alexiacambaling's reviews
442 reviews

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

The Holtur Curse was a pretty fun read. I enjoyed the characters, their motivations, and their relationships and the development thereof. While I haven’t read a lot of old pulp fantasy, this is what I imagine reading a Sword and Sorcery tale would be like. The book is the second in a trilogy but can be read as a stand-alone. I haven’t read the first one and the story held up well.

The world building pretty much does its job. It’s set in a place where people called slayers protect their home, Holtur, from beasts. That is, until they had to kill men like them. That conflict was very interesting because I can really see how reluctant the slayers are to kill people. Reading from Sonja’s point of view shows how conflicted she was and how she ultimately decided that she had to do it.

The writing is also functional being a bit jarring in places and it does have some moments where the dialogue felt a bit modern. While it was noticeable, it didn’t really hinder my enjoyment too much. The pacing can also a bit off, sometimes going too fast that I can get a bit confused as to what was happening.

I also liked how the book starts alternating between the present and the past. It was a neat presentation and I liked how it was handled.

Sonja was a great protagonist. She cares about her family, her friends, and her home and I can really see her determination in fighting to preserve it. She’s also human and can make some decisions she regrets. Mostly, she’s portrayed as a strong, female protagonist and I enjoyed her POV.

The only real problem I have would be the villains. They were introduced a bit late and I felt like they could be better developed. One of them did have an interesting motivation which could have been expounded upon more.

Overall, I liked The Holtur Curse. Its Sword and Sorcery feel sets it apart from the other books I’ve read so far and it’s highly entertaining.

I told myself I want to read some old, classic fantasy and get a feel for how it was written in the late 19th century to the the early 20th century. Turns out, it suffers from something that I really dislike about a lot of classics: the writing feels really dry. As such, what should be a short read took what seemed to be forever.

Nevertheless, The Gods of Pegana presented a really interesting mythos with the creator being a sleeping god who will destroy the world when he wakes up. It is a pretty imaginative pantheon of deities with quirks and prophets and interesting stories. Unfortunately, it reads like one of my law books.

I read somewhere that Lord Dunsany influenced a lot of later writers and fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien included. I’ll have to read the Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion first to see that but I honestly won’t be surprised if I do see it. I would love to see more stories in Lord Dunsany’s mythos, maybe even read more of his short stories. I’m just hoping I’ll get over the writing style soon because I still have a lot of old fantasy on my TBR and I’d hate to be turned off by something very good because I don’t like how it was written.

Still, modern stories in the mythos would be something I’d like to see. I really want to know if there are other writers who wrote about this characters and/or in this setting. Please comment if you know any!

My introduction to the mystery genre came not in the form of a traditional novel, but a visual novel called Umineko. A rather large part of Umineko centers around a murder mystery sometimes involving a locked-room. I read somewhere that the said VN draws a lot of inspiration from Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, which I am yet to read. Since I read that, I wanted to read Agatha Christie and now, I am.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is her first book and introduces retired Belgian police officer turned detective, Hercule Poirot. I believe it also serves to introduce readers to her style and several tropes she uses in her works. These tropes include a locked room, red herrings, and the so-called "final link" which points to the murderer.

While I find a lot of classic fiction to be hard and even tedious to read, Agatha Christie's writing isn't too formal as to be a chore. She makes use of different speech patterns in dialogue which lends a lot of distinctiveness in her characters, particularly Hercule Poirot, whose personality and eccentricity I found interesting to read about.

The murderer wasn't too difficult to figure out. I thought it was pretty obvious who the murderer was. Still, the usage of red herrings and a long chain of clues made the book enjoyable and still thrilling to read.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles may be easy to figure out as a mystery, but I found Hercule Poirot's character enjoyable enough that I want to see his other adventures. Besides, this is only the first of Agatha Christie's extensive bibliography. I definitely will be reading more.

I really wanted to like this book. I spotted it in a used bookstore and bought it because of the publisher and the fact that I was vaguely aware of the author. Unfortunately, while it was mostly okay, it was also so boring at parts that I had to skim in order to finish the book.

I would classify this as kind of a slice-of-life fantasy. While it is undeniably set in a fantasy setting, it also features the characters doing more mundane things such as woodworking. I did appreciate this moments because they give a glimpse of how the characters live and how they get by in their society.

