Rohit's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 15:18:05 -0700 60 Rohit's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)]]> 213618143 The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to The Tainted Cup—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.]]> 465 Robert Jackson Bennett 0593723821 Rohit 4 to-read That said I'm definitely looking forward to the next few.]]> 4.55 2025 A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:
4.5 rounding down. Somehow this one was a lot more predictable than I was hoping for. Plus the characters seemed to be less emotive, more... Visual. Din in particular seems different. Which is fine, I guess Ana's character has been slightly fleshed out, but in a rather ad-hoc manner.
That said I'm definitely looking forward to the next few.
]]> The Patron Thief of Bread 39909124
Fished from the river as an infant and raised by a roving band of street urchins who call themselves the Crowns, eight-year-old Duck keeps her head down and her mouth shut. It’s a rollicking life, always thieving, always on the run—until the ragtag Crowns infiltrate an abandoned cathedral in the city of Odierne and decide to set down roots. It’s all part of the bold new plan hatched by the Crowns� fearless leader, Gnat: one of their very own will pose as an apprentice to the local baker, relieving Master Griselde of bread and coin to fill the bellies and line the pockets of all the Crowns. But no sooner is Duck apprenticed to the kindly Griselde than Duck’s allegiances start to blur. Who is she really—a Crown or an apprentice baker? And who does she want to be? Meanwhile, high above the streets of Odierne, on the roof of the unfinished cathedral, an old and ugly gargoyle grows weary of waiting to fulfill his own destiny—to watch and protect. Told in alternating viewpoints, this exquisite novel evokes a timeless tale of love, self-discovery, and what it means to be rescued.]]> 448 Lindsay Eagar 1536204684 Rohit 0 to-read 4.18 2022 The Patron Thief of Bread
author: Lindsay Eagar
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)]]> 9969571 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

IN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.]]> 480 Ernest Cline 030788743X Rohit 0 to-read 4.21 2011 Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)
author: Ernest Cline
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction]]> 53343 On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sold, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.]]> 321 William Zinsser 0060891548 Rohit 0 to-read 4.23 1976 On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
author: William Zinsser
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1976
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Elements of Style 33514 105 William Strunk Jr. Rohit 0 to-read 4.15 1918 The Elements of Style
author: William Strunk Jr.
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1918
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing]]> 39874447
In this second edition of his popular guidebook, Paul Silvia offers fresh advice to help you overcome barriers to writing and use your time more productively. After addressing some common excuses and bad habits, he provides practical strategies to motivate students, professors, researchers, and other academics to become better and more prolific writers. Silvia draws from his own experience in psychology to explain how to write, submit, and revise academic work, from journal articles to books, all without sacrificing evenings, weekends, and vacations. The tips and strategies in this second edition have been updated to apply to academic writing in most disciplines. Also new to this edition is a chapter on writing grant and fellowship proposals.]]> 145 Paul J. Silvia 1433829738 Rohit 0 to-read 4.11 2007 How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing
author: Paul J. Silvia
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success]]> 4611790 376 Wendy Laura Belcher 141295701X Rohit 0 to-read 4.11 2008 Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success
author: Wendy Laura Belcher
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Wood at Midwinter 206101583 'A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really.'

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees—and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.

One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst—and the path of her life is changed forever.

From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the Strange universe. Featuring an introduction by Susanna Clarke and gorgeous illustrations from Victoria Sawdon truly worthy of the magic of this story, this is a mesmerising, must-have addition to any fantasy reader's bookshelf.]]> 64 Susanna Clarke 1639734481 Rohit 0 to-read 3.47 2024 The Wood at Midwinter
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)]]> 181350367 For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate.... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.]]> 358 Kristen Perrin 0593474015 Rohit 0 to-read 3.76 2024 How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)
author: Kristen Perrin
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Exodus: The Archimedes Engine (Archimedes Engine, #1)]]> 205670068
Forty thousand years ago, humanity fled a dying Earth. Traveling in massive arkships, these brave pioneers spread out across the galaxy to find a new home. After traveling thousands of light-years, one fleet of arkships arrived at Centauri, a dense cluster of stars with a vast array of potentially habitable planets. The survivors of Earth signaled to the remaining arkships that humanity had finally found its new home among the stars.

Thousands of years later, the Centauri Cluster has flourished. The original settlers have evolved into advanced beings known as Celestials and divided themselves into powerful Dominions. One of the most influential is that of the Crown Celestials, an alliance of five great houses that controls vast areas of Centauri. As arkships continue to arrive, the remaining humans and their descendants must fight for survival against overwhelming odds or be forced into serving the Crown Dominion.

Among those yearning for a better life is Finn, for whom Earth is not a memory but merely a footnote from humanity’s ancient history. Born on one of the Crown Dominion worlds, Finn has known nothing but the repressive rule of the Celestials, though he dreams of the possibility of boundless space beyond his home.

When another arkship from Earth, previously thought lost, unexpectedly arrives, Finn sees his chance to embrace a greater destiny and become a Traveler—one of a group of brave heroes dedicated to ensuring humanity’s future by journeying into the vast unknown of distant space.]]> 928 Peter F. Hamilton 0593357663 Rohit 0 to-read 4.15 2024 Exodus: The Archimedes Engine (Archimedes Engine, #1)
author: Peter F. Hamilton
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman, #1)]]> 211004175
A mind is a terrible thing to erase...

Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.

Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.

Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she’s letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they’ve had three hundred years to perfect their schemes…]]> 112 Olivia Waite 1250342244 Rohit 0 to-read 3.74 2025 Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman, #1)
author: Olivia Waite
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> When the Moon Hits Your Eye 211004190
It's a whole new moooooon.

One day soon, suddenly and without explanation, the moon as we know it is replaced with an orb of cheese with the exact same mass. Through the length of an entire lunar cycle, from new moon to a spectacular and possibly final solar eclipse, we follow multiple characters -- schoolkids and scientists, billionaires and workers, preachers and politicians -- as they confront the strange new world they live in, and the absurd, impossible moon that now hangs above all their lives.]]> 326 John Scalzi 0765389096 Rohit 0 to-read 3.85 2025 When the Moon Hits Your Eye
author: John Scalzi
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> Charles Dickens 13646454 101 George Orwell 3257213980 Rohit 0 to-read 4.03 Charles Dickens
author: George Orwell
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Westing Game 518856
The not-quite-perfect heirs were paired, and each pair was given $10,000 and a set of clues (no two set of clues were alike). All they had to do was find the answer, but the answer to what?

The Westing game was tricky and dangerous, but the heirs played on, through blizzards and burglaries and bombs bursting in air. And one of them won!

With her own special blend of intricacy, humor, and upside-down perceptions, Ellen Raskin has entangled a remarkable cast of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot. She then deftly unravels it again in a surprising (but fair) and highly satisfying ending.]]> 185 Ellen Raskin 0525423206 Rohit 0 to-read 4.18 1978 The Westing Game
author: Ellen Raskin
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham, #1)]]> 60669112
I'm Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I'd killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it's a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

Who was it?

Let's get started.

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE

My brother

My stepsister

My wife

My father

My mother

My sister-in-law

My uncle

My stepfather

My aunt

Me]]> 384 Benjamin Stevenson Rohit 0 to-read 3.83 2022 Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham, #1)
author: Benjamin Stevenson
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Book of Iron 17386908
Bijou the Artificer is a Wizard of Messaline, the City of Jackals. She and her partner—and rival—Kaulas the Necromancer, along with the martial Prince Salih, comprise the Bey's elite band of trouble-solving
adventurers.

But Messaline is built on the ruins of a still more ancient City of Jackals. So when two foreign Wizards and a bard from the mysterious western isles cross the desert in pursuit of a sorcerer intent on plundering the deadly artifacts of lost Erem, Bijou and her companions must join their hunt.

The quest will take them through strange passages, beneath the killing light of alien suns, with the price of failure the destruction of every land]]> 124 Elizabeth Bear 1596064749 Rohit 0 to-read 3.81 2013 Book of Iron
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Bone and Jewel Creatures 6903857
Eighty years Bijou the Artificer has been a Wizard of Messaline, building her servants from precious scraps, living with the memory of a great love that betrayed her. She is ready to rest.

But now her former apprentice, Brazen the Enchanter, has brought her a speechless feral child poisoned by a sorcerous infection. Now, Messaline is swept by a mysterious plague. Now the seeping corpses of the dead stalk the streets.

