Review: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had heard mixed things about Ninth House before I picked it up, some people having loved it, others having not been so keen on it. At first, I wasn’t that keen. I didn’t like Alex’s perspective, I didn’t really understand what was going on and, there were some really graphic assault scenes that I wasn’t prepared for. After reading one assault (because multiple take place in this book and I think that even if you haven’t read this book yet, that’s something you need to be aware of), I took a week off reading because it was just too much, it really shook me and although it made me understand the characters, I would have happily gone without reading it.

 

Once the pace of the story picked up and Alex’s more recent history was delved into, I enjoyed this book a lot more. I liked reading about the different magic systems that could be used and undercovering the mystery behind what was happening in New Haven. I raced through the last 150 or so pages and stayed up until 1am just so I could finish the book that night because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I didn’t finish it beforehand. On top of that, the ending of the book was really quite satisfying and made my enjoyment even greater.

 

Overall, despite me taking a while to get into this book, I really enjoyed it. I think the trigger warnings for this book (specifically sexual assault, physical assault and injury detail) should be made clear to anyone before they read this book because I think me being unprepared for that to happen was something that really put me on edge and I wouldn’t want anyone to have a worse reaction than the one I suffered. I would have also enjoyed more parts from Darlington’s perspective because he was a great narrator and a great character that I wish we had been able to see more from. However, the story this book told, and its dark academia feel engrossed me and I would definitely read another book set in this universe. 

Review: Working Hard, Hardly Working by Grace Beverley

 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Going into reading this book, I was apprehensive. I follow Grace Beverly on Instagram and so have seen her productivity posts and watched the YouTube videos of her working insane hours when she was at university. I mean, in my time at university I’ve been guilty of overworking myself, but I’m someone who can’t work well past 5pm so it was more “not give myself any rest days” rather than “working late into the night”. As well, I feel like this book came out at just the wrong time for me. I’m finishing up my degree and going into a job where I can’t implement these techniques. However, what I have applied to my last few weeks at uni has been really helpful.

One thing I initially wasn’t sure of was “micropassions”. Grace gave an example of mind-mapping and that couldn’t be further from what I like to do and seemed so work-orientated in a way that I couldn’t relate to that I was turned off by the whole idea. However, after speaking to my friend she said that she really likes having a job where she can count money and that’s something she’s enjoyed since she was a teenager. Suddenly my whole perspective on micropassions changed and whilst I haven’t figured out what mine are yet, it has given me a more positive attitude to finding out.

The one thing from this book that I’ve been able to implement with a lot of success has been calendar blocking. As my deadlines were handed in one by one I found myself with a lot less to do and therefore was subject to Parkinson’s Law - carrying out a task over an extended period rather than taking the amount of time the task actually needs. Here the suggestion of calendar blocking really helped me; I found myself less beholden to Parkinson’s Law and had more free time.

The goal setting aspects of this book I think will take me longer to implement and I need

to read back over those sections again. Being in education for the past 18 years or so I haven’t found the need to set goals because the next thing I have to do is put in front of me. As I begin a career it will be interesting to try to implement it.

The “hardly working” side of this book was a bit of a let-down. It felt like a lot of waffle and a lot of repeating itself, which was a shame because so much of the book talks about the dangers of “hustle culture” etc. but then it doesn’t address it as much in the second section of the book as I would have hoped. That is the main reason for my star rating dropping down.

Still, this was an interesting and useful read and a book I think I’ll be coming back to refresh the ideas in my mind and to make sure I implement things to improve myself.

Review: Rubicon by Tom Holland

 

⭐⭐⭐

I’m not someone who knows much about Rome and the Romans, and that definitely showed itself as a negative when I started reading this book. I needed to listen to a podcast, ‘The History of Rome’ if you’re interested, to catch me up to speed on what on earth was happening. Podcast listened to up to the point at which this book starts, I tried to persevere again, but again, I found it difficult. People seemed to crop up out of nowhere and although their names were familiar to me, I didn’t really know who they were. So, I would say if you want to read this book, you need a fair bit of background knowledge about what happens before you pick this book up, which is a shame. It’s a shame because this is a narrative history book, which instantly makes it more accessible than a lot of other history books; it’s meant to keep you interested and engaged. For that reason, it should be easier for someone like me to pick up this book and become interested in Roman history, though instead it left me confused.

