turrean's reviews
2298 reviews

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

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

4.5

This is a comic and unsettling look at how modern society still strives for conformity, regardless of lip-service paid to the ideas of personal liberty and “being oneself.” 

A few scenes were very disquieting, such as when the main character describes violent impulses she represses, or when the very thin margin of her acceptance by her circle of friends is threatened by their unthinking adherence to traditional gender roles. 
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Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang

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

3.75

This is a fast-paced thriller with a tough, belligerent protagonist. 

Cass Russell belongs to the Jessica Jones school of female badassery: a predilection for drinking, shooting, and fast driving; elastic morality; and a knee jerk reaction against the typically feminine. When fate provides a pink motorcycle, male characters guffaw, and Cass scowls. Serious injuries are shrugged off in a few days. 

For a book with a female hero and a female villain, the book is woefully bereft of estrogen. There are no women in Cass’s inner circle. Hell, there are no women in her outer circle, either, other than a few victims and NPCs. Let’s hope this is remedied in the next books in the series. 

One secondary character seems unable to use contractions, which made his dialog stilted at times. 
The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown

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

4.0

On her voyage through the oceans of the world, Roz meets different kinds of creatures whose species do not conform to a Noah’s Ark-style binary gender: “Many other types of fish can change back-and-forth between male and female. Certain kinds of frogs can change in similar ways. Some species of animal are not male or female, and some species are both.”

I await the inevitable condemnation of this book by pearl-clutching book banners. 
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

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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

3.0

An infuriating ending concludes an irritating plot. 
Mary Russell's War And Other Stories of Suspense by Laurie R. King

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

4.0

A fun Russell / Holmes collection. 
The Antlered Ship by Eric Fan, Dashka Slater, Terry Fan

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adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

Delightful, detail-packed illustrations (the paisley pattern on the sailor pigeons’s bandanna! The wood grain and the texture of fur and feathers!) are paired with a gentle tale of friendship and discovery. Strikes me as trying to seem more profound than it really is. 
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

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dark emotional funny sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The gods are capricious and fate is cruel and I need a drink. 

I applaud the tiniest bit of agency Medusa had in this retelling of her story. 
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The Secret History of Food: Strange but True Stories About the Origins of Everything We Eat by Matt Siegel

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funny informative medium-paced

4.0

Interesting and informative, with a breezy, amusing tone. 
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Thoughtful, darkly humorous, delightfully entertaining. 
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

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

4.0

Wildly romantic, sentimental, and dramatic, with last-second rescues and stolen kisses. This novel’s structure and story seemed more rushed and less tightly plotted than the first book, with coincidence driving key moments in the story. The nature of the gods, and their powers, played a larger role in book two, so we learn more of Enva and Dacre’s mythology, but with a corresponding loss of mystery. I found their motivations and their abilities confusing and inconsistent (though I recognize that’s pretty standard for stories of gods.) The fighting among human factions was all too heartbreakingly realistic. 
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