carmelien's reviews
44 reviews

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-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

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Did not finish book. Stopped at 5%.

As Old As Time by Liz Braswell

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Educated by Tara Westover

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

The Heroines by Laura Shepperson

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book retells the myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus, first told in play form over 2000 years ago. This flips the play around however, having Hippolytus force himself upon Phaedra and the results thereof. Woven throughout this is the story of other women in Athens and across Greece, of the suffering they experience daily. Despite the tough themes and content, I found this book to be a disappointing read. It felt like every man involved was evil and every women suffered at the hands of the men around them, and this grew tiring and repetitive to read. It felt that the women had no agency and no way to impact the world around them, and even strong female characters like Medea fell victim to this in this novel.

If you want a Greek retelling there are many better out there, I would suggest Ariadne by Jennifer Saint or Medea by Rosie Hewlett. The writing was good however, and I will pick up the next book published by this author, I only hope the themes are covered more respectfully than in this first attempt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Despite the name of this book, it is a story about both sisters equally and the struggle of being a women in a man's world. Both sisters struggle to escape the prison that their father, King Minos has created, and both see the hero Theseus as their escape.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Rapture by John Shirley

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Babel by R.F. Kuang

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was an incredibly hard read by intent. This novel covers themes of slavery, white privilege and revolution. As a British citizen, this made me examine my beliefs and willingness to sacrifice luxuries to benefit strangers. 
The book follows the life of Robin, a Cantonese boy brought to England to be educated and become a translator in the fictional Babel, within Oxford University. Throughout this novel we are privy to Robin's thoughts, which help in understanding the decisions he makes, even if we as readers disagree.
This book will stay with me for a long time after reading, it has left me with that beautiful emptiness a good book should end with.