at all.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

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

4.0

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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

5.0

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All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-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

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-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

5.0

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

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

5.0

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.0

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

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emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

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

4.0

Great book, one of the most iconic of the genre, but I think perhaps I didn’t fully understand the meaning behind it… like I don’t understand what the whole deal with Mercerism was and what it meant. Time to go read someone else’s analysis of the book so maybe it’ll make more sense to me