Here are some shorter musings on recent reads.
The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love by Sarvenaez Tash
This novel centers around a boy with a crush on his best friend and his plan to confess his feelings while attending a fan convention in NYC. The characters are quirky and there are some very amusing scenes. I think I probably like this a little less than some of the other books I've recently read centered on fandom because I don't have any experience with conventions of this sort. It was hard to tell how accurate this was, but the main problem is it stressed me out just reading about such a place. However, it's definitely a fun read and I really liked how the author chose to end it. It was refreshing and perfect for the characters.
Rescued by Eliot Schrefer
This is the third in a quartet of books Schrefer is writing about apes and their human counterparts. Endangered and Threatened were both short listed for the National Book Award and I loved both of those book. I was less impressed overall with this one. It is different from the other two in that it mostly takes place in America (there is a trip to Indonesia eventually). This book is about wild animals kept as pets and it does an excellent job of highlighting all of the problematic issues with that. I just couldn't connect with the characters as well. This book felt more mechanic, like Schaefer was going through the motions writing it. It may be that it simply suffers in comparison to how much the other books made me feel for both ape and human. This one is missing the beautiful storytelling the other two had particularly in the character development.
Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace
I wanted to like this more than I did. There is nothing glaringly wrong with it, but I was hoping due to its subject matter and themes to like it better than I typically like paranormal novels. There are some interesting characters here, but the pacing is off and its a bit long in places. I felt rather disappointed with the end. It felt like a whole lot of journeying for very little pay off.
The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love by Sarvenaez TashThis novel centers around a boy with a crush on his best friend and his plan to confess his feelings while attending a fan convention in NYC. The characters are quirky and there are some very amusing scenes. I think I probably like this a little less than some of the other books I've recently read centered on fandom because I don't have any experience with conventions of this sort. It was hard to tell how accurate this was, but the main problem is it stressed me out just reading about such a place. However, it's definitely a fun read and I really liked how the author chose to end it. It was refreshing and perfect for the characters.
Rescued by Eliot Schrefer
This is the third in a quartet of books Schrefer is writing about apes and their human counterparts. Endangered and Threatened were both short listed for the National Book Award and I loved both of those book. I was less impressed overall with this one. It is different from the other two in that it mostly takes place in America (there is a trip to Indonesia eventually). This book is about wild animals kept as pets and it does an excellent job of highlighting all of the problematic issues with that. I just couldn't connect with the characters as well. This book felt more mechanic, like Schaefer was going through the motions writing it. It may be that it simply suffers in comparison to how much the other books made me feel for both ape and human. This one is missing the beautiful storytelling the other two had particularly in the character development.
Shallow Graves by Kali WallaceI wanted to like this more than I did. There is nothing glaringly wrong with it, but I was hoping due to its subject matter and themes to like it better than I typically like paranormal novels. There are some interesting characters here, but the pacing is off and its a bit long in places. I felt rather disappointed with the end. It felt like a whole lot of journeying for very little pay off.
Comments