manola's reviews
50 reviews

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

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adventurous medium-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

2.0

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If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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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The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

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adventurous challenging emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

Overall nice read. Kept me hooked all throughout. The moral struggles the main character, Todd, carries throughout the story are well tought through, and his reactions to events feel, well, human (sensation that i've found lacking in many novels). I didnt find myself becoming overly fond of neither him nor Viola for some reason, though. There are many tense moments when you definitely want them to end up pushing through, but i expected to feel more caught especially by the big cliffhanger at the end, for some reason.
Nonetheless, both the worldbuilding and plot are quite admirable and the story was very enjoyable. It's not that i didnt care for the 'good characters' at all, both kids are lovely and seeing their relationship develop was really nice. Im planning on reading the secuel as well, where im guessing i'll become more invested in them.

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Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Pretty solid read. Rooney manages to flesh out her characters pretty well and isnt afraid of letting them repeatedly make the same mistakes, which although frustrating at times, makes them both believable and relatable.
I do agree with some claims about there being a lack of an arc for the story though. It felt like it didnt really go anywhere and the reader simply ends up with a glimpse of the main character's life, which ends on a rather bittersweet note (which i wasnt exactly against. It circles back to one of the things i believe this book does best, allowing things to end poorly or unsatisfactorily and having them remain that way).
Not necessarily one of my absolute favourite reads, but one i've come to be fond of. would reccomend.

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The Extinction Trials by S.M. Wilson

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adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I got my hands on this book expecting something different, and sadly ended up disappointed. Might be your cup of tea if you're looking for an easy quick-read, but i found the vocabulary overly simplistic and the plot weakly thought through (which was a recurrent feeling with many other aspects of this book).
It was settled from early on that all the characters in the main cast had a clear motive except the protagonist (who even questioned her actions several times along the novel, admitting she had no reason for doing whatever she was doing. In the final chapters the author attempted to give her one but it felt vague and made little sense).
There is a hint at some kind of romantic relationship being possible between two characters at some point, but their relationship lacked chemistry for me (which was expected if characters were thrown on an island with blood-thisty beasts wandering about, expected to survive. That made the whole 'sudden spark between them' difficult to believe).
I do think it was targeted at younger audiences, but at first glance (especially looking at the cover) it didn't seem like that to me.

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