stayshiny's reviews
46 reviews

Subhuman by Michael McBride

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

5.0

Heavy with the science lingo and explanations, but once you get past that it's incredibly interesting and intense, especially at the end. I enjoyed the characters and the anthropology/ancient civilization aspect. 
Hunted by Darcy Coates

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

3.0

Enjoyed til the last 6%. Hated the ending a lot and it felt rushed, I want to give it 0 stars because of that, but it was well written until that point. 
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

Briardark by S.A. Harian

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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

Nearly perfect, wonderfully spooky and creepy and tense. The abrupt ending kept it from being a solid 4, it wasn't even a cliff hanger so much as the cliff abruptly disappeared under you. Looking forward to the sequel!
This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

3.75

Fun ride. Tense and spooky. Pretty gory at points. Kind of lost itself towards the end, but for a debut novel it's great. THE DOG SURVIVES

Stay away from big rocks in Kentucky. 
Night Film by Marisha Pessl

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

I almost never read first person POV but I really enjoyed this. The ending kept it from being a full 4 stars. And the author needs to calm down on using italics.
Valley of Bones by Michael Gruber

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Another excellent Jimmy Paz book. Like the first book's field guide notes, the flow of the confession can be a bit jarring, but I was better prepared and it didn't bother me as much. I've grown very fond of Iago Paz! Gruber is very good at what he does. 
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Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Started out slow and initially I struggled with the different character perspectives, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. Gruber is an excellent writer and really knows how to capture a sense of urgency and fear. The Olo are an invented tribe and he uses a LOT of foreign words, which I also struggled with, but the glossary in the back helped. Really good police procedural mixed with occult thriller.
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Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Wrath of N'kai by Josh Reynolds

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0