it's just an opinion

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Rating: C+

It seems that since the beginning of mankind we have been predicting our own ending, so it’s fair to be skeptical when yet another End of Times forecast comes into being. One problem, though: this one is actually real. And it’s next Saturday, meaning you won’t even get to enjoy the full weekend. What a bummer.

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This is my first time reading something from Terry Pratchett. I almost attempted to read his Discworld series but got way too intimidated when every reading order list I looked up had a completely different sequence. I don’t know, maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to tackle them, but that day hasn’t come yet.

As with many Neil Gaiman books, my expectations were far too high and what I ended up with left me disappointed. I feel like he’s always so highly praised and I always let that get to my head. I’m just setting myself up for failure. And it’s not like I hated this book. I’d say it was decent. But I know the hype surrounding it and I definitely let that influence me before I even started reading.

I was hoping for more Crowley and Aziraphale moments. I honestly thought going into this book that they were going to be the main focus of this story, so imagine my shock when they almost completely disappear about half way through. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for the narrative to go back to them before I finally recovered from my extended bout of stupidity to realize they’re not who this story it about.

I’m starting to realize I can’t read humor books because I don’t find them funny. It’s not that they’re unfunny...they’re just not doing it for me. No hard feeling, right guys? Right?

Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs

Rating: B

Centuries ago, the fae dwelt in Underhill--until she locked her doors against them. They left behind their great castles and troves of magical artifacts. They abandoned their prisoners and their pets. Without the fae to mind them, those creatures who remained behind roamed freely through Underhill wreaking havoc. Only the deadliest survived. Now one of those creatures has escaped into the world, one that can take on any shape and control those it bites. And, somehow, Mercy and her pack will have to stop it before it creates the chaos it needs to survive.

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I read this book three months ago and I’m only now getting to the review. I kept saying I’d do it the next time I had a free day and apparently it took this long to get there.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet: this isn’t the best book in this series, but it’s not the worst either. I do think it’s a step up from Storm Cursed. I was more invested in the story this time around, and it definitely held my attention much better than the previous book. Probably because there aren’t any witches in this, which are by far my least favorite aspect of the world Briggs has created here in her novels. I don’t know why I don’t like them as much as I do, but any book where they’re front and center is going to be a stinker for me.

The ending is probably the worst part about this book. It’s very odd and feels like the story should have ended a couple dozen pages back but it just decided to keep going. I wasn’t satisfied with it. I would have much preferred to see that issue continue on into the next book or even be a small cliff-hanger situation than what’s actually given to us.

Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs

Rating: C

Mercy has managed to put a target on her back and the entire Columbia Basin pack. After declaring their home a safe haven, more and more creatures have come seeking asylum. And, unfortunately, it’s also brought enemies straight to their doorstep. Now the pack has to deal with a group of powerful black witches trying to take hold of the local coven, witches that can control the dead. They may be the most dangerous foe Mercy has ever faced. She has to do something, soon, if she plans to uphold her word to protect those living under the pack’s protection.

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It was rough getting myself into this one. The writing for too much of this book felt very awkward to me, like I was hyper aware of what the author wanted to do and I could clearly see her plan. The way things are set up, or actions that characters take, were very obvious to me as a way of getting from point a to point b, and unfortunately I don’t think they flowed as neatly as they needed to. Plus, the witch storylines in this series might be my least favorite, and since this book is all about witches, I wasn’t too thrilled.

Eventually, I did manage to get past the awkwardness, but I can’t say if that’s because it went away or if I just stopped letting it bother me. Like most of the recent books in the Mercy Thompson series, this one is fine. It’s not terrible, but it didn’t grab hold of me like they used to. The last book that I was in love with is Frost Burned, and that’s four books ago. Yikes.

