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captainoliimar's reviews
62 reviews
Game of Gnomes: The Necrognomicon by M.J. Northwood
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I came across this book when I found the author's booth at a convention. They were really fun to talk to and convinced me to pick up a copy of this book.
This book was a welcome break from some of the darker, grittier stories I've read lately. It is lighthearted and funny. The jokes felt like they were inspired by Terry Pratchet too, which I enjoyed. It felt like a great retelling of a D&D groups session where the party have latched onto a throwaway joke that the DM added in and now we're three hours deep and the DM has had to make up an entire storyline about an owl mafia (definitely not talking from experience there).
There were great callbacks to earlier jokes and events. The world felt full and varied without getting too bogged down. The worldbuilding added to the humour and set up some great plot points later on.
My personal favourite bit is a tie betweenthe narrator telling you to go get a drink, you won't miss anything, only for them to then reference how interesting and exciting the bit we missed was and the security guard whose ID was actually a dog.
I will definitely be picking up the next installment at some point!
C - 7/10
A - 7/10
W - 8/10
P - 8/10
I - 6/10
L - 7/10
E - 8/10
This book was a welcome break from some of the darker, grittier stories I've read lately. It is lighthearted and funny. The jokes felt like they were inspired by Terry Pratchet too, which I enjoyed. It felt like a great retelling of a D&D groups session where the party have latched onto a throwaway joke that the DM added in and now we're three hours deep and the DM has had to make up an entire storyline about an owl mafia (definitely not talking from experience there).
There were great callbacks to earlier jokes and events. The world felt full and varied without getting too bogged down. The worldbuilding added to the humour and set up some great plot points later on.
My personal favourite bit is a tie between
I will definitely be picking up the next installment at some point!
C - 7/10
A - 7/10
W - 8/10
P - 8/10
I - 6/10
L - 7/10
E - 8/10
We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
An interesting book. I went in with high expectations and I read it basically in one sitting. It was incredibly dark and really delved into the realities of content moderation, which is an area I think we all like to avoid thinking about.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped. The entire tone of the book was odd and the pacing felt kinda off to me. I felt like I was waiting for the real plot to begin for basically the whole book. It felt like the book was setting up for something the entire time but that something just never came. The characters felt rather one-dimensional and flat and I found myself struggling to connect with the main character or really engage properly.
The endingfelt really out of place. I genuinely reread the last few pages multiple times thinking I was missing something. Though, as I sat with the ending for a while I did appreciate it more.
It was rather unfortunate because I think it is a really important, interesting topic to explore. It definitely shines a light on how dealing with such traumatic situations constantly can be really damaging and can lead to engaging in unhealthy coping mechanisms, like we are shown in the book. I also appreciated that the author mentioned how many companies use foreign labour to deal with the hardest elements of a job, while cutting corners and not giving those workers the compensation they deserve, even less so than their counterparts in western countries.
Perhapse there is something lost in the translation of the book, but it is not one I will be rushing to pick up or recomend.
C - 4/10
A - 4/10
W - 4/10
P - 6/10
I - 2/10
L - 4/10
E - 3/10
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped. The entire tone of the book was odd and the pacing felt kinda off to me. I felt like I was waiting for the real plot to begin for basically the whole book. It felt like the book was setting up for something the entire time but that something just never came. The characters felt rather one-dimensional and flat and I found myself struggling to connect with the main character or really engage properly.
The ending
It was rather unfortunate because I think it is a really important, interesting topic to explore. It definitely shines a light on how dealing with such traumatic situations constantly can be really damaging and can lead to engaging in unhealthy coping mechanisms, like we are shown in the book. I also appreciated that the author mentioned how many companies use foreign labour to deal with the hardest elements of a job, while cutting corners and not giving those workers the compensation they deserve, even less so than their counterparts in western countries.
Perhapse there is something lost in the translation of the book, but it is not one I will be rushing to pick up or recomend.
C - 4/10
A - 4/10
W - 4/10
P - 6/10
I - 2/10
L - 4/10
E - 3/10
Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A reread of a favourite of mine in preperation of reading the sequel. I loved reading it again and understanding things in a new way.
