youreawizardjerry's reviews
114 reviews

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Babel by R.F. Kuang

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

4.25

Ambitious. The good parts I adored, but somewhere amidst all the ambition and intertwining genres and concepts Kuang got lost in the sauce. Tried to be so much that it diluted a lot of the initial punch and heart by the end. I appreciate holding to the constraints of the time, but it left me unfortunately feeling less inspired, and more deflated. In many ways I understand that direction, in others I genuinely don’t think I’d recommend it to other bipoc. Also
I really don’t appreciate storytellers killing off the darkest guy first and also #2 kuang have the boys kiss already how dare you lead me on like this
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

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4.0

Viscera by Gabriel Squailia

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fast-paced

2.0

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

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informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

"All that surrounds us comes from death, every part of every city, and every part of every person."
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

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

4.0

Went from being completely fine to fully sobbing in one sentence. Powerful, brutal, and illuminating. 
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

love to my homies who adore this, but damn...it was just fine? 🤷
some parts rocked but other parts lulled. a lot of over-explanation in some sections but not nearly enough in others. also i am not huge on heavy hand-to-hand combat description so some specific parts bored me additionally so, it is what it is.
A lot of interesting ideas and snippets of world-building were set up here that I'm sure will add a lot of enrichment to the enjoyment of the further installments  (and this one as well of course, i definitely appreciated the aesthetics and mood created throughout the book) but the crux (HAHA!) of this first book standalone is...a pretty standard murder-mystery in one incredibly under-utilised setting. 
Kept waiting for something else to come that never did. Just a lot of key/door/swordfight/vaguely queer scene/repeat
but i am still interested to see where the story goes from here.
will definitely be reading on. i hope it gets queer-er, dark-er, and funky-er
catch you on the flip side, sugarlips
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0