Personally, I think the scope of this world got a bit too big for me. I was here for following the adventures of a pack of werewolves and all the shit they managed to get into. I don’t know if I’m as here for the pack being protectors of their entire area and everything that entails. This is still a series I come back to and generally enjoy, I just don’t know if I’ll ever get that book that I’ll fall in love with again.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Imbalance by Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino

Rating: B+

Aang and the gang have returned to Cranefish Town so Toph can check in on her father’s business. They had planned to only stay a few days, but those plans are derailed when they see how drastically things have changed in the time they’ve been gone. The tiny town they knew has now exploded into a bustling city that’s growing at a rapid rate. And within that new city, a feud is brewing between benders and non-benders, one that has escalated into open hostility and violence. As the Avatar, Aang knows that it’s his duty to try and find peace between these people. Yet when one side sees the other as inferior, is peace even a possibility?

--

I’ll be the first to admit that I was feeling a bit apprehensive when I found out that Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru were leaving this series. I had been pretty happy with their work in the beginning, but as things progressed the storylines got less interesting to me. I really didn’t like the last three books they worked on all that much, and while I was sad to see them go, I was also looking forward to what a new team could bring to the table.

Now, this may be a controversial statement, but I actually prefer Peter Wartman’s illustration to those of Gurihiru. Don’t get me wrong, at the time Gurihiru’s illustrations worked really well. They were very similar to the show and that drew me to them. But these character are ageing as these stories progress, with maybe three or four years passing since the time at the end of the show, and Wartman’s style gives the characters an older appearance. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I liked seeing them this way.

The story itself is fine. These comics are acting as a bridge between the original series and Korra, where this volume is setting up Amon and the Equalist movement that we see in season one. This is much like North and South, showing how the conflicts that will arise in the future with Korra got their start in Aang’s time. This volume tackles the topics of caste systems and eugenics, and I’m glad to see that even in the comics the Avatar team is not shying away from subjects like this. However, much like North and South, I find the “solutions” to these problems to be unsatisfying. I know that this is a series aimed at kids and they’re not going to do a deep dive and study on the issues, but I wish is went beyond “bad guys go to jail, everything’s better.” This deeper problem is hinted at at the end of this volume, which is something.

I don’t know if there are other graphic novels in the works, but I’ll definitely be reading them if there are.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

Rating: B-

A single mother is found dead in the river that runs through her small town. Months before, a teenage girl met the same fate. These aren’t the only women who have wound up in these dark waters, but these new deaths have dredged up old secrets and old wounds.

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I know I liked The Girl on the Train, this author’s first book, but it’s been so long since I read it that I’ve pretty much forgotten everything that made me enjoy it.

The first thing that struck me about this novel is that there are a lot of narrators. A LOT. There’s maybe ten different narrators and that is beyond unnecessary; half of them could have been cut and the story would have worked out just fine. I don’t need to read the same scene from two different perspectives if they’re both providing the exact same experience.

I think Paula Hawkins really excels at writing these flawed, unlikable characters while still having her audience care about them. There wasn’t a single person in this book that can say I liked, and yet I was still invested in their stories and finding out what was going on with all of them.

However, I feel like the core of the plot really wanders as the story continues. Halfway though I couldn’t really tell what the main mystery was or what the thing I was supposed to be focusing on was. The ending is also a bit open ended and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Sometimes I like when an author hasn’t spelled everything out for me, but other times I wish I got that closure. So I haven’t decided if I like the end yet. Ask me later.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Rating: D+

Rachel Chu has been dating her boyfriend, Nick Young, for two years and is excited when he invites her to spend the summer in his home country of Singapore. Nick has always been secretive about his family, and it’s just an added bonus that Rachel will finally have the chance to meet them and learn more about his mysterious upbringing. But the second she gets to Singapore she realizes a shocking truth: at this very moment, Nick is considered the country’s most eligible bachelor. And worse, it seems like every single woman will do whatever they can to snag him as their husband.

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I don’t know why I was expecting to get some enjoyment out of this book, but I was, and now here we are. I’m Boo Boo the fool.

