janenx01's reviews
56 reviews

Richter 10 by Arthur C. Clarke, Mike McQuay

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 16%.
I hated this and everyone in it. I got just over 50 pages in, read the last chapter to see what happened and deleted it from my kindle. 

Big Libertarian and Islamophobia vibes. I don't recommend. 
Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.
Bog-standard exposition-heavy  pedestrian western fantasy. 
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
It was too scary for me. I looked on the internet and yeah I was right to DNF. 

Props to the author for building dread efficiently and effectively though. YIKES
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The Fifth Doll by Charlie N. Holmberg

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

3.5

Loved the central conceit of this, but my overall score is pulled down due to amateurish writing that tries to sound fancy.
The Astronaut and the Star by Jen Comfort

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0.25

The Fires by Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir

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dark emotional informative tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

I couldn't put this down - it was absolutely terrifying. I knew going in that there was going to be a volcanic disaster - the blurb makes this clear - and waiting for it to happen was incredibly tense. The end of the book was devastating and kept me up at night. I've always wanted to go to Iceland, but I think it's a little too scary for me now. 

Translated from the Icelandic, which was a little challenging at times, but that's the kind of challenge I like so it was fine once I got used to the punctuation. 
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The White Queen of Middleham by Lesley J. Nickell

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

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

4.0

Like most Clarke novels, the author is more interested in the technology and science part than he is the characters. Fortunately he's so good at it I can mostly forgive him - but honestly he can conceive of the monolith, etc., but not a female character that speaks more than two line? C'mon, Arthur.

The novel mostly follows the story of the movie, except that the "full of stars" section is set at Saturn and not Jupiter. The descriptions of the ship and all the other technology are more detailed than Clarke's character development. Oh well, it's a fun ride.

The end of the novel does make the end of the movie a bit more understandable, so I do recommend it for that alone. 


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Verity by Colleen Hoover

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

2.0

Props to the author for writing a book I couldn't put down. HOWEVER, I hated everyone in this book, the writing seems amateurish (grammar errors? where was the editor?) and the ending was completely unbelievable. Tried to be a gothic romance and failed. Sorry! 
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Witcha Gonna Do? by Avery Flynn

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 1%.
Too cutesy and twee for my tastes.