Book Review Dump*** (1 Viewer)

totally_screwed

totally_screwed

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premise of the thread is self explanatory I hope. I used to share my short book reviews on a diff platform but I like the anonymity on here and also this gives me an incentive to keep reading and see the collection grow. I will warn that these may contain spoilers, that's about it cheers

#1
Title: The Unconsoled
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
First published: 1995
Pages: 535
MY RATING: 7.5/10

- really bizarre
- it reads like a nightmare (time and space don't operate in the way that they should, things are constantly and frustratingly always out of the protagonist's control, all the characters are normal and batshit crazy at the same time)
- unpredictable
- ishiguro nailed the unreliable narration
- it felt like a pointless read because everything and nothing happened at the same time, I find this so crazy (in a good way). like the book opens with the protagonist (Ryder, a renowned pianist) having just landed in a city with plans to give a recital that week, but 500+ pages and a rollercoaster of interfering interconnected events later, the opportunity to give the recital just never presented itself despite his efforts to control his life even just a little bit and do the one thing he came to the city to do. poor guy genuinely needs therapy
- not his best work but still a great and unique read

next up:
I plan to read "A Pale View of Hills" by the same author after which I will have read all his books** taking a break from reading till saturday though
 
HazzRat

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I picked this book up randomly but was pleasantly surprised in the end by its hella interesting context of the russo-Ukraine war. Here’s some things I found interesting:
  • Ukraine had to give up nukes in order to become a country, and would have had to merge with Russia if they didn’t, from pushback by US and NATO allies
  • When Putin started out ppl initially thought he was a defender of democracy and would follow thru with the reforms Boris Yeltsin wanted. Only a few years later they found out that was ridiculously wrong
  • Ukrainian democracy only resisted a dictatorship from the happy accident of Ukraine being a pluralist society. Their democracy nearly collapsed when Russia rigged their election in 2004 but somehow in a historically irony it managed to stick.
If any of u r into non-fiction or history you’re bound to find it interesting
 
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nsw..wollongong

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#1
Title: Serpent and Dove (book 1 of the series)
Author: Shelby Mahurin
First published: 2019
Pages: 544
MY RATING: 3/10

- why does every female mc have to hate dresses and blame the patriarchy for everything wrong with the world as if she and her “sisters” (she’s a witch) haven’t done anything wrong
- and why do the men in this book have to bend their back over wanting a girl who’s 100% pure and doesn’t talk back at her husband and doesn’t have a mind of her own because that’s just “what God wanted”
WHY DOES THIS BOOK CRAP ON THE CHURCH SO MUCH OML 😭😭
- if ur gonna base the guy’s personality on the fact that he grew up reading only the Bible and nothing else at least make it accurate… and pls don’t preach that God is a woman named Angelica 💀

- apart from all this the characters had a lot of connection between them, the story did flow nicely and there was a nice bit of romance
- but how on earth did the man fall in love with the female mc after a forced marriage to which he abandoned the love of his life in order to please the Archbishop. He got over his past love so quickly it’s concerning… he was totally smitten by her then all of a sudden he starts worshipping the ground that the female mc walks on it’s a bit unrealistic

next up: blood and honey (book 2 of the series ofc I’m not stopping here)

[also the author practically yelled abt this book being enemies to lovers but this was mildddd pls they were enemies for like 2 weeks]
 
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its_ace21

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nsw..wollongong said:
#1
Title: Serpent and Dove (book 1 of the series)
Author: Shelby Mahurin
First published: 2019
Pages: 544
MY RATING: 3/10

- why does every female mc have to hate dresses and blame the patriarchy for everything wrong with the world as if she and her “sisters” (she’s a witch) haven’t done anything wrong
- and why do the men in this book have to bend their back over wanting a girl who’s 100% pure and doesn’t talk back at her husband and doesn’t have a mind of her own because that’s just “what God wanted”
WHY DOES THIS BOOK CRAP ON THE CHURCH SO MUCH OML 😭😭
- if ur gonna base the guy’s personality on the fact that he grew up reading only the Bible and nothing else at least make it accurate… and pls don’t preach that God is a woman named Angelica 💀

- apart from all this the characters had a lot of connection between them, the story did flow nicely and there was a nice bit of romance
- but how on earth did the man fall in love with the female mc after a forced marriage to which he abandoned the love of his life in order to please the Archbishop. He got over his past love so quickly it’s concerning… he was totally smitten by her then all of a sudden he starts worshipping the ground that the female mc walks on it’s a bit unrealistic

next up: blood and honey (book 2 of the series ofc I’m not stopping here)

[also the author practically yelled abt this book being enemies to lovers but this was mildddd pls they were enemies for like 2 weeks]
Click to expand...
thanks u saved me i was gonna start this
 
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nsw..wollongong

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#2
Title: Blood and Honey (book 2 of the series)
Author: Shelby Mahurin
First published: 2020
Pages: 544
MY RATING: 2.7/10

- what type of abomination of a book was this.
- first of all, I'm not interested in a 19 yr old witch seducing a 16yr old hunstman then saying she doesn't actually like him when she kissed him TWICE so he starts crying bc he's just a kid and had the fattest crush on her. anyways.
- second of all, terrible terrible spice planning. u mean to tell me that it seems entirely logical for the female mc's response to her lover's anxiety (as he finds out he's a witch ffs what is going on) is TO GO DOWN ON HIM IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST CAMP??? he's out here pouring his heart out and all she could think about is rocking his world girl calm your farm.
- third of all, wtf is up with this hot and cold push and pull forward and backward crap. the lovers broke up like 6 times in this one book it was just tiring.
- why does everyone have main character syndrome, every single and i mean every. single. character. has mummy issues. not a single person knows their mother and if they do, their mum is either the villain or shes dead.
- terrible plot development, everything is so predictable and the dialogue looks like it came right out of my year 7 naplan exam. Screenshot 2024-01-11 at 16.15.43.png

- apart from the fact that the author killed off every tolerable character for the sake of the "plot", it had some nice imagery and the worldscape was painted pretty well considering that this book was set in the forest for like 300 pages.

next up: Gods and Monsters (book 3 and last book of the series, there's no way im stopping now)
 
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