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poisonenvy's reviews
842 reviews
Street Magic by Tamora Pierce
adventurous
medium-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
5.0
I am once again shocked at the much darker tone The Circle Opens books have taken from the initial tetralogy, but it really works and I don't think it's too mature for children readers. Briar continues to be my favourite of the four, and so far this is my favourite of the Circle Opens books, wherein Briar begins to realize some of the flaws of his upbringing while helping teach a new young magician, Evvy, who is an excellent addition to the cast and has a much stronger presence than the students of either Sandry or Daja.
I also enjoyed Bruce Coville's narration in this one (more than I enjoy Tamora Pierce's narration in the other books. She's an excellent author; she's not such a great narrator, I'm sorry to say).
Sad Shatterglass doesn't have an audiobook and so therefore its going to take me a lot longer to get through it, but I'm hoping I"ll be able to find time throughout my semester to do so!
I also enjoyed Bruce Coville's narration in this one (more than I enjoy Tamora Pierce's narration in the other books. She's an excellent author; she's not such a great narrator, I'm sorry to say).
Sad Shatterglass doesn't have an audiobook and so therefore its going to take me a lot longer to get through it, but I'm hoping I"ll be able to find time throughout my semester to do so!
Faeries of the Celtic Lands by Nigel Suckling
informative
4.0
Nigel Suckling's book, Faeries of the Celtic Land, was a very informative read that seemed well researched (though this is one of my first forays into researching this topic myself so don't take my word for that), and was written in a way that was easy to follow and was quite enjoyable.
In terms of satisfying the reason I picked it up -- research into Celtic cryptids and monsters from Folklore --it was only so-so. Much of the book was focused on Faeries as in the Fae -- people who are much like humans, with courts and suchlike, just in other realms, and only chapter 8, "The Faerie Clans" went into some small amount of detail about creatures like Kelpies and Selkies. But going into that particular topic wasn't the goal of the book itself. The book itself wanted to speak of Celtic Folklore and Mythology, and it did an excellent job of that, keeping me reading even the sections that didn't touch on the topic of my own research.
Overall, I enjoyed this quite a lot.
In terms of satisfying the reason I picked it up -- research into Celtic cryptids and monsters from Folklore --it was only so-so. Much of the book was focused on Faeries as in the Fae -- people who are much like humans, with courts and suchlike, just in other realms, and only chapter 8, "The Faerie Clans" went into some small amount of detail about creatures like Kelpies and Selkies. But going into that particular topic wasn't the goal of the book itself. The book itself wanted to speak of Celtic Folklore and Mythology, and it did an excellent job of that, keeping me reading even the sections that didn't touch on the topic of my own research.
Overall, I enjoyed this quite a lot.
The Winter Knight by Jes Battis
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
3.5
There is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't have been engaged by this book. The characters were compelling, the plot was interesting, the relationships were great. But there was something about the prose that just stopped me from getting as invested in this as I would have liked.
Over all an extremely solid book, just not one that entirely worked for me.
Over all an extremely solid book, just not one that entirely worked for me.
Confounding Oaths by Alexis Hall
adventurous
funny
medium-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
I don't know that I would have read this book if I hadn't been assigned it for one of my classes. I liked Alexis Hall's Boyfriend/Husband Material fine, but I didn't love them.
This series has convinced me to put the rest of their books on my TBR though.
Mr. Caesar's sister has been made beautiful by fairy magic, and we all know how that goes. So he and the handsome Captain James set about trying to free her from her fairy wish while keeping his other sister safe from men who would do her harm to get to him, all narrated by Robin Goodfellow/Puck. You know, the fairy that gave William Shakespeare his A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Anyway, this was funny. Puck's narration was unique and refreshing and added an extra layer to the story. The story itself was fun and punchy. The narration if the audiobook was top notch. Overall, I'm a big fan.
This series has convinced me to put the rest of their books on my TBR though.