Now, finally, Bijou's old nemesis--Bijou's old love--Kaulas the Necromancer is unleashing a reeking half-death on Bijou's people. And only Bijou and her creatures wrought of bone and jewels can save the City of Jackals from his final revenge.]]> 133 Elizabeth Bear 1596062746 Rohit 0 to-read 3.93 2010 Bone and Jewel Creatures
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth, #1)]]> 17910048 A lush tale of deadly court intrigue and a modern classic of fantasy by Locus award winner and Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award finalist Katherine Addison

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three half brothers in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.]]> 446 Katherine Addison 076532699X Rohit 3 4.04 2014 The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth, #1)
author: Katherine Addison
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars. This is a very solid read. Well it is for the most part. The dialog is surprisingly fluid and the characterization is not onerous. The descriptions are not exposition which is a mercy. The only issue is that in its stream of consciousness narrative and attempt for a happy ending which ties up every loose end, some parts don't fit. Characters appear and disappear rapidly. The central mystery unravels without anything happening. It's more slice of life mixed with pleasant daydreaming. The story of a good person being offered the world. It's a nice fairytale. A good read for times when life lies heavy with solitude.
]]> <![CDATA[The Tomb of Dragons (The Cemeteries of Amalo, #3)]]> 211004174
While his title may be gone, his duties are not. Celehar contends with a municipal cemetery with fifty years of secrets, the damage of a revethavar he’s terrified to remember, and a group of miners who are more than willing to trade Celehar’s life for a chance at what they feel they’re owed.

Celehar does not have to face these impossible tasks alone. Joining him are his mentee Velhiro Tomasaran, still finding her footing with the investigative nature of their job; Iäna Pel-Thenhior, his beloved opera director friend and avid supporter; and the valiant guard captain Hanu Olgarezh.

Amidst the backdrop of a murder and a brewing political uprising, Celehar must seek justice for those who cannot find it themselves under a tense political system. The repercussions of his quest are never as simple they seem, and Celehar’s own life and happiness hang in the balance.]]> 352 Katherine Addison 125081619X Rohit 5 4.31 2025 The Tomb of Dragons (The Cemeteries of Amalo, #3)
author: Katherine Addison
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves:
review:
4.5 rounding up. An excellent recommendation by my sister. Not a very good standalone but an excellent continuation! Will be going back to reading from the goblin emperor onwards to pick up on more context clues. Celehar has some character growth which is nice. The ending didn't feel like the end of a trilogy at all though, more like an open ended invitation for more books, which would be just as good hopefully. I liked that there was more on the witness proceedings in general.
]]> <![CDATA[The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1)]]> 15724396
One day, Magnus learns that someone else is trying to track him down—his uncle Randolph, a man his mother had always warned him about. When Magnus tries to outmaneuver his uncle, he falls right into his clutches. Randolph starts rambling about Norse history and Magnus's birthright: a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

The more Randolph talks, the more puzzle pieces fall into place. Stories about the gods of Asgard, wolves, and Doomsday bubble up from Magnus's memory. But he doesn't have time to consider it all before a fire giant attacks the city, forcing him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents. . . .

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die.]]> 512 Rick Riordan 1423160916 Rohit 3 4.22 2015 The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
review:
Solid 3. Has bits and pieces from most of the old hits, with a new mythological context. The new hero is still basically a Gary Sue, but I read this in two sittings so can't complain..
]]> The Regular and the Random 14894682 The Regular and the Random, the world's most distinguished living physicist discusses these contrasts as they apply to everything from the universe as a whole to living organisms and human culture, with reference to topics that include bird song, barbarian coinages, codes and ciphers, abstract images in the visual arts, and the evolution of human languages. Continuing the dazzling explorations of the physical world that earned him the Noble Prize in 1969, Gell-Mann examines the meanings and relevance of concepts such as complexity, entropy, and individuality and present examples of regularities like self-similarity—or "scaling"—that are widespread in physical and biological science and in human affairs.]]> 288 Murray Gell-Mann 0465072674 Rohit 0 to-read 4.60 2004 The Regular and the Random
author: Murray Gell-Mann
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Particle Physics 5550385 176 Murray Gell-Mann 0465072682 Rohit 0 to-read 4.14 2005 Particle Physics
author: Murray Gell-Mann
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Eightfold Way 546004 336 Murray Gell-Mann 0738202991 Rohit 0 to-read 4.45 2000 The Eightfold Way
author: Murray Gell-Mann
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex]]> 270881 392 Murray Gell-Mann 0805072535 Rohit 0 to-read 3.87 1994 The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex
author: Murray Gell-Mann
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)]]> 76620 Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN13 9780380395866 here.

Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.]]> 478 Richard Adams 038039586X Rohit 5 4.08 1972 Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)
author: Richard Adams
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1972
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
5 stars. I love this book to bits. Best rabbit exposition ever. Will add more details later.
]]> <![CDATA[Inkheart / Inkspell / Inkdeath (The Inkheart Trilogy, #1-3)]]> 3334563 1152 Cornelia Funke 1905294964 Rohit 3 4.21 2008 Inkheart / Inkspell / Inkdeath (The Inkheart Trilogy, #1-3)
author: Cornelia Funke
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Mickey7 (Mickey7, #1) 57693457 After several deaths punctuating a series of all-too-brief life spans, a clone reassesses his purpose � and his humanity � in Edward Ashton’s Mickey7, “a unique blend of thought-provoking sci-fi concepts, farcical relationship drama, and exotic body horror� (New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin).

EXPENDABLE \ik’spen-d�-b’l\ n. A human clone utilized for dangerous work on space exploration missions. An Expendable’s personality and memories may be transferred intact to a new body if and when the current host dies.

Mickey Barnes is an Expendable, now on his seventh iteration, living � and dying � among his fellow colonists on the near-uninhabitable ice world of Niflheim. Some consider him immortal. Others believe he’s a soulless monstrosity. For the past nine years, he has been deployed for hazardous assignments and subjected to experiments that test the limits of human endurance, his humanity sacrificed for the greater good.

While on reconnaissance, Mickey7 is injured and left for dead, only to be saved by Niflheim’s native species, thought to be insentient by the colonists. Returning to base, Mickey7 meets his next generation, Mickey8. Neither clone is willing to recycle himself, but if anyone discovers multiple Mickeys exist, they’ll both be executed � and there won’t ever be a Mickey9.

But Mickey7’s premature twin isn’t his only secret. He hasn’t uploaded his memories in a month, leaving his clone in the dark about his near death and close encounter with the planet’s inhabitants. Mickey7 also doesn’t know how all of his previous selves died, and those he remembers have left him traumatized and mistrustful of the colony’s mission. A mission that has Mickey Barnes questioning his moral and mortal existence...again...and again....]]> 296 Edward Ashton 1250275032 Rohit 0 to-read 3.74 2022 Mickey7 (Mickey7, #1)
author: Edward Ashton
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Butter 200776812 The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Center convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, "The Konkatsu Killer," Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.]]> 464 Asako Yuzuki 0063236400 Rohit 0 to-read 3.50 2017 Butter
author: Asako Yuzuki
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War #1)]]> 201930181
Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure.

Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand � and manipulate � the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.]]> 422 James S.A. Corey 031652557X Rohit 0 to-read 4.11 2024 The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Scar (New Crobuzon, #2) 68497
For Bellis, the plan is clear: live among the new frontiersmen of the colony until it is safe to return home. But when the ship is besieged by pirates on the Swollen Ocean, the senior officers are summarily executed. The surviving passengers are brought to Armada, a city constructed from the hulls of pirated ships, a floating, landless mass ruled by the bizarre duality called the Lovers. On Armada, everyone is given work, and even Remade live as equals to humans, Cactacae, and Cray. Yet no one may ever leave.

Lonely and embittered in her captivity, Bellis knows that to show dissent is a death sentence. Instead, she must furtively seek information about Armada’s agenda. The answer lies in the dark, amorphous shapes that float undetected miles below the waters—terrifying entities with a singular, chilling mission. . . .]]> 578 China Miéville 0345460014 Rohit 2
Reading it now, however, I see it for what it is. A mess. The MC is unlikable, the stories and view-points have no meaning what-so-ever. This is a hot mess of good worldbuilding. There is no story here. None at all. Whatever charm this book has is stripped away when read in one (extended) sitting. Apart from a vague sense of being used, this book offers nothing. The MC has no personality, and no motivation which can be discerned either. The other characters, are killed off for sport and shock value, and the ending is a final straw in a long string of disappointing petered out storylines.

Perhaps this book deserves a higher rating, but, in context, even the world-building is mostly second hand. So much love for New Crobuzon, cannot be gleaned from this book alone. You'd have to have read the first to enjoy or even understand part of the motivation. Armada itself is a caricature.

I could go on about plot holes and wasted potential, but clearly the author gave up, and so shall I.

EDIT: Still a one star read. Probably would never touch upon this again. It's such a senseless story built on death and animal abuse.]]> 4.17 2002 The Scar (New Crobuzon, #2)
author: China Miéville
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:
It is rare for me to so drastically change a rating, from 4 to 2. However, I read this first many years ago, and I left no review. I remember the book was important to me, the prose is fantastic, the world building is superb, and I had a print copy.

Reading it now, however, I see it for what it is. A mess. The MC is unlikable, the stories and view-points have no meaning what-so-ever. This is a hot mess of good worldbuilding. There is no story here. None at all. Whatever charm this book has is stripped away when read in one (extended) sitting. Apart from a vague sense of being used, this book offers nothing. The MC has no personality, and no motivation which can be discerned either. The other characters, are killed off for sport and shock value, and the ending is a final straw in a long string of disappointing petered out storylines.

Perhaps this book deserves a higher rating, but, in context, even the world-building is mostly second hand. So much love for New Crobuzon, cannot be gleaned from this book alone. You'd have to have read the first to enjoy or even understand part of the motivation. Armada itself is a caricature.

I could go on about plot holes and wasted potential, but clearly the author gave up, and so shall I.

EDIT: Still a one star read. Probably would never touch upon this again. It's such a senseless story built on death and animal abuse.
]]> Interior Chinatown 44436221 A deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.

Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it?

After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration�Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.]]> 288 Charles Yu Rohit 0 to-read 3.95 2020 Interior Chinatown
author: Charles Yu
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Rainfall Market 205654203 On the first day of the monsoon an old ramshackle building appears. This is The Rainfall Market. Inside you will find magical bookstores, hairdressers, perfumeries and anything your heart desires.

But you cannot enter without an invitation.

Serin, who lives in a small flat with her mother and dreams of a bigger, better life, can’t believe her luck when she receives a ticket inviting her to step inside The Rainfall Market.

Once inside she will have the opportunity to swap her life for a new one. A better one.

Accompanied by Isha the cat and followed by a mysterious shadow, Serin tentatively steps inside. There she is told she has just one week to choose the perfect life and find true happiness.

However, there is a catch.

If she doesn’t find her dream life, she'll be trapped inside the market forever . . .]]> 199 You Yeong-Gwang 0241687985 Rohit 0 to-read 3.51 2023 The Rainfall Market
author: You Yeong-Gwang
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Turnglass 67658761
And he points the finger at his sister-in-law, Florence. Florence was declared insane after killing Oliver’s brother in a jealous rage and is now kept in a glass-walled apartment in Oliver’s library. And the secret to how she came to be there is found in Oliver’s tête-bêche journal, where one side tells a very different story from the other.

1930s California. Celebrated author Oliver Tooke, the son of the state governor, is found dead in his writing hut off the coast of the family residence, Turnglass House. His friend Ken Kourian doesn’t believe that Oliver would take his own life. His investigations lead him to the mysterious kidnapping of Oliver’s brother when they were children, and the subsequent secret incarceration of his mother, Florence, in an asylum.

But to discover the truth, Ken must decipher clues hidden in Oliver’s final book, a tête-bêche novel—which is about a young doctor called Simeon Lee...

Stuart Turton meets The Magpie Murders in this immersive and unique story for fans of clever crime fiction.]]> 512 Gareth Rubin 1398514497 Rohit 5 3.49 2023 The Turnglass
author: Gareth Rubin
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/12
date added: 2024/11/12
shelves:
review:
4.5, rounding up since it was a birthday gift from my significant other. This is definitely one of those giftable books, best held and read, given its unique spin on the tête-bêche. The mystery and riddles play into each other nicely and the characters are pretty organic, except that the endings at both ends stop short abruptly, leaving a lot of dead ends, and nothing but a sense of loss. I'd recommend it, but might not re-read it for a while.
]]> The Thief Lord 113304
Befriended by a gang of street children and their mysterious leader, the Thief Lord, they shelter in an old, disused cinema. On their trail is a bungling detective, obsessed with disguises and the health of his pet tortoises. But a greater threat to the boys' new-found freedom is something from a forgotten past � a beautiful magical treasure with the power to spin time itself.]]> 350 Cornelia Funke 1903434777 Rohit 5
Edit: upgraded to 5 stars.]]> 3.99 2000 The Thief Lord
author: Cornelia Funke
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves:
review:
4.5, rounding down a bit because of a slightly dark (but realistic) ending. This is a book I remember buying at a school scholastic book fair years ago. I loved it then and revisiting it as an adult I enjoyed this immensely again. The characters have depth, and the story is enthralling as well. A good start to a Funke reread season.

Edit: upgraded to 5 stars.
]]> The Mysteries 100698795 A New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Indie Bestseller.

From Bill Watterson, bestselling creator of the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, and John Kascht, one of America’s most renowned caricaturists, comes a mysterious and beautifully illustrated fable about what lies beyond human understanding.

In a fable for grown-ups by cartoonist Bill Watterson, a long-ago kingdom is afflicted with unexplainable calamities. Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events. Years later, a single battered knight returns.

For the book's illustrations, Watterson and caricaturist John Kascht worked together for several years in unusually close collaboration. Both artists abandoned their past ways of working, inventing images together that neither could anticipate—a mysterious process in its own right.

With The Mysteries, Watterson and Kascht share the fascinating genesis of their extraordinary collaboration in a video that can be viewed on Andrews McMeel Publishing's YouTube page.]]> 72 Bill Watterson 1524884944 Rohit 0 to-read 3.76 2023 The Mysteries
author: Bill Watterson
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)]]> 52397
Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.]]> 345 Octavia E. Butler 0446675504 Rohit 0 to-read 4.21 1993 Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Rohit 3 3.95 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:

]]> The Lions of Al-Rassan 104101
Meanwhile, in the north, the conquered Jaddites' most celebrated � and feared � military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, driven into exile, leads his mercenary company south.

In the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan, these two men from different worlds meet and serve � for a time � the same master. Sharing their interwoven fate � and increasingly torn by her feelings � is Jehane, the accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.

Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is both a brilliant adventure and a deeply compelling story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake � or destroy � a world.]]> 528 Guy Gavriel Kay 0060733497 Rohit 0 to-read 4.29 1995 The Lions of Al-Rassan
author: Guy Gavriel Kay
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Philosophy of Software Design]]> 39996759 190 John Ousterhout 1732102201 Rohit 5 4.18 2018 A Philosophy of Software Design
author: John Ousterhout
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/26
date added: 2024/07/26
shelves:
review:
Short, readable and very actionable. A lot of these guidelines can be picked up the hard way, but it's much nicer to have them in one place than by scarring over time.
]]> <![CDATA[How to Stop Feeling So Damn Depressed: The No BS Guide for Men]]> 42349235 155 Jonas A. Horwitz 168403213X Rohit 2
The first is that the book fails to extricate itself from the quagmire of books which serve as advertisements for psychology.

Secondly, it's rather sexist. Of course there is nothing even vaguely special or useful in terms of content, except that whatever ails you, a psychologist probably knows how to help. Joy.

The only saving grace is that the illustrations are nice and the book begins in a rather charmingly self depreciating way.]]> 3.95 How to Stop Feeling So Damn Depressed: The No BS Guide for Men
author: Jonas A. Horwitz
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves:
review:
There are but two cardinals sent perpetrated by the author.

The first is that the book fails to extricate itself from the quagmire of books which serve as advertisements for psychology.

Secondly, it's rather sexist. Of course there is nothing even vaguely special or useful in terms of content, except that whatever ails you, a psychologist probably knows how to help. Joy.

The only saving grace is that the illustrations are nice and the book begins in a rather charmingly self depreciating way.
]]> <![CDATA[Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists]]> 11351210 With its unique balance of theory and methodology, this classic text provides a rigorous introduction to basic probability theory and statistical inference, motivated by interesting, relevant applications. Offers extensively updated coverage, new problem sets, and chapter-ending material to enhance the book’s relevance to today’s engineers and scientists. Includes new problem sets demonstrating updated applications to engineering as well as biological, physical, and computer science. Emphasizes key ideas as well as the risks and hazards associated with practical application of the material. Includes new material on topics difference between discrete and continuous measurements; binary data; quartiles; importance of experimental design; “dummy� variables; rules for expectations and variances of linear functions; Poisson distribution; Weibull and lognormal distributions; central limit theorem, and data plotting. Introduces Bayesian statistics, including its applications to many fields.

