solaris_zip's reviews
111 reviews
Masters of Death by Olivie Blake
slow-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? Yes
3.75
I found the book very interesting. That’s without saying tho, that I struggled with understanding at some point. With Olivie Blake books I have such a relationship. I read them the first time: I exit it by feeling stunned and lost. I read it the second time: I exit by suddenly have a different approach on life.
I enjoy the book and the idea. It’s very different from the atlas six books, which is what made me discover Blake in the first place. This book doesn’t shy away from swearing and being explicit, love that. Is less “heavy” in a way too. The book overall is of slow pace. Some chapters are very quick and keep you hooked. Others don’t make sense immediately but as you keep reading they start connecting, I found myself going back and forth in the book as the pieces started to connect. Tho, I found this approach makes the story a bit difficult to follow. I didn’t truly, and maybe still haven’t, completely grasped the concept of the game. I admit it took me awhile.
Mayra and Cal. I love how she is characterised. She is such an interesting character. And I love them as a couple, and the fact that they passed the offer for paradise to stay with fox? Crying my eyes out.
I hated Tom at the beginning. He was annoying. To say the least. I still found him annoying by the end of the book, but, I also didn’t dislike him. It was obvious something was gonna happen with V and him, and i felt at peace after 375 pages, yes 375, they finally kissed. I liked how their story turned out.
Now, fox and brandt… god how I hated Brandt. From start to end. The headaches I got from him were… a lot. He was insufferable at times to read. I thought I was gonna dislike fox too, but by the end, I felt pretty neutral about him. I feel their relationship is very complex. There is about 2 centuries of story behind. I feel torn. In a way I see why they ended up once again together at the end. They truly never got to enjoy their love. From Brandt situation and all. Yet, I almost wished they didn’t ended up together. Maybe fox needed to find himself. To move on in a way. I wished we had perhaps a little snipped of them, of what happened to them after everything. If they grew old together and all. (About all of the couples actually).
Batman / Catwoman: The Gotham War – Scorched Earth #1 (2023) by Tini Howard, Chip Zdarsky
0.0
Doesn’t even deserve one star. What the hell is going on? Is this how Gotham war ends? Seriously? Unanswered questions about Jason, does he will have to live for the REST OF HIS LIFE, with the toxins Bruce injected into him? Bruce leaving as soon as someone calls him up on his shitty behaviour. Selina falling into death and then she is alive? Batman’s identity getting discovered? The art style changing and going back to that atrocious art style from the beginning at the end? Why? It was so not necessary. This whole issue, along side the other Gotham war ones, are just a MESS. Ruined years of progress made into the batfamily storyline just to scrap everything out again. And the dialogue, don’t get me started on the writing. Atrocious.
Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
3.5
1824, friends to lovers. Penelope and Colin love story is something so simple yet so heartwarming. Because it something that many people could relate to. Having a childhood friend, knowing someone for so long, being used to be around them to care for them.. and then one day everything changes. You start to properly look at them. Noticing the way their eyes aren’t just brown, but a softer shade of brown with a gold ring around. You will start noticing how perhaps their lips look perfectly kissable. You will start to wonder, “what is this feeling? Why am I blushing like a madman?” Truth is, Penelope and Colin love story is sweet, is giddy. I like to say Penelope manifested everything. Manifesting queen 1824.
Either way, I enjoyed the book. I love those two and the book is now one of my favourites from the bridgerton universe. However, there are a few things that I didn’t particularly like. For example, the way Colin would snap or just be rude, very rude, to Penelope and never fully apologising to her. Never being on his damn knees apologising, begging her to take him back. Especially after the whole “I will never marry Penelope” thing in the prologue, years went by and he even acknowledged… he never apologised for it. And that really icked me.
Another thing is the way Penelope is written.
Either way, I enjoyed the book. I love those two and the book is now one of my favourites from the bridgerton universe. However, there are a few things that I didn’t particularly like. For example, the way Colin would snap or just be rude, very rude, to Penelope and never fully apologising to her. Never being on his damn knees apologising, begging her to take him back. Especially after the whole “I will never marry Penelope” thing in the prologue, years went by and he even acknowledged… he never apologised for it. And that really icked me.
