headertime1981's reviews
315 reviews

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

Andy Serkis doing Smeagal again—absolute glory. I'm so glad I've taken this audiobook journey. Next year, I'll read them the old-fashioned way again, but this has been a spectacular adventure.

Paradox Bound by Peter Clines

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.25

I loathed this book.

It was lazy; it was boring. It was pedantic.

It was all telling and no showing. The characters were bland. The explanations were contradictory and usually circular. It felt like the author just kept quoting mild Google facts and shoving them into the story. I've read school history books that had more vibrancy.

I couldn't invest in any of it. A cardinal sin for a book for me is if it is boring. This was a chore, but a great text to pick up if you want to know how to write something so completely drab while thinking you're a genius because it definitely felt like the author was patting themselves on the back with how clever they were.

I love science fiction, and I adore stories about time continuum. This was such a disappointment.

The Fellowship of the Ring (the Lord of the Rings, Book 1) by J.R.R. Tolkien

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring slow-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

5.0

A re-read on audible with Andy Serkis, and it's just beautiful. So beautiful.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I can't believe I waited so long to read this, and I wish I could take off work for the week to read the next two.

I'm obsessed. I love being in Darrow's revenge-driven, complex mind. I love only getting pieces of what he's thinking and the constant paradigm-switching of plot and story. Nothing is ever as it seems, as the goalposts consistently change. Characters I hate, I grow to love—characters I love, I grow to hate. Everything is in constant evolution.

If you love a deep dive into the nature of humanity at its most base and yet complex core, this is a ride for you.

People have called this Space Hunger Games, but this makes Hunger Games look like childsplay. I enjoyed that story, but this is one for the grown-ups who see reality a few shades darker and more hopeless.

City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. The dialogue was redundant, and the two main characters constantly revealed too much of themselves to each other without earning it. They suddenly loved each other out of nowhere while still not. Also, the virgin trope is so tired. Why can't any of these stories have grown women who aren't afraid of the big bad wolf or let them be the big bad wolf? I did like Darien, but he was so inconsistent it was exhausting. I wanted to like the world because it was cool, but...I grew bored. Often. That's a big problem. If the sequels weren't so terribly long, I'd dive in, but I can't justify spending that kind of time when there are so many other books out there to discover. I had to cleanse my palette with a dark mafia romance.

The Reaper by RuNyx

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced