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charavel

433 points

0% overlap
Level 3
My Taste
My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels, #1)
The Buried Giant
Sabriel (Abhorsen,  #1)
The Tent
The Poisonwood Bible
Reading...
Pale Fire

Post from the Pale Fire forum

1h
  • Pale Fire
    Thoughts from 37% (page 110)

    I like to think I possess some literary grit but… yikes. This bedroom passage had me sweating. I’m enjoying this overall, but all of the technicalities were asked to sort out with zero context is a hard ask. I think it’s appropriate to let some noise float by, but there’s just no way to know at this point what it’s important I’m catching.

    1
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  • charavel finished a book

    19h
    Atmosphere

    Atmosphere

    Taylor Jenkins Reid

    0
    0
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    Post from the Atmosphere forum

    2d
  • Atmosphere
    Thoughts from 82%

    Beyond the cruelly good plots, I just love TJRs writing. The description of feeling so much momentum about something, and how good it feels when that finally syncs up rings so true for how it feels when I’m excited about something.

    7
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  • charavel finished reading and left a rating...

    1w
  • Childhood (The Copenhagen Trilogy #1)
    charavel
    Nov 07, 2025
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 4.5Characters: 5.0Plot: 3.5
    📔
    👨‍👨‍👧‍👦
    💭

    0
    comments 0
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  • charavel finished reading and wrote a review...

    2w
  • The Book of I
    charavel
    Oct 30, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 3.0Characters: 3.5Plot: 3.5
    ⚔️
    🙏
    💕

    The first thing I need to say about this book is it just might be my favorite cover design. I'm almost disappointed it was so short because I don't get to keep carrying it around with me.

    Overall I enjoyed my time on I. As others have indicated, this book is surprisingly cozy for it's premise. I'll admit I was expecting something... weirder. It was both more religious and less atmospherically reverent than I was hoping for.

    If you're anticipating a pure historical novel this is not that. The dialogue is very modern (though well-written, historical accuracy aside) and as I'm reading reviews from better informed readers, it sounds like whole concepts don't match the time period.

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  • charavel commented on a post

    2w
  • Atmosphere
    Thoughts from 17%

    So, until this point the sister is a bitter, entitled B. Alright. I really hope the author gives her some qualities later or something. Otherwise she's just a caricature :/

    3
    comments 2
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  • Post from the Atmosphere forum

    2w
  • Atmosphere
    Thoughts from 12%

    “You have to have something on the line for it to be called character” Such a grounding sentiment. Both loving and fearing the stakes here 🫣💕

    9
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  • charavel started reading...

    2w
    Atmosphere

    Atmosphere

    Taylor Jenkins Reid

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    charavel finished reading and wrote a review...

    3w
  • Katabasis
    charavel
    Oct 25, 2025
    3.0
    Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5
    🐾
    📚

    Sorry 🫣

    Sometimes I fear I’m hardest on authors I already love. Babel is such a treasure and dense in all the right ways. I found myself caught up in disappointments reading Katabasis. The magic system didn’t feel as integrated (mostly because babel’s was just so cool), the pacing dragged, I didn’t love the characters as much, and mostly I was disappointed by the missed opportunity to play with the layers of hell more. Dont get me wrong, there is plenty to appreciate here, but as much as I wanted to love this it just didn’t pull together for my personal reading pleasure.

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  • Post from the Katabasis forum

    3w
  • Katabasis
    Thoughts from 94% (page 507)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    6
    comments 4
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  • charavel commented on a post

    3w
  • The Left Hand of Darkness
    [deleted]

    post has been deleted.

    0
    comments 9
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  • charavel commented on a post

    3w
  • Babel
    Just Starting

    Intellectually I know books don’t have an expiration date but I feel so behind in not having read this particular dark academia entry. I’m finally getting it!

    I have friends who’ve loved this and disliked it, so I’m hoping I land on the loving it side. Language. Colonization. Oxford. Academia. Original magic system. Seems like a green light to me.

    This’ll be my first read from the author. Yellowface next most likely.

    44
    comments 7
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  • Post from the Katabasis forum

    3w
  • Katabasis
    Thoughts from 77% (page 416)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    3
    comments 1
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  • charavel made progress on...

    3w
    Katabasis

    Katabasis

    R.F. Kuang

    76%
    0
    0
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    charavel commented on a post

    3w
  • Katabasis
    Thoughts from 71% (page 382)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    7
    comments 3
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  • charavel finished reading and left a rating...

    4w
  • The Thief (The Queen's Thief, #1)
    charavel
    Oct 19, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
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  • Post from the Katabasis forum

    4w
  • Katabasis
    Thoughts from 71% (page 382)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    7
    comments 3
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  • charavel made progress on...

    4w
    Katabasis

    Katabasis

    R.F. Kuang

    70%
    0
    0
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