The plot is fast and hits hard but didn't make me feel lost. It took just enough time to slow down and explain things without losing that tense atmosphere. The authors also managed to sprinkle in enough comedy to prevent everything feeling hopeless.
I really enjoyed the different cultures and customs. It felt rich and deep and full of life. Each custom or saying felt well thought out and realistic. It also didn't feel to me at least like they were reskinned racist stereotypes, like some sci-fi media has a bad habit of doing (my beloved Star Wars I'm sideyeing you hard here).
I can understand people finding the different POVs overwhelming and confusing but I disagree. Each felt unique enough that I didn't get confused about who's POV I was reading and I think seeing things from each character's perspective helped me understand them as a person and their conflicts. My personal favourite was Zila. I enjoyed her short little chapters.
I felt that theromance was really sweet and I enjoyed Kal's angst about not wanting to make Auri feel pressured while totally missing that Auri has the hots for him.
The ending washeartbreaking. Knowing it was coming was worse, and I found myself hoping that somehow it would turn out different, despite knowing that can't happen.
This is a book that I will definitely be rereading and annotating heavily, especially once I am done with the entire series.
The voice cast were excellent and I loved their attempts at Cat's accent, I will definitely need to listen to the next book with the same voice actors at some point.
C - 10/10
A - 10/10
W - 10/10
P - 9/10
I - 10/10
L - 9/10
E - 10/10
The plot is fast and hits hard but didn't make me feel lost. It took just enough time to slow down and explain things without losing that tense atmosphere. The authors also managed to sprinkle in enough comedy to prevent everything feeling hopeless.
I really enjoyed the different cultures and customs. It felt rich and deep and full of life. Each custom or saying felt well thought out and realistic. It also didn't feel to me at least like they were reskinned racist stereotypes, like some sci-fi media has a bad habit of doing (my beloved Star Wars I'm sideyeing you hard here).
I can understand people finding the different POVs overwhelming and confusing but I disagree. Each felt unique enough that I didn't get confused about who's POV I was reading and I think seeing things from each character's perspective helped me understand them as a person and their conflicts. My personal favourite was Zila. I enjoyed her short little chapters.
I felt that the
The ending was
This is a book that I will definitely be rereading and annotating heavily, especially once I am done with the entire series.
The voice cast were excellent and I loved their attempts at Cat's accent, I will definitely need to listen to the next book with the same voice actors at some point.
C - 10/10
A - 10/10
W - 10/10
P - 9/10
I - 10/10
L - 9/10
E - 10/10
You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A sad, deep book about addiction and the effects it has on both the people who are addicted and those around them.
I felt like I could relate to Emory. I haven't been through the same situations but I related to how alone she felt, and how she struggled making friends in school. Her parents being so scared of what happened to Joey that they let her go through excess pain and suffering
I really appreciated how real Joey felt, and how his problems didn't magically go away after rehab.
C - 7/10
A - 5/10
W - 8/10
P - 7/10
I - 7/10
L - 7/10
E - 8/10
I felt like I could relate to Emory. I haven't been through the same situations but I related to how alone she felt, and how she struggled making friends in school. Her parents being so scared of what happened to Joey that they let her go through excess pain and suffering
I really appreciated how real Joey felt, and how his problems didn't magically go away after rehab.
C - 7/10
A - 5/10
W - 8/10
P - 7/10
I - 7/10
L - 7/10
E - 8/10
How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
2.75
I enjoyed the first part of this book. I enjoyed understanding her thoughts of why she chose to kill her grandparents in that specific manner and why she felt they deserved it. I also enjoyed the portions where she was in jail and slowly uncovering the reasons why she was there.
However, I think that I stopped enjoying the book as much when she killedAndrew . I felt like her motivation didn't make as much sense as the others as he had never directly done anything against the main character or in the same vein as what the other family members had done.
The sections where we learnt more about her backstory felt like they dragged on too long too. I understand that a good portion of it was necesary to understand her motivations and build up to the ending, but I just found myself waiting for those sections to be over to get back to the interesting parts of the book.