I don’t read books like this. I don’t read books like this because I don’t like books like this. Why did I read this?? Oh, right, because I’m trying to own more books with colorful spines. Yes, that shallow reason led me to this shallow book. Jokes on me.

So I guess that this book is supposed to be funny? The way the movie is cast is what’s making me think that (and also it being filed under ‘humor’ on Goodreads), because otherwise why stuff it full of comedians? Well, I didn’t find this funny. Like not once, ever. It was more full of scoffs and groans and “are you kidding”s from me. And frustration. At everyone.

I’m also just not thrilled with the way this book is written.The first thing is that there are just way too many people to keep track of. It seems like almost every single person in this massive extended family, and their friends, have at least one moment where the story focuses on them. The narration doesn’t help with this. The book is in third person with an omnipresent vibe, and in one sentence we may learn the thoughts and feelings of about four different characters. This leads to the major problem of not giving readers the chance to connect to the characters we’re supposed to care about.

Well...at least I have another colored spine to put on my bookshelf.

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett

Rating: C-

Three years have passed since Sancia Grado and her new group of friends started what they hope will be an industrial revolution in the city of Tevanne. It will take years of hard work, but eventually their dreams of taking down the rich, slave-owning houses will come to pass, or so they hope. But their plans are thrown to the wayside when Sancia learns that one of the houses is about to resurrect one of the original heirophants; a man who, long ago, used scrivings to transform himself to something closer to a god. Now he plans on reshaping the world, scriving it so that it will always bend to his will. And how can four measly humans ever stop a god?

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Foundryside really caught me and didn’t let me go in a way that a book hasn’t in some time. And it stayed with me. I just wanted more of this world and this magic system, and it took some time for that feeling to finally wear off. Compared to that first book, this one doesn’t even come close to evoking that feeling in me again.

The story here is just so....nothing. The magic and the wonder I had in the first book was completely gone as I worked my way through this. I pushed on, hoping that that little spark that so entranced me before would eventually come back, but it never did. Instead I just struggled and struggled and struggled until finally I was finished.

Crasedes as a character just doesn’t do it for me. He’s this all-powerful being, able to kill dozens in seconds with merely a thought, and yet I never found him intimidating. I wasn’t scared of him, he never had me fearing for the characters in any way. And, again, I find the way the author writes these ancient characters to be really jarring. Why do Crasedes and Clef talk like they’re just regular old dudes? Why when I picture Clef am I seeing mid-40s Peter Parker from Into the Spider-Verse? That’s probably not the mental picture the author wanted, but since they use modern slang, that’s all I’m getting.

My thoughts on this book can be wrapped up with this: it took me almost an entire month to write this review. I’ve read probably three or four books since I finished this one, yet I never felt like sitting down and typing my feelings out because I really had nothing to say. The story didn’t evoke anything in me, nothing that justified taking the time out of my day to write out a review. I even debated just skipping over this book and letting it go by the wayside. Something I obviously decided against since this review is now up and posted and you’re reading it at this moment. I think that feeling and experience I had alone says more than anything I previously wrote here. This book is so dull, so nothing, that I couldn’t compel myself to put the effort into doing this. I hope book three is better.

Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince, Volume Two: Night of Knives by V.E. Schwab, Budi Setiawan, Andrea Olimpieri, Enrica Eren Angiolini

Rating: C-

Prince Maxim Maresh has chosen to ignore his father’s summons back to London and instead remain in Veros. But he’s finding that the troops stationed there have almost no respect for him. To them, he’s not a skilled warrior, just a spoiled prince playing soldier. To prove himself, he decides to join in the Night of Knives, a mysterious test of skill that exists in the city. But no one has ever survived all four challenges, and they may prove to be too much for Maxim as well.

--

As someone who loves the Shades of Magic novels and was pretty pleased with volume one in this series, I have to say that this entry into the world is my least favorite by far.