Another thing is the way Penelope is written.
Throughout the book we see her trying to fight for her voice. There were instances were she really pushed through, she was standing her ground and we like that! But, two pages later the author went back to write her as little lost girl Penelope. And I think that's really not fair. She should have had her big glow up, personality wise. There were so many scenes with Colin where I just wished she just snapped at him.
Infuse some common sense into him. And yet she didn't. She took it all. And sometimes I dare say let him walk over her, and I didn't like that.
Book wise they are a better couple than Kate and Anthony (come for me I dare you). In the show, I hope we will see a Colin who will jealous.
Desperate. So damn desperate to be with Penelope, I want to see Colin so down bad, that I have to stop the show out of secondhand embarrassment for him. I want to see him distraught at the thought of her marrying someone else. I want ANGST. I want him BEGGING, for her to get married with him. For her to reject him. Or to at least make him work for it. I don't need something "easy" like in the book. Where after the carriage scene he just slips in the proposal and that was it.
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
2.0
<spoilers ahead>Enemies to lovers but make it 1814. I had the pleasure of watching the tv series before reading the books. I desperately needed some sort of closure especially after s2, of which I felt the ending was a bit rushed and hoped for some more expanding on Anthony and Kate story line. Safe to say, I was severely disappointed when I picked up the book.
I was very aware that the show was very different from the books. Usually for the worst right? Yet, I found that this time is the other way around. This book, in all honesty might be the most uninteresting and just bland book I have ever read. I really wanted to like it, I wanted to force myself to like it. But there were too many things that set off an ick.
Let’s start with the main one. The author, Julia Quinn, likes to remember us from start to finish how Kate is, in simple words, not like other girls. She is not pretty like her sister Edwina, or the rest of the girls at balls, she is not elegant, she is clumsy, she is rough around the edges. One thing I found is that in the book she is very aggressive.
In the show, Kate is fierce, doesn’t take bad attitudes from men, she stands her ground. Something that lacks in a way in the book. Because especially towards the end, despite Anthony treating her like dirt, she still forgives him. She lets him walk all over her, something show Kate wouldn’t. I dare say book Kate lacks of the backbone show Kate has. In the show Kate is strongly set on not wanting to marry. She is fine on her own, but in the books, despite she doesn’t fancy the idea she still wants to marry and it feels like she is looking for her own self validation through a marriage. We see that in the first intimate scene with Anthony how she almost burst out crying because she insecure and believes he is thinking of Edwina? And for me, that’s not Kate.
Some other things I didn’t like. Anthony. Just him. The whole book he was insufferable. In the show I couldn’t stand him, but, towards the end of s2 I grew to respect and understand his character. He changed. In the book he doesn’t have a proper character development if you will. I still see and find him as the insufferable guy. He is, extremely, sexist but in an underline way.
The book also moves fast pace. I find myself more enjoying the slow burn, for how heartbreaking it was, of the show. Than the fast peace of the book. By chapter 4 we already had the first glance of their sexual tension. Their engagement in the books was a marriage of convenience. It didn’t make sense in my eyes. It felt forced. It felt rushed. The way the structured in the Netflix show makes much more sense to me.
Some other things that made me extremely uncomfortable. The sexual scenes indeed. They felt so damn off. Especially the first one after the wedding, where Kate clearly states she isn’t ready and wants to wait for a week, and Anthony tells her no. He can’t wait that long. And despite her worry, despite her insecurity they did it anyway. It felt wrong. Just like it felt wrong any other scenes later. Just like the bee scene also felt so damn strange. Awkward they got caught by their mothers, but also Anthony has no idea of consent and boundaries? I lost the count of how many time Kate says no and he still does something. Everything starts going down hill from here. (Just how Anthony says I love you to her, only after his brothers basically tell him to have a wake up call, and while she is on the verge of dying? Like sir… what?)
There is just a lack of consent in general that very bothers me. Just like going in for a kiss without asking first, or touching or moving dresses down without asking. It’s disgusting to read.