 

A lot of time within this book was spent on what I’m going to call the ‘mid-section’ from Sulla to the start of the end for Caesar. Coming into the book, despite the confusion it leads to, this makes sense as it’s the basis of what the book is about, but towards the end of this ‘mid-section’ things start to get confusing again. Out of nowhere Caesar is assassinated and then suddenly we’re skipping off to when Octavian ruled and before you know it, he’s dead. It’s a shame because I feel like if this section of the book hadn’t rushed, the book would have been rounded off a bit more nicely.

 

There is no doubt that I’m still interested in learning about the Romans and the Roman Republic, but this was not the ideal starting place. Being honest, I’m not sure at which place reading this book should come. I imagine, because of its narrative style, if you already know about these events then this book may feel a little repetitive, but it is definitely not for the beginner.

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Review: From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book has a four star rating from me (though would more accurately be 3.5) not because it’s a great book by general standards, but because I really enjoyed it. I think this book falls into the category of a guilty pleasure read and I’m perfectly happy with that.

 

In parts, this book felt like a drag. It’s over 600 pages long and some of those pages went quickly, whilst others went very, very slowly. Because around two thirds of this book is Poppy’s thoughts, it means that a lot of the text feels a bit like filler and also that there are an insane number of ellipses. I don’t know why ellipses are really annoying me at the moment but when I see them in a place where a comma or full stop would suit, how unnecessary they are grinds my gears.

 

Having said that, despite not enjoying some aspects of the book, the forbidden romance aspect, badass heroine and, fantasy elements brought this book together to be something I looked forward to reading and hopefully something I’ll continue to enjoy in the next book.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

For the size of this book, it was very lacking. After reading A Court of Mist and Fury, I was so excited to read this book, though I was confused as to why there was so much hype around that book, but not this one. Now I know why.

 

My annoyances first. The number of ellipses infuriated me. There were sometimes three to a page and I understand that they’re used to show pause for thought, but for most, a good old comma would do. It became so bad that every time I saw that ‘…’ I considered skipping the paragraph, which is not what you want when reading any book. Secondly, the end was sort of predictable. I guessed how a lot of the battle would play out before the book came and the things that I didn’t predict did seem a little too convenient, even for saviours in battles.  As bad as it sounds, I would have preferred it if more main characters had died as well; it would at least make it seem more realistic.

 

Overall, though, I did enjoy the general plot and it was exciting to see the world expanded upon even more. The progression of the three books definitely got that right by building upon the world little by little in each book. Rhys and Feyre’s relationship was also really nicely done and felt real. They spent enough time apart that the book didn’t strictly turn into a romance but their moments together still made me really happy.

 

I know there are now more books planned to be released related to this series, but I’m no longer as enthused to read them as I might once have been.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: Dune by Frank Herbert

 

Rating: ⭐⭐

This book was a major disappointment. It tries to sell itself as one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time but falls far short of that title.

 

The main thing that annoyed me about this book is the description of every character’s thoughts. I feel like it shows the weakness of Herbet’s world-building and character development that he has to describe every thought of every character, rather than letting the reader figure it out for themselves and, much like some filmmaking, has to tell us rather than show us the motivations and schemes of the characters.

 

As well, this book took a long time to get going; at least 200 pages or so. This could be justified if those pages built up well to the rest of the book, but it didn’t. The story overall felt like it was going nowhere and the climax was just tagged on the end in a rush.

 

Finally, the treatment of women in this book was disheartening. Even though many of the female characters were shown to have immense skill sets, it seemed like they weren’t effectively utilised and many female characters were just pushed to the side. The Princess who had been telling us so much of the story via the chapter headings was shown as a commodity to be bought or sold, though clearly from her historical writings on the events of the book, she was an intelligent and thoughtful character. It’s a real shame this couldn’t be shown more.