Our protagonist is Lerris, a young man who happens to be incredibly bored with his island-nation of Recluce, a land which favors order above all things. Because of this, he is unable to fit in within Recluce and must undergo something called a dangergeld, in which he would be tested and the masters would see if he may return. At the beginning of the book, I found Lerris to be very edgy? He pretty much questions everything and is unable to reason out his boredom properly. He definitely struck me the wrong way since he was born into so much privilege but was unable to see it.

He does get better though, as he goes through his dangergeld. He becomes a better person in a lot of ways, although I wonder if he did learn other, just as important lessons along the way. I did enjoy the description of how he traveled in the mainland and had to get by. I usually like the travelling parts in stories so that wasn't the problem for me.

The problem mostly came from the fact that the ending felt pretty rushed. It was like the author wanted to wrap it up in one book and escalated everything near the end. The build up didn't really feel natural and I might have forgiven it if it wasn't boring. Unfortunately, much like the main character, I too found myself pretty bored with the world. While the order vs. chaos thing had a lot of potential but it failed to grab me.

I read that this book can be read as a standalone, fortunately. While I was disappointed and thought that this book is only good enough for one read, I might consider picking up other books in the series. Honestly however, that might be unlikely.

I finished this book a few days ago and it took me a while to collect my thoughts. This book was huge, it took me a month to read even on my iPad’s Kindle app. Even with Whispersync, it still took me a month due to my busy schedule and breaks here and there. Despite all of that, I loved it. I love this book despite the slow parts and maybe even the slower parts, if only because of the character building and exposition. I liked the characters; all of them felt real to me, with relatable struggles and sometimes, they’re even funny.

I’ve never read LOTR but I’ve read Middle-Grade and YA fantasy with travelling bands of heroes but The Eye of the World still managed to be its own thing. Sometimes, it even reminds me of video games I like such as Baldur’s Gate and Dragon Age: Origins. I knew then that even if I was getting into a 14-book journey, I wouldn’t mind. I might take breaks but I knew this is going to be a series I can get invested in.

The story seems pretty cliche. Farmboys get chosen by a mysterious magical figure (in this case, the Aes Sedai Moraine) and go on an adventure. Yet, as the story unfolds, we discover many more things about this world. We discover the history of the land, the various cultures, and social norms (female rulers! female magic users!) which I admit, got me excited. While it felt like a beginning, it felt like a beginning to a world that’s just opening up.

The ending was also worth it. Even when I started this book knowing about the main character’s identity, I have to admit I started reading faster in breathless excitement as I read about that battle. It was incredible, especially since one of the things I love most about fantasy novels are epic displays of power.

This review is also on my blog The Bookworm Daydreamer

I don't read a lot of contemporary anymore, whether it be YA or Adult. Nowadays, I mostly stick to genre fiction. However, I discovered Riveted Lit, Simon & Schuster's YA focused website which allows you to read full books for free when you sign up. I did and decided to read Tash Hearts Tolstoy. I think it was the name which drew me into it.

Tash Hearts Tolstoy is, for the most part, a story involving Tash and her friends. At first, I was expecting something more romance heavy, but Tash being asexual despite being heteroromantic made her not really want to pursue a relationship- of course, this gets resolved later on. It is also fairly typical YA fare and reads like it. The story doesn't take an eternity to read through and it might take a fast reader just a day or so. It's very fast-paced and mostly focuses on Tash's friendships, family issues, and her newfound fame- includig dealing with haters on the internet.

The characterization of Tash and her friends are pretty strong. Tash can be a problematic character and I love how she gets called out for it. The negative things she does aren't brushed under a rug but are dealt with by her and her friends. Their friendships don't have to suffer from miscommunication because they actually deal with it. I can't speak regarding how asexual people are treated here because I'm not asexual, but I did enjoy the exploration presented of what asexuality means to a teenager who lives in a society where being sexual is the norm.

My main gripe is how rushed the ending seems to be. Thom's character isn't nearly as strong as the other ones are, partly perhaps because he only really shows up near the end. The plot is there but it kinda meanders in between all the drama that wasn't advertised in the synopsis. In fact, the thing with Thom seems almost like a footnote.

