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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Empress of All Seasons in Books
Mar 20, 2019
Characters (2 more)
World-building
Japanese mythology
I am so torn on this book. I'm really tired of the trope of "batch of girls competing to win a dude" that seems to be so popular lately. But this is an Asian take on the trope, so I don't want to come down too hard on it for that. I attended a panel at the last Baltimore Book Festival about old tropes being resurrected by minority authors, and I agree that just because a trope might seem old and played out, putting a new spin on it with minority characters and themes deserves its own time. That is definitely valid. But they were talking about tropes like vampires and zombies and retold classics like Pride and Prejudice and Alice in Wonderland. I'm not sure the trope of "girls competing to win a dude" deserves more time in any form. (To be fair, I kind of equally hate guys competing to win the hand of the princess. No one should be obligated to marry someone just because they won an arbitrary competition. There are all kinds of consent issues there.)
Despite that, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, the variety of yõkai, the bits of myth interspersed throughout the book. I do question Akira being trained to be a master of shuriken in a matter of days - like, really? And I wish instead of summarizing a ton in the epilogue, she'd just written a sequel, because I think there's enough material to do it. You'd think, with so much I didn't like about the book, that my overall opinion would be negative - but it's not. Even with all of those bad points, this book was enthralling and kept me reading right to the end.
Empress of all Seasons is a great Japanese-inspired fantasy that relies a little too much on old tropes. Set your inner critic to the side and just enjoy the ride, because the story is fantastic.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Despite that, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, the variety of yõkai, the bits of myth interspersed throughout the book. I do question Akira being trained to be a master of shuriken in a matter of days - like, really? And I wish instead of summarizing a ton in the epilogue, she'd just written a sequel, because I think there's enough material to do it. You'd think, with so much I didn't like about the book, that my overall opinion would be negative - but it's not. Even with all of those bad points, this book was enthralling and kept me reading right to the end.
Empress of all Seasons is a great Japanese-inspired fantasy that relies a little too much on old tropes. Set your inner critic to the side and just enjoy the ride, because the story is fantastic.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Sam (74 KP) rated The School For Good and Evil in Books
Mar 27, 2019
I started off really confused as to what the genre was supposed to be. The cover seemed YA, but the plot was more MG. It seemed to be trying to be both at the same time which was a bit confusing.
I liked that it was a new take on fairytales that I hadn’t read before and it definitely made it stand out to me – five years on and I still haven’t read anything quite like it, which is quite an achievement.
It’s full of action from the beginning, but I feel like it may have taken it too far and there was actually too much plot. Sophie and Agatha had to escape a few too many times and in places it just felt like the plot was going around in circles to bulk out what was already quite a heavy plot.
I’m not sure that I would read this one again, and I never actually read any of the other books in the series because I just didn’t get myself invested enough in the story.
I liked that it was a new take on fairytales that I hadn’t read before and it definitely made it stand out to me – five years on and I still haven’t read anything quite like it, which is quite an achievement.
It’s full of action from the beginning, but I feel like it may have taken it too far and there was actually too much plot. Sophie and Agatha had to escape a few too many times and in places it just felt like the plot was going around in circles to bulk out what was already quite a heavy plot.
I’m not sure that I would read this one again, and I never actually read any of the other books in the series because I just didn’t get myself invested enough in the story.
Dean (6927 KP) rated Blue Story (2019) in Movies
Sep 4, 2020
Good but could be better
So a film that caused some controversy when it was released, with gangs turning up to cinemas with knives resulting in it being pulled from most cinemas. The irony in that the film tries to highlight some causes of it and how stupid it is to get mixed up in. It does feel a lot like the recent Top Boy series, although not as good. Also featuring some of the main actors from that. Also a lot like @Kidulthood (2006) Some of the characters do just come across as very dumb and easily manipulated. Sadly some guys in gangs get caught up with some misguided idea of loyalty. It really didn't need the rap cameos from Rapman though, they just feel out of place. Overall the story is interesting and makes for a good film, but it will feel like you've seen it all before. It's not up to the quality of similar films.