 

The only thing I really enjoyed about this book is the stark contrast of the world to our own and the scientific discoveries and developments that allowed survival in such a place.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

 

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Looking back to when I first read this book, I can’t believe I only gave it three stars. Now it definitely sits at a five and the worst thing? I didn’t write a review the first time I read it so I don’t known why I wasn’t the biggest fan of it.

 

On this read though, I really, really enjoyed it. The decisions of the characters made sense and their actions were justifiable. I think in my first read I might not have understood the sudden change in Tamlin’s behaviour but, having read this book right after reading A Court of Thorns and Roses (unlike the last time when I’d had a year’s break between the two), it makes more sense to me now. I understand that after three/four months Under the Mountain, Feyre and Tamlin would have been suffering massively as a result of that trauma and hence their actions might not seem logical without that prior knowledge of their suffering.

 

I also loved getting to see some action sequences with Feyre now as a High Fae, including the use of her magical abilities. Although the final showdown with Hybern was a bit disappointing in terms of the action, the other parts of this book in which it was explored make up for it.

 

The development of friendships and relationships in this book was also done well. I was convinced that the members of the Inner Circle of the Night Court were friends and I was definitely convinced of the developing relationship between Rhys and Feyre.

 

I think it says a lot about how much I liked this book that I was upset that I couldn’t get my hands on the next one in the series and am discontented at having to make do with only three sample chapters until I can get a copy.

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Review: Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

My feelings on this book are very mixed. Before reading it, I had seen so many people raving about how great this book was and up to around page 150, I felt the same. But then something changed. The story seemed to lose viability because the conflicts didn’t seem to warrant the reactions. It felt like the author had written out a timeline of when certain relationship milestones had to be reached and then to make Chloe and Red’s relationship fit that, conflict was added in to make up the time in between.

 

A spoiler example of this was the fall out on the ‘bar crawl’. I knew that they would need to make up with each other before the camping trip they had planned for the next weekend and predictably the plot followed that so that they were back together for the next weekend. It made the relationship feel fake and too planned out.

 

Having said that, the representation of physical and mental illness in this book was refreshing. The recognition that when you find a partner, no matter how amazing they are, it doesn’t make you recover and that medication and therapy are important parts of navigating such illnesses.

 

The premise of this book was also really fun and interesting. The prologue was a really good opener and set up the book in the best possible way. I’m really sad I didn’t enjoy this book more because when I first started reading it, I thought it would be an easy five stars, but such is life.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney

 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started this book, but I didn’t expect what it actually was. I knew that it covered a time span of years and so I was really surprised by the size at first; I had been expecting at least a 400-page book.

 

I think I had been trying so hard to avoid spoilers as well that I failed to look for trigger warnings for this book. Mental illness (depression and anxiety), suicide, eating disorders, physical abuse, mental/emotional abuse and sexual abuse are all major triggers for this book. Thankfully I was alright reading these, but I know some people who would not be. I’ll probably find loads of posts about Normal People with the trigger warnings, but I had no clue about them going into the book.

 

The other thing that really shocked me was the lack of speech marks. In a way, I’m glad that I didn’t know this before reading because I feel like it might have put me off the book before I’d given it a chance. Whilst it did put me off for the first fifty or so pages, I ended up really enjoying the lack of speech marks because it removed the temptation to skip paragraphs and just focus on the speech.

 

Overall, I gave this book four stars because of the realness and emotional connection I felt towards the characters; I was really invested in their story. This wasn’t a five star read for me because I would have preferred it to be longer and there wasn’t that something that five star reads have.

