mynameismarines's reviews
1076 reviews

It is my goal to make sure I have a review written for every book I read in 2015. When I first finished this book, though, I had this space empty. What is there to say?

My friend described this story as "literary magic sprinkles" and it's become my default to explain what I think of this book. It's difficult to capture because it's whimsical and charming and emotional and allegorical.

I also feel like this might be easier to talk about and digest after a second read. There are so many ways to think about and enjoy this that my first (but certainly not my last) foray felt insufficient.

I'm only sad that I never read this prior to this year. I'm happy I did finally pick it up.

I talk about this book in my May reading wrap-up.

I really, really enjoyed this story of heroes and villains that takes the classic structure of pretty much every comic book you've ever read and makes it come alive with adventure and humor. At the heart of the success of this book is that Grossman speaks a lot to the human experience, though his main characters are all superpowered. The story superficially jumps around from adventure to adventure, but it's told by some awfully lonely people who struggle to find their place in the world. We also hear a lot about growing older, celebrity, and genius, which were all nice touches.

I loved all the ways Grossman found to pack hero and villain cliches into this story. Doctor Impossible cackles maniacally and always announces his evil plans, and every time it made me giggle.

I also appreciated the dual perspectives and origin stories. I feel like I should've seen a couple of them coming, but I only ever did one second before the story revealed it. I love picking up on things just at the right moment. I must say that I mostly enjoyed Doctor Impossible's sections of the story over Fatale's. There were moments when her story was rather devastating and just achingly familiar, but times when that took a step back and it was a little bit dull.

I had hoped the ending was headed somewhere different. It was a sad note for both of our POV characters, though it did feel like there was really no other way it could've ended. I kept hoping, though.

Because of some repetitive bits and a few places the story dragged, this isn't quite a 5 star read for me, but it was super entertaining and incredibly charming. It's even a story I'd read again. IT'S EVEN A STORY I'D READ A SEQUEL TO.

That, my friends, is saying a lot.

Check out my 2 Pros + 1 Con video review.

4.5 stars

I heard some buzz surrounding this book on Booktube. I'd previously read Redshirts by Scalzi, and remember enjoying that book a fair amount, despite probably not having the background sci-fi knowledge to really catch all the jokes.

I'm so happy I decided to pick this up. I read it on a plane ride and it was the perfect, quick-paced and entertaining read. I really enjoyed reading about the world and the creatures as much as I enjoyed reading about the fuzzy predicament.

Jack was a fascinating main character. I'm usually really tough on morally ambiguous characters, but there was a level of self-interest with Jack that was hard to fault him for. I guess what I'm saying is that he felt like a jerk for a reason (at times) which is vastly better than a jerk for no reason. Figuring out what Jack was up to and what his end game was is half the fun.

Of course, the fuzzys are adorable and there are some developments there that hit me in the feels.

There were a couple of things that knocked some points off for me. One was the habit of the author to cut away from moments specifically to create suspense. So he'd be telling us about an interaction and then kind of end with Jack having a thought. But we don't get to find what that thought is until later. It just isn't my favorite device for creating suspense. Additionally, the end was a bit too neat. Especially the epilogue which felt kind of badly written, with characters being weirdly expositional and calling each other by their new titles and stuff like that. A little more grit or ambiguity in the ending would've probably made this a five star read for me.

Still, very entertaining and a really good book for readers who aren't normal into sci-fi. Scalzi does go into a lot of details about certain things, like the transportation vehicles in the world or else about certain legal proceedings. I found it all interesting, but I can see it being a problem for others. If you tend to shy away from detailed stories, this might not be for you. Otherwise, highly recommended.

"No one wanted to hear that people other than themselves might be complicated, that no one was ever just one thing, no history ever just one version."

This review can really only start in one place: I love Patric Ness and count some of his books amongst my favorite things I've read in my lifetime. He's incredibly talented and after having read The Crane Wife, I can think no different.

I do feel like if you've love some of Ness' other work, you might find this too different to enjoy. The prose is flowery and less subtle that what you would find in [b:A Monster Calls|8621462|A Monster Calls|Patrick Ness|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387584864s/8621462.jpg|13492114]. The plot is less thrilling and fast paced than what you would find in The Chaos Walking Trilogy. The best comparison would probably be to [b:More Than This|21969786|More Than This|Patrick Ness|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398164413s/21969786.jpg|22008332], but even that felt more philosophical than what we find here. It's a simple message here, about the effect of love, of loving with passion, of forgiving and selflessness and the never ending nature of stories and of how everyone's perspective changes a story.

These are all things that are clearly laid out within the story for us. If you want to pour over a story and guess what the author means, this isn't the story for you. Each of the characters take their temperature, so to speak, and the narration does the heavy lifting for us. Even the main character George is repeatedly called nice and yielding to a point where it might be considered repetitive.

