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voxvenati's reviews
172 reviews
The Truly Successful Author: Build Your Author Career in 10 Hours/week by Maria Secoy
informative
fast-paced
4.0
This is a fair overview of self publishing and how to get started as an author trying to make a living off of writing.
It does gear a little toward complete newcomers and romance authors, but there is information here for everyone. It was thorough, and I enjoy the bonus content that comes with the book.
It does get quite repetitive, especially with the upsell for the course. There were probably 5-10 pages just devoted to the upsell.
Overall though, it’s a good starting point for indie authors looking to grow their readership and use data to inform their strategies. There are good resources that come with the book as well, including a glossary of terms, audiobook version, and guide to interviewing editors.
It does gear a little toward complete newcomers and romance authors, but there is information here for everyone. It was thorough, and I enjoy the bonus content that comes with the book.
It does get quite repetitive, especially with the upsell for the course. There were probably 5-10 pages just devoted to the upsell.
Overall though, it’s a good starting point for indie authors looking to grow their readership and use data to inform their strategies. There are good resources that come with the book as well, including a glossary of terms, audiobook version, and guide to interviewing editors.
Malorie by Josh Malerman
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I was in love with this until ~95% mark. Still, it did alright for most of the book.
The consistency in tone and style between Bird Box and Malorie was impressive. It was tense, fast, and painful in the early part of the book. Later on, that started to die down, but at least it was trying to be something different.
I did not love the conclusion to the book. My biggest gripe is that ending.Really, it started to falter for me when they made it to the train. Then, the ending felt very tame compared to the first book and beginning of this one that none of the three of them died, none of Tom’s rebellion caused problems. Nice that they got a happy ending, sure, but kind of felt inconsistent. The world suddenly felt much safer. Tom’s invention was also a bit dumb.
It was a fine sequel, despite its flaws, and I’m glad we got to find out what happened to Malorie and the kids.
The consistency in tone and style between Bird Box and Malorie was impressive. It was tense, fast, and painful in the early part of the book. Later on, that started to die down, but at least it was trying to be something different.
I did not love the conclusion to the book. My biggest gripe is that ending.
It was a fine sequel, despite its flaws, and I’m glad we got to find out what happened to Malorie and the kids.
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Jeff Vandermeer has such a way with his writing. The worlds are weird, deadly, vibrant, and ever so beautiful.
This was not as easy to get into as the Southern Reach series, but once I was in, I was hooked. I love the strange, biological focus of Jeff’s scifi. Borne as a character was delightful. Parts of the book had me sobbing.
At its heart, this is a story about living fully, about family, and about what it means to be a person. A must read for any Vandermeer fans.
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"Am I a person or a weapon?"
"You are a person. But like a person, you can be a weapon, too."
Jeff Vandermeer has such a way with his writing. The worlds are weird, deadly, vibrant, and ever so beautiful.
This was not as easy to get into as the Southern Reach series, but once I was in, I was hooked. I love the strange, biological focus of Jeff’s scifi. Borne as a character was delightful. Parts of the book had me sobbing.
I mourned the child I had known who was kind and sweet and curious, and yet could not stop killing.
At its heart, this is a story about living fully, about family, and about what it means to be a person. A must read for any Vandermeer fans.
Defekt by Nino Cipri
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was simply charming. It had laugh out loud lines, fantastic characters, real heart. It perfectly captures what it’s like to be a retail drone, only with added hope.
Again, I find myself comparing it to Horrorstör despite this not being horror. Grady Hendrix wishes he had what Nino/Defekt has.It’s legit everything I wanted out of Horrorstör - down to the monster in the maze! Incredible, chef kiss.
If you liked Finna, you’ll love Defekt.
Again, I find myself comparing it to Horrorstör despite this not being horror. Grady Hendrix wishes he had what Nino/Defekt has.
If you liked Finna, you’ll love Defekt.
Withered by A.G.A. Wilmot
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was a soft little story about a haunted house and the lives that touch it.
To start off, the tone of the book is very YA. It reads young, has a teenage protagonist, and follows a teen romance for much of the book.
The premise is interesting, and it’s a take on haunted houses that I haven’t seen before. But it wasn’t really my favorite, overall. The pacing was on the slower side, and the story felt very light. There are some harder topics, but they never felt as dense or fleshed out as I would have hoped. Also, it wasn’t as gory or dark as I was hoping.
I think readers who like YA, softer/lighter/slower horror, and queer protagonists will enjoy this.
All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in return for my honest review.
To start off, the tone of the book is very YA. It reads young, has a teenage protagonist, and follows a teen romance for much of the book.
The premise is interesting, and it’s a take on haunted houses that I haven’t seen before. But it wasn’t really my favorite, overall. The pacing was on the slower side, and the story felt very light. There are some harder topics, but they never felt as dense or fleshed out as I would have hoped. Also, it wasn’t as gory or dark as I was hoping.
I think readers who like YA, softer/lighter/slower horror, and queer protagonists will enjoy this.
All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in return for my honest review.