 

Connell and Marianne remind me of the ‘relationships as lines’ that I have seen. They come together and drift apart, end up wound together tightly but separate, only to find that they can’t stay that way. It’s the most accurate description of those lines that I’ve ever read, and I love it for that.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Novels and Stories Volume II by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

With any compilation of stories, there will be ones you like more and ones you like less. The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box and The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane stand out as really good stories, but others were less interesting or highlighted the time the books were written in negatively. This is particularly the case with racist descriptions of black men, suggesting their inferior intelligence and portraying them as thugs. It speaks to the early 20^th century when these stories were being written, but it’s not okay to just pass over the fact and pretend that it doesn’t matter.

 

Having said that, the friendship between Holmes and Watson was lovely to read about and made me tempted to push up my rating. Holmes is often seen as cold and calculating but in these stories, you could also see how much he valued Watson and his opinions. It is a shame in a way that there aren’t more stories, but with the countless adaptations there’s plenty still to dive into if the temptation arises.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery

My rating: ⭐⭐

This book was sweet, though I didn’t see much point in its existence. With the other add in book, Anne of Windy Willows, it filled a clear gap in Anne’s life that had been missed in the original books. However, with this book, it filled a much more random amount of time, from long after Anne’s House of Dreams had ended to a few months before Rainbow Valley starts. I was that interested in that allotted time, or maybe I would have been more interested in it if the book had been different.

By that I mean that similarly to Rainbow Valley, this book followed scores of perspectives and I didn’t much care for most of them. I think had I not read Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside this book would have been confusing because of the sheer number of children who had a perspective in this story, yet this book is supposed to be set before them…

Aside from that, it was a sweet enough book about the trials and tribulations of childhood, though childhood from an advantaged perspective, and touched on the issues a marriage can face as children and work take over, which I thought was interesting. Overall though, there wasn’t enough to tie this book together to justify its creation, though at least not everyone loved Anne! (Though of course most people did.)

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: Anne of Windy Willows by L. M. Montgomery

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Like a lot of the books in the Anne of Green Gables series, this is another simple, light read. The threading of a continual storyline was a bit better throughout this book rather than just following Anne through a random period, thinking particularly of her neighbour Elizabeth, as happened in the other books around this time in Anne’s life. However, it still wasn’t overly impressive.

As with the previous books, how much Anne is liked by everyone is more than a bit irksome and even the people that don’t like her eventually love her! The singular time Anne made an enemy by her actions, it is made to seem like that character is completely unreasonable because of course, no one can hate Anne for an actual reason. (The urge to roll my eyes is overwhelming.)

Aside from that, a complete lack of Gilbert’s presence in this book was a bit disappointing. It might speak to the time, but by missing out that part of Anne’s life, both in terms of visits and omitting parts of her letters, it just made the book a bit lacking and less realistic.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’m not a reader of thrillers typically and I think that this book is a great introduction to the genre for me. For it being one of the biggest books of the year when it was published, I somehow managed to avoid any spoilers and even knowing what the plot was about; I wouldn’t have it any other way. This book is fast paced with plenty of twists and turns and it isn’t afraid to make the reader hate the main characters. There was a time when I was reading this book that I was tempted to think that Nick and Amy deserved each other, but now, despite his flaws, I really do feel sorry for Nick. I can’t wait to see what else Gillian Flynn has to offer in her other books.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In high fantasy, sometimes the process of setting up a new world can be quite arduous; it can put me off as a reader. Thankfully that was not the case for ‘The Priory of the Orange Tree’. It also did a good job of subtly setting up some aspects of the story, such as when Ead hinted that the story of the Damsel was different in the South and it is only chapters later that we get to hear that story. It makes it feel less like the book is “info-dumping” and allows us to find out some of the nuances of this world at the same time as the characters.

There can also be an issue in high fantasy of creating such a vast world and large number of characters that a reader can lose track of each individual storyline (not to call out A Song of Ice and Fire but …). This book strayed very close to that line, but it only ever did so with minor characters who served to enrich the world by making it seem more like real life, so on that point it can be forgiven.