The length of this volume really hurts the story. Things are rushed and move along too quickly, and everything feels very unsatisfying once it’s all said and done. There’s also a subplot with some gang leader who goes after Maxim just because, and that should have been abandoned from the get go. It does nothing for the overall story, instead just wasting precious time and pages to set up something that doesn’t even matter.

The Night of Knives itself could have been cool had it been given enough time to be explored, but that too just flies by. Characters and their motivations don’t get explained, the twist at the end falls flat, and the cliffhanger doesn’t do much for me. Like, yeah, I’m going to read the last volume that comes out, but I’m not on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens.

Maybe it’s the agreement that the author came to with her publisher to only have four issues per volume, but this series needs more issues to make the story better. Pretty much every complaint I have can be solved if just one or two more issues are added to a volume. I also just think the author needs to work more on writing graphic novels. She hasn’t mastered the flow of things yet, which makes the story feel disjointed.

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

Rating: C-

The long-imprisoned jinn are finally free, bringing death and destruction to every village and city they encounter. But for the Nightbringer, this is only the beginning. Laia of Serra, along with the Blood Shrike, are now determined to prevent the coming apocalypse and stop the Nightbringer before he kills even more people. Yet something doesn’t feel right, though they’ve yet to figure out why. Meanwhile, Elias has lost himself, only thinking of himself as the Soul Catcher and doing his duty to pass along the spirits he comes across. But the turmoil of the world has managed to penetrate into the isolated woods he now calls home. As less and less spirits make it to the Waiting Place, he will have to remember who he once was and join his friends to stop the end of the world.

--

That’s it? That’s the end? 

I want to make it clear that I’m okay with where the plot ends up going. I’m fine with what happens and, overall, I’m okay with where all the characters end up when things are said and done. My issues are mostly structural, I guess. And that’s because most of what happens here feels like filler. This book somehow comes off like it’s suffering from second book syndrome even though it’s the final entry in this story. And for a series that I’ve been following for six years, that’s...not great.

There’s really a whole lot of nothing going on in this story. Or, there’s things happening, but not with the characters around to see them. Elias spends most of his time acting as Soul Catcher and pretending he’s not Elias, a decision I absolutely despised, and a choice that drags the whole book down. A good portion of his chapters feel like wasted time and pages. Helene’s chapters are about the same. She’s with her army, planning for most of the book instead of doing something. And while Laia is definitely the most dynamic of the three main characters, her chapters are also kind of boring. She spends most of her time traveling from place to place, yet it never really feels like she’s doing much of anything. Unless she’s getting hit with a heavy dose of dumb bitch syndrome to get her where the plot needs her to be. If you’ve read this book you know the exact moment I’m talking about.

A serious problem I have is with the way the author decided to write this book, especially when it comes to things like time and pacing. The events that occur in this story happen over several months, but it doesn’t ever feel that way because the author just has the characters casually mention how long it’s been in a single sentence. Laia will say that it took her two weeks to travel somewhere, or Elias will have a quick thought that two months have passed. This gives the book such a disjointed and rushed feeling to me. There’s A LOT going on in the world, but since I’m not experiencing this time passing along with the characters, all these events seem instantaneous and really do a number on the pacing of the story.

Keris’ defeat is, predictably, underwhelming. I saw this problem coming from a mile away, and I even remember mentioning it in one of my past reviews for this series. The author built her up too much and made her too powerful and perfect to ever, ever create a situation where taking her down would feel satisfying. And a character shows up (again) at the very end of the story even though everyone thought this character was dead. And...how many times is this ploy going to be used? Because this is the second time, with the same character.

Like I said before, this is not the worst finale book I’ve read, but it’s definitely not the best either.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Rating: A-

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last--inexorably--into evil.

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It’s books like this that are the reason why I will continue to buy blindly from used book stores when they have amazing sales. Most of the books I get are stinkers that I don’t think are even worth the fifty cents I spend on them. But sometimes...sometimes...I come across a great book, and this is that kind of book.