The Ritual by Adam L.G. Nevill
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I’ve been wanting to read Nevill for a while now, and this was probably as good a place as any to start.
It was definitely tense, and I finished it off in only a couple nights. I do think I like these claustrophobic, you can’t escape it types of books. It’s some of the only horror that evokes a reaction out of me.
I wasn’t a fan of some of the details - fatphobia, casual misogyny, lots of piss talk, homophobic slurs, a lot of repetition. The pacing suffered from the amount of repetition, and the middle to ending sagged because of it.
I wanted more about the religion. I really enjoyed all the bits we did get, but it wasn’t a super deep sort of lore to explore. It was a lot of surface details and facts.
Movie vs. book:
I liked the movie better in terms of both pacing and the entire ending sequence. I thought the teenagers kidnapping Luke wasn’t all that engaging. I did like the church and cemetery stuff the book had to offer, though, and all the dream sequences/forest children.
I’m glad I started with an older book by Nevill. His writing is promising and I’ll definitely be trying out more of his newer work.
It was definitely tense, and I finished it off in only a couple nights. I do think I like these claustrophobic, you can’t escape it types of books. It’s some of the only horror that evokes a reaction out of me.
I wasn’t a fan of some of the details - fatphobia, casual misogyny, lots of piss talk, homophobic slurs, a lot of repetition. The pacing suffered from the amount of repetition, and the middle to ending sagged because of it.
I wanted more about the religion. I really enjoyed all the bits we did get, but it wasn’t a super deep sort of lore to explore. It was a lot of surface details and facts.
Movie vs. book:
I’m glad I started with an older book by Nevill. His writing is promising and I’ll definitely be trying out more of his newer work.
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was such a quick read, I’m pissed I put it off for so long.
Love Flynn’s humor, writing, and mind. Dark as her other works but also funnier. Really messy and had me smiling the whole time.
The acknowledgement took me out:
Love Flynn’s humor, writing, and mind. Dark as her other works but also funnier. Really messy and had me smiling the whole time.
The acknowledgement took me out:
Thanks to George R. R. Martin, who asked me to write him a story.
Birds of Paradise by Anne Malcom
dark
slow-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
1.5
This book lured me in with a good cover and an interesting premise. It didn’t deliver.
The first bit of the book was fair. It set up some interesting dynamics and tension. But it did not follow through.
The grammar was awful, there were so many edgy lines, and the “plot” went nowhere. So much was boring repetition. “Twists” were attempted, but there was no set up, so they ultimately fell flat. The end of the book was anticlimactic. Felt like it was setting up for an epilogue, but there was none…
Also GDT did not deserve this. Leave him alone.
To sum up the book with a quote from the book:
The first bit of the book was fair. It set up some interesting dynamics and tension. But it did not follow through.
The grammar was awful, there were so many edgy lines, and the “plot” went nowhere. So much was boring repetition. “Twists” were attempted, but there was no set up, so they ultimately fell flat. The end of the book was anticlimactic. Felt like it was setting up for an epilogue, but there was none…
Also GDT did not deserve this. Leave him alone.
To sum up the book with a quote from the book:
“I don’t want any more self-depreciation about weakness,” he interrupted. “We’ve had enough of that.”
The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I wish we had gotten just a little bit more - some gore, some blood, somemore werewolf smooching - but it was a good read with a fair payoff.
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Short and sweet, with plenty of that darker fairytale flair. The banter between Judith and the stranger was delicious.
“What’s that tune?” she asked, pressing a hand against her hair and smoothing it back.
“You haven’t heard it before? It’s popular these days. It’s a ballad about a girl who’s dragged to the bottom of the river by her demon lover. You’d like it,” he said.
I wish we had gotten just a little bit more - some gore, some blood, some
Mothtown by Caroline Hardaker
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I wanted to love this book, and I did love the first half. The illustrations were a delightful surprise. There was a good amount of dread. I suppose I just wanted something different out of it.
I didn’t really love how much time we spent with David as a child, I thought the chapters with him older could have been more fleshed out. It was also hard to tell how old he was in the “After” sections until pretty far into the book.
And the framing of the beginning of the book, presenting it as a mystery, was misleading. What I wouldn’t give to read the book that delivered on that promise!
My main issue is spoilery.I do understand what it was trying to do with mental illness, but coming into this book, I was really prepared for fantasy or scifi elements. I was expecting some real Dark (Netflix) energy, but it’s not. Any magical realism at all is David’s mind, and that was a bit of a disappointment. Especially since we don’t really get any solid hints of this in the early part of the book to prepare us.
I think if you come into the book not expecting a whole lot of fantasy/magical realism/scifi, you’ll have a better time with this than I did.
I didn’t really love how much time we spent with David as a child, I thought the chapters with him older could have been more fleshed out. It was also hard to tell how old he was in the “After” sections until pretty far into the book.
And the framing of the beginning of the book, presenting it as a mystery, was misleading. What I wouldn’t give to read the book that delivered on that promise!
My main issue is spoilery.
I think if you come into the book not expecting a whole lot of fantasy/magical realism/scifi, you’ll have a better time with this than I did.