The ending felt like a huge let down too.I could see the plot twist coming that her father was killed by someone else and I thought it was an interesting twist that her careful plans didn't pan out the way that she thought they would. However, it felt kinda cheap that this mysterious character swept in at the last second to take everything she had worked for. It felt especially frustrating as he had grown up in a much more priveliged position and didn't "deserve" or "need" the money in the same way. I think I would have enjoyed it more if she was able to get the money and then he showed up and found a way to manipulate her out of the money or something.
Characters: 4/10 x2
Atmosphere: 5/10
Writing: 5/10 x2
Plot: 6/10 x2
Intrigue: 6/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 4/10 x3
However, I think that I stopped enjoying the book as much when she killed
The sections where we learnt more about her backstory felt like they dragged on too long too. I understand that a good portion of it was necesary to understand her motivations and build up to the ending, but I just found myself waiting for those sections to be over to get back to the interesting parts of the book.
The ending felt like a huge let down too.
Characters: 4/10 x2
Atmosphere: 5/10
Writing: 5/10 x2
Plot: 6/10 x2
Intrigue: 6/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 4/10 x3
Solitaire by Alice Oseman
dark
emotional
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
2.5
I really enjoyed other Alice Oseman books so I dove into this one expecting the same thing. Unfortunately I didn't click with this one the same way I have with others. I struggled to connect fully with Tori, even though I like her character in other books. It kinda just felt like she was existing in different places for the whole book and never fully engaged with the plot herself. I also unfortunately found Michael quite awkward and irritating. Something about the way he barged in to the meal just felt quite icky to me and I think that overshadowed his other appearances.
Characters: 6/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing: 4/10
Plot: 5/10
Intrigue: 4/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
Characters: 6/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing: 4/10
Plot: 5/10
Intrigue: 4/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Alcohol
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual harassment
The Pits by Katy L. Wood
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
I got my copy of this book slightly early as I backed it on kickstarter but I couldn't wait to read it! I couldn't put it down and read pretty much all of it in one sitting. This was my first book by this author and as soon as I finished this book I had to go and read Poison in the Blood, which is one of their other books because I enjoyed this one so much!
I loved the worldbuilding and the mystery surrounding the Pits and the author's descriptions were so interesting. The Pits were so mysterious and spooky and there was a creepy energy the entire time the characters were in them! The characters are very intriguing and I constantly wanted to learn more about them too! The characters are diverse but in a way that feels perfectly natural and makes complete sense within the story and their individual stories and perspectives are so interesting and cause a beautiful level of conflict between them.
The endingwas so beautifully frustrating. My heart broke for the characters and I immediately had to convince my friend to read the book so I would have someone to talk to about it. I need to know what the bit right at the end with Royal is going to mean and my heart breaks for Clarabella.
Overall, I loved this book and I will be (im)patiently waiting for the sequel! Though I do think the ending to this book is complete enough that it is satisfying to read by itself, there are amazing plot points that will be picked up in the second part that I cannot wait for!
Characters: 9/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Intrigue: 10/10
Logic: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
I loved the worldbuilding and the mystery surrounding the Pits and the author's descriptions were so interesting. The Pits were so mysterious and spooky and there was a creepy energy the entire time the characters were in them! The characters are very intriguing and I constantly wanted to learn more about them too! The characters are diverse but in a way that feels perfectly natural and makes complete sense within the story and their individual stories and perspectives are so interesting and cause a beautiful level of conflict between them.
The ending
Overall, I loved this book and I will be (im)patiently waiting for the sequel! Though I do think the ending to this book is complete enough that it is satisfying to read by itself, there are amazing plot points that will be picked up in the second part that I cannot wait for!
Characters: 9/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Intrigue: 10/10
Logic: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Misogyny, Stalking, and Colonisation
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Sappho Intl by Mvxx.Amillivn
I also later discovered that the book was self edited, and I think that explains a lot of my issues with the book. If this book had a good, strict editor to help the writer iron out a lot of these issues, I really think I would have liked this book a lot more. As it currently stands, I really didn't enjoy this book and I'm glad I'm done with it.
