clovetra's reviews
204 reviews

The Apothecary Diaries, Volume 1 by Nekokurage, Itsuki Nanao, Natsu Hyuuga

funny mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

2.0

not that interesting so far, but hoping it gets better as the series goes !
only thing i care about at this point is maomao 🤞🤞

Content Warnings

Hopeless Kingdom by Kgshak Akec

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challenging emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

fellow melburnian book!!!!!! i really loved that this book is written not only by a fellow young person, but a young melburnian!!!!! shout out to kgshak akec 🔥🔥 also shout out my library for having a copy of this 💪💪

i really enjoyed the characters, they were truly at the heart of this book. santo was probably the most compelling character, as he had layers to his character, and went through the most change. i do think this book started strong when the family were in egypt, but once they came to australia, they lost all their spark. this is probably best seen in both akita and taresai, both with different issues. taresai became quite one dimensional, repeating the same phrases and sentiments, and not really saying anything new. akita’s character did grow, but it felt like her dialogue was incredibly juvenile the entire time, even by the end of the story.

i also think the pacing of the story was slightly off. akita starts the story as a toddler and ends in her early 20s, but with 346 pages, it feels like we breeze past a lot too fast. i think her childhood in egypt was paced well, but once in australia, everything flew too fast without further exploration. it became a book of telling, not showing. the rest of the siblings almost had no personality whatsoever, occasionally having some dialogue but even then it was very generic.

there really was no story or plot like here. i think that’s really the fatal flaw with this. before the deng’s arrived in australia, the plot was following them in egypt, with ashanti in the hospital and struggling to get by. the minute we arrive in australia its almost like the plot dissolves because there is nothing there tension-wise. with the constant time skips, there really IS no tension, and instead i feel like im reading a not very interesting memoir.

that sounds so shady oh my fucking god.

i feel at times there was a lot of context missing too. it felt like the book almost touched on issues facing immigrants on a surface level, where it went nowhere. i wanted to truly dig deeper and explore more, but it felt like there were only the beginnings of conversations, not anything more than that.

i feel so bad writing a negative review for smaller authors. i really wanted to love this seeing as it’s set somewhere i know. like the mention of melbourne uni i was like “Oh!!!!! 👆 I know that place!!!!” or even like the beach i was like “I’ve been there!!!!!!”. so i really really tried to adore this. i do feel this is a story needing to be told, and a story that truly did open my eyes to things i didn’t even consider regarding immigrant familiy dynamics that are different to mine. but sadly i don’t think this book exactly pulled it off.

i want to rip my eyes out i feel so bad writing this

Content Warnings

Krampus: The Yule Lord by Brom

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.0

oh how i wanted to love this. BROM HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME.

tldr; this reads like a worse version of slewfoot (even though this came out before slewfoot SHUT UP I READ THAT FIRST)

now here’s the long story: i really didn’t like much about this book. let me go over what i did like. which is mainly isabelle. simply because she is pookie pie. she is the love of my life and she could get it. also i am a sucker for “eternal being being mesmerised by things we find boring in the modern day” trope. krampus is a himbo at times i said what i said.

there were also a few scenes i really adored. namely the moment in the general’s hideout. you know the one. also the little moment with krampus at the bar???? did not expect that in this book but wow was i happy to read about it. i loved those two scenes A LOT.

ummmm and that’s about all i can say i really loved about this book. so let’s go over what i didn’t love 😟

jesse. what an asshat. yes i recognise the story is very likely supposed to give him a strong redemption arc where he goes from an unlikeable protagonist to someone the reader roots for. but i did not give a flying fart about what happened to him. honestly there were many times i kinda wished he died. and so many situations jesse got out of seemed incredibly unrealistic. like it just threw me out of it all. idk it feels like his redemption arc… didn’t exist? where was his being a good guy? oh wow he helped krampus? therefore he is redeemed? nah im gonna need more than that actually.

krampus felt very much like samson from slewfoot. almost too similar for me to not keep referring back to samson and thinking “oh he was written so much better”. like at least samson’s motives made sense there. why the fuck is krampus doing anything beyond his own goals. actually scratch that, he isn’t doing shit, which brings me to another issue — it felt like most of this book was filler. nothing ever fucking happened. and if something massive was built up, it either was incredibly disappointing in reality, or instantly reversed by the necessity of the plot, making what i had just read pointless. like yes we’re doing this massive showdown where we’re supposed to be worried for krampus….. but also he’s fucking immortal. so why do i care if he gets hurt when you’ve sent up he kind of can’t die. 70% of this book is krampus bitching, 20% is jesse bitching, and the remaining 10% is where anything actually interesting happens. the plot is literally this: krampus and gang go to a location. they encounter shenanigans. they rest up. jesse winges about dillard. krampus and gang go to another location. wash rinse repeat. and krampus’ motivations beyond “spreading cheer” and “killing santa” don’t exist, meaning you have no idea why the fuck he’s just pissfarting around for most of the story.

can you tell i didn’t like the plot?

so much of this book is just slewfoot but written by someone who has never written a book ever in their life and has also never been taught fundamentals in literature. because why do both books feature a human who is first an unbeliever and is hard on their luck when x supernatural creature appears and decides to help the main character get revenge on all those who have wronged MC,

then supernatural creature turns MC into one of them, murder murder, lots of lore dumps about their origins in folklore

hell, even the way krampus & samson’s dialogue appear are so earily similar i wouldn’t have been surprised if a twist was that they were straight up the same guy.

i am so thoroughly disappointed and annoyed. disappointed because i know brom can do better, as evidenced by my love for slewfoot, and annoyed because i wasted so much time on a book that could’ve been like…. 100 pages shorter.

i’m actually pissed what the fuck was that.

Content Warnings

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

i have never in my life read a book where the story spans the perspectives of more than three generations. to follow seven generations, fourteen individuals, each with their own story, was mesmerising. gyasi has such a way with words, and i was enamoured.

the amount of history intertwined with stories that are fictional in nature but very likely true in facts was amazing to witness. i only know bits and pieces about history — a fact there, a war here, an eventful date occasionally. so i really enjoyed this insight into a world ive never traversed.

honestly i was on the fence hearing about this synopsis. honestly, i usually am not a fan of stories about families. i find them to be offensive contrived and generic. but this? this needs to be hung up in a museum. holy shit. i really felt like i was there. i felt like i was with H in the mines. i felt like i was there with marjorie in the water. i was able to see the scenes laid before me so vividly at times i forgot i was reading. like ofc i know im reading im using my eyeballs but like i was that immersed in the story nothing around me mattered.

the only thing holding this book back for me is, funnily enough, the format. did i absolutely adore following this family through seven generations? yes! did i also feel like almost nothing i was reading truly mattered because the next generation had to come, meaning the chapter i was reading would always have the same resolution - a child. yes hardships would occur and the events that occurred were very different between chapters. but for me i felt like the stakes were quite low even when the book was trying to tell me they weren’t, and it was hard for me to be concerned for the characters. i still felt anguish, joy, anger, etc., but i was never truly worried for the characters, as i knew they had to persevere until they had a child so the next chapter could continue and on and on.

ya gyasi is, dare i say it, one of the best writers of this generation. go and read this god damn book.

Content Warnings

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

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adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

wow does atwood come back with a BANG. holy shit.

this book was like straight up crack to me. i couldn’t get enough. if i didn’t have a test to study for, i easily could’ve finished this in a day or two.

the shining star of this book is EASILY aunt lydia. she is by far the most fascinating character in this story. i’ve never watched past the show’s first season other than a few tiktok clips hear & there, but wow is she intriguing. i love to hate her, as it were. she is so complex and so full of character, and her chapters following the inception of gilead were by far the most gripping.

