thattheatrekid's reviews
121 reviews

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I liked this book a lot! I’m very invested in the series. The only thing that is still annoying is the animal sounds everyone is constantly making (snarling, growling, roaring, etc) and the author’s constant use of ellipses. I also wish Rhys had more of a personality in this one. The villain barely spoke in the plot and had very little motive. I still have no idea what he looks like and he had no personality. Not scary. But I am in love with this cast of main characters so it was fine.
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

Loved this book so much more than the first one! The evolution of the plots, characters and relationships were so smooth and natural. I’m super invested now. The only thing I found VERY annoying and distracting was the author’s constant use of animal noises for people (especially “snarled” and “purred.”)  I can’t imagine for the life of me what that would sound like from a person and it got really annoying as they were repetitive uses that almost never made sense. 

Excited for the next one!
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Solid book. I wasn’t a fan for the first half as it dragged quite a lot, but things got very exciting in the second half and the pages moved faster. I liked the FMC and the villain was compelling, though I cringed at first at her speech. I will continue this series even though I’m not usually into fantasy romances! I’m also a sucker for a fairy tale retelling and this was a very creative, great retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
War Hour by Lauren Loscig

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adventurous challenging tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This book was a good concept, very typically YA with randomly capitalized nouns like “Trials” and “Courts.” There were some things I liked and a lot of things I didn’t like:

👍 Good things:
- The idea of powers being earned, and the way you solve a trial corresponding to the power you get
- the politics of the world

👎 Bad things:
- Little to no description of the environment or world. I never knew anything about the environment other than “in a room” or “outside,” and we find out nothing about what Lysta’s life was like before the book starts. We know she was on the streets and that’s it, no flashbacks or anything. 
- Very trope-y plot twist at the end, a Hans-esque betrayal. 
- THE EDITING. This NEEDED an editor; there were so many grammatical and spelling errors I felt like I was reading a middle schooler’s project. 
- The characters were all flat, Lysta was a pick-me, and the characters were always doing things inconsistent with their personality they showed before 
- It makes literally no sense that Drytas wanted everyone trialed because that makes people stronger. You want people weak so they don’t rebel. Very pointless and no good motivations for anyone
- The world building was exceptionally vague and undescriptive. I was left with so many questions that were quite important. 

Overall decent but I doubt I’ll continue to read these. I’m also giving the author grace because she seems young and has a lot of potential.
The Burning Kingdoms by Sally Green

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

3.0

This book did not measure up well to the ones before it. It was very chaotic. The antagonist Harold is 14, speaks as if he’s 45, and is not at all a realistic villain or with a good motive. I feel like in general none of the characters were well developed. The ending was clean (almost too clean) but overall I really did not love it compared to the first one.
The Demon World by Sally Green

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Loved this book as a continuation to the Smoke Thieves! I loved the action scenes and the continued world building, as well as the character development. I only feel like I read so much and so little happened though; it could have been more condensed. I really enjoy these because I am equally invested in all characters and not skipping around to the “good stories,” which is easy to do with books that have multiple POVs. I also maintain my complaint about the last book, that the cursing feels way too basic/modern for this world, and that the feminist message for Catherine is too forced. And maybe it’s just part of her arc, but while I loved Catherine in the first book, I really didn’t like her in this one as she let her morals and values become grey. But maybe that’s how it’s planned. Great book overall but I prefer the last one! Eager to read the next 
Surrendered - Women's Bible Study Participant Workbook: Letting Go and Living Like Jesus by Barb Roose

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Assigned this 6 week plan for my DTS! Truly loved this journey and got a lot out of it; it went wonderfully with my learning and mentoring sessions. Surrender is really becoming an anthem of my life and I’m trying to surrender something new to God every day. If you actually answer the questions and think about them you learn a lot about yourself, your life, your worldview and your relationship with God. I only wish there were more practical steps written that I could take aside from prayer, but it worked out anyway because the Holy Spirit gave me some divine assignments and activities. He knows best! 
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%.
Too boring - I really tried!
The Garden Within: Where the War with Your Emotions Ends and Your Most Powerful Life Begins by Anita Phillips

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

I loved this book and will definitely be rereading it!! I was assigned it as my final book for DTS and wow, it felt like therapy in book form. I learned all about how emotions physically affect the body, how the body and the parts that produce emotion reflect creation, and how emotions work. It was very eye opening to my life and especially toward the end made a lot of things in my past make sense. Phillips’ beautiful analogies and connections to nature are also vivid and helpful. I only wish 1) it was longer, and 2) That it went more in depth about what to do about repressed emotions and how to involve God more in the process!
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Amazing book! This is my second read; I thought it would be good to reread it when I saw the new movie (which, by the way, was a fantastically done adaptation). I really love the symbolism and Snow’s gradual moral decline down a path you can somewhat predict from the beginning. Snow’s thoughts reveal more than anything and it’s fascinating from a psychological standpoint to see the way he rationalizes himself and his worldview. Just very well written.