It was easy for me to forgive that in the writing however because of how much I loved George and Amanda. I couldn't tell you what it was about them specifically that endeared me to them, but so many times I felt like I wanted to climb into the pages and squeeze them. The whole atmosphere created by the story was so tangible. I'm not sure if you've ever experience a story where the feel and flow of it stand out to you like an element, even apart from plot and characters. I think of what I remember and I vividly remember how I felt while reading it and how much it embodies that air of folk and fairytale.

Even though it ends on a positive uptick, my heart hurt for George at the end. And even though this wasn't my favorite Ness book, it is one I would like to revisit, especially to reread the story of the crane and the volcano, which I think I would appreciate more the second time around.

3.5 stars

I read [b:Tithe|46777|Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales, #1)|Holly Black|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1342120818s/46777.jpg|1460966]ages ago, when it was first released and only vaguely remember struggling through the story, and probably never finishing it. (But, oh, I loved that cover.) My next Holly Black book was [b:The Coldest Girl in Coldtown|12813630|The Coldest Girl in Coldtown|Holly Black|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1367312471s/12813630.jpg|17962903]. As I was reading this book, my impression was that I felt about it the same way I felt about Coldtown. In fact, allow me to quote that review:

I want to like this book more than I actually do. The promise is in its premise, and there are occasional spots of 4-star worth story telling. The big picture, however, falls short of that "really liked it" mark.

Yes, me! This!

I will say, though, that I liked this book better than Coldtown. Black's storytelling is often at odds, though. She excels at atmosphere and brilliant details and falters in plotting and sometimes pacing. I wanted to just immerse myself in Fairfold, but even as I tried, the plot kind of plodded along, sometimes being repetitive to a fault.

This is urban fantasy, perhaps? It's set in the US, in our time, in a town where faeries also exist. It's just an accepted fact. There was something about this magical realism, however, that didn't settle for me. I was completely thrown off by the mention of iPods and Doctor Who in one sentence and Faery Kings in another. Again, not because these things can't exist in a story together, but because there was something forced about the way Black lays it out. I found myself not quite able to suspend my disbelief or to accept this place and these characters or their starting motivations.

There were specific things I mentally noted to mention as downsides to the story, but by the end, most of them weren't 100% true. Examples:

I mentioned the repetition, and a big one is all the times Hazel and Ben's childhood was mentioned, in nearly identical language. The ways their parents were negligent. I feel like a jerk for saying, "ALRIGHT ALREADY!" about child abuse, but it got to the point that I thought I was mistakenly rereading a scene. HOWEVER, there is something at the end that softens me towards these mentions and these scenes. It's a small reveal about how Hazel dealt with this part of her life.

Next was the way the story and world were revealed. I'm usually a huge fan of authors who limit the exposition and let the world unfold by itself. Black certainly did that, almost to a detriment. I got a tad confused at the beginning and then just felt annoyed by the purposeful cliffhangers of "and her brother had no idea." or "She could never tell anyone... her secret." Again: alright already. HOWEVER, that reveal at the end also changed how I saw this. It seemed more in line with what we know about Hazel.

So, it seemed pretty square in the good and bad parts. The extra half star comes because there were some genuinely creepy moments (like the crying scene at the high school. Oof.) and because there was a lovely fairytale atmosphere throughout the whole book. The writing itself was enchanting, even if the story left something to be desired.

A lovely, interesting read that much has already been said about.

I loved the way this story was told, connecting different characters in nearly stand-alone short stories. I read the first section and went back to the beginning, because I wanted to make sure I was fully aware of who all the characters were. Even so closely, my second read helped me understand things even better and pick up on some references I hadn't caught initially. I suppose this quality would be off putting for some readers, but I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed that it required active reading and that my brain was picking it apart even as it looked to devour it.

The last chapter that is set slightly in the future was my least favorite and left me feeling a little down about the lack of "resolution." That kind of seems silly in the grander scheme of what Egan created. There really wasn't a strong plot, so why would there be a tidy resolution? What we do have is a strong theme about how time and age catches up to us all.

Additionally, it's not a happy read. There isn't much lightness or positivity to be found here, and most of the characters we meet are self-destructive at least in some respect. This isn't really a story about the next-door-neighbors, so to speak, but about people with unordinary lives. That might bother people who find it hard to relate to them. I for one don't always read fiction to read about the "normal," so this didn't bother me in the least.

I really enjoyed and will be thinking about it for a long, long time to come. This and it was an A+ way to start my 2015 year of reading.

Oooof.

I've never watched any of Zoella's videos and mostly picked it up because of the 2-3 days of, "OMG A GHOSTWRITER?" drama I saw unfolding on Twitter. My impression was kind of that this had been a sensation and people felt cheated because probably Zoe Sugg didn't write it.

Truly, everyone should be up in arms if Zoe paid anyone to write this story for her. To say that it is cliche is putting it mildly. It's not even cliches done right. It feels like a stuffy, old fogey approach to YA cliches. It feels like a completely out of touch person's view of what's popular in YA. Someone who maybe Googled, "what's popular in YA?" who hasn't actually read any of it for themselves.