the other two protagonists…Meh. i’ll say by far daisy was my least favourite. she seemed bland and generic. agnes felt like this at times as well, making their chapters seem incredibly juvenile. which duh yeah they’re children that’s the point. but also with atwood, i expect the cream of the crop. and having aunt lydia, the perfect picture of why atwood is so good, next to agnes and daisy? it was a bit.. disheartening. i enjoyed agnes’ chapters a bit more simply because she had eventful plot points going on around her, but even though daisy’s plot did have some significant events, they felt boring and shoe-horned in for me. idk i also found daisy quite unlikeable so maybe i just wanted to dislike her 🤷 idk sue me.

the plot was great! like i said at times this book felt a bit juvenile, especially those last 20 chapters, but overall i was gripped and dying to know what was going on.

i really had fun with this book. for me, the only thing holding it back is that it feels a bit too unrealistic at times. gilead is hinged on possibilities that seem so fantastical to us in the real world but also could realistically happen to society, yet with plot points surrounding the connection between gilead & the rest of the world it felt flat, and took me out of the story. not to mention the entire climax felt almost like a waste of time? idk i wish there was an additional epilogue. i do like the current epilogue as is, but i don’t think it was strong enough to exist on its own without a final chapter fully concluding the story. but hey that’s just me.

all that is to say, margaret atwood i am telepathically kissing you for creating one of the best, most fleshed-out and realistic dystopian worlds. queen shit.

Content Warnings

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks

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challenging informative slow-paced

2.0

this is my first sacks’ read and honestly i’m a bit let down. now this might be because i study psychology at uni but my god was this a drag at times.

for one, it reads like a textbook. the amount of times i wanted to cry because he mentioned the basal ganglia is higher than id like to admit. psychology is a special interest of mine but my god did i want to dnf this so many times simply because it felt like homework.

also, i sadly think sacks’ writing style isn’t my cup of tea. at times he overexplains something quite simple, with pages and pages of quotes essentially saying the same thing. it felt like groundhog day at times where i’d just keep reading the same thing but reworded slightly. i do enjoy case studies, but at some points specific cases dragged on. less is more sometimes sacks.

i’ll be honest and say i did cry reading this though, simply because of clive’s story. fuck that one hit me hard.

sadly though, me crying because one story resonated with me does not save this book in my mind. honestly i feel like i used less brain power writing an essay on the complex cognitive changes on OCD. like i’m so serious id pick this up and immediately get a headache.

i might try another novel of sacks, but my god was this a SLOG for me. i’d defo rec it to someone with a love of music and/or psychology, but this was not a fun experience for me LMAO

Content Warnings

Maeve Fly by CJ Leede

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dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

to think i put off reading this so many times, and wasn’t going to read it at all. thank you universe for having me read this because my GOD was this stellar.

i cannot describe just how much of a good time i had with this.

the ambiguous references to disney????? SOLD. especially in that final scene with liz, i literally burst out laughing oh my god
the bus scene too??? holy shit??!?
the gore in this book in general!!!! oh my god was it spectacular. i think this is my favourite book in terms of how the gore was written because my god. it teeters the line between unrealistic and entertaining so well
maeve herself. insane. witty. somehow relatable. i love her.
gideon too. he is amazing, i love him, i want to be him, i want to be maeve with him. Yeah.
there was no plot to this book and i didn’t care. maeve captured my attention so well i didn’t care at one point i was just following her life.
the writing. is so. good. oh my god.
the ending????? i started crying. i started crying at the ending because i loved this book so much holy shit

if you love horror, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ THIS. i don’t even think i have the words to describe why i adored this so much oh my GODDDDDDDD.

anyways, ill never be able to watch frozen with my niece again.

Content Warnings

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

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inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

this was cute!!! i had a good time reading this.

takako was a good protagonist, she was relatable enough to be likeable, yet had her own ambitions. she did feel like she lacked depth and often at times felt flat, but she was nice enough that i didn’t mind too much

satoru was…. fine? he kind of felt like he lacked any depth. and that can almost go for all the other side characters. i mean this isn’t even 200 pages so im not surprised the side characters felt boring.

the setting was honestly the highlight of this book. i mean cmon what reader wouldn’t love to live in a bookshop. part 2’s setting was also quite pleasant, and added to the dream-like feeling of this book.

