mkw1lson's reviews
132 reviews

Into the Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.0

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

adventurous emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

DEVASTATED.

More later...

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous hopeful tense 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? No

3.0

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

adventurous emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

An Ernest Cunningham mystery is always a lot of fun but this one is especially so because it's Christmas!! Was it recommended to read this book like an advent calendar? Yep. Did I? Nope. Of course not. I can see the fun in doing that though! It's a good idea.

This was a fun little mystery, I liked the extra rules for a Christmas special too. As always, it was fun and funny but dark as well. It strikes an odd dark-humour balance that I really love and always enjoy. I'm still looking forward to the real third book in the series, but this was a very fun short in-between.

Also - this is the first time that I figured it out before the reveal! Woo!

Happy Place by Emily Henry

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is like the adult version of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. A friend group that each have complex lives and love stories, drifting apart but coming together and finding more of a family with each other than they do with their own blood. 

Yeah, it's pretty close. I loved that though because although this is a romance, it also felt like a celebration of female friendships and that's something I'm always a big fan of.

That said, the romance was great too. I love that Emily Henry makes her lead characters innocent of any wrongdoing, I love that they are complex and need to work on themselves too. I also liked how the story went back and forth, introducing the characters during their break-up and then going back to show how the fell in love and how they got to the point of breaking up. It helped to not understand the whole story until later in the book.

Is it weird I almost didn't want them to get back together in the end? Not because I didn't want them to get there eventually, but I almost wanted an amicable split on good terms and then an epilogue where they finally got together. I still liked the ending we got, but I almost would have liked this better.

 

Overall, good book and has solidified that I need to be reading more Emily Henry books to give my brain a nice romcom breather.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Excuse the language, but HOLY FUCK.

This book is amazing! From the description I thought for sure that I would find it a bit dull, but it was amazing the whole way through. It handles a lot of dark topics with such humour and levity and hopefulness. It's so unique to read a story with so much hope for humanity and I adore that this book is. It is not happy the whole way through and it does not always feel like everything will be okay, but there is always kindness and hope at the core of it. 

I cannot get over how this story has a first introduction to sentient alien life, that would so easily turn ugly and vicious in another book, and in this one, it's just "okay, how do we work together then?" And that's something so special and lovely, I think it's owed to have two curious individuals working together for a common good.

I will absolutely read this book again and undoubtedly love it.

One more note: Do yourself a favour and check out the audiobook. I don't often think that the audiobook adds something that just sitting down and reading the book does not, but this audiobook is among the best. It really is so good and worth it.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

"It gets so much better!" They say, but does it?

Admittedly, this book is an improvement on the first if only because the plot is a bit more interesting than the first books, but I wouldn't consider it an enormous improvement. I'm still not a huge fan of Celaena nor Choal and Dorian. I think there were a lot of big dramatic moments that were supposed to make me feel something that just... didn't?

Also, the riddle and puzzles that Celaena was trying to solve were... not hard. Which kind of takes a reader out of it.

Again - the third book is supposed to be amazing, so I'll keep on reading, but the minor improvements in this book have not convinced me that there will be some spike in quality.