grace-reviews-books

[grace-reviews-books]

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

Major tropes/genres: Sci-Fi

Brief summary: Kira Navarez discovers an alien artifact and then proceeds to have the worst time of her life.

Thoughts: I feel like after 800 pages I should have more of a reaction than "okay 👍"

The worldbuilding was interesting and the story was....intriguing? enough to keep me reading, but I didn't care at all for the characters. and listen when an author makes me feel nothing but apathy for the pleasant surprise lesbians, you know there's a fucking problem.

Also every scene transition was them going in and out of cryo, which got annoying after a while. Get better scene transitions, baby.

My rating: 2.5, and I'm being very generous here

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this is how you lose the time war 💙⏳❤

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Putting under the cut for book spoilers

BLUE IS DEAD AND RED IS SO SAD AND IM SO SAD. WAILS

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New word time! From: this is how you lose the time war.

Epiphyte: a plant that derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and grows usually on another plant

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New word time! From: this is how you lose the time war.

Promontory: a high point of land or rock projecting into a body of water

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day 3: your life is mine ♡

(femslashfeb prompt list)

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If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading

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Actually Jacob running away with a random circus is quite possibly the funniest way this could've ended. 10/10 no notes

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So I've been reading to sleep in a sea of stars by christopher paolini, which I've been mostly enjoying. I'm not super attached to any of the characters, but the story is interesting enough that I'm still engaged

But here's the thing: despite the eragon series being super popular when i was in middle/high school, I've never actually read it. So when I mentioned I was reading the new paolini series to a group of friends, I was SHOCKED when they immediately all made faces and swiftly educated me about why they all hate paolini so much

So...yeah! I already wasnt sure if i would read the sequel because i heard they were using an ai-generated cover, but this new information has decided me I think

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You know, I'm really enjoying there there, mostly because I think the reread value will be off the charts

Like in the beginning we meet Octavio secondhand and we think oh, he's this scary guy who's planning to rob the powow. Thats all we know about him. And then we get his perspective later in the book and learn that it's way more complicated than that! It's the same for a lot of the other characters as well

I think I might finish this book and then turn right back around and listen to it again.

[grace-reviews-books]

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

Major tropes/genres: Memoir, LGBT

Brief summary: Maia Kobabe tells the story of eir journey of self-identity.

Thoughts: I always feel so weird reviewing nonfiction memoir-type novels, because I feel like I'm judging someone's way of telling their story. "No, I hate the way you bared your soul to the world!"

I guess the only things I'll say was that this was a really enjoyable book. Gender Queer is a very personal, very honest look at Maia's life. It didn't necessarily resonate with me since I haven't had the same type of experiences e have, but I feel like it definitely gave me a deeper understanding of what that journey might look like. I highly recommend it.

My rating: 5

[grace-reviews-books]

So I'm halfway through Gideon the Ninth and how come nobody has told me about Dulcinea?? She's so good, you'd think people would go bonkers over her

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The Dark Tower by Steven King

Major tropes/genres: fantasy, horror

Brief summary: This story follows the gunslinger and his companions on his quest to find the Dark Tower.

Thoughts (on books 1 - 4): Well...first and foremost, Steven King shines best when he writes weird stuff. I read Elevation last year, and it just wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the Dark Tower. The Dark Tower has delightfully crunchy character dynamics, and the world building is just...incredible. It's weird and abstract and....

Unfortunately, is also a little outdated. I'm listening to the audiobook version, and let me tell you, hearing the audiobook reader say a racial slur multiple times in a row was...a lot. So if you read this series, you have to go in with the understanding that there are some pretty offensive parts in it. I hesitate to say that I recommend it, but it is an enjoyable read.

My rating (books 1 - 4): average of 4

[grace-reviews-books]

NOOO HE DIDNT GET TO GO TO THE CIRCUS....AHHHH ;_;

[grace-reviews-books]

I respect poetry so much because it does what I cannot do - say so much with so little.

When I have something Much to say, it takes me just as many words to say it. I say it with words that are each of them bland and common, unimaginative by their lonesome, with the hopes that if I stack so many together and squeeze a single drop of Much from each that it might flow into something meaningful.

When I have something to say, I say it twice. I say it three times. Because the first or second may not have captured the point. Because I do not trust myself to express the full essence saying it just once. Like just now, those last two sentences. I’ll repeat myself a third time for good measure - because I do not say it right just once or twice.

Poems say things in only a half, only a quarter. They choose single words worth more than ten of mine. I want to know how their minds shop for words. I want to distill myself like poets do. I want to trade in all my too many common words for the way they use an extraordinary few.

If I keep writing this, I’ll write it forever. I’ll explain myself again, as I have already, as I’m doing now. With more and different other words, with the hope of saying myself fully, like how all the hatched and messy wanton scribbles from a pen might finally color in a page. I want to change that. I want to not rip the page I’ve oversaturated by the tip of my pen.

I’ll start tomorrow, maybe, to explain myself less.

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You know the problem with reading a book? You get hooked and then it ends and you feel sad