victoria_mh's reviews
42 reviews

Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.75

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Firesong by William Nicholson

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I read this a lot faster than I read most books; it had some really interesting ideas (and some incredibly trippy bits!) and I wanted to see what happened. I do want to see what happens in the later books. However, it wasn't as amazing as I'd hoped; I knew there was quite a bit of hype around this book which usually means I'm disappointed, so I should have been prepared for that. A lot of plot points require a great deal of suspension of disbelief, which irks me for a book that I thought was meant to be fairly hard sci-fi. It almost feels like a fairytale or fable in places, and coming at it from that perspective, it is more enjoyable. Some of the characters' decisions and motivations don't make sense to me either. I really wanted to like this but it was...OK.

Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Slavery, Violence, Murder, and War

A Little Book of Language by David Crystal

informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

3.5

Didn't realise until I started reading it that it was aimed towards kids (probably secondary-school age). I think teenage me would have loved this. Adult me knew a lot of the stuff already, but I did learn a few new things. Also a welcome break from depressing books I'd read recently.

The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

3.75

The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

There is a lot of very heavy stuff in this book;

I was expecting torture of 'witches' and that itself was hard to read, but then there's a full description of the teenage protagonist getting raped.

Strong Female Character by Fern Brady

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

Dustbin Baby by Jacqueline Wilson

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

I think I first read this when I was the protagonist's age (14) and recall reading it more than once as a teenager. Found it at a book swap recently and thought I'd read it again. Didn't think this book would still make me cry in my 30s! It's definitely for older readers; I recommend it but there is a lot of gut-wrenching stuff around abandonment, abuse, internalised guilt, the search for identity and autonomy - huge trigger warning for suicide in one part. I really feel for the main character.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment