sarahmsklar8's reviews
182 reviews
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
2.5
Mexican Gothic was just ok, boarding on disappointing. The first 2/3 of the book was very slow, compared to the last 1/3. It almost felt like a totally different book. We ticked the standard boxes for a gothic horror, creepy formally wealthy family, secluded mansion, foggy estate in the hills, etc. What it lacked was any aspect of Mexican culture, save for the couple random mentions of the Revolution. This book could easily be picked up and moved from "Mexican Gothic" to "Canadian Gothic" "French Gothic" "South Polian Gothic".... you get the point. I am beyond disappointed there is no Mexican folklore, culture, or charm incorporated in. Absolutely nothing to make it stand apart from any other Gothic novel out there.
Book of Night by Holly Black
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
3.0
Overwhelmingly, meh. I was on autopilot throughout this book, which is so disappointing because it is comprised of so many of my favorite things; magical realism in an urban fantasy, tied into a mystery/ thriller with an elite secret society. Somehow, it still fell flat. The characters were bland and underdeveloped, and there was no emotional investment moving the plot along. The only saving grace was the last 50ish pages, but still managed to annoy me at the end with a cliffhanger, setting it up to be a series rather than a standalone. I think I'm being generous rating it 3 stars but I'm hopeful that when book 2 comes out (if I have any incentive to pick it up at the time), Black will be able to reel us back in.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Fourth Wing gives off How to Train Your Dragon and Red Queen vibes. I see people comparing it to The Poppy War, I think mostly because of the military school aspect, but I think putting this book in the realm of R.F. Kuang is setting way too high of expectations on the writing. I think Victoria Aveyard style and the tie-in with the rebels make it more comparable.
Very juvenile writing and dialog.
To the level of pre-teen/early teen but with a lot of "fucks" thrown in and a couple of spicier scenes to make it fall more on the adult side of young adult. Which I think will really hurt the reccommendability of this book. We have characters that are 20 and 23 talking like "omg he is So. HOT!" while trying to push an enemies to lovers scenario that doean't take place in the 8th grade. If you can push past that very childish mentality, the bones of the premise will keep you hooked.
A huge talking point for Fourth Wing is the inclusiveness with disabled characters, a hearing impaired scribe, the main character has a long list of physical disabilities, likely EDS. Throughout the beginning of the book it feels quite forced and unnaturally shoved down our throat. While I get that Violet overcoming the odds stacked against her due to her physical "limitations", it feels unnaturally presented in the dialog. Unfortunately I think one of the reasons booktok loves it is because it checks the boxes that boost their profiles when they talk about it, not because it is well incorporated into the story.
Now for the plot; While Fourth Wing deviates from the traditional 3 act formula of storytelling, by starting off with Violet being thrust into her "new world" of the riders from her comfort of the scribes, leading the reader straight into the action, skipping act 1 and jumping straight into tjhe tension building of act 2. However, it follows the rebellion template to a tee. The plot was consistently high stakes, but extremely predictable if you have read even 2 "rebellion war YA fantasy" books. It ends on a cliffhanger, set up to drive into the 2nd installment, that is a standard check of the box "twist", but I still enjoyed it (I wouldn't say I was surprised, but a happy "oh, there it is!").
The pace does slow down a bit in the last third of the book while it focuses a lot on the relationships and romance. I wish this was more sprinkled throughout the first half, so that as a reader we have more of an investment into the characters. The pacing was like Action, Action, Action, oh I need to make people care what happens so let's focus on characters now because I forgot to give them any depth, oh "Shock", "Twist", Action, "Shock", "Cliffhanger" (These are in " " because they were quite predictable).
Overall, I think the bones of the book are great and the more I think about it, the more I spiral into complex theories, trying to grasp at crumbs of hints for what is to come.
Very juvenile writing and dialog.
To the level of pre-teen/early teen but with a lot of "fucks" thrown in and a couple of spicier scenes to make it fall more on the adult side of young adult. Which I think will really hurt the reccommendability of this book. We have characters that are 20 and 23 talking like "omg he is So. HOT!" while trying to push an enemies to lovers scenario that doean't take place in the 8th grade. If you can push past that very childish mentality, the bones of the premise will keep you hooked.
A huge talking point for Fourth Wing is the inclusiveness with disabled characters, a hearing impaired scribe, the main character has a long list of physical disabilities, likely EDS. Throughout the beginning of the book it feels quite forced and unnaturally shoved down our throat. While I get that Violet overcoming the odds stacked against her due to her physical "limitations", it feels unnaturally presented in the dialog. Unfortunately I think one of the reasons booktok loves it is because it checks the boxes that boost their profiles when they talk about it, not because it is well incorporated into the story.
