Reviews and Comments

Strnad

strnad@bookrastinating.com

Joined 10 months, 1 week ago

Review ★s are skewed down because there are no half stars and I want to differentiate between enjoyed, really liked, and loved.

★★★★★ - I loved and probably didn't shut up about it for at least a week ★★★★✫ - I really enjoyed it. ★★★✫✫ - I liked it. ★★✫✫✫ - This book was not for me, but I finished it without much difficulty. ★✫✫✫✫ - I actively put the book down and stopped reading it.

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Tj Klune: In the Lives of Puppets (2023, St. Martin's Press) 4 stars

I had a lot of trouble getting into this book, and ended up skipping from about 30% through to the epilogue.

I just... didn't like any of the characters. I know in the other TJ Klune books I've read, the main character grows over time, so maybe these would have gotten better if I could give it more time. They did overall seem better by the end, but not enough for me to go back and reread the middle.

Seanan McGuire: Lost in the Moment and Found (Hardcover, 2023, Tordotcom) 5 stars

A young girl discovers an infinite variety of worlds in this standalone tale in the …

Glad I picked this up

4 stars

When Antsy runs away, she finds herself in a shop full of lost items, with doors that open into other worlds. This provides glances at the number of different worlds out there through the doors.

I enjoyed the cameo with Jack and Jill. Unsurprising, since Jack was one of my favorite characters, and it was good to see her again, if only for a sentence.

Like most of the other Wayward Children books, I really enjoyed the majority of the novella. Again, the ending lets me down, just a little bit. While I love the world and characters in the series, the endings often seemed rushed. I had actually given up on reading these because of that, but happened to find this at the library yesterday and read it in a couple hours. Lost in the Moment and Found did a better job with the limited wrap up time than …

Gretchen Felker-Martin: Manhunt (2022, Tor Nightfire) 4 stars

Y: The Last Man meets The Girl With All the Gifts in Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt, …

Not for me

3 stars

This was a book where I was intrigued by the premise and world, but just couldn't relate to most of the main characters.

I get that the characters have reasons to be fucked up (and the end of the world as we know it didn't help), but the poor communication and self-destructive tendencies were painful to read.

Jonathan Moeller: Child of the Ghosts (Paperback, 2013, Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform) 3 stars

Good for a fun read

3 stars

I enjoyed this book, and if I find a good deal on the sequels, will try to read those.

...But it was a fun read more than a good read. The more I think about the book, the more things bug me. Caira is too good at everything - I'm not sure the book shows her mess up badly. There's a number of repetitive phrases, and I think it would have benefited from not including the big villian's POV chapters.

Some questions I ask myself after any book: * Could the problem be solved by the main characters sitting down and talking like reasonable people? Nope * Does the main character make mistakes? ...She thinks she does. I'm not convinced.

reviewed At the queen's command by Michael A. Stackpole (The crown colonies -- 1st bk.)

Michael A. Stackpole: At the queen's command (2010, Night Shade Books) 3 stars

A new fantasy series, re-imagining the events of the American Revolutionary War. The Crown Colonies …

(Manual import from goodreads, originally written 2015/01/03)

3 stars

I liked this book, but it didn't capture me as much as some other of Stackpole's books. Hence the 2 month read time (The Wheel of Time took me 6 months, so...) The main characters were a bit too perfect and unrealistic.

My standard book questions:

Could everything be solved by the main characters sitting down and talking at the beginning? - Nope. Even combined, the protagonists just don't have enough information.

Does the main character make mistakes? Not many

Gregg Taylor: Tales of the Red Panda: The Android Assassins (2010) 4 stars

(Manual import from goodreads, originally written 2015/04/06)

4 stars

Gregg's books seem to be the dessert of books for me. They're enjoyable, and I can't stop reading once I get started. On the other hand, no matter how fun it is, I need to pick up something more substantial next.

Nevertheless, there will be rereads! Yes, indeed.

There are a few typos, but only the lack of a table of contents bothered me.