Mr. Caesar's sister has been made beautiful by fairy magic, and we all know how that goes. So he and the handsome Captain James set about trying to free her from her fairy wish while keeping his other sister safe from men who would do her harm to get to him, all narrated by Robin Goodfellow/Puck. You know, the fairy that gave William Shakespeare his A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Anyway, this was funny. Puck's narration was unique and refreshing and added an extra layer to the story. The story itself was fun and punchy. The narration if the audiobook was top notch. Overall, I'm a big fan.
Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall
adventurous
medium-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
So, I had two sick days over the last couple of years. One of them, I sat and read Boyfriend Material. The next, I read Husband Material. And while I enjoyed the experience both times, they (especially Boyfriend Material) were what I would dub "brain candy."
So imagine my surprise when I got my syllabus for next semester and found Confounding Oaths on it. And then my annoyance when I started Confounding Oaths and discovered it was, in fact, a sequel.
So I decided to knock this book back real quick before I started it. And wow??
Mortal Follies (and Confounding Oaths) is a Regency Fantasy Romance story, as narrated by Shakespeare's Puck. Ans it's excellent. I don't know how much of it is the writing itself and how much of it was Nneka Okoye's narration (her narration is honestly top notch), but it was great.
The characters were generally great (though it suffers from the curse of the side characters being more interesting than the two romantic leads). The world building is creative and fun. The framing device (Puck's story) is unique, whimsical, and somehow fits the story perfectly. There are some pacing issues (especially when what I thought was going to be the climax of the novel took place pretty much right in the middle of it), but they only detracted a little from my enjoyment of the story. I had a lot of fun with this one.
So imagine my surprise when I got my syllabus for next semester and found Confounding Oaths on it. And then my annoyance when I started Confounding Oaths and discovered it was, in fact, a sequel.
So I decided to knock this book back real quick before I started it. And wow??
Mortal Follies (and Confounding Oaths) is a Regency Fantasy Romance story, as narrated by Shakespeare's Puck. Ans it's excellent. I don't know how much of it is the writing itself and how much of it was Nneka Okoye's narration (her narration is honestly top notch), but it was great.
The characters were generally great (though it suffers from the curse of the side characters being more interesting than the two romantic leads). The world building is creative and fun. The framing device (Puck's story) is unique, whimsical, and somehow fits the story perfectly. There are some pacing issues (especially when what I thought was going to be the climax of the novel took place pretty much right in the middle of it), but they only detracted a little from my enjoyment of the story. I had a lot of fun with this one.
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I'm sure this is a reread but I do not remember when I last read this book or much about it, so it was a like-new reread.
First some general time-expevted sexism (girls want to do nothing so much as take care of boys) and indigenous racism (which might have been considered progressive for the time period of 1911 but is pretty egregious).
This book is definitely written for being read aloud, though I would not recommend reading it to any actual children. The prose and style are pretty charming. This is the only children's book I've read that just casually drops people wandering home from an orgy so that was a surprise.
Anyway, if you go into it expecting the problems it's kind of fun to read. I'll read it again (because I'm going to have to for school next semester), but probably not again after that.
First some general time-expevted sexism (girls want to do nothing so much as take care of boys) and indigenous racism (which might have been considered progressive for the time period of 1911 but is pretty egregious).
This book is definitely written for being read aloud, though I would not recommend reading it to any actual children. The prose and style are pretty charming. This is the only children's book I've read that just casually drops people wandering home from an orgy so that was a surprise.
Anyway, if you go into it expecting the problems it's kind of fun to read. I'll read it again (because I'm going to have to for school next semester), but probably not again after that.
Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology by Ellen Datlow
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Normally when I read a multi-author anthology, I like to rate and review each story individually, and then tally my anthology rating by the average rating of all the stories. I'm not going to do that with this one (at least not right now. I might change my mind) because I'm feeling extraordinary lazy, I'm writing this review on my phone, and when I have access to a computer again I'm going to want to play Dragon Age.
