mrtvavrana's reviews
766 reviews

Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen

adventurous inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

2.0

 

After reading Skin of the Sea and my initial disappointment, my hope for Soul of the Deep was not that high. But, I am afraid, it did not make a difference. 

 

While the worldbuilding remained impressive and immersive, it was at the expense of characters and the story itself. I am almost certain this duology would have been much better if it was twice as long and the characters had more space for growth. I think it would help the story too—spacing out the events and not rushing from one big thing to another. 

 

Again, the story was dragging until like halfway through the book, and then we had a train of very significant events happening in a very short span of time. The plot was predictable, and I cannot say that a single thing has surprised me. The plot twists were quite clever and fit with the story; unfortunately, the foreshadowing was obvious and the big reveals lacked surprise. 

 

Another thing I did not like were the characters Ara and Folasade.

Ara´s whole story felt only like a filler; she did not seem important to the plot up until she suddenly was. And (unsurprisingly), she was a villain. On the other hand, Folasade was introduced as a character that will be SO important, but unfortunately, her only job was to die to further move Adekola´s really weird storyline. Even the death was poorly executed.

I did not really understand why introduce more characters when the ones that were already a part of the story were still very flat and underdeveloped. 

 

If you hope to see more of Kola and Simi´s blossoming romance, you will be gravely disappointed. Simi had a much better romantic dynamic with

. Esu (yes, that one),

and her relationship with Kola only progress in the last few chapters.

And that is solely because he magically became Orisa! Nothing is properly explained, but he is not fully human anymore, so they can finally be together, right? Right??

 

 

The book ends on a cliffhanger, with Simi leaving (again), this time because she simply has to go on this big journey all by herself. Once again, we are left with a very open ending, hinting towards another adventure. 

 

I can't deny that Soul of the Deep, similarly to Skin of the Sea, was a very entertaining and quick read. I liked so many aspects of the stories, but unfortunately my expectations were too high, and I ended up very disappointed.

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

adventurous hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

2.0

I have been so excited to read Skin of the Sea for so long. The combination of West African/Yoruba mythology, gods, and mermaids was calling out to me. And I loved it! Well, I loved the concept. The book? Not so much. 

 

The story follows a Mami Wata named Simidele, who collects the souls of the dead. One day, by chance, she stumbles upon a boy, Adekola. He´s not dead yet, so she jumps into action and saves him. This puts her life, the life of the goddess Yemoja, and the lives of other Mami Wata in danger. 

 

As lovely as the story sounds, it was slow and dragging at times. The plot was predictable, and the characters one-dimensional. 

 

While I absolutely loved the mythology and the atmosphere Bowen created in this book, I found it incredibly difficult to connect to any of the characters. They are very underdeveloped and flat, yet each has so much potential.

I actually did not even feel a thing when one of the characters died and another was put into grave danger.

 

 

Simi, our main character, is a classic YA novel heroine. She is a strong, independent child who doesn't need anyone, and she can definitely do everything all by herself! Except, spoiler, she can´t.

And then, at the very end,  decides to give up everyone and everything and sacrifices herself because, of course, she is not worthy of happiness.

You know the drill. 

 

The most beautiful part of Skin of the Sea was definitely the mythology. I ended up doing my own research while reading - to learn even more about the characters. Another thing I really liked was how Bowen chose to talk about slavery and the abuse and fates of the kidnapped people. I think this was my first YA book that touched on the topic. 

 

Bowen´s descriptions were really captivating -  they were what kept me reading. Unfortunately, I think that all the worldbuilding is the reason why the story and relationships between characters felt rushed, and why the characters lacked in so many ways. It was also the case of the hinted romance. It developed almost immediately, and it did not make sense or feel real. And while the ending was quite decent, it also felt very rushed. 

Dreamcatcher by Stephen King

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

 

I will start this by saying I do not usually review King; in fact, this is my first review. And there's a good reason I'm writing it. Because, holy crap (literally), what the hell was that? I absolutely love Stephen King´s novels, and when I found out this one was about aliens, I simply had to read it asap. 

 

Dreamcatcher being my 27th (or perhaps 28th?) book by King, you would think I am used to his weirdness and there would be nothing more to surprise me. Well, you would be very wrong. This is by far the weirdest one. 

 

If you thought the

child orgy

from It was weird and gross and surprising. I wonder what you would say about all the farting and belching and the extremely vivid descriptions of fart smells and sounds this book contains. Not to mention the

alien beings being born via ripping people´s assholes.

No, I am not joking. I have seen people call this book too weird even for King himself, and I cannot agree more. 

 

As far as the story goes, it was not the best I´ve read. It was slow, dragging, and pretty boring, apart from a few moments.

The animal migrations were probably my favourite, there is just something otherworldly about seeing deer and foxes and bears and raccoons and wild cats, etc., all together.

 

 

The characters were interesting, but not very likeable. Apart from Duddits, he seemed very sweet, kind, and loving. The rest of the friend group, Jonesy, Beaver, Pete, and Henry, were kind of annoying, even though they had their moments. 

 

For me, the least enjoyable and most confusing was the military part of the story. What I liked the most, animals excluded, was the bond between the five friends. And also all of the retrospective parts that brought us back to their childhood. 

