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shadow_summit's reviews
113 reviews
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
My dad and I read this book together after many years and we laughed and shook our heads and just enjoyed the tales within.
One thing I can say is: The food! They do eat well as well as work hard, but it's a strange contrast to Laura focuses books where she's eating small meals and they're happy with a stick of candy for Christmas.
Also, some of the descriptions are hard to picture since in modern society you don't see many of the tools and machines from back then, but a quick google comes in helpful.
One thing I can say is: The food! They do eat well as well as work hard, but it's a strange contrast to Laura focuses books where she's eating small meals and they're happy with a stick of candy for Christmas.
Also, some of the descriptions are hard to picture since in modern society you don't see many of the tools and machines from back then, but a quick google comes in helpful.
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I actually enjoyed this book more than the first, and all the characters were fun to follow.
Emily's character development is within her nature and yet deepens her heart and relationships.
Wendell is still Wendell but his faerie ways are less scholasticall avoidant and his attentivenes to Emily is cute.
The plot was intriguing and twisty (I mean, we are dealing with mystical worlds and cunning creatures) and the mix of musings and adventure was balanced well.
Emily's character development is within her nature and yet deepens her heart and relationships.
Wendell is still Wendell but his faerie ways are less scholasticall avoidant and his attentivenes to Emily is cute.
The plot was intriguing and twisty (I mean, we are dealing with mystical worlds and cunning creatures) and the mix of musings and adventure was balanced well.
A Stepmother's โMรคrchen Vol. 2 by ORKA, Spice&Kitty
emotional
funny
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? No
5.0
First up, this volume, as with the first, is absolutely gorgeous! The art is so distinct, making use of darker almost muted colours for certain scenes and brighter ones for others. Also notice that with the physical edition, the page is black when we fade into past events which helps when it bounces back and forth.
The story is fabulous, I love our family and this volume introduced and shed some background light on newer characters like Norra or the 1st Prince.
Of course there's also some political intrigue, in both Shuri's family and the wider kingdom.
Looking forward to reading on~
The story is fabulous, I love our family and this volume introduced and shed some background light on newer characters like Norra or the 1st Prince.
Of course there's also some political intrigue, in both Shuri's family and the wider kingdom.
Looking forward to reading on~
The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
3.5
The Assassin and The Pirate King - 4.5 ๐
The Assassin and the Healer - 5 ๐
The Assassin and the Desert - 4.5 ๐
The Assassin and the Underworld - 3.5 ๐
The Assassin and the Empire - 3 ๐
Tbh the first few novellas featured in this book are pretty fun and show a lot of growth for our FL, Celaena, but of course it was more difficult to get through the last two books.
The main reason is for the silly decisions of Celaena and her blindness to obvious clues.
At the end of The Assassin and the Desert, you think you've reached a point of realisation and clarity of path for Celaena, but the next novella almost casts us back to the very beginning in terms of Celaena's personal growth, though thanks to our boi, Sam, she doesn't go back completely.
Now Celaena does have some redeeming reasons behind these blind moments, she's young, traumatized and she's obviously been groomed into the life she lives, but ultimately some of her slips of wisdom and blind trust/obedience could have been avoided if she was actually trained to be as cautious as she claims, and took a second to think through what's happening around her and pick up on patterns set by her enemies...
There's a lot of dark topics and scummy topics covered in this book (we are dealing with criminals, assassins and the underworld so it shouldn't be too surprising but still be forewarned).
Also, took a whole star off the overall rating because of an event in the last novella, i.e. main lad, best lad, Sam deserved better. Should have fled away together with the clothes on their back. A little stealing would have been easy enough to achieve along the way and hardly a big no-no compared to all they'd done so far. and while perhaps petty, since its my review I'm allowed to and will.
The Assassin and the Healer - 5 ๐
The Assassin and the Desert - 4.5 ๐
The Assassin and the Underworld - 3.5 ๐
The Assassin and the Empire - 3 ๐
Tbh the first few novellas featured in this book are pretty fun and show a lot of growth for our FL, Celaena, but of course it was more difficult to get through the last two books.
The main reason is for the silly decisions of Celaena and her blindness to obvious clues.
At the end of The Assassin and the Desert, you think you've reached a point of realisation and clarity of path for Celaena, but the next novella almost casts us back to the very beginning in terms of Celaena's personal growth, though thanks to our boi, Sam, she doesn't go back completely.
Now Celaena does have some redeeming reasons behind these blind moments, she's young, traumatized and she's obviously been groomed into the life she lives, but ultimately some of her slips of wisdom and blind trust/obedience could have been avoided if she was actually trained to be as cautious as she claims, and took a second to think through what's happening around her and pick up on patterns set by her enemies...
There's a lot of dark topics and scummy topics covered in this book (we are dealing with criminals, assassins and the underworld so it shouldn't be too surprising but still be forewarned).
Also, took a whole star off the overall rating because of an event in the last novella,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Violence
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Trafficking
Minor: Pedophilia, Vomit, Sexual harassment, and War
Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 25 by Mizuho Kusanagi
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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? No
5.0
It's getting darker, and yet our heroes are still standing firm by their beliefs and friendships, but a new enemy appeared swaying the innocents involved. So tense!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Violence and War
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontรซ
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 24 by Mizuho Kusanagi
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
If you know, you know, a certain event happened in this books and it made me so freaking happy. Kicking feet kind of happy.
Ofcourse, we're also trying to prevent an upcoming war and Yona is doing her best with many of the friends she's made along the way, and proving how she and Su-won approach protecting the Kohka in very different ways.
Ofcourse, we're also trying to prevent an upcoming war and Yona is doing her best with many of the friends she's made along the way, and proving how she and Su-won approach protecting the Kohka in very different ways.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Magic Forged by K.M. Shea
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a fun start to the series~
Our main girl, Hazel, is a weird mix of avoiding problems and facing them head on.
There's a fair bit of prejudice between the magical groups, and Hazel does harbour some of those views, some are correct, some not so much, but she's also open to changing her mind when proved incorrect.
Killian isn't the most likeable male main character. He's got a fair few negative marks against him in my assessment; it will take a fair bit of recovery to win me over (him being gorgeously handsome just doesn't cover it for me ๐คฃ). He's just not my kind of guy...(I'm open to him winning my favour back though), but those who like the 'villain' trope probably love him. ๐ Some of his and Hazel's sassy banter was amusing, but I think that was more a love of Hazel's wit than anything Killian did.
The serial murder plot was fun to follow, definitely a lot of plot stirring.
Looking forward to reading the rest of the series!
Our main girl, Hazel, is a weird mix of avoiding problems and facing them head on.
There's a fair bit of prejudice between the magical groups, and Hazel does harbour some of those views, some are correct, some not so much, but she's also open to changing her mind when proved incorrect.
Killian isn't the most likeable male main character. He's got a fair few negative marks against him in my assessment; it will take a fair bit of recovery to win me over (him being gorgeously handsome just doesn't cover it for me ๐คฃ). He's just not my kind of guy...(I'm open to him winning my favour back though), but those who like the 'villain' trope probably love him. ๐ Some of his and Hazel's sassy banter was amusing, but I think that was more a love of Hazel's wit than anything Killian did.
The serial murder plot was fun to follow, definitely a lot of plot stirring.
Looking forward to reading the rest of the series!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Injury/Injury detail
The Ghost Horse: A True Story of Love, Death, and Redemption by Joe Layden
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
This books won't be for everyone. While it definitely tells the overal story of Lisa's Booby Trap, it more focuses on the life of her owner and trainer, Tim Snyder. And it's not a pretty life, Tim wasn't necessarily a 'good' man, but the book holds true to his character and his calling to horses and the racetrack. It also follows Lisa through parts of her life too and largely the honest behind-the-scenes of breeding, training and riding race horses. The book tells it all, the rough edges and lows and eventually the fleeting highs.
It doesn't really go into the whole 'reincarnation' story, because honestly that was a media story rather than the belief of Lisa's parents and Tim himself, (they even practically say its rubbish in the book) and the publishers obviously tried to hook onto the fantastical media hyped 'reincarnation' story version as the selling point and blurb, but thats not what the book actual focuses on, so don't expect that going in to it.
But if your interested in horses, the horse racing industry and the honest side of track life, then it's worth the read.
It doesn't really go into the whole 'reincarnation' story, because honestly that was a media story rather than the belief of Lisa's parents and Tim himself, (they even practically say its rubbish in the book) and the publishers obviously tried to hook onto the fantastical media hyped 'reincarnation' story version as the selling point and blurb, but thats not what the book actual focuses on, so don't expect that going in to it.
But if your interested in horses, the horse racing industry and the honest side of track life, then it's worth the read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, and Alcohol
Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The characters, the plot, the pacing, I loved it all. Will is a likeable character, Halt is a perfect mentor, and all the other characters have soul of their own. I personally loved Baron Aralds jokes and humour as well, dunno why his audience is so unreceptive!
5 Star, an excellent beginning to the series.
5 Star, an excellent beginning to the series.