glossy_feathers's reviews
191 reviews

adventurous emotional informative 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

This is very ambitious work and I appreciate writing about nature in that scope. Powers really brought trees closer to people and did not shy away from sharing scientific knowledge.
I was very excited to read this book knowing what was it about but got disappointed. I really didn't like the style. It was too melodramatic and pulling that many parallel stories was unnecessary. You can feel that it's trying too hard to be that epic book. And, I can't explain it, but it's so american. Now I feel reluctant to read anything else from Powers.

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this one. I've heard many praises for it and was very excited to read it. However, right at the beginning I was perplexed about the story and the writing. Being eager to read about that specific time and place I was surprised with the tone and felt like it was mocking the characters and society too much, not in a way I was comfortable with. It's mainly because of the easiness the slavery and captivity were portrayed with and I don't know if that was on purpose. Later I got the gist of it and it was a bit easier to understand the circumstances. And knowing that Lennon is of Lybian origin it kind of makes sense he took that approach (Lybians were slaves in Syracuse). I liked the dialect he chose, it kind of fits that ancient world because we don't know how they talked anyway, but supposed they didn't talk official Greek/English.
Without my issues about the tone, I wasn't conviced about the plot either. Everything seems very unprobable and written only for the fun of it. Yes, there were some fun moments and Lennon makes you care about the characters but altogether it was weak in conveying the message about humanity - which was the main supposed takeaway. It was too gimmicky to be taken seriously.
It is a solid experiment and I think there's a bright future for Lennon.

First Blood by Amélie Nothomb

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emotional funny reflective 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

4.5

Nothomb is a master of short novels. I think she can write about anything - this is a fictionalized autobiography of her father (!). She writes so effortlessly with really good dialogues. It's truly a pleasure to read her stuff. She was my favorite author in my late teens and my older self still approves.

Here by Wisława Szymborska, Clare Cavanagh, Stanisław Barańczak

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

Wonderful poems about everyday life. There's something so human in them.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

4.25

Wow, I really liked my first time reading Le Guin. It's so imaginative and thought provoking. After a slower start this novel will take you on a wild ride. Although being on the shorter side there's so much development, both in the plot and in ideas.

Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

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challenging emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

3.5

This is a pretty meta book essentially about uprising of locals during American-Phillipines war in 1901 but you start in present time with American film maker and Filipino translator and the war time is looked at as a film scenario. There is also interspersed plot in time between starring film maker's parents, dad being famous film maker, too, very much similar to Coppola, filming his magnum opus in Phillipines.
Apostol has interesting and fresh style and I liked it. The narrator has constant comments throughout the narration which I appreciate although it is often challangeing to tame Apostol's wild thoughts. She's jugling several storylines at once mixed with historical facts so it's intense at times and hard to follow.
Nevertheless, it was an impactful story and I really liked reading about unknown history of a faraway place.

Dusk by Robbie Arnott

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adventurous emotional 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? No

3.25

Good old fashioned storytelling. Nothing impressive. Outside setting and late winter atmosphere were nice - just like the cover. There's mild magical realism going on and in the form of huge bones protruding from ground which was pretty cool. Character arcs were somehow predictable.
Recommend if you like something short and scenic.

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced