kingazaz's reviews
32 reviews

The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle

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challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

LaValle at his best. This book is witty, hilarious, destructive, and hopeful all at once; it blends an unforgettable setting with meticulously crafted characters to create a story that will stick with you for ages afterwards. Good authors drive you to laughter and to tears, great ones do both at the same time, and in this bizarre, marvelous book, LaValle is truly great
Lone Women by Victor LaValle

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

3.5

It kills me to give a LaValle this low of a score, it really does. And it's not a low score either--3.5 is more than the likes of Sanderson or Goodkind are ever seeing on my page. But here's the thing: for all the snappiness of LaValle's prose, for all the wonderful ideas he brings out in this novel, and for all the strength of the setting, the whole thing felt so half-baked that I never really got the space to appreciate any of it. A dazzling meal with oddly small portions that's over before you know it, the waiter rushing you out the door, stomach growling
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

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

4.0

Really the worst thing you can say about this book is that the prose can be purple as a bruise. It's original, compelling, and at times arrestingly beautiful. Great execution of its premise WITH the caveat that you need to put up with a massive amount of angst--that's just the price of entry
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Le Guin's masterpiece, and believe me, there's stiff competition. This is an anthropological study out of time that follows the Kesh, a society that blooms in the Napa Valley in the far future after a man-made apocalypse destroys what came before. Sweeping in scope, flawless in execution, and utterly sublime in its love for human beings
Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber

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funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

Almost certainly my favorite of Graeber's. A highly readable journey through the history of debt and obligation in the world, complete with an inspiring look at what the future could hold for us after all
Pavane by Keith Roberts

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

4.75

This book is a masterpiece. An unblinking and seamless vision of an England that could have been, impeccable in realization, undeniable in power. If you let it, it will swallow you whole, chew you up, and spit you back out tearstained and wanting to go home, but not quite knowing where that is
Embassytown by China Miéville

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

4.25

A moderately bungled climax doesn't spoil this book's dazzling level of weird-fiction invention. In true Miéville fashion, each handful of pages contains a premise so strong it could support a novel in itself, and each is described with beauty and power 
The First Confessor by Terry Goodkind

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

A few interesting ideas doesn't save this from being interminably dull, tropey, and more or less a waste of 600 pages of reading time. Glad I borrowed it from the library
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

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

3.25

Here's the thing: Brando Sando is a great action writer and the magic systems he thinks up are fun as hell. I'd love to play this all in a video game. Unfortunately, this is a book instead, which feels like a mismatch of medium.
Uzumaki by Junji Ito

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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