Now for the plot; While Fourth Wing deviates from the traditional 3 act formula of storytelling, by starting off with Violet being thrust into her "new world" of the riders from her comfort of the scribes, leading the reader straight into the action, skipping act 1 and jumping straight into tjhe tension building of act 2. However, it follows the rebellion template to a tee. The plot was consistently high stakes, but extremely predictable if you have read even 2 "rebellion war YA fantasy" books. It ends on a cliffhanger, set up to drive into the 2nd installment, that is a standard check of the box "twist", but I still enjoyed it (I wouldn't say I was surprised, but a happy "oh, there it is!").
The pace does slow down a bit in the last third of the book while it focuses a lot on the relationships and romance. I wish this was more sprinkled throughout the first half, so that as a reader we have more of an investment into the characters. The pacing was like Action, Action, Action, oh I need to make people care what happens so let's focus on characters now because I forgot to give them any depth, oh "Shock", "Twist", Action, "Shock", "Cliffhanger" (These are in " " because they were quite predictable).
Overall, I think the bones of the book are great and the more I think about it, the more I spiral into complex theories, trying to grasp at crumbs of hints for what is to come.
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
“When we were eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach."
The first line, at which point I realized this was not going to be a Literary Fiction piece about ecosystems and wolves. I enjoyed the thriller twist, but some of the subplots seemed so random and under developed. At under 300 pages, there were too many attempts at twists and the unreliable narrator deserved more time to flesh out. The aspect of taking charge on environmental restricturing while dealing with her own trauma, the book needed at the very least 150-200 more pages for character and plot development.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
3.0
“When we were eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach."
The first line, at which point I realized this was not going to be a Literary Fiction piece about ecosystems and wolves. I enjoyed the thriller twist, but some of the subplots seemed so random and under developed. At under 300 pages, there were too many attempts at twists and the unreliable narrator deserved more time to flesh out. The aspect of taking charge on environmental restricturing while dealing with her own trauma, the book needed at the very least 150-200 more pages for character and plot development.
A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole
emotional
inspiring
sad
2.5
things I'm over with YA books:
- Poetic dying. Terminal illness is not romantic. Stop making dying teenagers so strong and brave. so accepting of their diagnosis and just there to comfort the other people in their lives with their wise-beyond-their-years sense of peace. It is not only a cliche, but a horrible thing to normalize. Please start being realistic about the stages of grief and the ugliness of illness.
- forced brooding bad boys that are only nice when they get the girl. Stop. This was so poorly attempted that it was just annoying. Ruin was a whiney narcissist with borderline abusive possessiveness over Poppy. Honestly, she is probably lucky for her diagnosis because that "love story" was going to turn into a psychological thriller.
- cheesy epilogues. That crap legitimately brought my rating down by half a star.
Overall, too long, too many cliches, and too phony. The concept has been done to death (pun very much intented)
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
2.0
Putting the controversy of the author aside, this book is terribly overhyped and inconsistent. It is clear that Owen has an innate love of landscape and that which grows on/in it, but has zero human understanding. The conversations and character descriptions were almost hilariously unbelievable that it ruined the beautiful scene of the NC marsh.
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
Think Dexter, but with dark academia, feminist spin.
While the story was fairly predictable for a "thriller," the journey was still strongly enjoyable. I can definitely see this being a binge-worthy mini-series.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
4.5
Think Dexter, but with dark academia, feminist spin.
While the story was fairly predictable for a "thriller," the journey was still strongly enjoyable. I can definitely see this being a binge-worthy mini-series.
Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
- While this is slotted as a fantasy, there is the smallest dabble that I would argue it doesn't even count. It's more of a literary Renaissance, in a fictitious world that mirrors our own.
- Children of Earth and Sky is a prime example of "It's not where you go, but how you get there". There are number of key characters, all on similar roads but with unique goals.
- I know a lot of fantasy readers want standalones and love this book for being one, I wish it was broken up into at least a duology. There are so many stories overlapping without enough time to establish a connection. I found myself often either lost or expecting of something to connect the dots only to be let down, which left me numb to the journey and disconnected from the characters.
- Children of Earth and Sky is a prime example of "It's not where you go, but how you get there". There are number of key characters, all on similar roads but with unique goals.
- I know a lot of fantasy readers want standalones and love this book for being one, I wish it was broken up into at least a duology. There are so many stories overlapping without enough time to establish a connection. I found myself often either lost or expecting of something to connect the dots only to be let down, which left me numb to the journey and disconnected from the characters.
The Chain by Adrian McKinty
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
4.0
Really enjoyable thriller. I loved the concept and how you root for the unthinkable, hopeful that a horrific crime is successful, and that another families life is irrevocably altered.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
5.0
There is not much to say, but wow. Just an overall enjoyable read. I am a sucker for a flawed main, but Evelyn truly is an Icon.