It started out really strong. I enjoyed the first 100 pages or so. Atmospheric setting of colonial 1930s Malaya. A lot of fascinating culture references and old myths that set of a quite gripping plot with lots of mysteries to be uncovered.
However, it went all downhill from there. This book sabotages itself with the most unnecessary and cringe y romance subplot I have read in a long time. It doesn't help that this slows down the already slow pace of the story even more. It's quite hart to get through at times, when the plot barely advances and we are instead stuck in the inner monologue of our main character <spoiler> lusting after her own (step)brother </spoiler> .
Also the ending is a bit over the top and not very believable. At least not to me. <spoiler> Like, is selling old specimens from a dusty storage room really such …
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GreenChair rated The Lost Apothecary: 3 stars
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across …
GreenChair rated Piranesi: 4 stars
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon …
GreenChair rated Earthlings: 5 stars
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori, 村田沙耶香
Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch, or …
GreenChair rated The Poppy War: 5 stars
The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #1)
A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of …
GreenChair reviewed The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
Review of 'The Night Tiger' on 'Storygraph'
2 stars
It started out really strong. I enjoyed the first 100 pages or so. Atmospheric setting of colonial 1930s Malaya. A lot of fascinating culture references and old myths that set of a quite gripping plot with lots of mysteries to be uncovered.
However, it went all downhill from there. This book sabotages itself with the most unnecessary and cringe y romance subplot I have read in a long time. It doesn't help that this slows down the already slow pace of the story even more. It's quite hart to get through at times, when the plot barely advances and we are instead stuck in the inner monologue of our main character <spoiler> lusting after her own (step)brother </spoiler> .
Also the ending is a bit over the top and not very believable. At least not to me. <spoiler> Like, is selling old specimens from a dusty storage room really such a terrible crime that a guy would commit several murders to cover it up?? And does it really happen that someone kisses the wrong person on party, just because she kinda looks a bit like your girlfriend and then not even remember it? And then that person also turns out to be a complete psycho, that follows you around the world and runs amok through your acquaintances??? </spoiler> In hindsight this book has quite some soap-opera vibes. Just wasn't for me.
However, it went all downhill from there. This book sabotages itself with the most unnecessary and cringe y romance subplot I have read in a long time. It doesn't help that this slows down the already slow pace of the story even more. It's quite hart to get through at times, when the plot barely advances and we are instead stuck in the inner monologue of our main character <spoiler> lusting after her own (step)brother </spoiler> .
Also the ending is a bit over the top and not very believable. At least not to me. <spoiler> Like, is selling old specimens from a dusty storage room really such a terrible crime that a guy would commit several murders to cover it up?? And does it really happen that someone kisses the wrong person on party, just because she kinda looks a bit like your girlfriend and then not even remember it? And then that person also turns out to be a complete psycho, that follows you around the world and runs amok through your acquaintances??? </spoiler> In hindsight this book has quite some soap-opera vibes. Just wasn't for me.
GreenChair rated Picknick Auf Dem Eis: 3 stars
GreenChair rated Binti: The Complete Trilogy: 4 stars
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor
It's been a year since Binti and Okwu enrolled at Oomza University. A year since Binti was declared a hero …
GreenChair rated Vita Nostra: 5 stars
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
"While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. …
GreenChair rated Never Let Me Go: 5 stars
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. …
GreenChair rated Picture of Dorian Gray: 4 stars
Oscar Wilde, Skyhigh Publication: Picture of Dorian Gray (2020, Independently Published)
Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Skyhigh Publication
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the …
GreenChair rated Project Hail Mary: 5 stars
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission–and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will …
GreenChair rated Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë: 4 stars
Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë by Charlotte Brontë
The novel is set somewhere in the north of England. Jane's childhood at Gateshead Hall, where she is emotionally and …
GreenChair rated Beautiful World, Where Are You: 4 stars
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Three friends and a hanger-on gradually coalesce into two couples.
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien's three-volume epic, is set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth - home to …