competencefantasy's reviews
830 reviews

Moscow by Heather Kissock

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medium-paced

3.75

Spiders by Laura Marsh

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informative

4.0

Those fang pictures
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

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adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Consciousness,  biology, technology, humanity. 

All in compelling and reflective prose.
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun

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

4.0

Much more mystery forward than later entries in the series. A few things age badly (the character of Butchy comes to mind).
The Cat Who Said Cheese by Lilian Jackson Braun

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

3.75

Not my favorite of these 
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

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informative slow-paced

3.0

The premise was interesting but there was a lot of repetition
Octopus and Squid: The Soft Intelligence (Undersea Discoveries of Jacques-Yves Cousteau) by J.F. Bernard, Jacques-Yves Cousteau

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adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

So interesting and informativd. Great pictures too
The Children by Carolina Sanín

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

4.25

It's certainly enthralling, though I'm still not sure where the author was going with it
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

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adventurous challenging dark informative reflective 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

4.5

A very engaging story about gender, power, and interconnectedness. Reads almost like a memoir
Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The feel of this stood out to me as especially engulfing.