mo0nsc3nt

I expected to be disappointed, since Audible's catalog is just downright abysmal, but to my surprise, it was very enjoyable. After the first few chapters, I started to grow interested, and by the halfway point, I was fully invested. Did drag A LOT near the end, though I saw it as necessary to wrap up the rollerskating plotline. The one that felt more secondary to the storyline around the protagonist's father.

As a non-binary, who was born a boy, I'm not quite sure if I should be offended or not /j. Though, I support the equal rights of women, I felt as if this was written with malice towards the opposite gender. I think we've both done our fair share of bad deeds, so to treat all men like complete scum seems a bit too far. I'll admit there were little sprinkles of a point spread throughout, but it was overshadowed by spite for the male gender. Either way, I found this to be an interesting read, due to the history behind this manifesto, and the uncensored nature of the content. Would recommend for any reason you can think of.

I honestly really wanted to like this, as a fan of the Cyberpunk genre, but I just couldn't. I truly found it to be well written, but sadly, it didn't do much to impress me nor make me want to keep reading. However, one positive of Neuromancer is that it reminds me heavily of Akira, which I mean, I'm sure it may have been inspired by this or vice versa. I liked the dialogue, and Gibson's writing style, yet the story felt very bland. I'm sure it was revolutionary back in the day, but now that we're in 2022, (Now this review is dated) I can't see what was so incredible about this. It was just boring with a bit of sprinkles and cherries. Nevertheless, I'd still recommend just for the historical relevance, and because I love cyberpunk.

At first, I was completely bored, but once the story started to progress, that's when it got pretty good. I'm honestly excited to read more of this series, as it posed plenty of questions, and introduced some interesting elements. Though, the fact that it's short somewhat brings it down as we don't have much time to grow attached or fully invested in the world, but it did help keep the mystery.

I'll warn you before getting started. The gentle mixture of my emotions towards this novel, and this being my first review will most definitely lead this to seem unprofessional at best and unreadable at worst. Regardless, I felt as if I had to talk about the first Light Novel in my hopefully (not too long) novel binge. A light novel that slowly slithered it's way into my heart and mind; freeing something that I could only refer to as a “fading dream”.
Of course, I'm not saying that I've secretly wanted to become a serial killer out of revenge or anything of the sort, but as the novel slowly reached its final act, I began to remember wanting more than I already had. The childish mindset of just thinking to yourself, “I wish my life was more eventful than it is now”. This concept is completely unrelated to the story, yet I want to praise the story for making me feel such a way once again. To an extent, you could call it envy over something I can't have. Once again, a childish mindset that exclusively appears when I read stories that manage to immerse me. Just from those few sentences, I'm sure you've probably guessed that this work of fiction has made a home in my heart that isn't going away anytime soon.
I may be getting pretty personal, but I think everyone has series that make them feel retrospective, and this is one of them for me.
Disregarding the twists and overarching plot, the novel did manage to pull me in with it's characters. The cast isn't too large by any means, but I enjoyed watching them banter and interact with each other. Moreover, I'm a fan of that road trip aspect it had going for it. I feel as if those types of stories help you grow closer to characters by having them be put in tough situations that ultimately benefits the friendship between the characters while still keeping you on the edge of your seat. Thankfully, this novel managed to pull it off pretty well. Kiriko and Mizuho's relationship were a highlight of the first 7-8 chapters.
I do think Mizuho's family life and Shiori as a character could've been fleshed out more, but besides that, I don't really have any complaints. The novel is short enough to excuse details such as that, but I might just be blind to some of its flaws.
Though, Speaking of Shiori, I know she isn't extremely important to the story, but she was a good side character with a small but nice conclusion to her arc. (She's also a waifu, so I had to talk about her a bit more).
Anyways, back to Kiriko and Mizuho.
Of course, it was obvious from the start who the girl that got ran over truly was, but I think the reveal that she was Kiriko wasn't meant to bring shock to the reader. It just made me ask more questions, which this novel made me do frequently.
What was Kiriko's past like?
How could she be Kiriko when there's an age difference?
How did she obtain her ability?
Who was Kiriko? (I'll be honest, I didn't start suspecting she was Kiriko until midway through the story)
Luckily for me, most of these questions were answered one way or another in a way that I think some people won't enjoy. Yet, I really enjoyed it.
(Still don't have a strong idea how Kiriko got her abilities, but in supernatural series, you really just have to suspend your disbelief when it comes to explaining abilities.)
Specifically, the 9th chapter, which pretty much re-contextualized the story completely. By this time, I was already invested in both Kiriko and Mizuho, so finding out about everything they went through hit really hard. In fact, this chapter might've made me even more invested in these characters. I'm not sure how to describe it, but this chapter was almost as if we were looking at a different timeline of events, where Mizuho did decide to meet up with Kiriko. (Needless to say, them meeting up was both cute and saddening.)
Nevertheless, this chapter still had a melancholic feel to it; knowing that both of them are dead. Though, I think I'd still put it in the “happy ending” category (emphasizing the quotes), since they at least died together.
And that's the power of love :)
Anyways, I think the message I've been trying to preach earlier is that stories can make you want more out of life. It can show you endless possibilities of what your life could have been or maybe could be if you take that first step.
Like I mentioned earlier, I'd completely recommend giving this novel a try. It may not be for everyone and it's undoubtedly not perfect, but it's still a great journey that you may or may not enjoy.

Though a short read, I've always been a fan of “the poor overthrowing the rich” plotline, so I was instantly hooked. Luckily, this didn't disappoint. I'm still conflicted whether to call this my subjective masterpiece or not, but I think the author managed to make me feel genuine emotions despite the length. It felt like a pound to the chest, a war-cry of mellow chaos. The novel throws you into the disarray, and clings to your attention for the remainder pages.

I was under the impression that this was going to be an easy read, but to my surprise, I was so wrong. The first few chapters lay out the plot pretty well, and though I enjoyed it conceptually, and I had a nice vivid image of what was going on, the true selling point for me is the concept of Klara, the protagonist, having her memories all mixed up, and the stories ending basically revealing that it was an unreliable telling of scrambled events in Klara's mind. The ending leaves you with such a hard hit, the story having been pretty wholesome for the most part. It's truly fantastic as behind the words, you could sense an undertone of something more being at play in the world they inhabit. It's led to many theories, including one where Josie is subsequently put into Klara in precaution of her eventual death. I feel like it's interesting how the story really leaves so much up to your interpretation. Yes, Josie recovered, but was that really how it happened? There's nothing to say that Klara is misremembering due to her circuits being damaged, or that, the most straight forward answer, being that Klara was abandoned and thrown away when Josie and her mother didn't need her anymore. Both interpretations leave you with a sad feeling that ties everything together to make this a truly great read.

Honestly having another “Loneliness Girl in The Universe” moment, where at the start, I absolutely despised reading the book, but as it went along, I actually started to get into the story as it began to unravel, ultimately culminating in that honestly, pretty good surprise twist of an ending. Like the protagonist mentions earlier on in the book, ‘can't judge a book by it's cover' (literal, in this case.)

As a professional boy lover myself, I found this to be on the better side of gay representation. I've always disliked the idea of calling a story great just because it has LGBTQ+ aspects to it, since it usually ends up feeling too unrealistic, corny, or just simply banking on people romanticizing gay relationships. I love this novel actually took time to flesh out the characters, and show them progressively understanding their sexuality. For example, the protagonist reads Giovanni's Room (good book btw), and it's what brings him to understand how he feels and that it's completely normal. Also, the whole rebellious and governmental aspect where he's basically a criminal for having Giovanni's Room was pretty cool too.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENDING. It's no masterpiece by any means, but I can appreciate how creepy the topic is handled. It added to the horror, and made me uncomfortable at some points, especially the ending. That was an insane plot twist that I honestly didn't see coming, but it doesn't feel like it came out of nowhere. I do think the work session parts could have been more condensed, and maybe more of a focus on the girl and Marcos. However, this was a good read. The atmosphere was well put together in a way that kept me invested - finding myself enjoying such a story from start to end.

Frank somehow managed to surpass Dune with what could be considered the conclusion to Paul's story. This sequel honestly did wonders for the original Dune, in my opinion. It feels like the piece missing from the original, and I'm glad I read it. Moreover, on the quality side of things, this kept me invested throughout the entire story. It feels way more intense and political than the first novel and I absolutely love it. It's so emotionally gripping at times and the ending absolutely stung me to my core. I love how they did Paul and the rest of the cast, including where they ended up by the end of the story. You simply cannot read Dune without reading Dune: Messiah. This is what makes Dune as a series a masterpiece to me now.