But overall this anthology was a lot of a fun. A couple of really strong pieces, a few pieces that I just... Didn't get/understand/enjoy, and a few pieces that were entertaining and great.
Its rare for a horror novel or short story to actually induce the creeps in me, and this was not the exception (The Importance of a Tidy Home, which is the first story in the anthology, seemed to be the creepiest to me), but that doesn't mean I didn't still love reading a Yuletide Horror story nearly every day of December leading up to Christmas.
But overall this anthology was a lot of a fun. A couple of really strong pieces, a few pieces that I just... Didn't get/understand/enjoy, and a few pieces that were entertaining and great.
Its rare for a horror novel or short story to actually induce the creeps in me, and this was not the exception (The Importance of a Tidy Home, which is the first story in the anthology, seemed to be the creepiest to me), but that doesn't mean I didn't still love reading a Yuletide Horror story nearly every day of December leading up to Christmas.
Traitor's Moon by Lynn Flewelling
adventurous
medium-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
4.0
I will confess: I read this mostly on audiobook, and there was something about this one in particular that I had serious issues following the new character's names. It was a bit of rough going tbh.
But I knew who our heroes are, and I was excited to follow them. This was a great look at Seregil.
But I knew who our heroes are, and I was excited to follow them. This was a great look at Seregil.
Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce
adventurous
dark
medium-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
4.0
If I had been surprised at how dark Magic Steps had become in this series, then I'm extra surprised at what a dark turn this one took. I'm glad, at least, that it didn't venture too far down one direction that I thought it was going to go.
Even still, I enjoyed this immensely. Daja is now 14, and she is travelling with her teacher, Frostpine, to learn new magical techniques apart from her foster siblings. She takes on her own students, and gets involved in her own harrowing adventure -- this one involving fire. I enjoyed seeing her come to her own and learning her strength as an individual instead of part of the quartet where she's always woven her powers.
Another excellent edition into the Emelan series.
I only wish it hadn't taken me nearly a month to read this book (not the book's fault. I didn't have any time this last moth to sit down and physically read, and this book is not on audio which is a damn shame).
Even still, I enjoyed this immensely. Daja is now 14, and she is travelling with her teacher, Frostpine, to learn new magical techniques apart from her foster siblings. She takes on her own students, and gets involved in her own harrowing adventure -- this one involving fire. I enjoyed seeing her come to her own and learning her strength as an individual instead of part of the quartet where she's always woven her powers.
Another excellent edition into the Emelan series.
I only wish it hadn't taken me nearly a month to read this book (not the book's fault. I didn't have any time this last moth to sit down and physically read, and this book is not on audio which is a damn shame).
We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
One of my all-time favourite manga is Petshop of Horrors, a manga created in the 90s, which depicts a mysterious petshop located in Los Angeles' Chinatown, which gives people exactly the pet they need (sometimes what they need is to get eaten alive, so, you know, ymmv).
As soon as I started reading this book about a mysterious "psychiatric clinic" located in Kyoto where patients are prescribed a cat to help cure what ails them, I had immediate Petshop of Horrors vibes. There are far less people getting eaten alive by their new pets, but still, I'd be surprised if Syou Ishida hadn't read Petshop of Horrors at some point in their life.
Anyway, I loved this a lot. Very sweet. Probably not the best recommendation to anyone who intends to read it in public and has recently lost one of their feline life-companions, but I loved this story a lot.
As soon as I started reading this book about a mysterious "psychiatric clinic" located in Kyoto where patients are prescribed a cat to help cure what ails them, I had immediate Petshop of Horrors vibes. There are far less people getting eaten alive by their new pets, but still, I'd be surprised if Syou Ishida hadn't read Petshop of Horrors at some point in their life.
Anyway, I loved this a lot. Very sweet. Probably not the best recommendation to anyone who intends to read it in public and has recently lost one of their feline life-companions, but I loved this story a lot.