whippycleric's reviews
244 reviews

Real Account 2 by Okushou

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

This second volume was a marked improvement on the first. Whilst I enjoyed the first, enough to pick up the second at least, the characters weren't that deep and it mainly focused on just seeing up the narrative as one might expect. The second continues the story but we definitely get a bit more depth, the plot twists are very surprising, and the story as a whole starts to come into ours own.

I can see it getting a bit tedious if the latter volumes stick to the same format but for now it's really enjoyable. 
The Plumed Serpent by D.H. Lawrence

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 
Going into this one I was worried because it has the worst rating on here and other sites of any book I’ve read before.  I picked it up based on author recognition without knowing anything and regretted it a bit after seeing the reviews but felt I should read it all the same, and I can say I'm happy I did. 3.5 is my honest rating but I wish I could give it more because the average ratings for this just seem wrong and I'd love to bump it up a little if I could. The plot itself is very slow and not a huge amount happens, I didn’t care much for any of the characters either though I did find them deeply intriguing and visceral, what makes this book is the writing.
 
 The prose is just fantastic. I could feel the darkness of the world portrayed here from the start and as the characters and story developed it only got more real. The small glimpses back to the western world by Kate became less and less throughout as she became less and less herself. As much as I might disagree with some of the philosophy here I can't fault the writing, it takes something special to make me want to pick up a book where very little happens, I have no care for the characters beyond the protagonist (and even then only minor care), and some of the themes I dislike, but this managed to make me want to come back, and just feel the story and all its darkness. 

There’s a debate about the racism and misogynistic sides to this, and I land on the side that it’s not that bad. It speaks against colonialism heavily and the idea of forcing religion on foreign countries which I like. It looks at the idea that people are not complete without a partner, both man and woman. There are points where it feels wrong, looking at the subjugation of woman to man, and being completed by his seed. The protagonist fighting internally against her wanting to be free, vs a goddess and subject to a god. The themes here are all over the place, it’s got racism, and sexism, anti-colonialism and female empowerment, depending on how you read it you could come down on either side. I choose to just love the writing and enjoy this bizarre world. 

Is this a book I would recommend? No… I can’t see who I would say you should read this to, it’s a big gamble on whether after this recommendation they’d thank you or hit you in the face and cancel you… But for those out there considering this one, open a bottle of red wine, light a fire, sit in a dimly lit room, and read this without worrying whether it’s correct or not, just enjoy the writing. 

Fang by James Patterson

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? No

2.5

Maybe I am beeing a bit harsh with my rating but I've read decent YA before and for me this isn't it. I found the writing simplistic; I’ve been reading a lot of literary fiction which is extremely different and I know young adult will be simpler but I’ve read other young adult books before which I thought were much better. It’s very much a children’s x-men but I never thought x-men was particularly too adult in the first place. 

The plot proceeds extremely fast with something happening every page or two, which can be nice for parts of the book but there’s almost no pause in the action to just have a bit of reflection on the characters. The characters themselves are a positive point, with a nice amount of diverse personalities and they do have depth and I did get some emotional attachment to them by the end of the book. I won’t be picking up another of the series, and won’t seek out the author, but if I see one of his more adult books on a shelf when visiting somewhere I might pick it up to see if it’s better. 

Real Account, Volume 1 by Okushou

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

 I'm relatively new to the manga genre so my ratings will be a bit subject to change as I read more but for now I’m just going with my gut and how much I enjoy them compared to full novels I read. Reviewing a volume is quite tricky as it’s not a complete story and always quite short, but I enjoyed this one as an introduction. 

It's got that squid game vibe and follows a lot of the classic tropes I’ve seen in my limited exposure to the genre, but it’s got a few unique points which make it interesting, and the characters are so far so good but not yet developed as it’s only the first volume. I like the art style the mascot of RA and how different it is to the rest of the characters especially. The ending of volume one is a great cliffhanger and raises some serious questions about the world and I’m really looking forward to picking up the next volume. 

On a more abstract point I’m trying to decide how to manage manga with my reading goals as it can feel a bit of cheat to include a single volume in my reading goals. I’ll probably modify my goal to count 2 or 3 volumes as a ‘book’. 
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

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

4.5

 This book really surprised me, I hadn’t read the previous entries in the series but this worked fine as a standalone and I wouldn’t have even know it were part of a series without seeing it here, I had read some South American magical realism before and I disliked it but this was brilliant. 

The book is written from 2 perspectives, one from Estaben who you can’t help but hate even when the story is being told from his side, and another from a seemingly impartial unknown narrator who is revealed at the end. The switching between the 2 is deeply interesting. Estaben justifying his behaviour and couching it in soft language and the other using words like rape and whoring to give the other side to the same events. 

The magical realism is subtle and secondary to the main theme of family and all the different types of relationship that exist within one. There’re heroes and villains throughout but none are 100% one or the other, and they are able to forgive each other their monstrous behaviour out of love. As a result every character is deep and complete. The only downside is due to the scope of the story and the number of characters it’s hard to get invested in some of them so chunks of the book were a little flat. Realistically it needed to be longer to be able to fully explore everyone and work perfectly. 

This book is everything 100 Years of Solitude should be, it’s as good is all aspect, plot, characters, writing, and not only does it skip the 2 things I really disliked from that book (the incest and every character being named the same) it directly addresses those ideas and makes fun of them a little within the plot. 

Hopefully I’ll be able to get the rest of the series later and find the time to read them. 
Life to the Limit: My Autobiography by Jenson Button

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

 Whilst I do enjoy the odd autobiography they can be a bit dry sometimes and so I was surprised with how good this one was. Lots of great bits of humor, full of insights, and loads of information that I didn't know before despite being a big fan. He also managed to get me to care about the people in his life, especially his dad. 

The first few chapters were absolutely brilliant, and the last few were just as good. The only downside to this book was a section in the middle which felt like a recanting of 3 or 4 seasons races in quick succession. This bit was a little dry, but it was brought back to emotional and funny start afterwards. 

I took a look at who the Ghost writer was and I’ll try to see who else he has written books for to read later. 

The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-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? Yes

4.0

I've never read anything by Myres before but I'll certainly be happy to read more by him after this. It's a very atmospheric book, and consists of an exploration of the 2 main characters and their relationship. I think different people could take away different things from this book, I found it a good look at two damaged people trying to escape the world and get lost in their art. Both extremely different people but bonding in their activities and the reasons behind them is a really nice look at how different friendship can be. 

The writing itself is dark and beautiful. There're droplets of action throughout the book to keep it from being too literary which are appreciated, no more are necessary either. I have mixed feelings on the ending and can't figure out if I liked it or not.
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

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

4.0

 
This was a very solid fantasy book. As a standalone novel it works very well, it took a little while to get going but once it got there it became a real page turner. Each character was fully developed, and I did manage to get attached to them as the story went on. I liked the explanation of how magic worked in this world, both in the sense it felt believable and the way it was explained was rarely just for the sake of it, instead actually explained via the plot at the time (show don't tell). The plot itself had enough twists to keep me guessing till the end and there were not significant loose ends from what I could tell.
 
 I have a handful of downsides to pull the rating down a bit but nothing major. The romance introduced towards the end felt unnecessary and shoehorned in to give the characters involved a full story without it really ever having developed. There's a section of pure exposition where a mystery from the past is just fully explained which was also a bit forced in there as well. Besides these 2 points, which for many people were probably positives, the book was brilliant. 

Quest for a Cave by Judy Hayman

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

This was a really nice book to read to my son, who is too young to understand it really but I'm sure will enjoy it more when he is a bit older. It's got a really good structure with an actual plot, character development, and mild peril, whilst still being age appropriate even for the youngest. It's a nice length to read out loud as well over a few sittings, I'll get the others in the series so he can have the collection to enjoy.
The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks

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dark funny hopeful inspiring relaxing medium-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

4.0

I always enjoy a culture novel and this was no exception. It's the last in the series and actually my second to last to read, I only have the short story collection left now. In my rankings of culture novels though this one I put a little lower than most, it's hard to explain precisely why but it felt a little more generic than the others. I struggled to be too invested in the individuals in this when I look at others and it all felt very familiar, the general structure was a bit close to others in the series for my liking. I also felt there wasn't a lot of jeopardy here either, it always felt like whatever happens it won't be too bad.

That said, there're some big positives here, parts of the culture universe are explored much deeper than have been before, such as subliming, which was super interesting, the look at another civilization about the same technology level as the culture was cool, and the writing itself was lovely to read and funny throughout.