For those interested in learning more about probability and statistics.

]]> 816 Ronald E. Walpole 0321786556 Rohit 0 to-read 4.41 1978 Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists
author: Ronald E. Walpole
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Finder (Finder Chronicles, #1)]]> 40796392 From Hugo Award-winning debut author Suzanne Palmer comes an action-packed sci-fi caper starring Fergus Ferguson, interstellar repo man and professional finder.

Fergus Ferguson has been called a lot of names: thief, con artist, repo man. He prefers the term finder.

His latest job should be simple. Find the spacecraft Venetia's Sword and steal it back from Arum Gilger, ex-nobleman turned power-hungry trade boss. He'll slip in, decode the ship's compromised AI security, and get out of town, Sword in hand.

Fergus locates both Gilger and the ship in the farthest corner of human-inhabited space, a gas-giant-harvesting colony called Cernee. But Fergus' arrival at the colony is anything but simple. A cable car explosion launches Cernee into civil war, and Fergus must ally with Gilger's enemies to navigate a field of space mines and a small army of hostile mercenaries. What was supposed to be a routine job evolves into negotiating a power struggle between factions. Even worse, Fergus has become increasingly--and inconveniently--invested in the lives of the locals.

It doesn't help that a dangerous alien species thought mythical prove unsettlingly real, and their ominous triangle ships keep following Fergus around.

Foolhardy. Eccentric. Reckless. Whatever he's called, Fergus will need all the help he can get to take back the Sword and maybe save Cernee from destruction in the process.]]> 400 Suzanne Palmer 075641511X Rohit 3 3.89 2019 Finder (Finder Chronicles, #1)
author: Suzanne Palmer
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/11
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves:
review:
A solid 3.5. This was an enjoyable read. The characters were ever so slightly stereotypical, especially the more evil ones but I don't like shades of gray in my literature anyway. There were a lot of characters and places and things, not everything lined up all the time but that's alright, it made for a fun read. The plot, and the overarching magic powers are, well.. Farfetched. Definitely a good way to take one's mind off for a few hours.
]]> <![CDATA[Going Postal (Discworld, #33; Moist von Lipwig, #1)]]> 64222
It was a tough decision.

But he has to see that the mail gets through, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers' Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer.

Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too.

Maybe it'll take a criminal to succeed where honest men have failed, or maybe it's a death sentence either way.

Or perhaps there's a shot at redemption in the mad world of the mail, waiting for a man who's prepared to push the envelope...]]> 394 Terry Pratchett 0060502932 Rohit 1 4.40 2004 Going Postal (Discworld, #33; Moist von Lipwig, #1)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2004
rating: 1
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves:
review:
A slow book to read. Nothing remotely as funny as the earlier books in the series. Moist is an annoying Gary Sue too. Retains its one star rating.
]]> <![CDATA[Raven's Gate (Power of Five, #1)]]> 107664 He always knew he was different.
First there were the dreams.
Then the deaths began.

When Matt Freeman gets into trouble with the police, he's sent to be fostered in Yorkshire. It's not long before he senses there's something wrong with his guardian; with the whole village.

Then Matt learns about the Old Ones and begins to understand just how he is different. But no one will believe him; no one can help.

There is no proof. There is no logic. There is just the Gate.]]> 270 Anthony Horowitz 0439680093 Rohit 4 3.90 2005 Raven's Gate (Power of Five, #1)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/05/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Coffee (Hercule Poirot, #7.5)]]> 16352 Book 7.5 of 38: Hercule Poirot

Nearly a quarter-century after her death, Agatha Christie remains the most popular mystery writer of all time. Now, in a celebrated publishing event, fans and newcomers alike are treated to another Christie novel. Created in 1930 as a stage play and faithfully adapted by Charles Osborne, Black Coffee brings back beloved detective Hercule Poirot to exercise his "little grey cells" one more deliciously deductive time...

An urgent call from physicist Sir Claud Amory sends famed detective Hercule Poirot rushing from London to a sprawling country estate. Sir Claud fears a member of his own household wants to steal a secret formula destined for the Ministry of Defense. But Poirot arrives too late. The formula is missing. Worse, Sir Claud has been poisoned by his after-dinner coffee. Poirot soon identifies a potent brew of despair, treachery, and deception amid the mansion's occupants. Now he must find the formula and the killer...while letting no poison slip 'twix his low lips.]]> 304 Charles Osborne 0312970072 Rohit 3
Edit: dropped to three stars.. The Italians are such caricatures, and Hastings was annoying (and married!)]]> 3.62 1998 Black Coffee (Hercule Poirot, #7.5)
author: Charles Osborne
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/21
date added: 2024/05/21
shelves:
review:
This is based on both a re-read and my initial impressions. Black coffee was one of the first Christie's I read and I loved it. It's also still fun to re-read. The characterization is deft and there is genuine humor in their interactions. The murder itself can be solved by Christie's good old, the least likely person did it, but that in no way diminished my enjoyment. It's also superbly crafted, all the clues are given well in advance but the reveal is still intensely satisfying. Definitely one of the books I'd recommend as a first.

Edit: dropped to three stars.. The Italians are such caricatures, and Hastings was annoying (and married!)
]]> <![CDATA[The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot, #2)]]> 51132354
Among the plausible suspects are Renauld's wife Eloise, his son Jack, Renauld's immediate neighbor Madame Daubreuil, the mysterious "Cinderella" of Hasting's recent acquaintance, and some unknown visitor of the previous day--all of whom Poirot has reason to suspect. Poirot's powers of investigation ultimately triumph over the wiles of an assailant whose misdirection and motives are nearly--but not quite--impossible to spot.

Contains a character key, a detailed biography, and an illustrated list of notable Poirot portrayals.

Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on ŷ.]]> 199 Agatha Christie 1734452552 Rohit 4 3.84 1923 The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot, #2)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1923
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/20
date added: 2024/05/20
shelves:
review:
Definitely one of the better mysteries. Closer to a thriller at times, with all the twists and turns. Plus Giraud is hilarious and it's nice to see the French legal system in action. Hastings has a typically insane christie romance but, all things considered it was quite neat.
]]> Angel Mage 48558215 536 Garth Nix 1473227720 Rohit 2 3.60 2019 Angel Mage
author: Garth Nix
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves:
review:
2.5 rounding down. The biggest problem with this is that the blurb says it all. There's absolutely nothing to the book. The characters are interesting but not especially likable, and the villains are all too predictable. There are some set piece scenes but not much coherence. A passable read, but one lacking in the rich world building I've come to expect from Nix..
]]> <![CDATA[Murder in Mesopotamia (Hercule Poirot, #14)]]> 16360
It was clear to nurse Amy Leatheran that something sinister was going on at the Hassanieh dig, something associated with the presence of ‘Lovely Louise�, the wife of the celebrated archaeologist Dr. Leidner. But she couldn't pinpoint it.

In a few days� time Hercule Poirot was due to drop in at the excavation site. With Louise suffering terrifying hallucinations, and tension within the group becoming almost unbearable, Poirot might just be too late…]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0007113803 Rohit 1
It had far too little Poirot as well. Also the random appeals to "put women in their place as Nature intended" is really badly dated and was never a great look. Ditto with the racist overtones (though one makes exceptions for those for Christie..)]]> 3.92 1936 Murder in Mesopotamia (Hercule Poirot, #14)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1936
rating: 1
read at: 2024/05/16
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves:
review:
One of the weakest Christie Poirot novels. I did manage to finish this but the murderer was kind of obvious, with the standard Christie suspension of belief (e.g. [spoilers removed]).

It had far too little Poirot as well. Also the random appeals to "put women in their place as Nature intended" is really badly dated and was never a great look. Ditto with the racist overtones (though one makes exceptions for those for Christie..)
]]> Darwinia 760961
Leaving an America now ruled by religious fundamentalism, young Guilford Law travels to Darwinia on a mission of discovery that will take him further than he can possibly imagine...to a shattering revelation about mankind's destiny in the universe.
Darwinia is a 1999 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.]]> 374 Robert Charles Wilson 0812566629 Rohit 0 to-read 3.38 1998 Darwinia
author: Robert Charles Wilson
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.38
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers, #1)]]> 60147395
There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse.
What will be the spark that lights the conflagration?
Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood � that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.

Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world and the gateway to a thousand worse places.

Ilmar,
City of Long Shadows.
City of Bad Decisions.
City of Last Chances.]]> 500 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1801108420 Rohit 0 to-read 3.84 2022 City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers, #1)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[House of Open Wounds (The Tyrant Philosophers, #2)]]> 150254281
Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit.

Led by 'the Butcher', an ogre of a man who's a dab hand with a bone-saw and an alchemical tincture, the unit's motley crew of conscripts, healers and orderlies are no strangers to the horrors of war. Their's is an unspeakable trade: elbow-deep in gore they have a first-hand view of the suffering caused by flesh-rending monsters, arcane magical weaponry and embittered enemy soldiers.

Entrusted - for now - with saving lives deemed otherwise un-saveable, the field hospital's crew face a precarious existence. Their work with unapproved magic, necromancy, demonology and Yansic's thoroughly illicit Gods could lead to the unit being disbanded, arrested or worse.

Beset by enemies within and without, the last thing anyone needs is a miracle.]]> 608 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1035901382 Rohit 0 to-read 4.41 2023 House of Open Wounds (The Tyrant Philosophers, #2)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Days of Shattered Faith (The Tyrant Philosophers, #3)]]> 210384894
Loret is fresh off the boat, and just in time.

As Cohort-Invigilator of Correct Appreciation, Outreach department, she's here as aide to the Palleseen Resident, Sage-Invigilator Angilly. And Sage-Invigilator Angilly - Gil to her friends - needs a second in the spectacularly illegal, culturally offensive and diplomatically inadvisable duel she must fight at midnight.

Outreach, that part of the Pal machine that has to work within the imperfection of the rest of the world, has a lot of room for the illegal, the unconventional, the unorthodox. But just how much unorthodoxy can Gil and Loret get away with?

As a succession crisis looms, as a long-forgotten feat of necromantic engineering nears fruition, as pirate kings, lizard armies and demons gather, as old gods wane and new gods wax, sooner or later Gil and Loret will have to settle their ledger.

Just as well they are both very, very good with a blade.

THE TYRANT PHILOSOPHERS SERIES
'Endlessly creative . . . so much invention peeking around every corner - Patrick Ness
'Dense, dark, ingenious, ironic, complex, often funny, and always smart' Locus
'A master at the height of his powers. This is epic symphonic fantasy, weaving a breakneck plot through a sumptuously dangerous world' Ian Green]]> 512 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1035901528 Rohit 0 to-read 4.34 2024 Days of Shattered Faith (The Tyrant Philosophers, #3)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Night Ship 59366231
1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia , one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks.

1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck�

With her trademark “thrilling, mysterious, twisted, but more than anything, beautifully written� (Graham Norton, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling, Jess Kidd weaves “a true work of magic� (V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue ) about friendship, sacrifice, brutality, and forgiveness.]]> 400 Jess Kidd 1982180811 Rohit 0 to-read 3.61 2022 The Night Ship
author: Jess Kidd
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ghostdrift (Finder Chronicles, #4)]]> 198136840 The fourth and final installment of the Finder Chronicles, a hopepunk sci-fi caper described as Macgyver meets Firefly, by Hugo Award-winner Suzanne Palmer

Fergus Ferguson, professional finder, always knew his semi-voluntary exile wouldn’t last, but he isn't expecting a friend to betray him. One of the galaxy’s most dangerous space pirates, Bas Belos, wants him, and what Belos wants, he gets. Belos needs help finding out what happened to his twin sister, who mysteriously disappeared at the edges of space years ago, and he makes Fergus an offer he can't refuse.

Mysterious disappearances and impossible answers are Fergus� specialties. After he reluctantly joins Belos and his crew aboard the pirate ship Sidewider, he discovers that Belos is being tracked by the Alliance. Seeking to stay one step ahead of the Alliance, Fergus and Belos find themselves marooned in the middle of the Gap between spiral arms of our galaxy, dangerously near hostile alien territory, and with an Alliance ship in hot pursuit.

That’s just the beginning of the complications for Fergus� newest—and possibly last—job. The puzzle is much bigger than just Belos's lost sister, and the question of his future, retirement or not, depends on his ability to negotiate a path between aliens, criminals, and the most powerful military force he's ever encountered. The future of entire planets hangs in the balance, and it remains to be seen if it's too big for one determined man and his cranky cat.]]> 384 Suzanne Palmer 0756418887 Rohit 0 to-read 4.55 2024 Ghostdrift (Finder Chronicles, #4)
author: Suzanne Palmer
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Scavenger Door (Finder Chronicles, #3)]]> 51319852
Fergus is back on Earth at last, trying to figure out how to live a normal life. However, it seems the universe has other plans for him. When his cousin sends him off to help out a friend, Fergus accidently stumbles across a piece of an ancient alien artifact that some very powerful people seem to think means the entire solar system is in danger. And since he found it, they're certain it's also his problem to deal with.

With the help of his newfound sister, friends both old and new, and some enemies, too, Fergus needs to find the rest of the artifact and destroy the pieces before anyone can reassemble the original and open a multi-dimensional door between Earth and a vast, implacable, alien swarm of devourers. Problem is, the pieces could be anywhere on Earth, and he's not the only one out searching.]]> 464 Suzanne Palmer 0756415160 Rohit 0 to-read 4.19 2021 The Scavenger Door (Finder Chronicles, #3)
author: Suzanne Palmer
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Table For Two 195725093
In Towles's novel, Rules of Civility , the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from seven points of view, "Eve in Hollywood" describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself-and others-in the midst of Hollywood's golden age.

Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next.

Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles's canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.]]> 444 Amor Towles 1804949515 Rohit 0 to-read 4.32 2024 Table For Two
author: Amor Towles
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The English Experience 63366031
Through a sea of troubles—personal, institutional, and international—the gimlet-eyed, acid-tongued Fitger strives to navigate safe passage for all concerned, revealing much about the essential need for human connection and the sometimes surprising places in which it is found.]]> 230 Julie Schumacher 038555012X Rohit 1 The Shakespeare Requirement than the excellent Dear Committee Members. This was a very forgettable read, though the students were really one dimensional. To be fair, every character is. In particular, it seems like allowing the stalker student near his victim is a poor policy decision, but I guess the point was to highlight that college is wild.... eitherway, never going to re-read this or recommend it..]]> 3.82 2023 The English Experience
author: Julie Schumacher
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves:
review:
1.5 rounding down since I cannot remember it at all even though its only been an hour since I finished it... Sadly closer to the The Shakespeare Requirement than the excellent Dear Committee Members. This was a very forgettable read, though the students were really one dimensional. To be fair, every character is. In particular, it seems like allowing the stalker student near his victim is a poor policy decision, but I guess the point was to highlight that college is wild.... eitherway, never going to re-read this or recommend it..
]]> Kindling 173956619 From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a standalone fantasy set against a war-ravaged world where kindling warfare—the use of elite, magic-wielding teenage soldiers—has been outlawed. In this rich and evocative novel, seven kindlings search for purpose and identity as they prepare for one final battle. For fans of the classic films Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.

Once, the war was fought with kindlings—elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives.

Now, the war is over, and kindlings have been cast adrift—their magic outlawed, their skills outdated, their formidable balar weapons prized only as relics and souvenirs.

Violence still plagues the countryside, and memories haunt those who remain. When a village comes under threat of siege, it offers an opportunity for seven kindlings to fight one last time. But war changed these warriors. And to reclaim who they once were, they will have to battle their pasts, their trauma, and their grim fates to come together again—or none of them will make it out alive.

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a gut-wrenching, introspective fantasy about seven lost soldiers searching for the peace they once fought for and the future in which they’re finally daring to believe.]]> 423 Traci Chee 006326935X Rohit 1 3.74 2024 Kindling
author: Traci Chee
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/05/12
shelves:
review:
DNF. The characters are all weirdly similar, probably due to the janky system of presenting every character in first person. Also the story is an obvious copy of the magnificent seven..
]]> <![CDATA[The Sun and the Star (The Nico di Angelo Adventures #1)]]> 63028719 Demigods Nico di Angelo and Will Solace must endure the terrors of Tartarus to rescue an old friend in this thrilling adventure co-written by New York Times #1 best-selling author Rick Riordan and award-winning author Mark Oshiro.

As the son of Hades, Nico di Angelo has been through so much, from the premature deaths of his mother and sister, to being outed against his will, to losing his friend Jason during the trials of Apollo. But there is a ray of sunshine in his life–literally: his boyfriend, Will Solace, the son of Apollo. Together the two demigods can overcome any obstacle or foe. At least, that’s been the case so far...

