Rebecca T.

Like Twilight, but worse

Revisado: 01-03-24

Contains Spoilers

I picked up this book because it supposedly had an older FMC who was independent, logical, and intelligent. In reality, Diana behaved like a 16 year old. She's whiny, wishy washy, and fell in instalove with the first hottie to look her way. She's supposed to be independent and strong-willed, but apparently only when it's obnoxious and to her detriment because she immediately goes with whatever sketchy mccrusty the vampire man and his witch killer mom want. She's got a PhD in a witch-adjacent area of study but has zero curiosity about witches. Her parents died in a mysterious way but again, zero curiosity about her family's legacy or her parents. She resists exploring her witchcraft even though she's clearly in danger and more powerful than other witches until the very end of the book.

I could easily forgive any one of these issues. Doesn't want to learn about witches despite being intelligent and curious? Traumatic past experiences led to an illogical distaste, understandable. Doesn't want to explore her own powers to her detriment? Again, past trauma, I get it. Goes for a guy against everything she's ever known to be true and against the advice of everyone else? We've all been there, understandable. Cool with vampire-marrying a controlling man with a ton of secrets and a dark past within a couple months of meeting him? We've all ignored a red flag or two, it's fine... All of this and more at the same time? Oof. At least Bella has the excuse that she was a literal teenager and a human.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Breathing Noises

Revisado: 11-11-23

I could hardly concentrate on the story because the female narrator was gasping for breath like a dying fish the whole time.

It's a subpar fantasy romance with bad narration. I would highly recommend reading if you feel drawn to the story itself. Fantasy romance is easily my favorite genre and I hand out 5-star ratings like candy; I'm not hard to impress, so the mediocre rating should speak for itself. Save your money and your time.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Wonderful and Beautiful and Different

Revisado: 09-04-23

This book was a bit of an odd listen, but probably the most beautiful story I've experienced this year. In some ways, it's a typical fantasy story - a boy goes on a magical quest and faces trials. However, the perspective shifting, nested storytelling, and other narrative choices (all of which are very well done) make the story feel entirely new and exciting. The writing style is beautiful and yet it somehow still captures the... earthiness of humans. The ending felt right, and I'm thrilled that it's a standalone and not a 6 book series.

Beyond the story itself, the audio format really helps to differentiate the characters. I found the perspective shifting more difficult to follow in print.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Disappointing

Revisado: 10-26-21

Allow me to preface this by saying that I'm left-leaning myself.

The biggest piece that I have ever gotten about politics and debate and all of that is "If you cannot state your opponent's side in a way your opponent would agree with, you don't understand their argument." This is basically the entire reason that I feel this essay series fell flat. "I am a middle-aged white woman from a very progressive city, living as a relatively famous person and privileged with success in life, let me tell you how to view the world if you don't want to be a bigot, because I totally understand everything and know conservatives and why all of them are bigots."

She spends an awful lot of time talking about how things shouldn't be and how they should be.... and she does what about it? Writes a TV show with an abortion in the pilot episode? Talks about how many women lack access to things like abortion and how the rich maintain the status quo.... while paying $500 to sit and drink juice with other wealthy women. But hey, she *realized* she was doing something privileged so it's ok for her to do it, but let's make jabs at other people who do the same things because.....??? Talks about racial inequality in her area and how awful that is.... while seemingly just being a relatively wealthy white woman and not mentioning anything besides sympathy for marginalized groups?

She does an awful lot of advocating for change and the actual actions she mentions taking in her book are microscopic. She's a public figure, and derides other public figures for not doing enough, and then tells us how she deleted her Twitter to not feed the trolls and was a guest speaker one time at a women's health provider and asked her young family member about the Black Panther mural on the school.

This book felt like the actual embodiment of the "liberal elite" stereotype. Plenty of talk, pandering, and virtue signaling, and absent of anything concrete. One person cannot single-handedly fix all social issues in this country, but her contribution seems to be complaining about how bad conservatives are while doing basically nothing despite being a well-off public figure.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A Good Overview of Stats for Data Literacy

Revisado: 12-31-20

This book does, at times, get a bit more technical than some people might prefer, but explanations are always followed by relevant examples.

The most important aspect of this book is the way it explains how statistics can be used to mislead, or even how they can mislead unintentionally. It brings up people's poor intuitive understanding of probability, common issues with data sets, pressure on researchers to publish new ideas, various ways researchers can "massage" data, how framing the results affect people's interpretation of results, and many other relevant topics.

I don't think many people will actually be following the checklist for figuring out if the numbers they read in an infographic on Facebook are misleading, but an understanding of basic principles as well as the numerous issues in interpreting statistics should give people a healthy level of skepticism about claims being made.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Slightly Worse

Revisado: 11-10-20

In general, this was still a lovely book and wrapped up the story. It just wasn't as good as the other two books in the series, and focused mostly on side characters so that Citra and Rowan took a back seat. It also felt a bit rushed.

It also hit upon a pet peeve of mine. I would call myself progressive when it comes to views on gender... but Shusterman was unsubtle to the extreme here. There are ways to put a gender fluid character in and / or question the traditional gender binary without slapping the reader repeatedly across the face with GENDER FLUID IS COOL ASKING RUDE QUESTIONS IS NOT COOL every other chapter. The message wasn't the problem, it was the manner in which Shusterman took that horse, beat it to death, then continued beating it until each individual atom of the horse had been flung to a different corner of the globe, then went hunting for more horses to beat.

I appreciate that the author took the initiative to write in a gender fluid character, but having scene after scene where that character's whole purpose in the chapter was to shoehorn in commentary about their gender felt both forced and, at times, cringey. Just like having a black side character inserted into a book solely for the purpose of being cool and bringing up racism every other chapter would feel forced and cringey, even if the general message that racism is bad and the inclusion of diverse characters are both positive attributes.

This is a book aimed at YA audiences so I don't expect the subject to be handled as subtly and maturely as it would be for adult audiences; younger readers are still building up their skills and often times need a clearer message than adult readers do. But there is a limit, and I felt that the author went well beyond it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great Story - Bad Male Narrator

Revisado: 09-21-20

The story was a great continuation of Serpent & Dove (though it wasnt quite as good), however it has the same male narrator which was a let down. He speaks choppily and like he is grunting the whole time. It is jarring and unpleasant but it was the only thing about this book that I disliked.

9/10 for the book
10/10 for the female narrator
2/10 for the male narrator

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great Stories - Audio Needs Some Editing

Revisado: 09-21-20

The stories themselves are interesting and I really enjoyed getting a look into the diagnostic process doctors go through. However, the audio level jumps up and down quite a bit which I found a bit jarring. The editor of the audiobook should maybe have equalized it a bit better.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Hilarious and touching book; Iffy Narrator

Revisado: 09-17-20

I thought the female narrator was lovely. However, I couldn't get into the male narrator - I found the nasal tone in his voice a bit grating, and his acting felt unnatural to me. If you're picky about narrators, you may want to find a sample of his voice.

Besides that, as a young woman with the sense of humor of a 14 year old, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is easy to digest, fun, and still manages to have touching moments.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Cute SF Romance with some Spice

Revisado: 07-07-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This book definitely delivered on the warm, fuzzy romance bit. It also has enough action and suspense to keep you interested throughout, and the science fiction backdrop and frontier world give some futuristic Western vibes. It's not the deepest story I've read, but if you want a fluffy romance novel with a bit of neat world building and a steamy scene or two, this hits the spot nicely.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña