the_jesus_fandom's reviews
354 reviews

Try not to by Juultje van den Nieuwenhof

dark tense fast-paced

1.0

 Jongens, wat een slecht boek 

 Er waren meerdere cringe-momenten (“Zo, nu zijn jullie helemaal van mij.” “Ik zal u volgen, sergeant.”) Verder was dit boek duidelijk super direct geïnspireerd door One Of Us Is Lying en 13 Reasons Why. Dat zie ik wel vaker met Nederlandse YA-thrillers, dat ze weinig originaliteit bevatten. 

 Het was ook erg ongeloofwaardig. Niemand besloot degeen die hen gevangen hield aan te vallen tot het erg ver ging

Amal liet haar hand gewoon verbranden en niemand deed iets

terwijl je toch zou denken dat 5 tieners 1 persoon wel aan kunnen.

Op dat punt wist namelijk niemand nog dat Luuk mee deed.

 

 Verder snap ik ook wel dat er geen leraren meer waren, maar hoorde niemand dan dat er herrie was? Gek. 

 Ook al die klasgenoten die blij de livestream kijken zonder aangifte te doen… ik snap dat het boek erover gaat dat mensen egoistisch en wreed zijn, maar kom op zeg. 

 Beste karakter: Amal. Lieverd, enige meid die ik kon luchten, verdient een knuffel. De rest was allemaal irritant. Oh, en ze werden geïntroduceerd met zo’n samenvatting in het begin uit het lerarenmagister waar de leraar kennelijk allemaal privee-informatie deelt met andere leraren. Luie manier om karakter te introduceren, maar het boek was dan ook vooral gericht op spektakel dus ik snap het wel. Weinig echte diepgang, de plotwending was ook alweer cliché en het hele verhaal over mensen die egoistisch zijn was voor m’n gevoel gewoon een excuus om een lekker sappig verhaal te schrijven. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Torture, and Murder

Noble Claims by E.A. Winters

2.5

 Hey so remember when I said that Semra didn’t get enough character development in book one because she felt nothing about the fact that she had killed people? Yeah, she gets development in this book and it’s massively annoying. She’s convinced everyone hates her, that she’s worth nothing, that she belongs nowhere, etc. and it makes her misunderstand a lot of things people say. (a note I made while reading: “Girl chill you have no proof, ur just chronically insecure”) 

 Blaise is yet another girl who may be a victim but she’s still super annoying. Constantly pulling the victim card, ugh. “Oh I know you don’t want to talk to me because you’re frivolous and I’m too serious for other people.” Sister stop. 

 On the other hand, Treq, the best character, is baACK. But only for a few scenes, sadly. Also RIP the other best character

my man Annais

. 

 Good things: fun lines. And I didn’t expect the developments at the end of the book. 

Broken Bonds by E.A. Winters

2.5

 Treq is iconic, I wish we’d gotten more of him. Like last book, there are some funny lines and scenes in here. 

 This plot, man: 

 

“she learned that the Framatar was really Turian’s [king] manipulative twin brother, building an assassin army to support his coup for the throne rather than purging the world of evil as he had told them they were doing all their lives”

 

 And if you didn’t get the plot the first time, don’t worry, it will be recapped for you over and over again. That one quote by the Framatar about him being the only one to never leave her makes an appearance way too much as well. 

 In other news, Semra gets character development in this book! Heaps of it. She also goes off about dresses being lame waayyy too much. There was one particular grump sesh that was just the author talking, I’m pretty sure. There’s also this quote: 

 “Everybody hates assassins, but what about empty-headed flirts? They deserved at least as much derision.” Girl stop. 

Dragon's Kiss by E.A. Winters

3.0

 Well, I read the other three books as well after reading this one so that should indicate that this one was interesting enough. 

 First off, I’ve seen a couple of reviews saying this book has some confusing writing, with someone mentioning the “hiding under a fountain” scene specifically. Now, that scene is actually understandable (the fountain was one of those things on the corner of the pool, where it hangs over the water and has a small area above the water under it). But I admit some writing and dialogue in the book can be confusing. There’s exposition dumps, people saying things in the middle of danger when they never would have had time to say all that, and Semra stating the obvious (like “she thought they suited each other”. About a married couple.) Another super unrealistic thing is

Semra being whipped within an inch of her life and then performing physics-defying feats (like fighting a dragon) for a full 30-60 minutes.

 

 I also wish Semra had gotten a personality or character development. One day she’s killing people for a dictator, the next she’s fighting against said warlord. This quote summarises it pretty well: 

 “Wait… so you’re telling me you’re assassins?” 

 “Precisely,” Semra replied impatiently. “But he told us we were purging the earth of evil, and now that we know better, he’s going to purge the earth of us.” 

 Question: does the mark not hurt? How does the skin connect to it? Is it more sensitive around the edge? Can you scratch or knock on the stone? 

 Also pretty proud of myself I called immediately which boy was endgame. 

 On the other hand, there were some super funny lines and scenes that I enjoyed, and at the time I was clearly interested enough to read the rest of the series. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

 This book was beautiful. I enjoyed the style and setting, which I’m not used to, and the last story made me cry. 

 These were stories about love and loss, human relationships and healing. 

Thinking Physics: Understandable Practical Reality by Lewis Carroll Epstein

4.0

 I read this book for school. It feels like it has been with me for years now (it has). The questions are interesting and fun, and the answers are easy to understand. I skipped the questions without answers. 

 Not much else to say, really. 

Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman

adventurous

3.25

 Hm, this book was a mixed basket for me. 

 On the one hand, I loved this take on the Scarlet Pimpernel were the blatant classism and sexism in the original series was addressed. Eleanor clapping back at Charles was very nice. On the other hand, it doesn’t make sense to me that a girl like Eleanor, who has spent her whole life being told to shut up or she’d get punished, would immediately get so defiant and brave. The sexism and classism shown by characters in this book are super unsubtle, but then again, they were that bad in the original series as well. The book also offers a plausible explanation for Percy’s over-the-top “obey me implicitly” attitude. 

 There’s this weird part in the book where Eleanor reflects on her Christian beliefs that just feels like the author preaching. The tone of the passage doesn’t even fit the tone of the rest of the book: 
"Unless one considered God in the Old Testament, whose whole “sacrifice our only son to me, Abraham,” attitude seemed quite close to the “proper daughter of the Revolution” speech which Desgas had given her…"

 Another great quote (if you don’t immediately get it, it’s like a game of “which of these three does not fit in”): 

"But what about other countries, girl? India? Africa? China?" 

 The epilogue was a thing in and of itself. First of all, when the author says “I exaggerate” after a whole list of weird things from the series… no, actually, she’s super right and there was no need to qualify it. Preach. 

 But then her parting words are: “Let the curtain rise upon a revolution.” And, um… no thanks. 

de Upside van Down by Eva Snoijink

4.25

 Wat een goed boek! Prachtige plaatjes en mooie verhalen. Ik weet dat het niet een prolife boek is qua auteur, maar qua verhalen is het dat zeker. 

The It Girl by Katy Birchall

4.0

 I enjoyed this book so much when I read it as a tween. Upon reread, it’s not as great and very formulaic, but back when I was the target audience this was a great book. Ironically, I vividly remember reading about that one girl wearing a bandana thing and going to the laser gun thing (which I didn’t know so I envisioned it as just a shooting range) but it wasn’t even an actual scene in the book, it was just mentioned, so that’s pretty funny. 

 This book was pretty clearly dated by having Marvel comics as an obscure thing, because nowadays everyone knows who Iron Man and Stan Lee are, that’s not a super niche nerdy thing anymore. The Lord of the Rings reference was a bit much tho, that really skirted close to “I’m not like other girls”, but that’s really just what you sign up for with books like these 

Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God by Paul Copan

3.75

 This book helped me answer quite a few doubts, although not all the explanations were super satisfactory. But I guess some of all this will remain an issue of faith ‘til I get to heaven.