The story itself was captivating. There was a clear purpose behind each of the characters and the motivation behind their actions led to logical outcomes for the rest of the plot. There can be a tendency to draw out storylines longer than their natural course, such as in Crescent City, but even though this is a long book (for me), I don’t think the story was stretched further than it should have been. If anything, I would have liked to see a bit more of the story from Tané’s perspective as, second to Ead, I found her segments the most enthralling.

As for the main romance in this book, I loved it. There was a slow development that made it feel very natural and it was great to read about a w/w relationship as LGBTQ+ relationships can be rare in fantasy and even when they are present, it is often m/m. Importantly, the relationships in this book didn’t detract from the main story and it wasn’t the quest of every character to find a romantic relationship, which is true to real life. Sometimes with such extended plots, though this is mainly the case for TV shows and movies, writers try to pair up every character at the conclusion and this book beautifully shows how this is unnecessary.

It is hard to find much I didn’t like about this book. As I previously mentioned, more of the story from Tané’s perspective would have been welcome, as would have more exploration into the magic systems and harnessing of the powers possessed by certain characters. But, overall, this book just makes me excited to read more of Shannon’s work though I’m sad my time in the world of ‘The Priory of the Orange Tree’ is over.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: The FlatShare by Beth O'Leary

My rating: ⭐⭐

I loved the first fifty or so pages of this book. The premise was something exciting and different and I was really looking forward to reading the rest of this book.

Unfortunately, I didn’t end up enjoying it as much as I thought I would after the first fifty pages. I think it was partly because of me; my mental health experienced a large dip whilst reading this book and as a result I would leave it for days at a time, or longer. So, maybe with less fragmented reading I would enjoy this book more, but I’m still not entirely sure.

The way time moved in this book I found to be disconcerting. Days and weeks would pass on single pages as a result of the notes Tiffy and Leon were sending, whilst other times less than an hour would pass over five or six chapters. I think it was a natural consequence of having the two perspectives, but I felt really taken out of a moment when the perspective would shift and as a result, I didn’t really believe in the ‘chemistry’ between Tiffy and Leon. I tend to enjoy third person narration more and this is a book where I think I would have preferred it, especially so scenes would lack the jarring breaks.

Maybe I’ll give this book another go in future but I can’t be sure I’ll really want to.

Review: Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

This book was a bit of a disappointment. It struggled between being a romance and a political thriller with a foot not far enough into each realm to make it worth it. The building up of the romance from hate to them getting together felt too rushed and then quickly became a play by play of ‘Henry and Alex did this, Henry and Alex did that’. Adding to that the fact that I’m not invested enough in American politics to fully comprehend the campaign and the role of each of the ‘White House Trio’ in that, it made what should have been a fun and interesting read into less of that.

Having said all that, this book was not awful. There were some funny moments and I believed in the love between Alex and Henry. The email chains later in the book also highlighted the struggles of long-distance relationships that I feel are very applicable in the current situation.

Unfortunately though, I feel that this book will quickly fall into a pile with others that I have forgotten the plot of and for which I don’t care about the characters in.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is one of those books that I went into with slight worries because of all the amazing reviews I had read previously, but I need not have had them. This book made me laugh, it made me cry (if you want to know exactly when it was the end of section 9 and start of section 10) and it made me value the NHS even more. To hear how long these problems have been going on with no solution is heart-breaking and I know I’ll now be looking for more ways to help as well as making sure I treat every junior doctor, though I have to admit I don’t remember interacting with any since my early teens and I hope I was kind then, with more respect. It’s the least they deserve.

Review: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

I tried to read this book months ago, got 60 pages in and then didn’t pick it up for months. I think you have to be in the right headspace to read this book; you have to be prepared to read something very dense because even though in the version I read there were 396 pages, the text was small and the pages were large. On my second attempt, I think I got past those first 60 pages because by that point I had watched the 2019 film adaptation and therefore knew what was coming. Without that knowledge, apart from what had been spoiled years before in a Friends episode, I think it would have taken me even longer to read this book or I might not have even been able to finish it.