And I thought Dune Messiah was the best story-wise so far, but to my surprise, this proved that assumption incorrect, and God Emperor of Dune might as well do the same, but onto Children of Dune; I absolutely love the direction they took with this installment. I've heard plenty of people say they dislike this book, but I genuinely can't see why. The story was a ride from start to finish; it felt beautiful in some sense, with this novel really showing the consequences of Paul's actions in the previous installment. I won't say I was as attached to Leto II and Ghanima as I was for Paul, but Leto II specifically has an interesting storyline that bleeds into God Emperor of Dune. Well, that's another assumption. However, Frank took the emotions I held for Messiah and dialed it up to 100 with tons of shocking/hype and painful moments, such as Alia's role in the story. It was difficult not to feel sympathy for her as she was a great character in the past two books; her death was certainly memorable in ways that will keep me awake at night. On the topic of deaths, my only gripe with this part was the reintroduction of Paul into the story. I truly believe Paul's final moment in Messiah was one of the greatest scenes in the series, so to just go back on that, simply to kill him off a second time is a bit frustrating. I understand that it had to happen, and I liked how Frank went about it, but I found it to be a bit distasteful to kill him off so swiftly. Once again, I understand why, but I wish he had some more conversations with the original characters (Alia, Jessica, Gurney, Idaho) before his grand sacrifice. Nevertheless, the ending left me excited for whats to come next in this masterpiece.

Honestly have a mixed reaction to this installment in the Dune franchise. On one hand, it's brilliantly written, with a ton of interesting concepts, and great moments, but on the other hand, it drags along quite a bit. Moreover, I can't call this a masterpiece on the level of the past few books. It's still good, but I guess it somewhat felt more like a side-story to the Dune universe, since Idaho is really the only character left from the original cast. And I mean, that led into some great “out-of-time” moments with Idaho; arguably one of the best characters in this novel, next to Leto II. When it comes to Leto, I think it came down to personal preference, but I thought his character was extremely intriguing. He's a God, slowly losing his humanity, but as the story goes on, it starts to seem like he still has a lot of humanity left in him, that ultimately stands as his weakness (besides water). I didn't really feel too fond of the newer characters, but I still thought Frank wrote them in a way that made them good characters in my eyes. Story-wise, it's perfect, and it concludes on a decent note. I'm still contemplating if I should continue after this, since a good majority of the original characters are gone now, and all the new characters Frank introduces don't give off the same appeal as the old ones, besides Leto II and Moneo. Overall, it may be the weakest one I've read. The plot is amazing and far surpasses Children and Messiah in terms of grandiose-ness, but it lacked much of an emotional pull that the others had, for me, at least.

I actually really enjoyed the first novel in this massive series. Though, it's not for everyone, I found the world, characters, and politics to be extremely interesting. I'll admit that plenty of characters could have been fleshed out a bit more, or just had more of a character arc, but the complexities apparent throughout the novel kept me coming back for more. To be specific, the world and mindset of certain characters such as Paul added a lot to an interesting premise.

To be fair, I'm a huge fan of stories that have an immersive world. However, I still believe Dune did this almost perfectly. The only real complaint I'd have is centered around the ending, which was quite a bit rushed and abrupt.

Despite a few issues, you might as well consider me a huge fan of the Dune series already. Excited to see where it goes from here.

9/10

Spoilers for the ending of Dune
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Paul could have had more internal dialogue. I understand that Paul was unable to just break down or show emotions in the midst of a battle, especially after consuming the Water of Life, but at least give him some internal struggle over his son's death. Moreover, he doesn't even get his revenge on the Baron. I honestly wish the author at least let Paul and the Baron have an interaction near the end of the story, before he fights Feyd. Speaking of Feyd, it felt too soon for him to fight Paul. To me, he felt a bit underdeveloped. They could have had him live and fight Paul in a later novel. Nevertheless, this did not take away from the journey that was Dune.

Firstly, there's no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing, creative, emotional, and frankly, deeply melancholic books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Though it doesn't try to invent the wheel of dystopian fiction, the huge appeal comes from the fantastic, gorgeous art that perfectly portrays so much emotion and desolation with each page. I know picture books tend to be frowned upon by a loud minority of people, but this has completely proven that sentiment wrong to me. The art and the writing both compliment each other to create such an immersive experience that, in my opinion, borders of melancholic comfort. However, art aside, despite the written content being reserved to a few paragraphs per a few pages, the author honestly managed to catch my attention with his story-telling, and vivid descriptions. I was undeniably invested in every page, be it art or paragraph, yearning to learn more about the world from the protagonist, Michelle, as she travels a barren wasteland with her brother/robot companion, Skip. On a personal level, from start to finish, it truly felt like an emotional trip that I, with no doubt, would certainly revisit. Genuinely, it's a one in a kind masterpiece, and I'm excited to see where the series goes next with it's live action adaptation coming soon.

To my surprise, I ended up really enjoying this. It started off slow and a bit boring at first, but as it reaches the middle half of the novel, it starts to introduce some interesting elements that shakes up the tone of the story. It's no masterpiece by any means, and I wouldn't be quick to recommend it, but I think this wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. The first few chapters mostly just came off as a bland introduction to a seemingly fascinating concept. However, after they slowly begin to reveal more details and introduce new characters and lore, it starts to all come together into something around the decent and good area.