zomvi's reviews
88 reviews

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I read this for StoryGraph's first hosted readalong, so much of what I say here will be taken from my own forum comments.

At first, I did enjoy the shifting perspectives, but after finishing the book I feel that there wasn't much of a payout. These parts could have been used to pull the reader in better, or have provided more information or foreshadowing. The coming-of-age and passing-of-the-torch tropes seem a bit too convenient. I wish we got to know the characters more - I’m primarily a character-driven reader, and though many are intriguing to a certain extent, I’m not particularly fond of the overwhelming majority of the cast. Tsukiko is probably one character that interests me, but she does seem to be a bit stereotypical in the “eastern mysticism” kind of way that doesn’t really sit super well with me. I want to know more about the contest, the original rivalry that seemingly spawned this competition altogether, and indulge in more world-building, but it’s all a bit too vague. I wish there were specific Shakespeare quotes, instead of vague references as well. I’m also not really a fan of the love-triangle or enemies/rivals-to-lovers tropes, so was looking forward to some twists and turns or subverted expectations somehow,

but was disappointed.

I really did not find the romance compelling at all; there was no build-up or depth to the relationship.

I did enjoy a lot of the whimsical descriptions of the circus itself, especially the designs and performances or attractions, in particular. The use of color, and the black and white theme greatly complimented the day/night cycles the circus rigidly follows, and the contrasting chapters exploring the many mysterious characters added to the intrigue. I also really loved the food descriptions, and how immersive it felt while Morgenstern gave us the sights and tastes and smells of the scenes.
  
Regarding the ending,

Marco and Celia are, quite frankly, not very good people for how they've treated Isobel, who receives very little, if any closure, relationship or narrative-wise, or any of the other people caught up in this contest, which they did not consent to. I also really feel bad for Bailey; he’s a young kid and getting so impulsively tied to the circus forever doesn’t seem fair at all. I liked the bit at the end with Widget and Poppet more than Celia and Marco’s conclusion, honestly. I also felt really bad for Chandresh, when it was revealed his manipulation from Marco was destroying his mind, and for Friedrick, who was killed abruptly to move the plot along. Marco also seemingly takes advantage of Celia's grief by flattering her after his death, in which they sleep together for the first time (YUCK!). There were so many characters I wish got more recognition, while others I was tired of hearing about.

Overall, glad I finally knocked it off my tbr, but it just wasn’t for me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Infidelity

I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street by Ben Farthing

adventurous dark emotional medium-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

4.0

This was quite a fun Christmas horror read! The author interweaves a very compelling character-driven narrative with some unique horrors, all in homage to Stephen King's "IT", and other coming-of-age horror tales. The character's motivations were understandable, and they were very easy to root for as well. There are some heavy elements of grief, child death, depression, and PTSD, as the main character is a preteen grappling with the loss of his sister, and becomes convinced he needs to show his parents that he can "save" Christmas. There were, however, some pretty repetitive phrases and a couple inaccuracies, such as using "Mortal Combat" instead of the correct misspelling the video games use: "Mortal Kombat". These probably would have been caught and cleaned up or edited out with the use of an editor or more advanced reader copy reviews. Overall, this was a good read and I'm interested in checking out other work by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child death and Death

Minor: Body horror

Batman: One Bad Day - Catwoman by G. Willow Wilson

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Wasn't a fan of this, unfortunately. I absolutely love Catwoman, but this story felt very generic, and the characterization felt inauthentic and very surface-level to me. The dialogue was also completely simplistic and certainly did not help the overall lack of character here. The art was solid, however.

Manfried the Man: A Graphic Novel by Caitlin Major

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

1.5

I can see what the creators were going for, but for me it missed the mark. I also didn't enjoy the main character, or their journey.

The Black Cat And Other Stories by Edgar Allan Poe

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I won this audio copy via a giveaway from the Audrey app. Up until this point I've only ever read "The Raven", but I have to say that I really enjoyed some of the other stories here more. The narration was also excellent, and the bonus information was also very helpful and interesting. This is a great pick for anyone wanting short, classic horror stories. Overall, I will continue to use the Audrey app for more audiobooks. My reasoning for not rating this as five stars is that "The Black Cat" was hard to listen to as a cat lover, as there is graphic animal harm, although for anyone wanting to avoid that, the other stories are unrelated and quite worth the listen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

2.5

Wholesome and rather lighthearted, this is a quick, easy read. However, I don't think they picked the best font, and many of the illustrations were a bit too sketchy and simplistic for my personal tastes.

The Never Ending Party #5 by Rachel Pollack

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

This was a pretty decent, if predictable, conclusion, but I found the final pages extremely problematic, and it really soured the entire experience for me.

There is a scene where the main character is watching a news report, after everything is said and done, and there is a masked reporter covering the conflict in the aftermath, saying: "President Dos Santos blames new plague on transgender critical race theory!" Until now, this has been a fairly diverse, authentically-spoken comic, and I can absolutely appreciate the calling out of real world issues and monstrous public figures, but considering we just experienced a global pandemic (I assume the inspiration, given the masked reporter and presidential failings/misdirection) it feels highly offensive that the anti-Asian sentiments and blame for the virus is casually replaced to better suit the creators' message. It felt like callous erasure of real world struggles for a demographic conveniently left without a voice in this otherwise progressive, diverse series.

The Never Ending Party #4 by Rachel Pollack

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Too much dialogue that doesn't serve to advance the plot, and at this point there are far too many characters that we never really get to know. Add on the fact that the characters are written to be complete morons just to fall victim to the villains, to advance the story, as well. There is also a really annoying moment when the characters

have a tarot reading, while the villain is wreaking havoc and going on a massacre, just to arrive at an incredibly obvious conclusion.

The Never Ending Party #3 by Rachel Pollack

dark medium-paced

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

1.5

The characters are incompetent and hard to root for, and I'm not really enjoying where the story is going, but I will finish this series, as there are only two remaining issues.

The Never Ending Party #2 by Rachel Pollack, Joe Corallo

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Still not really invested, but we do learn a bit more about the characters and their history here, which is nice.