!!! CW: This book needs a BIG content warning. So fyi for anyone considering reading it/reviews: SA and Rape are big themes of this supposed "thriller"
I was wary of this book because I generally don't enjoy main characters who are women but written by men, but thought I'd give it a chance because ratings were generally good at the time and I was traveling to Lisbon and hadn't read a good thriller in a while. My initial reservations QUICKLY were proven to be correct: nearly every woman in this novel is over sexualized, with their ability to be or look sexy a major character trait. The main character is regularly called "hysterical".
Issues like SA, harassment, are regularly discussed and graphically described, but without the careful nuance that they require. It feels like a book that just wanted to hit on these "hot topics" without any real awareness of …
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Astrophysicist by day. I read almost all genres.
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_astronoMay reviewed Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone
Review of 'Two Nights in Lisbon' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
!!! CW: This book needs a BIG content warning. So fyi for anyone considering reading it/reviews: SA and Rape are big themes of this supposed "thriller"
I was wary of this book because I generally don't enjoy main characters who are women but written by men, but thought I'd give it a chance because ratings were generally good at the time and I was traveling to Lisbon and hadn't read a good thriller in a while. My initial reservations QUICKLY were proven to be correct: nearly every woman in this novel is over sexualized, with their ability to be or look sexy a major character trait. The main character is regularly called "hysterical".
Issues like SA, harassment, are regularly discussed and graphically described, but without the careful nuance that they require. It feels like a book that just wanted to hit on these "hot topics" without any real awareness of how to properly address these topics.
All of the unnecessary asides nearly made this unreadable. They were simply a way to draw out the story and attempt to create this illusion of thrill. There was no real "mystery" or "thriller", just information that the reader didn't have until the end.
Overall this verges very closely to my 1 star rating category of "would actively discourage others from reading".
_astronoMay rated The Ten Thousand Doors of January: 4 stars
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Enero Demico es una joven curiosa que vive en una extensa mansión llena de objetos y tesoros peculiares. Como la …
_astronoMay reviewed When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Regan Barnhill
Review of 'When Women Were Dragons' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I was so excited for this, but unfortunately it left me bored. If I wasn't so stubborn I probably would have DNF'd. I'm struggling to put into words what didn't work for me, but I think I was expecting more from the dragons in a few ways. They just disappeared? For years? And came back with no acknowledgement of the pain they left behind? And the whole explanation of "well some people just sometimes feel called to dragon" was lacking as well, tell me why women are turning into dragons and more about how they're burning down everything that held them back please!
2.5 stars
_astronoMay reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro
克拉拉是一个专为陪伴儿童而设计的太阳能人工智能机器人（AF），具有极高的观察、推理与共情能力。她坐在商店展示橱窗里，注视着街头路人以及前来浏览橱窗的孩子们的一举一动。她始终期待着很快就会有人挑中她，不过，当这种永久改变境遇的可能性出现时，克拉拉却被提醒不要过分相信人类的诺言。
在《克拉拉与太阳》这部作品中，石黑一雄通过一位令人难忘的叙述者的视角，观察千变万化的现代社会，探索了一个根本性的问题：究竟什么是爱？
Review of '克拉拉与太阳' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I don't know how else to describe it other than this book felt like home from the first few pages.
_astronoMay reviewed The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother …
Review of 'The School for Good Mothers' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Felt like an attempt to be the next Handmaid's Tale for white women to latch onto. Maybe an attempt to be a commentary on how women of color are perceived as mothers but was poorly executed, Frida was painted as one who barely did anything wrong compared to these other women because while she left her 1.5 year old alone at home for hours, at least she didn't hit her. The premise could have worked, but the book fell flat. I felt no sympathy for the characters and was left with many questions about the new CPS "system"
_astronoMay rated The Deep: 4 stars
The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and 1 other
Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic …
_astronoMay reviewed Collided by Lauren Asher
Review of 'Collided' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Absolutely no. First of all, the writing and editing in (particularly) the first and last 50 pages was terrible. But more importantly the characters were so flat with such forced chemistry. It took a lot of willpower to get through this. Some winning sentences:
"5k marathon"
Review of 'The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Wow. I think I'll need to reread this trilogy now.
_astronoMay rated Siren Queen: 3 stars
Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic. "No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers." …
_astronoMay reviewed Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
Feyre returns to the Spring Court on a reconaissance mission about the invading king. As …
Review of 'Court of Wings and Ruin' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
If you keep killing characters and then bringing them back to life, then what's the point of killing them off in the first place
_astronoMay rated An Offer from a Gentleman: 4 stars
An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn (Bridgerton)
E-Book Extras: ONE: Behind the Novel: An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn; TWO: The Bridgerton Basics: Ms. Quinn …
_astronoMay reviewed Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin
A thrilling speculative novel about a tech company that deletes unwanted memories, the consequences for …
Review of 'Tell Me an Ending' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I loved the concept for this book. Who doesn't have a memory they sometimes wish they could delete? Seeing how this played out in different lives was interesting, but I was missing more of the societal impacts. We learned a bit about who wasn't allowed to delete memories and why, but I wanted more. I would absolutely eat up a prologue that deals with society restructuring itself once this technology became available.
_astronoMay rated School of Mirrors: 3 stars
_astronoMay reviewed Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Axiom's End is a 2020 science fiction novel by American writer Lindsay Ellis. Set in …
Review of "Axiom's End" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
So overall I really enjoyed the plot of this. Was Cora slightly juvenile? Yes. Were there some repetitive strange terms (lizard brain anyone?) Also yes. Does it seem like there's about to be a very incompatible (in all meanings of that word) alien/human romance in book two? Definitely. Do I care? Not one bit. It was creative and fun and I didn't want to put it down.