vanilla_chief's reviews
72 reviews

Samurai: A Concise History by Michael Wert

informative fast-paced

4.0

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton

adventurous hopeful informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

"Mickey7" captivated me with its intriguing themes and character development. As a history enthusiast, I appreciated Mickey's interest in learning from past failures. While the Mickeys were not always engaging main characters, their transformation from slacker to someone discovering their self-worth made for an enjoyable read despite some plot weaknesses.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Violence, and Colonisation

Robocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

challenging inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Comparable to classic collections of religious mythology (Bible, Edda, Legends of Greeks) as it is a collection of books and stories that inform the society of that world. The plot is told in broad strokes as the book is not much longer than the Hobbit but spans millennia.
I wouldn't say that I understood everything, but I tried to go with the flow of the story, and sometimes I really enjoyed the self-contained myths even though I didn't know how all of those people were connected to each other. It helped me to make more sense of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I just saw the movies and was disappointed by the world building, and therefor was not motivated to read the books. But now I really feel prepared to dive deep into those stories, also because I learned to enjoy the writing-style of Tolkien.

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

adventurous dark emotional slow-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

I already knew a bit about the Witcher from second hand media. But this is a good intro into this world. It also establishes the motives of the Witcher-Series of monsters – who is a monster and who not, and how to handle those monsters. The stories often took an unexpected turn and focused more on the emotional layer than the pure action. Stories start with the monster already slain, or the monster turns out to be not monstrous at all. Geralt has not much of a character arc besides being a Witcher, but I guess this will happen in the other books. What I really love is, that even it has a lot of high-fantasy elements like elves, dwarves and mythical creatures, the world has a realistic, working society in which those fantastical elements are woven into. That is for me the core of the Witcher-series.

Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Em by Jeb Blount

informative inspiring fast-paced

3.0

The most important take away from the book is that prospecting is hard but necessary. It can be a motivational boost to know, that if you find prospecting hard, it is no sign of you doing something wrong but a good sign – because you prospect at all. That being said, a lot of the book is fluff or the worst hustle-culture talk ever. In the scope of "why, how and when to do prospecting" it is really useful though, and I will refer to it in the future if I have doubts about my sales process.

All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I have trouble remembering what happened in what book, but I like how Dennis Taylor slowly turns the fun'n'games world of the Bobiverse slowly in a tense race for survival.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

I just love the Bobiverse. 80 % fun'n'games with scifi tropes and references.

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

As always, Adrian Tchaikovsky has great ideas for the setting of his story. A whole trilogy worth of backstory. A ragtag spaceship crew is also always a bonus, but it was a very basic roster of characters. Not something you read for character development.