 

I still think Desperation and The Regulators are much more chaotic and maybe even more weird. And they are also the King books I liked the least. Unfortunately, Dreamcatcher is very close behind them.

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

 

While I do know a lot about Mishima, his life, and his (extraordinary? horrifying?) death, and I've been eyeing his works for close to a decade, this was my first. 

The first thing I am going to say is that this book is somehow exactly like him. Don't ask me to explain, because I can't. 

While the book itself is really short, just over 140 pages, I felt like it was so much longer. I definitely don't mean that in a bad way, no. The detailed descriptions, no matter how short or gruesome, were quite mesmerizing and gave the book an illusion of length. I think that maybe they took away from the characters and story a bit, but I did not really mind it. 

The story itself is quite enjoyable if you are into dark stuff. I've seen people calling this book terrible, and to a certain extent I have to agree.

Noboru spying on his mother through a peephole, Noboru and his "friends" torturing, murdering, and dissecting a helpless kitten, all their deranged fantasies and ideals, and the ultimate (hinted) murder of Noboru's stepfather were too much even for me.

 

I also think the book was beautiful. The writing flowed seamlessly, the characters had depth (although I wish the book was longer and we learned more of the boys and their actions), and Mishima described everything perfectly. I also noticed many parallels with his own life, which makes me think: how much of this story has really happened? 

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

 I had to sit on this review overnight, as I finished the book at the ripe time of 2 in the morning. I also had to collect my thoughts, as this book was a lot. I want to keep my review as spoiler-free as possible, but I don't think I will be able to. 

 

Leigh Bardugo is one of my favourite writers, so perhaps I am a bit biased, but I really enjoyed The Familiar. That definitely does not mean it is perfect. My main issue was with the characters; they weren't as deep as we´re used to from her other books. While I understand there needs to be a mystery aspect, they seemed quite one-dimensional. We did get a lot of insight into Luzia´s past, though I was quite disappointed there was not more about Santángel, Valentina, or even Víctor and his wife, Maria. 

Another thing that bothered me was the relationship between Luzia and Santángel. I definitely saw the romance coming, but it was very rushed and sudden. We went from 0 to 100 in the span of a chapter, and I hoped more for a slow burn, but that is on me.

 

I did not expect The Familiar to be action-packed, but I also did not expect it to be as slow and dragging as it is. I enjoyed that the pace of the book was quite steady for the most part and that everything flowed smoothly, slowly increasing in intensity. But for reasons unknown, I am not quite satisfied with the ending.

I don't want to say that I hoped Luzia and Santángel would die, and I did find the ending quite romantic, but I do love me a good tragedy.

 

Overall, this book was a very lovely read. I would not be mad if we were blessed with a prequel novel about Santángel and his life prior to meeting Luzia. 

Pásla kone na betóne by Milka Zimková

dark reflective sad tense medium-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

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten

adventurous emotional lighthearted sad 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

3.0

When Life Gives You Mangoes is a lovely and short middle-grade book which on a first glance deals with a mysterious accident that happened to the main character, Clara. She completely loses all memories about the events of previous summer.

I have picked this book for the Jamaica entry in the StoryGraph Reads the World Challenge. While I found the story mostly boring, I really loved the characters and all the twists and turns.

As the book progresses, we learn more about Clara and her friends, her family, the village she's from, and even Clara's mysterious uncle, who lives alone in a mansion at the very end of the village. It was nice to see a tight community that, despite their differences, eventually came together. Near the very end, the story finally comes to the huge plot twist I certainly haven't seen coming.

I was a bit disappointed we did not see more of Rudy, Clara's new friend, as the book synopsis made me think she would be crucial to the story.

Another thing that bothered me about Rudy is that, according to the book, she was already in the village a year before. How is it that everyone is acting as if that never happened? Did they collectively lose their memories? Why is she acting as if she has never visited before and never met any of the characters? Yes, Clara lost her memories because of the trauma she experienced, but this part really bothered me.

While I liked all the characters, they weren't fully developed, and some of their stories seemed rushed. What I enjoyed the most was probably the atmosphere the author created. I don't read many middle-grade books; this was sort of an experiment for me, and I was pleasantly surprised.

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

 

Let me start this by saying: What the fuck? I went into this silly-looking book thinking it would be a quick and easy-to-read fun horror. What I was not prepared for, though, were the horrors. 

 

My first book by Grady Hendrix was quite good. I am a 90´s baby, so I never really experienced the 80´s other than on screen and in books. But I loved the atmosphere My Best Friend´s Exorcism offered. 

 

When it comes to the characters, I can´t say I loved them. Both the main characters, Abby and Gretchen, were a bit annoying. I did feel quite bad for Abby in the second half of the book, and I also loved her determination to mend the friendship with Gretchen, Glee, and Margaret, no matter the cost. 

 

The pace was quite steady, but the first 100 or so pages have nearly put me to sleep. The second half of the book was more eventful, so I think it evened out. 

 

As the title says, this book was about exorcism. It was not the best (but also not the worst one I have seen), and the events that followed after did not quite live up to my expectations, but I have to say this was probably the most unique book I have read this year. 

 

I think what I enjoyed the most was the beautiful and complicated friendship between the characters. And also the fact that there was no massive dark twist at the very end; it ended quite wholesome. I honestly can´t wait to read more of Grady Hendrix´s work.