Overall, Tash Hearts Tolstoy is a cute book about a girl whose newfound fame starts to affect both her and everyone around her. It also explores human sexuality (and the lack of) rather well, I think. It's a nice contemporary for those who want a contemporary fix.

This review can also be found on my blog The Bookworm Daydreamer

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of several volumes and episodes of the manhwa, The Tarot Cafe collected in one volume. I believe there would be 3 volumes.

The Tarot Cafe is a pretty good manhwa with a compelling story and beautiful art. Unfortunately, it's burdened by being too blurry in places (on my iPad) with the smallest text being downright impossible to read on a small screen. Those explain what the tarot cards are and their purpose. After switching and reading on my laptop instead on PDF format, the experience got significantly better. The images and text became more crisp and easier to read. This is great for viewing the gorgeous artwork and enjoying the story better. The scrolling can be tedious, however.

The story revolves around Pamela, a witch and tarot card reader who has the power to see her client's future. She basically helps them out in exchange for a bead. What said beads are for is yet to be explained. Throughout the 500+ page book, there are several episodes explaining several plot threads. Some are smaller than the others, with the bigger ones presumably spanning several volumes. The Tarot Card helps give a glimpse into the clients' pasts and at the end, their future. This takes us to unique and varied settings from a tower, to a Middle Eastern harem, to medieval Europe.

The main plot involving Pamela and her past spans back hundreds of years and ties her back to several characters who appear in several episodes. It's clear that helping her clients would aid her in achieving a certain goal which may be explained further in the next volume. The characters presented are pretty distinct both in looks and personality. Each of the clients have their own stories which are enjoyable to read and I would love to see continued in the next volumes. Still, the story, while incomplete (not surprising for a manhwa) is still good and I can still recommend it.

I will have to recommend that anyone interested get a physical copy though. I originally read this in ePub format which would have brought the overall score down if I hadn't switched to PDF. Otherwise, a large screen and a good display would be a good idea.

Recommended for fans of mangas and graphic novels and those who love a good urban fantasy featuring a witch/Tarot card reader.

This review can also be found on my blog: The Bookworm Daydreamer

The Dispossessed is an incredibly thought-provoking book. I don't remember ever thinking as deeply about a book than I did with The Dispossessed. The way the themes are presented was done with incredible skill painting the world believably as though one could see it happening one day. That it was written in the 70s and still resonate today speaks to the level of thought and talent that went into it.

I love how complex the world of The Dispossessed is. There's a lot to unpack and I'm pretty sure there may be parts which I misinterpret and have to go back to. Still, the way the world of Anarres is presented is pretty good. You have an anarchist society and yet they have a bureaucracy of sorts. Wouldn't that be a government by any other name? It's not perfect, but for the people living there, it's home. I'm not going to comment on the politics further (but I might make an analysis) but whether I agree or not, it was presented very well with regards to the things the society does right as well as its flaws. The homeworld of Urras is similarly well done. To many people, it would be a Utopia, but to the Anarresti, it's hell. As the Terran ambassador noted wryly, their paradise is hell to the Anarresti. What would the Terran homeworld be then?

The characters are similarly complex. They all have differing agendas and they are never black and white characters. When Shevek points out things he has against the culture in Urras, his hosts have a ready answer. There are debates in this book regarding culture and politics- two things that I as a debater would love to see more in books. Shevek's beliefs are challenged at every turn in Urras and yet he clung to it steadfastly as only a true believer could. It's incredibly fascinating to see how he can still believe in something despite experiencing firsthand the flaws in his society.

There are many things in this book I still want to talk about but won't because of spoilers. The writing here is beautiful, the prose is some of the best I've seen in literature, and at one point, I highlighted practically an entire page simply because of the sheer beauty Ursula K. Le Guin paints with words. I'm amazed at how few words could create such an impact. She conveys her themes and ideas so concisely and yet, so effectively. Anything else I might say at this point will only say: this book is beautiful. Go ahead and read it.

This review is also on my blog: The Bookworm Daydreamer

Review to come. Warning: Melodrama

Review to come. First time reading it- found it mostly okay.