sphynxreads's reviews
714 reviews

Si by Bob Ong

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5

This is my first Bob Ong novel, and wow was I floored by how good it was! Bob Ong's writing style is so accessible yet so beautiful that there were so many seemingly simple lines that hit hard for me. He displays such an intimate understanding of human nature, what it means to love, and how our experiences and the people around us shape us. Phenomenal. Will definitely be reading more of his works in the future!

Spy x Family, Vol. 9 by Tatsuya Endo

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

This manga can practically go on forever and I'll eat every single volume up. Wildly entertaining as always!

Spy x Family, Vol. 8 by Tatsuya Endo

adventurous funny 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? Yes

5.0

Definitely one of my favorite volumes in the series!! This seems like a huge step up from the previous volumes and I absolutely LOVE Yor!

Spy x Family, Vol. 7 by Tatsuya Endo

funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.0

Still a lot of fun and I get that occasional character studies are important but some of the missions here felt like filler more than anything.

Spy x Family, Vol. 6 by Tatsuya Endo

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Probably one of my least favorite volumes in the series but still incredibly solid! I am amazed at how consistently good this manga is. That said, and to go against the grain of popular sentiment, I think the tennis match lasted way too long and I don't really like Nightfall.

Spy x Family, Vol. 5 by Tatsuya Endo

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

Still in its A-game with top-notch humor, feel good vibes, and now seemingly higher stakes. I've never had a reason to doubt Tatsuya Endo.

The Battle for Wondla, Volume 3 by Tony DiTerlizzi

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.0

What a sputtering end to what was initially a promising series. Perhaps it's not the book's fault at all but I just found myself less and less interested the longer the series went. The characters I grew to care about are barely in the picture, the writing has gone quite dry, and there is nothing else holding this series up than the exceptional world-building and thoughtful messages. I'm sure at another point in my life I would have loved this series a lot more, but alas, I was bored to death reading this one.

Young Avengers by Heinberg & Cheung Omnibus by Jim Cheung, Alan Davis, Andrea Di Vito, Allan Heinberg

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This is my first foray into Marvel Comics, and I have to say, I'm a little bit disappointed. In this collection I only really liked the Children's Crusade storyline and a few of the issues with Runaways crossovers, but the rest simply fell flat for me. Many of the stories were just downright dull, with big action scenes not feeling like they've really been earned. Still, I was so engrossed with the Children's Crusade that I'm definitely willing to give Marvel Comics another shot in the future. I'm open to taking suggestions for another omnibus to check out if anyone has any.

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Cal Newport likes to drone at times, but I really enjoyed this book in large part because I agree with many of the principles he espouses. For the past decade or so, I have been known among my peers as being "chronically online", and it has taken a lot of humility and introspection to admit to myself that my social media habits and phone use have hijacked much of my life, not just my attention span and overall mental health but also my overall character and many of my relationships with other people.

I've already learned beforehand a lot of the points raised here by Newport, but I found his arguments to be compelling and validating. But two new key takeaways from this book I have are one, social media is not as important to cultivate a rich social life as tech companies would convince us it is, and two, it consumes so much more of our time than it should. From recently limiting my social media use with Screenzen, for example, I've realized I get pretty much the same value from using Instagram for 10 minutes tops in a day as I do when I've used it 4 hours on average. Yikes to my old self, but we're here to learn.

Overall, I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to reevaluate their relationship with social media and smartphones and wants to get more out of life beyond the screen

Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country by Patricia Evangelista

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.5

An incredible snapshot of not just Duterte's drug war but also recent Philippine history written in a manner that effectively contextualizes many memorable events often reduced to soundbites and TikToks. Evangelista's command of language is astonishing and her ability to show the bigger picture without losing the necessary emotion of more intimate moments is worthy of thunderous applause. The accounts herein are as harrowing, frustrating, and tragic as much as they ring with clarion truth. All that said, while I understand that this was written with an international audience in mind, I do feel that a lot of things are lost in translation and are portrayed through a more Western lens. Much of Evangelista's sentiments and the way in which she frames certain behaviors, language, or events doesn't feel like it would be relatable to the average Filipino. There was also something about one of the latter chapters, touching on the contrition of previous Duterte supporters, that felt a bit off-putting. Overall though, a highly recommended read for anyone, whether from the homeland or abroad, who wants to make sense of the countless murders that took place during the time of Duterte, if sense at all could be made of them.