But, there were a few things I enjoyed from the book. Like Penelope’s and Kate’s friendship of which I really hope is explored next season. Daphne and Colin having personalities. I loved reading witty, sharp, sarcastic Colin and Daphne with a sense of self and personality that doesn’t revolve about being a mother or a wife. The thunder scene of chapter 12, that was great. I loved how it was written and the only reason I give two stars and not zero to the book. I also loved violet bridgerton, the book gave me a totally different outlook on her than the show (which I found her rather oppressing and annoying) but I found myself loving her in the book. Can’t say the same for Mary, of which in the first half of the book at least she felt snappy, mean and just different from the Mary of the show.
Overall I feel the show is better than the book in this case, and that if you must decide between watching the show or reading the book, I would 100% recommend the show.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The writing is so beautiful done. It flows like water. It’s not heavy, even if I must say the first chapters are a bit slow and what got me to leave the book untouched for the last two years💀 but, as you get into the story, narrated by Patroclus, we see the before, the during and the after the war. We see the beauty of their friendship, how it was always underline that from day one they had something more than just a friendship. How with the years it changed and shaped into something completely different and fulfilling. The book is a retailing so of course, is not 100% accurate to the myth, but, there are so many version of the myth itself out there. So despite the changes, it’s a pleasant and enjoyable work of fiction that really gets you hooked as you keep turning page after page. Chapter after chapter. You feel the way love hurts, you feel it in your bones the ache both Achilles and Patroclus felt. The way their love is so strong that it hurts. How
I cannot recommend it enough.
Spoiler
when at the end before he finally got buried with Achilles, how Patroclus was hurting and ache for his beloved. It a straight to the point, crude and on some levels hard book.I cannot recommend it enough.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
slow-paced
3.0
I’m quite conflicted. I did enjoy most of the book. I found the beginning and some parts towards the end really hooked me to the book. But, at the same time, a lot in the middle was rather boring. Nothing truly happens at first, the book is stale. It was confusing and some parts perhaps not important to keep in.
Now, I’m well aware marriage back then was basically between strangers, most of the time the two individuals wouldn’t know even the smallest details about the other. Therefore, despite being 1813, I was rather surprised in reading such a strong character like Elizabeth. It’s fascinating, and refreshing I might add. However, I feel Elizabeth and mr Darcy romantic storyline was very “puffed” in the media?
Maybe I’m not interpreting how I should, but, what I see is a rather flat? They go from hate each other, and for the whole book, until the very end they switch. And it seems rushed. There is no details, no run through of a strong character development. Sure it was underline, it was addressed that mr Darcy changed because lizzy’s words made him realise something, but maybe it needed an extra kick. I feel people romanticised the story too much, and although I don’t hate it, I do not see the appeal that others seem to find.
Now, I’m well aware marriage back then was basically between strangers, most of the time the two individuals wouldn’t know even the smallest details about the other. Therefore, despite being 1813, I was rather surprised in reading such a strong character like Elizabeth. It’s fascinating, and refreshing I might add. However, I feel Elizabeth and mr Darcy romantic storyline was very “puffed” in the media?
Maybe I’m not interpreting how I should, but, what I see is a rather flat? They go from hate each other, and for the whole book, until the very end they switch. And it seems rushed. There is no details, no run through of a strong character development. Sure it was underline, it was addressed that mr Darcy changed because lizzy’s words made him realise something, but maybe it needed an extra kick. I feel people romanticised the story too much, and although I don’t hate it, I do not see the appeal that others seem to find.
Wonder Woman, Volume 1: Blood by Brian Azzarello
2.75
It started off strong, ended meh. Not a fan of the art style, Wonder Woman wasn’t developed at all. Her character was flat, she just doesn’t seem like herself in this run. Not necessarily a bad comic, just bland.
DC's Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun #1 by Alex Galer, Adam F. Goldberg, Greg Burham, Ellen Tremiti, Hans Rodionoff, Christopher Sean, Kenny Porter, John Arcudi
3.0
the issue has mini stories, each of which has a different art style, and it’s also written by different writers. I enjoyed some of them. The nightwing and red hood one the most.