Now Nico is being plagued by a voice calling out to him from Tartarus, the lowest part of the Underworld. He thinks he knows who it is: a reformed Titan named Bob whom Percy and Annabeth had to leave behind when they escaped Hades’s realm. Nico’s dreams and Rachel Dare’s latest prophecy leave little doubt in Nico’s mind that Bob is in some kind of trouble. Nico has to go on this quest, whether Mr. D and Chiron like it or not. And of course Will insists on coming with. But can a being made of light survive in the darkest part of the world? and what does the prophecy mean that Nico will have to “leave something of equal value behind?�

Nico will have to face demons both internal and external as his relationship with Will is tested to the core in this standalone adventure featuring two of the most popular characters in the Percy Jackson saga.]]> 480 Rick Riordan 1368081347 Rohit 2 4.21 2023 The Sun and the Star (The Nico di Angelo Adventures #1)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/10
date added: 2024/05/10
shelves:
review:
2.5 rounding down because the main plot was mostly a backdrop for soul searching. Which might have been OK except it's very heavy handed in reminding readers what happened literally a few pages back..
]]> Mutiny On The Bounty 19826630 Pickpocket John Jacob Turnstile is on his way to be detained at His Majesty's Pleasure when he is offered a lifeline, what seems like a freedom of sorts - the job of personal valet to a departing naval captain. Little does he realise that it is anything but - and by accepting the devil's bargain he will put his life in perilous danger. For the ship is HMS Bounty, his new captain William Bligh and their destination Tahiti.



From the moment the ship leaves port, Turnstile's life is turned upside down, for not only must he put his own demons to rest, but he must also confront the many adversaries he will encounter on the Bounty's extraordinary last voyage. Walking a dangerous line between an unhappy crew and a captain he comes to admire, he finds himself in a no-man's land where the distinction between friend and foe is increasingly difficult to determine...

]]> 528 John Boyne Rohit 0 to-read 4.47 2008 Mutiny On The Bounty
author: John Boyne
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Close to Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #5)]]> 142327669 From global bestselling Anthony Horowitz, a brilliantly entertaining new mystery in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series.

Richmond, London . Six attractive houses are tucked away in an exclusive and very upmarket gated Riverside Close. Surrounded by flowers and shrubbery, they're sealed off from the busy main road and the realities of urban life. At weekends, with the gate locked, the residents enjoy the sound of birdsong, the whirr of mowers, the occasional snatch of opera through an open window.

Everyone knows each other. Everyone gets on.

That is, until the Kenworthies arrive. With their four big gas-guzzling cars, their noisy children and their plans to build a swimming pool in their garden, they quickly offend every one of their neighbours.

When Charles Kenworthy is found dead on his porch, the bolt of a crossbow through his chest, Daniel Hawthorne is called in.

But how do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive?]]> 411 Anthony Horowitz Rohit 5 4.24 2024 Close to Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #5)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/22
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves:
review:
4.5 rounding up. There was a moment in the middle where I thought I had the mystery solved... Though the twists were organically introduced, like all locked room mysteries, it only really makes more sense when you reflect on the solution later. The characters and setting were enjoyable, perhaps not as much as in the previous book, but definitely a cut above most others.. The story is a bit grim, but justice still prevails so that's something..
]]> <![CDATA[The Honjin Murders (Detective Kosuke Kindaichi, #1)]]> 52706058 One of Japan's greatest classic murder mysteries, introducing their best loved detective, translated into English for the first time.

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour - it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions around the village.

Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi household are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music. Death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. Soon, amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is on the scene to investigate what will become a legendary murder case, but can this scruffy sleuth solve a seemingly impossible crime?]]> 189 Seishi Yokomizo 1782275002 Rohit 0 to-read 3.63 1946 The Honjin Murders (Detective Kosuke Kindaichi, #1)
author: Seishi Yokomizo
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1946
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder in the Crooked House (Kiyoshi Mitarai, #2)]]> 43321712
Enter Kiyoshi Mitarai, the renowned sleuth. Surely if anyone can crack these cryptic murders it is him. But you have all the clues too - can you solve the mystery of the murders in The Crooked House first?]]> 328 Sōji Shimada Rohit 0 to-read 3.52 1982 Murder in the Crooked House (Kiyoshi Mitarai, #2)
author: Sōji Shimada
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Bridge to Bat City 173494578
If Opal and the bats can fit in anywhere, it’s the nearby city of Austin, home to their favorite music and a host of wonderfully eccentric characters. But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it’ll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats—and Opal—belong.]]> 319 Ernest Cline 031646080X Rohit 0 to-read 3.37 2024 Bridge to Bat City
author: Ernest Cline
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Men at Arms (Discworld, #15; City Watch, #2)]]> 833425
But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance constable Detritus (a troll), Lance constable Angua (a woman... most of the time), and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).

And they need all the help they can get. Because they've only got twenty-four hours to clean up the town and this is Ankh-Morpork we're talking about...]]> 381 Terry Pratchett 0552140287 Rohit 0 to-read 4.38 1993 Men at Arms (Discworld, #15; City Watch, #2)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Truth (Discworld, #25; Industrial Revolution, #2)]]> 288680
William just wants to get at THE TRUTH. Unfortunately, everyone else wants to get at William. And it's only the third edition...]]> 444 Terry Pratchett 0552147680 Rohit 3 4.40 2000 The Truth (Discworld, #25; Industrial Revolution, #2)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves:
review:
I've definitely read this before. The stage adaptation on goodreads shows I had previously given this a 4. On a re read its more of a solid 3. 3.5 perhaps. The free press aspect was rather good. Above average characters. Not as much humor as the older books, but more optimistic than the later ones.
]]> <![CDATA[Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day]]> 149482
Dissertation writers need strong, practical advice, as well as someone to assure them that their struggles aren't unique. Joan Bolker, midwife to more than one hundred dissertations and co-founder of the Harvard Writing Center, offers invaluable suggestions for the graduate-student writer. Using positive reinforcement, she begins by reminding thesis writers that being able to devote themselves to a project that truly interests them can be a pleasurable adventure. She encourages them to pay close attention to their writing method in order to discover their individual work strategies that promote productivity; to stop feeling fearful that they may disappoint their advisors or family members; and to tailor their theses to their own writing style and personality needs. Using field-tested strategies she assists the student through the entire thesis-writing process, offering advice on choosing a topic and an advisor, on disciplining one's self to work at least fifteen minutes each day; setting short-term deadlines, on revising and defing the thesis, and on life and publication after the dissertation. Bolker makes writing the dissertation an enjoyable challenge.]]> 184 Joan Bolker 080504891X Rohit 0 to-read 3.84 1998 Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day
author: Joan Bolker
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1)]]> 26114545
The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labeling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life.

And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life...]]> 432 Ada Palmer 0765378000 Rohit 0 to-read 3.81 2016 Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1)
author: Ada Palmer
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3)]]> 34511 496 Terry Pratchett Rohit 2 4.23 2003 Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2003
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/19
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
1.5 rounding up since the commentary is pertinent.. Though with a lot less humor than before. Also, this is still a decidedly militant book, which is always a damper.
]]> Highfire 44890077
In the days of yore, he flew the skies and scorched angry mobs—now he hides from swamp tour boats and rises only with the greatest reluctance from his Laz-Z-Boy recliner. Laying low in the bayou, this once-magnificent fire breather has been reduced to lighting Marlboros with nose sparks, swilling Absolut in a Flashdance T-shirt, and binging Netflix in a fishing shack. For centuries, he struck fear in hearts far and wide as Wyvern, Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie—now he goes by Vern. However...he has survived, unlike the rest. He is the last of his kind, the last dragon. Still, no amount of vodka can drown the loneliness in his molten core. Vern’s glory days are long gone. Or are they?

A canny Cajun swamp rat, young Everett “Squib� Moreau does what he can to survive, trying not to break the heart of his saintly single mother. He’s finally decided to work for a shady smuggler—but on his first night, he witnesses his boss murdered by a crooked constable.

Regence Hooke is not just a dirty cop, he’s a despicable human being—who happens to want Squib’s momma in the worst way. When Hooke goes after his hidden witness with a grenade launcher, Squib finds himself airlifted from certain death by…a dragon?

The swamp can make strange bedfellows, and rather than be fried alive so the dragon can keep his secret, Squib strikes a deal with the scaly apex predator. He can act as his go-between (aka familiar)—fetch his vodka, keep him company, etc.—in exchange for protection from Hooke. Soon the three of them are careening headlong toward a combustible confrontation. There’s about to be a fiery reckoning, in which either dragons finally go extinct—or Vern’s glory days are back.