For example, the main love interest has a crooked smile, OF COURSE. But when it finally shows up, it's not a regular lopsided smile, but it's lopsided and he has "several" dimples. SEVERAL. Like now you are imagining some weirdo with a half frozen face and three holes on either side of his mouth. WTF is going on?

The blog entries were painful. In fact, all of the writing was painful because it was all overly simplistic language. While Penny is young at 15, 15 is not 10 and most of this felt like it could've been written by a 10 year old. Anyone acquainted with blogging or Internet communities probably scoffed at the idea that Girl Online had thousands of followers. Hahahaha. Thousands of followers.

Penny was a shell of a character. She had curly hair! and liked taking pictures! and was clumsy! SO CLUMSY! and had 0 self confidence! and a gay best friend! and an unrequited crush! DID WE MENTION CLUMSY?! Her self worth is almost entirely based on this one dude she knows for a week who tells her she's real pretty like. Don't you just love when girls in books base their self-esteem on boys?

It can't go unsaid either: Penny is 15 and Noah is 18. Just barely getting by the statutory rape laws in New York, but that shouldn't be something you want said about your central love story...

The plot is basically Penny falls down a lot and then goes to New York where she falls in love with an 18 year old who is also famous and problems are almost always solved within two pages and they kiss a lot, the end.

I thought about rating this two stars because I've definitely read worse, but those were actively worse. This kind of matches it for how obviously it was thrown together, hitting all the highlights of what the young'ins might like. To give it two stars and thus say, "it was okay," wouldn't feel honest. This was not okay; I want my money back.

I never read this book in school or as a child and it has long been on my list of books I felt I had to read. I'm very glad I did. It's one of those ones you finish and ask, "why didn't I read this sooner?" especially because it was short and very accessible.

It's amazing to me that in such a short amount of time, Lowry manages to create a world that runs circles around some of the more recent YA distopian novels. There could be arguments for, "that would never happen," but at the same time, I appreciate the logic of Sameness, of repressing sexuality and discouraging familial attachments, etc. There were little details too, that just struck me in the feels, including the way they could never ask questions (because it would be rude) and the way they apologized for everything (to avoid conflict).

There was a scene where Jonas' best friend is being given his assignment on stage and they are telling a story about how he used to be punished for saying "smack" instead of "snack." There is a lot of laughter and almost affection for Asher as the story is being told and heard, but it's also a bit horrifying thinking of a three-year-old receiving corporal punishment for imprecision in language.

Of course, that is one of the more subtle horrors. There are more and it's amazing how they are delivered in stripped down language with an almost dreamlike quality. It really gives it a feeling that things are this way because they've been this way for so long.

Again, many kudos to Lowry for both creating a world of "sameness" but allowing her supporting characters to still take on their own personalities.

Definitely an important read. I'm shelving this for my future, hypothetical children.

I was dying laughing within the first few pages of this book, clearly picturing that little kid all Dominicans knew who was the first to master "el perrito," the raucous parties with kids dancing in ways that are horrendously inappropriate in hindsight, but that everyone gathered around to laugh at. It was well done stereotypes because they were real and a touch self-deprecating.

I felt like I've met every character within in this book at least once in real life, or there were pieces of everyone in people I've met before. Though the characters seemed a little (purposefully) larger than life, it was so woven with things I've experienced and seen before. They were caricatures, almost, and in a good way.

Oscar is not particularly sympathetic and he's pretty much just very whiney and depressed through the whole book. I get people who say that is their major problem, but in the end, Oscar's brief life was just kind of the thing holding up all of these wonderful parts that were more the story: the narration (Yunior narrated Oscar's life perfectly), the history woven perfectly with sci-fi elements (seriously? How was Trujillo even a real person?), the family dynamics, the new world and the ongoing mission to break free from the "curse" of the third world your family left behind.

I think it's also worth it to keep in mind that we're getting Oscar's life from other POVs. Perhaps his almost cartoonish quest for sex and love is filtered through the lens of people who never really understood him anyway.

From start to crazy long footnotes at the end (best footnotes ever), I just loved the crap out of this book, one that I immediately told all my family they had to read and one I will revisit without a doubt.

This is the sort of book is both difficult and almost redundant to review. It's beautifully crafted, heartbreaking and undoubtedly a classic. In fact, I picked it up because I'm working my way through a, "Books to Read in a Lifetime" type list.

The four star rating is here to remind myself of myself of my experience with Beloved. Unfortunately, it was difficult for me to pick up the narrative thread in the beginning. I often read things over a few times, making sure I understood what I was reading and how it fit with the larger story I'd already read. Things don't always have to be "easy" reads, but I found this sometimes dropped away from its own path in favor of style over storytelling.

Interestingly enough, I would absolutely reread this story, and in fact, I'm almost certain it would be even better the second time around.