I work primarily as a translator and editor. I like to read a little bit of everything, and I am always excited to learn about new authors or titles I might've missed.
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41% complete! Katch has read 29 of 70 books.
@mollymay5000 I thought it started strong, got a bit bogged down in the middle, and then it finished strong. On the whole, I really liked it; the themes were eloquently understated despite being very present. The very direct, storyboard style writing doesn't resonate with me as much, but it worked out well enough.
Eliot's touching novel of a miser and a little child combines the charm of a fairy tale with the humor …
A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of …
From the best-selling author of Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, a stunning new novel—his …
James Crowley met his mortal end in a hail of gunfire. Now, he finds himself in purgatory, serving the White …
Winner of the Akutagawa Prize, Japan's most prestigious literary award. An unnamed Tokyo taxi driver has experienced a rupture from …
The Housekeeper and the Professor (博士の愛した数式, hakase no ai shita suushiki) (literally "The Professor's Beloved Equation") is a novel by …
This kicks off with the trapped-in-a-video-game trope and puts a few horror and thriller elements in. The world the main character is trapped in combines some excellent dark fantasy plotlines with common video game elements that are kept interesting by having unique twists. The basic premise is that players are healing kaiju to fight demons; however, there is so much more to the story as it evolves than that. I thought the fantasy world explored in the book was expertly handled, but the frame story that involves the world outside the game felt underdeveloped. On the whole, I was pleasantly surprised by this title, even if the bookends of it felt less adequate.
There's a lot to take from this title about effective worldbuilding in this isekai genre-adjacent format. It made me think about how so many of the stories currently being written in this subgenre often feel very similar …
This kicks off with the trapped-in-a-video-game trope and puts a few horror and thriller elements in. The world the main character is trapped in combines some excellent dark fantasy plotlines with common video game elements that are kept interesting by having unique twists. The basic premise is that players are healing kaiju to fight demons; however, there is so much more to the story as it evolves than that. I thought the fantasy world explored in the book was expertly handled, but the frame story that involves the world outside the game felt underdeveloped. On the whole, I was pleasantly surprised by this title, even if the bookends of it felt less adequate.
There's a lot to take from this title about effective worldbuilding in this isekai genre-adjacent format. It made me think about how so many of the stories currently being written in this subgenre often feel very similar with mostly the same basic tropes thrown together when it comes to the video game, outside world, and general fantasy setting elements. It was an interesting ride.