A triumphant return to the genre-bending fantasy that Eoin Colfer is so well known for, Highfire is an effortlessly clever and relentlessly funny tour-de-force of comedy and action.]]> 377 Eoin Colfer 006293855X Rohit 2 3.64 2020 Highfire
author: Eoin Colfer
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2020/04/05
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
In a throwback to the darker books of Eoin's past, we have a villain who's just about evil incarnate, and a bunch of colorful characters. I did enjoy this, but I prefer his earlier books because of their sci-fi elements. Not sure about the characterization and localization, but the scenes felt a little bit off, though that might have just been intended. I don't regret reading this and doubt anyone will, but I probably wouldn't recommend it. The characters are a little one dimensional, and the justifications are pretty weak as well. The villains seem almost comically over-powered and overly evil.
]]> The Stranger 49552 The Stranger has long been considered a classic of twentieth-century literature. Le Monde ranks it as number one on its "100 Books of the Century" list. Through this story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on a sundrenched Algerian beach, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."]]> 123 Albert Camus Rohit 3 4.04 1942 The Stranger
author: Albert Camus
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1942
rating: 3
read at: 2020/06/19
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
It is unfortunate that I have read Dazai's "No Longer Human" before this. I must admit that Dazai's owes much to Camus, but like most savvy writers he (in my opinion) seems to have captured more of the human condition than Camus, since at times the book is little more than a setup for Camus' own narrative discourse. With that in mind however, this still makes for an interesting short read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction]]> 148009 552 Trevor Hastie 0387952845 Rohit 5 4.41 2001 The Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction
author: Trevor Hastie
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/28
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
A more detailed companion piece to the introductory ISLR, this is an excellent introduction. The only critique would be that, it is too even-handed to influence the mindset of the reader much.
]]> <![CDATA[An Introduction to Statistical Learning: with Applications in R (Springer Texts in Statistics)]]> 17397466 426 Gareth James 1461471370 Rohit 5 4.59 2013 An Introduction to Statistical Learning: with Applications in R (Springer Texts in Statistics)
author: Gareth James
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/12
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
This is a masterfully written book. There is of course, no better way to start with statistical learning than the brilliant tour-de-force of ISLR and ESL. I do personally find myself enjoying ESL more in some cases. This is easy to recommend, and a good introduction to statistics, especially in that it provides an even handed, "try things out first" approach. However, it would be a disservice to the community and authors to never delve into the details of the methods and techniques described.
]]> Skyward (Skyward, #1) 36642458 513 Brandon Sanderson 1473217857 Rohit 4 4.45 2018 Skyward (Skyward, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2020/08/15
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
When a book features a doomslaying slug and a sentient wise-cracking robotic steed, it has to be good! I did really enjoy this, finished it in one setting. Perhaps parts of the characterization felt a little off, but then I have not been 16 for a long time now, which might explain it. Other than that, this is certainly WAYY better than say, Ender's game (as my sister, Amrita mentioned), which came before it but was just shitty. Sanderson is a skilled author. Even though I wouldn't call it original, this is what I would recommend over the stuffier and more "original" or "classic" sci-fi works. As always, I worry about the characters becoming awkwardly romantic or plain annoying (e.g. Mistborn) but Sanderson gets better everytime!
]]> Night Train to Lisbon 1528410 438 Pascal Mercier 0802118585 Rohit 1 Eat, Pray, Love, but, y'know, European; and with an "academic" lead. That would then be an insult to all fanfic, even Twilight. This book is so incredibly bad I can only muster pity for the people who read themselves into it.

For a "setting", we have an expository dump about some guy who happens to be incredibly good with memory and reading (yet who consistently fails to finish a short book); who suddenly decides to leave his hometown and start traveling. My hate for travel is well documented, but that actually wasn't even the problem here. I would go so far as to say the descriptions of places are not half bad. Bit corny, but still, not bad. However! This guy is the modern Mary Sue of novels. He, a nobody, just steps out of his house and is surrounded by friends, lovers, and more! He drifts like a leaf, and gets nothing but people foisting gifts onto him. He, a miserable failure of a person, cannot even manage to quit his job, and is instead given indefinite leave because, of course, his hometown was secretly idolizing him. It is truly incredible that anyone who has read more than one book will understand how some bloke WITH A PHD cannot finish a short book; not to mention the fact that the philosophy is clearly amateurish shit. God only knows what passes for education in the mind of the author. I suppose like blind men and elephants, he knows only how to write what he can feel up, that is, granting an empty doctorate and ill defined genius upon an otherwise uncouth blank slate. So anyone imagining themselves as the MC could feel good.

The few snippets of himself which appear are red flags; he appears to be an old, mostly uneducated fellow who has had undesirable relations with a student in the past, and continues to do so in the present. The way other characters react is incredibly shallow. Much of the book is spent listening to the author whine on and on like a school choir-boy and moralize incessantly. The characters are truly incredibly colorless; they are interchangable, as they all seem to do the same thing; talk shop about some random dead guy who never did anything right, in fact, his book never even caught on (not surprisingly); and they all have unlimited affection for the "protagonist".

Naturally there's a movie montage, our intrepid protagonist, he of a million bucks (because, of course he had been saving up all his life before this); he gets new glasses (evidently he is less in tune with his surroundings than the humble brainless mollusk) which give him a "new lease on life"; and he dresses up. There is no plot. There is no reason to care about any of these half assed idiots.

Honestly by the end of the book I just wanted to see them all die at least. Instead, I believe the author opted to give the reader hope, just in case there are idiots who identified with the cardboard pedo protagonist. That lost it the last bit of goodwill I might have had for it.

A comment on another review here mentioned that this is a philosophy novel the way The Da Vinci Code is a history book. I find that to be quite apt. The same sort of people also probably think Science Fiction includes dragons.

The book took longer to finish because, well, the writing is terrible. Overall, this is the sort of book you get as a gift and secretly donate to charity. Or just add the time spent reading it to be yet another regret.]]> 3.71 2004 Night Train to Lisbon
author: Pascal Mercier
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2004
rating: 1
read at: 2021/01/27
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
0 stars, I'd recommend burning this for warmth. It probably wouldn't even burn. Imagine if someone wrote a fanfic based on Eat, Pray, Love, but, y'know, European; and with an "academic" lead. That would then be an insult to all fanfic, even Twilight. This book is so incredibly bad I can only muster pity for the people who read themselves into it.

For a "setting", we have an expository dump about some guy who happens to be incredibly good with memory and reading (yet who consistently fails to finish a short book); who suddenly decides to leave his hometown and start traveling. My hate for travel is well documented, but that actually wasn't even the problem here. I would go so far as to say the descriptions of places are not half bad. Bit corny, but still, not bad. However! This guy is the modern Mary Sue of novels. He, a nobody, just steps out of his house and is surrounded by friends, lovers, and more! He drifts like a leaf, and gets nothing but people foisting gifts onto him. He, a miserable failure of a person, cannot even manage to quit his job, and is instead given indefinite leave because, of course, his hometown was secretly idolizing him. It is truly incredible that anyone who has read more than one book will understand how some bloke WITH A PHD cannot finish a short book; not to mention the fact that the philosophy is clearly amateurish shit. God only knows what passes for education in the mind of the author. I suppose like blind men and elephants, he knows only how to write what he can feel up, that is, granting an empty doctorate and ill defined genius upon an otherwise uncouth blank slate. So anyone imagining themselves as the MC could feel good.

The few snippets of himself which appear are red flags; he appears to be an old, mostly uneducated fellow who has had undesirable relations with a student in the past, and continues to do so in the present. The way other characters react is incredibly shallow. Much of the book is spent listening to the author whine on and on like a school choir-boy and moralize incessantly. The characters are truly incredibly colorless; they are interchangable, as they all seem to do the same thing; talk shop about some random dead guy who never did anything right, in fact, his book never even caught on (not surprisingly); and they all have unlimited affection for the "protagonist".

Naturally there's a movie montage, our intrepid protagonist, he of a million bucks (because, of course he had been saving up all his life before this); he gets new glasses (evidently he is less in tune with his surroundings than the humble brainless mollusk) which give him a "new lease on life"; and he dresses up. There is no plot. There is no reason to care about any of these half assed idiots.

Honestly by the end of the book I just wanted to see them all die at least. Instead, I believe the author opted to give the reader hope, just in case there are idiots who identified with the cardboard pedo protagonist. That lost it the last bit of goodwill I might have had for it.

A comment on another review here mentioned that this is a philosophy novel the way The Da Vinci Code is a history book. I find that to be quite apt. The same sort of people also probably think Science Fiction includes dragons.

