Book Review Poll

[rachelmanija]

Poll #32309 Book Review Poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 103

View Respondents

Which of these recently-read books should I prioritize reviewing? Anyone read any of these?

View Answers

When the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Limited time travel in a cafe.
32 (31.1%)

Long Live Evil, by Sarah Rees Brennan. Dying woman is transported into a fantasy novel in the body of the villain.
66 (64.1%)

The Return, by Rachel Harrison. One of a group of four friends vanishes, then returns changed.
13 (12.6%)

Black Sheep, by Rachel Harrison. A woman returns to her estranged, very religious family for a wedding. This is shelved in horror.
16 (15.5%)

The Glamour, by Christopher Priest. Literary novel about invisible people.
14 (13.6%)

The September House, by Carissa Orlando. A woman is totally fine with living in a haunted as fuck house.
24 (23.3%)

Into the Drowning Deep/Rolling in the Deep, by Mira Grant. A novella and novel about murder mermaids.
27 (26.2%)

The Stubborn Lives of Hart Tanner/the Many Short Lives Of Charles Waters, by Shawn Inmon. More Middle Falls time travel.
5 (4.9%)

Dr. C. Lillefisk's Sirenology, by Jana Heidersorf. An illustrated guide to mermaids by a sirenologist..
15 (14.6%)

Comments

[naomikritzer]

I enjoyed Long Live Evil and would be interested in your thoughts on it.

[rachelmanija]

Done!

[wychwood]

I've read the Kawaguchi; I had sort of complicated feelings about it and would be interested to see what you think!

[dhampyresa]

Long Live Evil is on my reading list but I've not read any of these books.

[rachelmanija]

Done!

[movingfinger]

When the Coffee Gets Cold is very slight; I was disappointed.

[osprey_archer]

I enjoyed When the Coffee Gets Cold, but I also voted for Long Live Evil because I've been hit and miss with Sarah Rees Brennan's books and I want you to scout the ground for me, haha. The ones I like, I REALLY like! But I don't always like them.

[rachelmanija]

Done!

I was hit and miss on the book - parts I didn't like, parts I REALLY liked.

[oracne]

I read Into the Drowning Deep. I found it moved along well, but it didn't stick with me.

[cahn]

I just finished Long Live Evil tonight. Um. OMG. I will have to write it up too!

[rachelmanija]

Do it! I just posted my review.

[coffeeandink]

I have read Long Live Evil, to which I had an apparently idiosyncratic response courtesy of thinking the Big Spoiler was really obvious & spending the entire book waiting impatiently for it, and The Glamour, which probably suffered for being read too soon after I read The Affirmation, which is also very very Christopher Priest and also has the single most disturbing and disorienting scene I've ever read.

[rachelmanija]

What scene was that?

[coffeeandink]

Belatedly: When you see the narrator's manuscript, which you thought was what you were reading, was nothing but a pile of blank paper.

[rachelmanija]

That sounds very Christopher Priest.

[aella_irene]

I've read The September House! It...sure was a book.

[frith_in_thorns]

I will say that with the McGuire ones, the novel both assumes you read the novella and then... uses the exact same climactic revelation in a way that seems to expect you to be just as surprised by it the second time. I read through the buildup anticipating a bait-and-switch to specifically catch novella readers, but no. It's just THE SAME THING. I'm still confused by this.

It's still pretty fun though, with some Extremely Familiar character types to her other books.

[frith_in_thorns]

Wait, sorry, I just looked at the post again to recheck the poll options and realised you said recently-read, not tbr. I'm leaving my first comment anyway because I am interested to know whether you agree with me!

[rachelmanija]

Haha yes, I was perplexed by that. "SHOCKER! IT'S... what you already know!!!!"

That being said, I quite enjoyed them both.

[frith_in_thorns]

It's really ironic because I am behind on her Toby Daye series due to my overwhelming frustration at how often the plot stops to remind you in detail of everything else that's ever happened. I guess in this case not that many people have read the novella?? I don't know. I do continue to really love her ideas though!

[rachelmanija]

But the novella was released before the book, to get people excited to read it! She HAD to know lots of people would read them both. And it's a problem no matter what order you read them in.

[rachelmanija]

Posted! Be annoyed with me.

https://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/2759225.html