I thought this book would be boring, or that it wouldn’t interest me that much. The subject of learning Greek doesn’t exactly spark joy in me. But that aspect of this story very quickly takes a baskseat to these complex and interesting characters. They are all so fascinating. And, somehow, the story never manages to actually be boring. Overall, the characters aren’t really doing anything interesting for most of the book. One big event happens in the middle, but both before and after it’s just all the characters talking or going to class or traveling around town. In theory, that doesn’t sound very exciting. But the author has put so much into her characters and the underlying tension between them all that it never grows dull.

The one thing I wish, and obviously this isn’t something that can actually be fixed, is that this story took place in a more modern time. It’s set in either the late 1980′s or early 1990′s, and I so wish this took place in the 2010′s. Mostly to have better LGBT and POC representation without slurs getting thrown around every time they’re talked about. I also think had this story been written later, the author would have taken bigger steps with her characters. But obviously that’s not something that can happen. The author is NOT going to rewrite this whole book. But I can dream.

Afar by Leila Del Duca and Kit Seaton

Rating: C-

Boetema and her family live in a desert wasteland, one she plans to escape from. But when she suddenly develops the ability to astral project to other planets while she sleeps, all her thoughts of leaving disappear. And worse, her brother Inotu has gotten himself into series trouble with the authorities while their parents are away for several months. Now she has to deal with what having this power means and try to learn to control it, while also trying to protect her brother from being arrested.

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I’ve had this graphic novel since it first came out, back when I got it for free at an old job. So it’s been sitting on my TBR shelf for...four years. Yikes.

An age old problem that happens with graphic novels also happens in this one: the world isn’t really explained or explored. Most other series will work on this as time goes on in later volumes, but the problem here is that this is a one shot. This isn’t series, there are no later volumes. Which means that this world falls flat. It’s so bad that if I hadn’t read the summary on the back, I would never have even known that this is set is a post-industrial world. And there aren’t enough elements included in the story to give it that feeling.

The story itself is also very childish, and I didn’t expect that. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, I was just very aware the entire time I was reading this that I wasn’t the target audience for this book.

And, finally, the plot itself just feels too short and rushed. Boetema has this amazing ability to travel to different worlds while she dreams, but the other worlds don’t get their time to shine. Some of them get a page or two, some of them only get one panel. Plus her story in her home world flies by and comes to an unsatisfying end.

I just wish there was more. If this had been expanded into a multipart series it probably would have been amazing, but unfortunately that’s not the way this story panned out. It’s too bad.

Monstress, Volume Five: Warchild by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

Rating: B+

After learning about another location where a mask fragment exists, Maika Halfwolf sets off north to enter into Arcanic land. But her plans are derailed when she and her companions learn that the humans plan on attacking the border city of Ravenna. Knowing the city will easily be lost and that its inhabitants will be used as fuel for the humans’ weapons, Maika places herself as the leader of its defense.

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I’m a little duel minded when it comes to this volume. This is definitely more of an action volume than any of the other previous entries in this series. And while I appreciate and like to see it, I also feel like the main plot is stalled because of it. So I like it...but I don’t like it. I want things to get moving; I want to learn more. I want to find out what the heck is going on and know the truth of the past with the Shaman Empress. Where last volume was very heavy with lore, this one has a distinct lack of it. I’m just afraid of this series getting too dragged out and suffering because of it.

There are flashbacks to the previous war with Maika and Tuya, which are desperately needed. What happened in Constantine is constantly brought up but never revealed, so it’s good that it’s finally explained here. It fills some holes, but is it enough? I don’t know.

I can’t help that “this is just filler” feeling from creeping into my mind. Solely because Maika is supposed to be finding more mask fragments, and the characters even remind her of this, and I’m kinda going, “Yeah, Maika, aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else right now?” To me, it’s even more frustrating when even other characters are pointing out the flaws of the story.

Still, I’m excited to see where the story goes and want the next volume immediately. That’s a feeling that sticks with me every time I finish one of these.