the plot itself was……. Meh! i mean i liked part 1, as it felt like it had a point, delivered it well, and was structured nicely. but part 2…… i didn’t like as much. like i said the setting was enjoyable, but the actual story felt like i was reading a completely different book. the tone felt like it did a random 180 and suddenly became incredibly depressing????? it wasn’t what was advertised at all. i was promised wholesome book loving not Depression.

i don’t really have much more to say. i mean this book is barely 150 pages. obviously a short book is going to have issues to do with pacing and fleshing out its cast, but everything felt like it was missing something. plus the ending felt like it was purposefully unresolved to set up a sequel, which just left me annoyed. the ending was not satisfying. i mean i know you can only do so much when your setting is just a bookshop and the plot only surrounds that, but i would’ve preferred that! or keep part 2 but actually…. include that in the blurb!!!!!!!

i defo think ill read the sequel, if only to satiate my need to be a completionist. this was a perfectly average book. i am neither in love nor do i hate this. it was Fine

Content Warnings

Misery by Stephen King

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

holy shart. for my first stephen king book that was fucking NUTS.

i’ve read my fair share of horror, but i can say this is defo one of the best. god damn.

now i do have some teensy tiny gripes with this and tbh it holds it back from a 5-star for me.

for one, god this book drags at points. i do think the pacing overall is good, as for this story to be “believable” it needed to take place over a large span of time. but at some point the story kept repeating itself, and not only was i slightly bored at times, but i became disillusioned. this book teeters the line between horror and trauma porn quite closely, and at times i felt it was very much horror for the sake of horror you know? like at times there felt like there was a lot of filler, and the pacing was probably slower than it needed to be.

also, i have to say, paul is not a likeable protagonist, at least for me. i think he defo starts out with the goal of being unlikeable, but by the end you’re supposed to be rooting for him. but at some point i kind of wanted him to die? like just free me from the hell that is this book’s pacing my god. and that’s the thing with annie too — the character that’s been set up almost seems paradoxical. i know that’s intentional because she’s ~mentally unstable~ but at some point she has to have some level of logic and consistency. like really i get why she doesn’t instantly kill paul, but by the end there…. really what are we waiting for. what are we doing here. idk. making annie unstable defo works for the horror-ness of the book, but almost makes the book fantastical in nature because she is not realistic.

and now we come to the overarching issue - annie herself. at some point the book stops feeling like it’s plausible in any nature and i am just annoyed. like seriously how did she get away with all that shit. be so serious. idk like i said at some point the book almost feels like a caricature, especially with annie’s character. it seems like king just made up a mental illness and went with it. cmon now at least make it seem believable please i beg.

other than that, whoo did i have a hoot! this is probably some of the best written horror ive read. the trials and tribulations paul goes through are made so vivid by king, and the motifs and themes he employs are so…. chefs kiss.

the ending was a bit… Um. but hey they can’t all be winners!

overall i had a great time with this book. i really think king is just a fun writer. his charisma oozes through the page and it makes for a really enjoyable experience.

please next time tho i beg speed up ur pacing sire i was ready to just look at litcharts because it felt like it was groundhog day 🙏🙏

Content Warnings

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

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dark informative tense fast-paced

3.0

i fear i may have been too dumb to understand this book.

a lot was going on, and i had a really hard time following some chapters. when we were in the ward discussing kaysen’s life, i could follow that. but when there were chapters where it was just discussing things, such as velocity and viscocity, i had no idea what was going on. i really felt like i was reading a journal by someone in psychosis. which yeah can be argued to be powerful, but for me it created a text that was so manic in nature i felt lost as kaysen ran away from me with her concepts.

this isn’t to say i think this book is “bad”, on the contrary. i really think i just couldn’t grasp what was going on due to those weird in-between chapters.

i did really like the chapters within the ward, such as the chapters about ice cream, and alice & daisy’s stories. but overall it felt like something was missing — i can’t put my finger on what; it’s just a feeling i have.

i hope to come back to this some day and fully grasp what i had read, because currently, this felt extremely disjointed.

Content Warnings

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clovetra's reviews 204 reviews

clovetra's reviews
204 reviews