Cee-Lo Green recommended In Effect Mode by Al B Sure in Music (curated)
Moses Boyd recommended May This Be Love by Jimi Hendrix in Music (curated)
There no book like this. I can not even describe what it all about except that it maybe about ET or what we call Energy. Is it possible that we live in a multi universes that can alter our life or are we just atoms that look like a body. We live in a plant that we see that can alter our lives.
The earth have a big bang or did we get seed here from other plant like Mars and now we live on Earth. We could be from the old Mars that is now dead. Our world may be really just be our illusions of what we call home. We may be complete atom that can detain to access 10 dimensions that we see as light. Could we really save our species or are we going to destroy our planet and need to find a new world to survive.
Could our world really be an Illusion of our minds that we see blue skies and green grasses. We may be able to be in our dimensions that we only see what we see. We could be a seed or was it our creator that put us on planet Earth. What do you think about our Earth history? Did we really come from Charon which is Mars now that it a dead planet. Here my favorite of the book, "Life on Earth and Death on Mars". We could have be spawned and planted on Earth or was it the Big Bang. You may want to read the book and decide for yourself what you want to believe. We may be living in world that we now the truth that has to do with our survival.
The earth have a big bang or did we get seed here from other plant like Mars and now we live on Earth. We could be from the old Mars that is now dead. Our world may be really just be our illusions of what we call home. We may be complete atom that can detain to access 10 dimensions that we see as light. Could we really save our species or are we going to destroy our planet and need to find a new world to survive.
Could our world really be an Illusion of our minds that we see blue skies and green grasses. We may be able to be in our dimensions that we only see what we see. We could be a seed or was it our creator that put us on planet Earth. What do you think about our Earth history? Did we really come from Charon which is Mars now that it a dead planet. Here my favorite of the book, "Life on Earth and Death on Mars". We could have be spawned and planted on Earth or was it the Big Bang. You may want to read the book and decide for yourself what you want to believe. We may be living in world that we now the truth that has to do with our survival.
Kate Mara recommended Lady Jane (1986) in Movies (curated)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau recommended Once Upon a Time in America (1984) in Movies (curated)
Sam (74 KP) rated One of us is Lying in Books
Mar 27, 2019
I love it when the edges of the pages in a book are bright colours! It makes me so happy to find books that look like this, and it automatically makes me want to read the book more. It’s a lovely touch.
However, I feel like the cover could have been better. It definitely doesn’t sell the book with how simplistic it is and I feel that it doesn’t fit the novel too well. This is just my opinion, but for a whodunnit I expected a darker colour scheme for the cover.
I’ve actually never read a whodunnit within the YA genre, and I really feel like it’s a gap that wants covering more.
It did take me a short while to get into the book, but after the first hundred pages, I quickly finished the book within a few hours. It had me gripped with all of the twists and turns.
I was making theories all the way through of who killed Simon, but I wasn’t ever even close to being right. This is so cleverly written that you really have no idea at all until the final few pages.
The characters were definitely realistic. I really liked that there was a real mixture of personalities rather than sticking with just one clichéd group.
The only reason that I can’t get past three stars with this one is just the fact that I almost gave up on it. The start seems to drag a bit and get a bit boring.
Other than that, though, One Of Us Is Lying is really thrilling and mysterious, and definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for something different to read.
However, I feel like the cover could have been better. It definitely doesn’t sell the book with how simplistic it is and I feel that it doesn’t fit the novel too well. This is just my opinion, but for a whodunnit I expected a darker colour scheme for the cover.
I’ve actually never read a whodunnit within the YA genre, and I really feel like it’s a gap that wants covering more.
It did take me a short while to get into the book, but after the first hundred pages, I quickly finished the book within a few hours. It had me gripped with all of the twists and turns.
I was making theories all the way through of who killed Simon, but I wasn’t ever even close to being right. This is so cleverly written that you really have no idea at all until the final few pages.
The characters were definitely realistic. I really liked that there was a real mixture of personalities rather than sticking with just one clichéd group.
The only reason that I can’t get past three stars with this one is just the fact that I almost gave up on it. The start seems to drag a bit and get a bit boring.
Other than that, though, One Of Us Is Lying is really thrilling and mysterious, and definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for something different to read.









