natreviews's reviews
415 reviews

Cursed Objects: Strange But True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items by J.W. Ocker

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dark informative mysterious fast-paced

5.0

Just a nice fast read about cursed objects. Pretty much what the title promises. There are fun bits of humor scattered throughout the book while giving a quick overview of each object. It doesn't promise a deep dive into each object, but more of an overview which I like. I think it's a good starting off point for those who want to learn more about these objects.
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

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mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

2.75

So... I really don't know what I just read. Like... what? To be honest, I wouldn't have finished it if I didn't have to tick off a reading challenge prompt.

Firstly, the story is really kind of out there. There are plot points that are abandoned, things that I felt were inserted that lead no where, and overall just as really confusing. Things aren't explained well, while other things are explained in way too much detail. Now this could be because it's a translated work, or it could be because the book is just written that way, I'm not 100% sure.

Going in, it's important to note how the book was originally published. Originally this was three separate books. Books 1 and 2 were published at the same time while Book 3 was published a year later. This is important because the ending of Book 1 isn't really an ending. The story pretty much just stops halfway through and gets picked up again in Book 2. I imagine this is because they didn't want to publish one 700 page book, but it really throws off the groove. 

Overall, this was a beast to complete, but wasn't worth it.
Cryptid Club by Sarah Andersen

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Cute, funny and creepy. What more do you want? 
Last Days by Brian Evenson

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

4.0

It was an interesting read. I'd be cool to re-read it, knowing what I know now and seeing how that breathes new life into the characters and plot. Overall a good little story that at times can be a tad confusing.
Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood by Murewa Ayodele, Marc Guggenheim, Jonathan Hickman, Bill Sienkiewicz

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

4.0

I liked this collection. Not every story was my favourite, but there were a lot of cool ideas and directions. I do wonder if the first story featured ever got expanded on because I could really see a stoyline taking off there.
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

3.75

I will say if you like the writing style of Agatha Christie, you will enjoy this book. I found a lot of the writing boring, as I don't really like that style of writing. I did however, like the explanation of how everything unfolded at the end, and the ending of the book itself. Originally I was going to rate this book 3/5, but the last couple of chapters bumped it up by .75. It would be interesting to re-read it knowing how everything was set up, but I don't think I'm going to.
Tampa by Alissa Nutting

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challenging dark tense fast-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

4.75

This book is not shy to admit what it's about. From page one, it let's you know that Celeste is a pedophile. It reminds me a lot of American Psycho with it's dark sense of humor and it's dark subject manner. It was disturbing reading how she lured these teen boys into her trap and how she
gets away with it in the end and continues to do it
. I will say the final chapter did bump this up to a 4.75. The disturbing content and how it didn't shy away from the details of sex just makes it miss the 5 stars, because really, I didn't want to read all that. Although, I guess if it didn't include that the book wouldn't have fault as authentic... it still feels weird to give it 5 stars, so a 4.75 shall do nicely. 
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Fairy Tales of Old Russia by Nicholas Kotar

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

3.0

So... I don't really get the moral of these tales. I think it's a translation and culture error, but the majority of these tales seem to be to complain, then an animal will help you, and you'll live happily ever after. I don't fully understand what that's meant to teach children, but I think because I don't have the cultural context and it being a translated text, I'm missing something.
Beyond the Dark Veil: Post Mortem & Mourning Photography from the Thanatos Archive by Jack Mord

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dark informative fast-paced

4.0

So this makes a really cool coffee table book. The main drive is of course the photos, which if you're interested in mourning photography/victorian era mourning, is really cool. There are a couple of essays throughout the book all talking about mourning photography, which you can skip in my opinion. The first two I couldn't really understand as the language was super flowery and distracting, while the last two were a bit easier of a read.
House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.75

You know, I wished this book was better. It's not bad by any means, but it wasn't all that good in my opinion. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if this started out as a Lady Dimitrescu fan fiction (the not really vampires but have to drink blood in order to stay alive because of an illness, a grand manor in a far off place, four major houses, her being an extremely tall lady, etc.) since there are so many parallels to her character. 

I also was expecting this to be a vampire novel, but it wasn't. It pulls the rich people drink blood for status/I need blood because of a illness trope, which isn't my favourite. I also wasn't really impressed with the sapphic elements of the story. I found them to be really bland and not fleshed out. Like the sapphic scenes are missing pieces that make it a TMSapphic scene. 

I will say I love the cover art though, I thought it was really well done and didn't give too much away from the book while leaving little plot details in.