m4rtt4's reviews
327 reviews

The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito

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

3.5

This one was milder with the gore, and while I was not primarily looking for blood and bodily horror, they probably would have made the stories more horrifying as the psychological horror felt milder too and overall I wasn't as creeped out as I usually am with Ito. Insanely skilled art and creative stories as always, but something was missing.
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Seksistä ja matematiikasta by Iida Rauma

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

Olipahan pitkä ja täyteen ahdettu, tai ei tää niiiin pitkä kirja ollut mutta henkisesti sitäkin raskaampi, välillä oli pakko lopettaa kuuntelu ihan vaan ettei itsekin ajautuisi samanlaiseen eksistentiaalisen kriiseilyn avuttoman toivottomaan suohon kuin kirjan tunnelma. Ei tää silti kyllästyttänyt missään vaiheessa, innolla aina palasin takaisin, niin innolla siis kuin taattuun melankoliaan voikaan palata. Adjektiivia "elämänmakuinen" käytetään yleensä kuvaamaan keskinkertaisia elokuvia, joissa ei erityisesti oo kehumista mutta joita ei viitsitä haukkuakaan — kuitenkin sanoisin tämän teoksen olevan elämänmakuinen aivan toisessa mielessä, niin läpitunkevasti ettei suomalainen voi olla sitä maistamatta, se tuoksuu ja haisee kuin kahvipöydän lässähtänyt kermakakku, jota kaikki haluaisivat maistaa eikä kukaan kehtaa olla ensimmäinen ja josta kuitenkin tulee paha olo, vaikka söisi vain pienen siivun. Tää teos maistuu kaikilta niiltäkin elämän puolilta joita ei haluaisi maistaa mutta on pakko, tää näyttää miltä tuntuu kun elämää tungetaan väkisin kurkusta alas vaikkei jaksa enää, ja sit kun joku tulee kysymään että "miten menee" niin tekee vaan mieli oksentaa ja huutaa ja kadota ja silti ei kehtaa vaivata sitä toista ja nieleskellessä ne elämänpalat takertuu kurkkuun sanojen kanssa ja nyökyttelet jotain epämääräistä ja silmät kyyneltyy mutta viime hetkellä pelastut koska joku sukulainen tokaisee jotain yhdentekevää säästä ja kotiin päästyäsi vannot ettet ikinä enää mene moisiin kekkereihin ja silti menet ja sitten kun joskus tulevaisuudessa leipurin edesmentyä kahvipöydässä ei tarjotakaan elämää niin sitä kuitenkin jää kaipaamaan koska mieluummin sitä viime hätäänsä syö vaikka paskaa kuin kieltäytyy syömästä.

että sellasta. ei tätä voi selittää, lue itte ja kokeile.

Plussaa kaikista luonnontieteellisistä faktoista!

ja Annukka <3
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Solitaire by Alice Oseman

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dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

I put off reading this book for so long, because the synopsis made Tori sound insufferable — and yes, insufferable she was. So much. Despite all the pessimism this book ended up being the best Oseman novel I've read, partly (read: mostly) because Tori and Michael reminded me so much of me and my boyfriend when we were 17. Good times. (not really, I was so oblivious but also such a pain in the ass)

Now I've read every single one of Oseman's literary works, kinda weird to leave the debut till the very end but hey, maybe I just unconsciously saved the best for the last? None of her works have been bad though, she's my comfort author <3
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Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious 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? No

3.0

The beginning was promising, but then the story felt dragging, and all of a sudden there was this action-packed ending where too much happened yet it felt too convenient as most of the loose ends were given a little too perfect resolution. I really liked the world and its vibes, but I wish the story didn't read so much like a childrens' book — I do know that this is YA, it's not supposed to be as 'serious' as 'adult' books, but most of the YA I've read hasn't felt like this, even the first Harry Potter was way better in that sense and it's supposed to be for literal children. 

I never understood why Evangeline was so deeply in love with Luc, their (past) relationship wasn't explained nearly as much as it should have. Also the 'unnecessary' guys (others than Jacks) were taken care of a little too conveniently — I mean, could you maybe have resolved the unspoken relationship issues by some other way than killing off Apollo and making Luc become a vampire? Yes, you don't have to think about a guy if he's a literal monster or doesn't exist anymore, but having them discuss things deeply with Evangeline would have helped this book reach the (emotional) maturity it so desperately needed.
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Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

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dark reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have now read all Murata's works that are available in English, and dare I say I have never encountered anything similar; she has such a distinctive style of mixing (feminist) social commentary with gore and body horror, and despite all the nauseating imagery I'm left questioning if our societal norms are wrong after all. Her writing makes me uncomfortable in the same way that Junji Ito's drawings do — so if you like either Murata or Ito, I recommend you'd try the other one!
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The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Dark, academic, alluring, addictive and above all brilliant; also rather similar to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in a non-derogatory way as I loved that novel as well. I have never been so anxious over a book that is ✨no plot, just vibes✨ on the surface level, Ms. Tartt surely knows how to make one sweat over a piece of lettering paper. The length of the book can be intimidating at first, but after all those 629 pages I'm still left craving for more; the ending was too rushed and not elaborate enough in my opinion, but that's about the only negative thing I can say about this book!! Read it, you won't regret it.
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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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

3.0

I wanted to like this so bad, but instead I was thrown into the biggest reading slump ever and every time I picked up this book I wanted to dnf it. The world-building was very fascinating in its depth, which also unfortunately made it difficult to get into the story; I was about 300 pages in when I finally felt like I was sucked into the world — 300 pages, a whole book length! Then I was hooked for about 200 pages, after which the story began to drag on and on again. Idk if it was just me, but even in the end I was not entirely sure of everyone's roles and relationships, despite there literally being a character guide in the book.. 
If you like detailed fantasy worlds with diverse cultures and an extremely slowly burning plot (with even smaller and slower sprinkles of queer relationships), this might be just the right book for you. If you like anything concise, consider skipping.
The romance between Ead and Sabran was one of the few things that kept me going <3


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Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

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

3.75

What a book! For someone who seldom reads romance, this book was an excellent choice — I still wasn't very interested in the love story, but oh my god, the language! I could listen to anything written by Blake for hours to end, she really has a skill to bring out the magic in the most mundane of things. The audiobook was also very skillfully narrated, I highly recommend it!
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Linnunradan käsikirja liftareille by Douglas Adams

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

3.0

very original and interesting to say the least; I really liked the beginning, but towards the end things just seemed to drag on and on and I became bored. The jokes were very hit-or-miss for me — I either laughed aloud or felt like I was surrounded by old and dry relatives.
Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

So so good!!! It was really hard to put this book down once I had started reading it; I probably would have read it in one sitting had the non-book-related circumstances allowed me to do so. This one really read like a 5-star book, but I had to deduce the 0.25 stars for the communication issues. Even though pretty much all the conversations and relationships felt very realistic, down to the point of how stubborn the human nature is, it still didn't change the fact that for the reader it can be very frustrating to only read about conflicts that could have easily been resolved with some words — emotions, even. All in all, the aforementioned didn't really matter that much — in all its rawness and painfulness the story was also very beautiful, and most importantly, IT MADE ME CRY!! (which for some self-masochistic reason I consider a success.)
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