Characters: 2/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Writing: 2/10
Plot: 3/10
Intrigue: 1/10
Logic: 4/10
Enjoyment: 2/10
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
Hoo boy, I have a lot of thoughts on this book, I could probably write a lot about my feelings but Instead I am just going to make a list of them:
- Near the begining of the book there's a vague reference to the main character being a gold star lesbian, which is stated to be a good thing. This is incredibly gross, transphobic, and just all around exclusionary.
- The main character is written without any flaws and is rather conceited, which to an extent is fine, but I found annoying.
- There is an extreme emphasis on masc/femme relationships, with it kinda coming across like those are the only valid relationships. This is incredibly exclusionary and its weird to be applying hetero relationship standards to non-hetero relationships.
- The descriptions of the locations were interesting, but they were far too long and detailed. I didn't feel like I needed a thorough interior decoration lesson each time we moved rooms.
- At some point in the book there is also a bit where the main character mentions that most women she's encountered have never had a real orgasm before and she's the only one who can give it to them. This just feels incredibly egotistical and weird.
- I really didn't enjoy the amount of spiritualism in this book and it made every sex scene hard to read, this may not be a problem for everyone, I just don't vibe with that kind of stuff and it was so heavily intertwined within the book that I couldn't ignore it
- One of the plot points in the book is that
the main character is upset that Flourish is having sex with The Shiek, even though there was an early point where the main character talked about setting boundaries on their relationship because Flourish was too possessive and one of the main rules of the society is that there are no exclusive relationships allowed. I don't understand how the main character could be upset at Flourish when she herself went and had sex with many other women in the book. - The way that the characters talk to each other doesn't feel very natural, and the way the conversations were written meant that I found it difficult to keep track of who was saying what, especially if there was more than two people involved
I also later discovered that the book was self edited, and I think that explains a lot of my issues with the book. If this book had a good, strict editor to help the writer iron out a lot of these issues, I really think I would have liked this book a lot more. As it currently stands, I really didn't enjoy this book and I'm glad I'm done with it.
Characters: 2/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Writing: 2/10
Plot: 3/10
Intrigue: 1/10
Logic: 4/10
Enjoyment: 2/10
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Unfortunately, I think this book heavily suffers from a shift in perspective post-COVID-19 pandemic. The main character skips quarantine for an increadibly grusome and deadly pandemic in which the government was burning down whole buildings where a case had been discovered. That just really soured my feelings towards the main character, and my feelings towards her just never really recovered.
I also struggle to understand why this is marketed as a cinderella retelling, like I get that calling it a cinderella retelling would make it more marketable, but this story doesn't make sense to me as a cinderella story.Like yes it has a lot of the main parts of the cinderella story, the evil stepmother/stepsisters, cinderella being treated as a maid, her going to the ball, her falling in love with the prince, the prince not knowing about her true identity. But it strays from the plot a lot as well, she meets the prince long before the ball, and she doesn't lose her shoe. It just felt to me that adding the cinderella elements made the plot far more complicated than it needed to be, as it was already rather complicated as a cyborg/mystery plague/people from the moon story.
I don't think I will continue with this series, especially with the number of books there are.
Characters: 4/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing: 4/10
Plot: 4/10
Intrigue: 3/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 3/10
I also struggle to understand why this is marketed as a cinderella retelling, like I get that calling it a cinderella retelling would make it more marketable, but this story doesn't make sense to me as a cinderella story.
I don't think I will continue with this series, especially with the number of books there are.
Characters: 4/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing: 4/10
Plot: 4/10
Intrigue: 3/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 3/10
The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson
adventurous
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
5.0
I picked this book up a while ago and didn't realise it was part of a series until after I had finished it. That didn't stop me from enjoying the book, though, I feel like it stands up pretty well as a standalone book, though I am very excited to get to go back and read the rest of the series. I thought the mystery was very intrigueing and the twists were so cool and unexpected. The characters were fun to learn about and I enjoyed the way it switched between the present and the past when the crime happened!
Characters: 9/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Intrigue: 9/10
Logic: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Intrigue: 9/10
Logic: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Homophobia