gwentolios's reviews
747 reviews

Fae Deals & Other Tales: A Fantasy Short Story Collection by Gwen Tolios

adventurous inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

5.0

A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein

adventurous informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Almost There and Almost Not by Linda Urban

lighthearted 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? No

3.0

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima

Very interesting book, mainly because of the narrator. He's not your normal protagonist, and I really liked that part of this novel. It was a good insight into a different type of person and how someone such as himself would think.

Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday by Alan Dean Foster

I was rather disappointed. I remember finishing and thinking 'so little happened, how'd the book get to be so large?' The pacing was slow and the POV from the bot's side of things was lacking. I wanted more computers and engineering talk (not that I'm an engineer) because I feel like that is what the mechs would talk about, but it was hardly mentioned. And I wanted character information, backgrounds and interactions with each other. While it was given for human characters (who DIED and thus had no place in the movies, even in passing) there was none for the stars of Transformers, the Cybertronian's themselves. And this really did not set up anything for the Earth chapter of the war. Still no answers as to why Bee was sent onto earth alone, or how the Cons got there first, or any such interactions. I wanted more canon information and was disappointed.

I really would only recommend this book to those who are over the top fans, for anyone else it really wouldn't be worth the time. Hell, the 80s Marvel comics were more interesting than I find this to be.

T

The Spellman Files: Document #1 by Lisa Lutz

This was an amazing book! Busy with school an all, I typically finish one per me reading a semester, but it didn't even take me a week to finish this one!



The characters are so vivid, and each filled with their own version of sass that it's hard to not be enthralled by them. They really are what draw you through the book, the plot is okay, but I really just wanted to read about the Spellmans. And I couldn't help but laugh out loud at times!

A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane

I loved this book, devoured it actually. Checked it out from the library yesterday and am returning it tomorrow. As always Duane has a way of describing the magical and making it sound real. I was surprised by how much detail went into this, from explaining the routine problems the Spirit rover has to having the simplest things said in passing to have an effect later.

I was disappointed however to see an inconsistent detail in the novel, that fancy dinner Kit was to have with his family was stated to be first at seven, and then six later on in the book. And I kept waiting for a couple missing plot elements to be explained, but they never happened.
I was rather dissapointed in the minor plot hole and in consistant details.

The Falconer's Knot by Mary Hoffman

I've read Hoffman's other books, the Stravaganza ones and loved them to death. So I was really disappointed by this one. I felt no connection to the characters, the plot was only mildly interesting, and as a whole the book was very, very simple. Even for a YA book. However, it's very obvious that Hoffman did her research and the look into the lives of monks and nuns during the Medieveal times is nice to see. I particularly enjoyed reading about the processes that went into to making colored inks.

Gone by Michael Grant

To be honest, the writing of this is not that impressive. It's very reminiscent of a poorly and overdone Apocalypse RPG on a forum somewhere. But you know what? Eventually I found myself no longer caring about that.



Because while the writing isn't that impressive, the story is so engaging, captured my attention so well, that when I came across the squeal in a book store while traveling, I didn't even balk at the idea of spending $23 dollars on it. For a paperback. I was anxious to see what happened, and I found the situations so realistic, and for that reason all the more scary sometimes. I kept make connections in my mind to history and social systems, how this would all work (which, you know, could just be a me thing,) and was somehow able to connect reality to fiction more so with this book than I have with any other.



So yeah, definitely worth a read. Not the best book out there, but you'll enjoy reading this so much you won't really care.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin

5.0