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The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass
Leslye Penelope
chris commented on chris's review of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
When I read this for the first time time (almost 20 years ago??), I hated it - slow plot, old fashioned spelling, and extensive use of extremely long footnotes. after enjoying piranesi so much I wanted to give this another try, this time armed with the knowledge that this isn’t a plot forward book and doing audio to avoid spelling choices and get through the footnotes easier (I don’t read word by word so trying read footnotes especially in fiction is extremely frustrating and breaks my focus). The audiobook is excellent and I’d highly recommend it to anyone struggling to get through this. While I still prefer my stories to have more plot, I did enjoy this a lot more as a series of character vignettes that form a slowly moving picture.
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Cinnamon: a history of taste and empire
Nira Wickramasinghe
chris wrote a review...
When I read this for the first time time (almost 20 years ago??), I hated it - slow plot, old fashioned spelling, and extensive use of extremely long footnotes. after enjoying piranesi so much I wanted to give this another try, this time armed with the knowledge that this isn’t a plot forward book and doing audio to avoid spelling choices and get through the footnotes easier (I don’t read word by word so trying read footnotes especially in fiction is extremely frustrating and breaks my focus). The audiobook is excellent and I’d highly recommend it to anyone struggling to get through this. While I still prefer my stories to have more plot, I did enjoy this a lot more as a series of character vignettes that form a slowly moving picture.
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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke
chris commented on chris's update
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Black Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Speculative Fiction
Platinum: Finished 20 Main Quest books.
chris commented on chris's review of Bodies of Magic
this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me - I enjoyed the magic system of healing that Marske created; it's detailed and well thought out and unique. The sections where the characters needed to provide medical diagnoses and healing were a lot of fun to read, and you can sense the author's med school experience. In contrast, the actual mystery felt too slow paced for me and had trouble keeping my interest; I also felt uninvested in any of the relationships between the characters.
chris commented on a post
Symbiosis Theory is such an interesting story and promising start to this collection. this one was also published in clarkesworld in 2019 with a different translator (in case, like me, you’re losing your mind trying to figure out why this seems familiar). clarkesworld link: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/choyeop_12_19/
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Black Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Speculative Fiction
Platinum: Finished 20 Main Quest books.
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The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8
Beth Brower
chris wrote a review...
this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me - I enjoyed the magic system of healing that Marske created; it's detailed and well thought out and unique. The sections where the characters needed to provide medical diagnoses and healing were a lot of fun to read, and you can sense the author's med school experience. In contrast, the actual mystery felt too slow paced for me and had trouble keeping my interest; I also felt uninvested in any of the relationships between the characters.
chris wrote a review...
I found this to be pretty bland and forgettable, so much so that less than a month after reading I can barely remember what happened. The parts I found interesting (what Lark is able to do with her alchemy for example) were alluded to or brought up once and never really explored, and the focus is more on relationships and secrets and terrible men.
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The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8
Beth Brower
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The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7
Beth Brower
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The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6
Beth Brower
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The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5
Beth Brower
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Black Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Speculative Fiction
Platinum: Finished 20 Main Quest books.
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Country People
Daniel Mason