galacticvampire's reviews
326 reviews

Finally, an adventure in space!

I absolutely loved the creepiness of an abandoned space station with weird things happening, and the contrast between Murderbot and other androids/units goves eben more opportunity to the exploration of themes like sentience and human rights.

As always, Murderbot is a delightful narrator and Martha Wells strikes a perfect balance between tension and humour.

Really creepy and atmospheric. While it doesn't really go into HORROR or is particular scary, it has some unique ways to grow tension and explore the paranormal activities happening.

The characters are a little bland, and the "mistery" was so predictable that it was unnerving how blind the cast was about it. Still, it was fun and the narrator was quite good.

Murderbot continues being the anxiety representation we always needed. And now, somehow, I'm shipping two aroace robots and one of them doesn't even have a corporeal form.

The overall plot slowly gets more complex while the novella itself remains funny and intelligent.

This is a YA version of a good thriller horror, so basically Pretty Little Liars if it was fantasy.

The premise is really good, and so is the set-up: six girls born in the same day have to reunite cold friendships when they begin to disappear and come back with creepy symptoms.

The writing manages to capture the weird and the gory even in the softer tone of YA, and the world building had a lot of potential. I really wanted to know more about Sorrow and the magic.

But the execution makes it for a weak and superficial story. It's creepy, but the reason is silly. The whole deal with the mothers doesn't make much sense and the ending is very anticlimactic. Overall, it is fun and different but not really memorable.

Whether you like this book or not, it will certainly be an unique experience.

This is pure gore and sex and body horror, which for me means it was great. A pandemic that evolves into a lovecraftian zombie apocalypse that was actually orchestrated by aliens with religious complexes? Absolutely wild. Every description is grotesque and tackles themes of sexuality, feminism, religion, capitalism and ecology.

The vibes are GREAT and so is the writing... The plot could be worked on. It's a very short book that tries to say a lot while also evolving a weird concept, so a lot felt superficial. The first two parts were very very interesting, but the final one felt a little too metaphorical and the pace suffered with a badly structured ending.

Still, I'm thrilled to read more from the author because this was a wild ride.

The Oleander Sword is absolutely a step up from the previous book, both in craft and in plot.

I absolutely love how much more the magic leaned into horror, and the overall feeling of it all being a tragedy only made the experience more interesting.

The characters' dynamics become way more interesting and the whole book carried this air of tenseness where you slowly realise that really no one is safe.

My only point is that the ending didn't make that much of a sense. I felt as if it only happened in such a way to create a specific conflict for the next book, which gave a silly aftertaste to an incredible book.

This was a very fun read. It definitely leans more towards sweet romcom than crazy rich asians, but whenever we got the latter it was wild.

It's a little forgettable but still a great way to spend the time and turn off your brain for a cute story.

I'm all in for a silly romance, but given that this was supposed to be a thriller it went a little overboard.

The ending is extremely bad. Like. If you care about anything other than the romance you will be disappointed. The resolution of the mystery is somehow both underwhelming and too over the top.

But the romance is cool. The characters don't really have the chance to be really fleshed out but their dynamic is nice, even if oftentimes cheesy. I'm definitely not reading the rest of the series though.

(PS: this book does that thing where the author takes a random paragraph mid-scene to show how woke he is, in one the the cases giving his wild take that bisexuality is valid in a very 2013-esque way. It completely took me out because it was very gratuitous in the context.)

This book is for everyone who thoroughly enjoys hours-long videos breaking down internet drama. So I ate it up.

June is so unbearable that it almost feels too on the nose. Her casual racism and how she justifies and rationalizes all the awful shit she does is almost cartoonish. And I say almost because I can't really fully criticise it when I could easily see people doing and thinking exactly the same.

Yellowface is clearly meant to be a satirical take on the racism and biases of the industry, and I think it achieves it really well. Overall, I think it doesn't really goes as deep on the issues as other Kuang's works do, so it sometimes can feels as if is not really SAYING as much as it could instead of just rehashing twitter threads because they annoyed the author. But I didn't mind it as much. Because it was fun.

It took me a long time to write this review because I couldn't decide myself on this book. 

On one hand, it has incredible emotional beats and really explores not only the force but the Jedi empathy. Burry connecting with a dying Drengir is probably one of my favourite scenes in the High Republic and all of his and Bell's chapters were high points for me. 

On the other one, I still don't care about Avar and Elzar as a couple, and their dynamic is the main plot of this book. While Elzar continues to be an extremely interesting and complex character, the last two books did nothing to fix my slight dislike of Avar since her comic days. 

Their relationship is more believable now and at least feels more substantial than a teenage attraction, and while the exploration on how Jedi can love was interesting, I'd rather have spent my time with literally any other plot point. 

Vernestra's inclusion had the potential to be really interesting considering how Defy the Storm ended, but she barely had a significant interaction with Elzar (tbh the whole "consequences of Elzar's choices in Starlight Beacon" deserved more significance, even if it's conclusion remained the same) and her presence felt shoved in because she wouldn't be in neither the MG or the YA book. 

Porter Engle's and Xylan and Cair's chapters made for great balance, adding tension to an otherwise more character-focused book, and  Marchion Ro keeps proving himself an incredible villain with moves that already foreshadow a thrilling climax for the series.