Having said that, and comparisons will be made to that film adaptation because I have little else to go off, I cared much more for Beth upon reading the book and may have been tempted to shed a tear. I enjoyed the playfulness of the friendship between Laurie and Jo and found the descriptions in the book really pleasing to read because in most other classics that I have read most of the text is speech and to me the story has less effect because of that. Contrary to a lot of opinions I have heard, I really liked the relationship between Amy and Laurie. As sad as it was that he and Jo weren’t together, I could also completely understand it; if their relationship had been allowed to continue there would have been a severe disbalance in romantic love between the pair and therefore Amy and Laurie were presented in the later chapters as a much better match.

Aside from the density, there were other downsides to the book. I didn’t like Meg as a character, especially after she got married. Obviously, times were different but her role entirely being encompassed by children and housekeeping while her husband went to other places for entertainment made me equal parts angry, that he shouldn’t have more of a role, and bored, because it seemed nothing of real substance. Also, the end of the book seemed to race through events far too quickly. In comparison to the earlier chapters which had taken their time, before you knew it, Amy and Laurie were married, then Jo and Mr Bhaer were and then suddenly they were running a school for boys. If the rest of the book had matched that pace it would have been fine but because the rest of the book took its time, it felt like a rushed job.

Review: Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

What a book and what a duology. This sequel had me on the edge of my seat as much as the first and had just as many exciting and unexpected twists and turns. At first, I read this book quite slowly because I didn’t want my time in this world to end, but I raced through the last 150 or so pages as each development meant this book was simply unputdownable. There were parts that made me smile, parts that made me want to cry (especially chapter 49) and parts that left my mouth hanging open in shock. I couldn’t recommend this duology highly enough and am just sad that I didn’t read this book sooner.

[Goodreads parallel]

Review: Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

This book succeeded in being intriguing and it was definitely a story that I wanted to follow through to the end. To say that it was 800 pages, it didn’t feel that long, but I do remember getting to page 200 and thinking that I was going to be in for a long ride. Deciding how I feel about this book has been difficult, in part I think due to its length because over so many pages, a lot happened. But, overall, there were aspects of this book that I didn’t like and certainly dampened my enjoyment of the story.

Firstly, and because it plays such a key role within the story, I didn’t like the relationship between Hunt and Bryce. I felt like them eventually getting together was too obvious even though they started off their relationship as ‘enemies’. As their relationship developed, it didn’t make me feel anything more for them, both as individuals and as a pair. Maybe it’s because, in typical Sarah J. Maas style, I assume they won’t remain together in the next book and that expectation has made me wary of wanting them to be together.

Secondly, whilst I enjoyed the final fight for Crescent City and found the fight scenes enjoyable to read, I didn’t like how Bryce’s firstlight fixed the city, repairing buildings and healing the injured. Whilst I’m glad the dead stayed dead, it felt like too much of a happy ending after this book trying to be more gritty and real by having main characters killed off and accepting the darker sides of life. Personally, I would have enjoyed it more if Hunt had died, especially as he was literally described as having been almost blown apart. Maybe that’s because I don’t like the relationship between Hunt and Bryce that much, but still.

As well as that, I thought Hunt’s betrayal and the whole storyline with the synth deal on the ship was poorly done. Throughout the book we had Hunt’s perspective and from that, I didn’t get the indication that he would want to start another rebellion, especially after how the last one had gone. It seemed to appear out of nowhere and be for the sore purpose of separating Hunt from Bryce for the final showdown.

So, why didn’t I give this book a lower rating? Because the story still kept me engaged throughout the bits that I didn’t like, because I wanted to have an answer to some of the mysteries and because of Ruhn. To me, he was one of the best characters in the book and I was hoping to see a lot more from him than we actually did. In the initial stages of the investigation, we got some chapters from his perspective and I thought that would be a continuing theme, but then they seemed to drop off until the end of the book. Still, I held out hope that we would hear more from him because even though he was treated badly by Bryce, I cared about him and what would happen to him.

[Goodreads parallel]