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kingazaz's reviews
32 reviews

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The setting really does all the work here, because its vibrancy and complexity is brought to life in the wonderful pictures that make this such a memorable read all these years later. The artful premise and the incorporation of the characters into real entertainment history is so well-done and makes everything feel so much more magical! Spoil your child with this one, what a great read
The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi

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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

3.75

This book is relentlessly imaginative, deeply charming, and all around a great young fantasy pick. Is it a genre masterpiece? No, not really. The prose is a bit generic; many of the plot points, predictable. But is it fun as all hell and fertile soil for the imagination of any bookish preteen? You bet! (Plus, the illustrations are gorgeous)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

What an incredible piece of reporting. Keefe has made his own contribution to the genre, staring (at real personal risk, if his epilogue is to be believed) into the abyss of the opioid epidemic to find the monsters responsible, and the reader can't look away. The pace of this book is exactly as slow as it needs to be to communicate the depth of callous cruelty exercised by the Sackler family and the extent to which they are culpable for this atrocity. For understanding the origin of the tragedy afflicting the country, you can't do better, but shit if it won't fuck your blood pressure
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What I expected picking up a sci-fi novel about alien contact was an adventure story. Maybe it would be mind-bending, maybe it would be intense, but ultimately, it would be an exploration of those unknown creatures out there and what they might be like. What I did not expect picking up a sci-fi novel about alien contact was a so-close-you-can't-breathe meditation on the nature of faith and the persistence of belief in the face of trauma and horror. Not to say I'm complaining, though—Russell's novel is among the strongest contributions to the subject the genre has to offer, so far as I'm aware, and supports it with some of the most lovable characters in all of space-exploration fiction to boot. The irony of these elements being so central in an ostensible alien-contact story is that, when the actual aliens are the weakest part, I don't find myself overly bothered
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

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adventurous funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A quite well-written adventure story by the same obscure young outsider who brought us A Gentleman In Moscow. I think I preferred this one, if only because I personally enjoyed the characters and setting more, but it's close. Impossible to regret this read; it's fun, serviceably literary, and moves at a clip quick enough for anyone to follow
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Of all the Mieville I've read, this is probably the Mieville book. A hulking epic in a world near-unparalleled in its level of incessant, scintillating creativity; a book so original that it manages to surprise and delight with its invention for nigh on seven hundred pages. Fans of weird fantasy, to say this one is "for you" is to understate the matter—it's incredible, and even after nearly being crushed by its own hubris in the somewhat faltering climax, it executes a superb recovery for an unforgettable denouement
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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

5.0

Stomach-churning, gorgeous, haunting perfection. One of the great weird fiction novels of the century, so far; oneiric malaise so flawlessly realized that I can't help but give it top marks. You? You are not quite real
The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare, Holly Black

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

2.5

Quite disappointed by this showing from Black, especially after the delightful Spiderwick Chronicles and the underrated Doll Bones. A competently written young fantasy novel, as they go, but painfully derivative at every turn and thoroughly dull as a result. When the nicest thing a reviewer can say is "the next one promises to be a bit more interesting," you do not have a masterpiece on your hands
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

3.75

Though a bit YA for my tastes, a well-executed fantasy novel with nicely drawn characters and a wildly original setting. One of this work's greatest assets is its departure from traditional fantasy mainstays even as it retains the feel of the genre very well--the main characters have godlike power, the romance subplot is...far more complex than it appears, etc. Slightly prefer Killing Moon
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

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challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Even with a spiral staircase tattoo, I'm still forced to admit that, for sheer unity of vision and execution, Castle is a superior work to Hill House. However. The exotic neuroses of the family in Castle were fascinating enough, but they didn't consume me in the way Eleanor Vance's mind did. Castle is more meticulous, exacting, and technically perfect than Hill House, and maybe a bit less effective as a result