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stories_of_the_soul27's reviews
265 reviews
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Rereading this book has been fun! It brought a lot of memories back and I still remember the state I was in when this book came to my life. The SoC duology has got me through a difficult phase of my life so even though these are not my most favourite books, they are important books to me.
Coming to this book, what I loved most is the amount of love and care that was put into building these characters. Their backstories are fleshed out and each of their traumas were taken care of. There is no callousness or effort to make it seem light. A bunch of kids were dealt with worst hands by life, some are struggling and some are still finding their way. That’s why I love SoC. It is not like winning points by giving traumatic backstory. It’s the respect and the care for me.
The plot is convoluted but doesn’t take away the attention from the readers. Because there are enough twists and turns to keep the readers on edge. Lot of things go wrong, the stakes are high and so it matters less that whether the heist plan makes sense or not.
Lastly the killer dialogues and the couples. Each of the couple is different and adds freshness to the story. It’s fun, sad, emotional, hopeful and good. This is good stuff!
Coffin Hill Vol. 1: Forest of the Night by Inaki Miranda, Caitlin Kittredge
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Wicked Witch of Coffin Hill
Buried in the woods and waits there still….
Hide your face and close your eyes
If you see her, you will die
Only the crows to hear you cry.
A Witchy take on Horror
I love witches. I feel they are a misunderstood bunch of people who had to go through a lot just because humans are afraid of comprehending the unexplained. And I love witches who take it a notch in the direction of blood, gore & madness. And I got exactly that in Coffin Hill.
The story has generations of witches and the promise of a harvest that leads to death, suffering and destruction of families. The force is formidable and the stakes are high. And in the centre we have Eve Coffin who used to be wild and self destructive in her teenage years but tragedy made her sober in her adult life. Her contrasting characters and going back & forth between the past and the present made the story interesting. Also she has killer dialogues like-
“What the hell are you doing to her?”
“Braiding our hair and talking about boys.”
“Ma’am, you should get checked out! Your eye….”
“It’s how I steal people’s soul.”
The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Nora Skavic has this wonderful way of writing stories and creating characters that are vast in the sense that she has written about the Foxes about the Ravens, and now the Trojans and each group of this people are so different from each other. It’s like the ravens are the black that trojans are the white, and the foxes are the grey , and that’s the best I can do with the description, but I think who ever has read the books will know what I mean by this colour differentiation . So Jean’s story was not what I was expecting to read about to be honest. I read this book back in 2021 and I had forgotten who Jean was. I had to again read the previous books to remember who Jean was so this shows the impression he made on me.
Now coming back to TSC I have only one thougt and that is I applaud Skavic’s calculation of making Jean briefly stay with the foxes, but permanently in the Trojans, it’s a genius move because you see foxes would have understood Jean, but I don’t know if they would have totally helped him get out of trauma like with Kevin. It’s different because Kevin had left when the worst was done to him. He had left. He’s not totally healed, but he had taken that step and he had a father, and he had Andrew, and then Neil, and then the rest of the foxes, so had a foot out when he left, but with Jean, that was not the case, so he needed a little bit of fox, but what he needed most were the Trojans who would constantly ask him. Do you want to talk about it? Do you want to share something? How are you feeling? Let us help you Jean. What can we do now? I’m not saying all of these are sunshine and they don’t get sad. They have their days most definitely, but they are optimistic people. They are hopeful people and that’s who Jean needed and I find this balance a genius of a move in terms of character writing & development. I will say Nora writes characters like anything, and this is what I love about AFTG. I love about this story.
Jean’s trauma was heartbreaking to read about. Dude has a lot of healing to do.
P.S. : So Nora also got confused between Jean and Jeremy many times (like me).
The Maid's Diary by Loreth Anne White
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Blue Flag, Vol. 1 by Kaito
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
An Educated Woman In Prostitution: A Memoir of Lust, Exploitation, Deceit by Manada Devi
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
My advice to anyone reading this book is to read it for understanding the story of an educated woman in prostitution. There are a lot of opinions and criticisms of the author I didn’t agree with. But this is a memoir, written from the POV of the author who reflected upon her actions and choices daily and came to these conclusions. So it really doesn’t matter where we like her opinions or not, as we are not in her shoes.
This memoir provides insights on the Indian Bengali society of 1900s, how social reforms brought upon changes on the young people, how society unjustly protects men and leave the women helpless, ridiculed and destroyed. The author has been a harsh critic of the society, men and also of herself. She is not just educated but a deep critical thinker too. Her memoir also paves a way to get an understanding of famous men of her time.
This memoir provides insights on the Indian Bengali society of 1900s, how social reforms brought upon changes on the young people, how society unjustly protects men and leave the women helpless, ridiculed and destroyed. The author has been a harsh critic of the society, men and also of herself. She is not just educated but a deep critical thinker too. Her memoir also paves a way to get an understanding of famous men of her time.
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
The first line of the book prompted me to pick it up. I wasn’t disappointed. It was a quick read and the plot worked well for a short story. It was fairly crazy and unhinged.
The King's Men by Nora Sakavic
dark
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? It's complicated
5.0
Still trying to make up my mind about how to review this book.
A Midsummer's Equation by Keigo Higashino
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Higashino makes it difficult for me to hate the murderers. The grey area of any murderer’s motive is why I pick up his books but I still hate him a little bit for it!
The Raven King by Nora Sakavic
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book is about tiny midgets promising to protect each other and rest of the foxes. 🦊