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Assim na terra como embaixo da terra
Ana Paula Maia
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Platform Decay
Martha Wells
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The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
Susanna Clarke
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Slow Gods
Claire North
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Platform Decay
Martha Wells
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I ADORED this book. It is really amazing that this is her first book; it has a lot of confidence in that you can take an entire short-story as a footnote, or a tangent into an old family patriarch or some far-off war without forgetting that you're listening to the telling of the return of magic to England.
It was extremely well paced for such a long book. I do love regency-era novels (well, Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters) so this did feel familiar; and I also love it when fairies are whimsical and fun, and terrifying, but crucially you have to never be certain of where the line between the two states is, and this book nails it. If these are thing you like, don't think twice -- you'll like this book for sure!
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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke
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Wild Dark Shore
Charlotte McConaghy
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how is it possible to write a character so relatable? lenù is more me that i am
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Midnight Timetable: A Novel in Ghost Stories
Bora Chung
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Taipei Story
R.F. Kuang
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sissiriri commented on sissiriri's review of Yesteryear
I was very disappointed in this book.
I expected something snappy and satirical that pointed to the hypocrisy of tradwives and in general of the modern conservative misogynist women movement, by contrasting the farce they uphold with the reality of a world where women don't have rights. And the first chapter felt like the setup for that. But then the "time shift" happens and we are dragged to Natalie's back story...
Natalie is this odd character who is at points supposed to be smart, but rarely acts as such; ambitious; earnest. Who half stumbles into this media empire-slash-political dynasty, and who gets brought down in a really unsatisfying, half-baked way. The "past" plot is massively uninteresting, and I really couldn't be more disappointed with the conclusion.
I dislike the writing as well. Most characters are utilitarian and unrelatable, so it's hard to connect with any of them. Dialogue feels almost soap-opera-y, in that it is always just a little too grandiose and expository. A lot of "anyways" and short sentences that get very tiring after a while. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration was fine, it was the actual writing that bothered me.
More than anything else, I don't understand the desire or need to empathise with this representative of a hateful and dangerous movement; and there's barely any relevant commentary on this movement, either. This book felt shallow in that sense and I was really expecting more. I really wish it would have been something else.