The book took longer to finish because, well, the writing is terrible. Overall, this is the sort of book you get as a gift and secretly donate to charity. Or just add the time spent reading it to be yet another regret.
]]> <![CDATA[All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)]]> 32758901 "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.� Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.]]> 144 Martha Wells Rohit 4
This is like an infinitely more wholesome; lovable version of Altered Carbon. Murderbot especially was really relatable. Will go devour the rest of the series soon!]]> 4.11 2017 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/04/04
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
I knew as soon as I read the reviews for this that it would be great. It isn't often that so many of the people I follow and respect here on GR like the same book. This was a fun read; I'm rounding it off to 4 because I felt like the ending was a little rushed and because it ends on a cliffhanger. That aside, the characterization was deft and this has been one of the most enjoyable short reads I've come across in a while.

This is like an infinitely more wholesome; lovable version of Altered Carbon. Murderbot especially was really relatable. Will go devour the rest of the series soon!
]]> Sweet Bean Paste 33376821
Until, that is, Tokue comes into his life. An elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past, she makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. The unlikeliest of friendships blossoms, but it will take all of their resolve � and plenty of pancakes � to protect themselves when Tokue's dark secret comes to light.]]> 216 Durian Sukegawa 1786071959 Rohit 4 4.07 2013 Sweet Bean Paste
author: Durian Sukegawa
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2022/03/26
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
This was a solid 4 star read. It isn't very easy to describe something this short, so I'll go with why I liked it. The writing is very well done (which is not always true of translations). The characters and setting are evocatively well done. I would have hoped for a longer read, but this is was perfectly paced as well.
]]> <![CDATA[Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)]]> 17333324
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.]]> 386 Ann Leckie Rohit 4 3.98 2013 Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)
author: Ann Leckie
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/04
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
4.5 rounding down for a slightly haphazard and confusing ending. I very much enjoyed this book. It was engaging and tightly paced, up until the ending. I will likely read the rest, and the world-building stood out. The descriptions of religion and occupation, along with the policies and politics was most interesting. I did have some reservations about the "present" plot-line, the redemptive arc of the aristocrat seemed rather tacky, and some of the gun didn't make any sense. However, I was definitely along for the ride. I'm not feeling loquacious or perspicacious enough to write about the Ancillary systems and the complexities of being a colonial pawn, but I'm certainly going to read the rest of the books; even though the premise seems exceedingly odd (why bother with the relatives of one of the dead anyway, why single one out, what's the point of the narrative at this stage?). Still, for a short read (a single setting), this was fun, and the ideas were larger than life, even if the plot is probably forgettable. I also rather enjoyed the villain's name "Anaander Mianaai" being a play on another and visibility (in Japanese). However, the ending kinda ruined the villain for me, so more divided about the plot than I expected.
]]> <![CDATA[City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)]]> 20174424
Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched � along with her terrifying “secretary�, Sigrud � to solve a murder.

But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem, and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

A tale of vast conspiracies, dead gods, and buried histories, City of Stairs is at once a gripping spy novel and a stunningly original work of fantasy.

]]> 452 Robert Jackson Bennett 080413717X Rohit 4 4.07 2014 City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/04
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
4.5 rounding down for slightly overtly neat endings. This is a really well written book. The pacing is quick, almost breakneck at times, though there are some slight slowdowns. The characters grow organically and are deftly portrayed. The story itself relies a little too heavily on coincidences, and there are few if any hints to the solution of the actual central mystery. However, will definitely look forward to reading the rest of the series!
]]> The Plotters 39618887
Behind every assassination, there is an anonymous mastermind--a plotter--working in the shadows. Plotters quietly dictate the moves of the city's most dangerous criminals, but their existence is little more than legend. Just who are the plotters? And more important, what do they want?
Reseng is an assassin. Raised by a cantankerous killer named Old Raccoon in the crime headquarters "The Library," Reseng never questioned anything: where to go, who to kill, or why his home was filled with books that no one ever read. But one day, Reseng steps out of line on a job, toppling a set of carefully calibrated plans. And when he uncovers an extraordinary scheme set into motion by an eccentric trio of young women--a convenience store clerk, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed librarian--Reseng will have to decide if he will remain a pawn or finally take control of the plot.
Crackling with action and filled with unforgettable characters, The Plotters is a deeply entertaining thriller that soars with the soul, wit, and lyricism of real literary craft.]]> 310 Kim Un-Su 1925603768 Rohit 4 3.58 2010 The Plotters
author: Kim Un-Su
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/29
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
4.5 rounding down for a slightly rushed ending. This was a wonderful book. Philosophical and tightly paced. The ending was rather weaker than expected. That said, I'll definitely look into more by the author. It was rather dark though. Lots of death and misery. Shades of gray and what not. Honestly the best reason to read this is the way it draws one into the setting. Staying away from big cities makes it hard to remember the faceless way they work, and this book captures that essence.
]]> <![CDATA[A Master of Djinn (Dead Djinn Universe, #1)]]> 52504334 Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe for his fantasy novel debut, A Master of Djinn

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city -or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…]]> 438 P. Djèlí Clark 1250267676 Rohit 2 4.01 2021 A Master of Djinn (Dead Djinn Universe, #1)
author: P. Djèlí Clark
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2023/05/22
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
Solid 2. Perhaps I'm just not in the right mindset. I really tried very hard to like this book. The pacing was uneven though, with set pieces appearing for the benefit of the plot and with a single mindedness demanding more suspesion of belief than I could manage. The "plot twist" was painfully evident and so the reveal fell flat and most of the book felt stretched out without any reason. Additionally, the relentless gender highlights kind of detracted from the world building. I came away with little understanding of the characters except that they were relentlessly female (without any actual nuance therein, just the gender). Similarly, the book felt riddled with convinient powers and last minute healing just to get to the next big set piece. I can't imagine re-reading this again ever.
]]> <![CDATA[The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)]]> 150247395
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.]]> 410 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820702 Rohit 5 4.28 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
4.5 rounding up for a great buddy read with my SO. Suggested by my sis. An execellent murder mystery set in a very interesting world. Can't wait for more in the series, however one of the murderers wasn't so very evil (intentionally) which is a bit of a shame. Can't wait to find out more about reagents and the rest of the enhancements in later books.
]]> <![CDATA[Play of Shadows (Court of Shadows #1)]]> 42291958 Swordplay, magic, intrigue and friendships stronger than iron: the first volume in the new swashbuckling fantasy series by the bestselling author of The Greatcoats

Damelas Shademantaigne picked a poor night to flee a judicial duel.

He has precious little hope of escaping the wrath of the Vixen, the most feared duellist in the entire city, until he stumbles through the stage doors of the magnificent Operato Belleza and tricks his way into the company of actors. An archaic law provides a temporary respite from his troubles - until one night a ghostly voice in his head causes Damelas to fumble his lines, inadvertently blurting out a dreadful truth: the city's most legendary hero may actually be a traitor and a brutal murderer.

With only the help of his boisterous and lusty friend Bereto, a beautiful assassin whose target may well be Damelas himself, and a company of misfit actors who'd just as soon see him dead, this failed son of two Greatcoats must somehow find within himself the courage to dig up long-buried truths before a ruthless band of bravos known as the Iron Orchids come for his head.

Oh, and there's still that matter of the Vixen waiting to duel him . . .

]]> 528 Sebastien de Castell Rohit 5 4.17 2024 Play of Shadows (Court of Shadows #1)
author: Sebastien de Castell
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/09
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
Surprisingly good standalone read. This is less dark and ponderous compared to the previous books set in the same universe. The characters are all much more likeable. The ending felt a little like sequel bait, and I could have done without the big shadowy bad-guy. The setting was good, and dovetailed nicely with reading The Twist of a Knife a while ago. The easter eggs really retroactively made some of the earlier books more worthwhile too. The mystery was also pretty damn good.
]]> <![CDATA[The Shadow Pavilion (Detective Inspector Chen, #4)]]> 2708855
Meanwhile, Zhu Irzh finds himself trapped in an unfamiliar jungle Hell, stalked by a rogue demon lord and his harem of tigress demons. An assassin from between worlds targets Mhara, the new Emperor of Heaven. And a beautiful starlet holds a deadly secret...

From the strange streets of Singapore Three to the rough and tumble world of Bollywood, where money flows fast and emotions flare even faster; from the realms of the Celestial to the haunts of the Infernal and all the spaces in between, The Shadow Pavilion delivers the thrills, excitement, and near-future occult action fans have come to expect.]]> 240 Liz Williams 1597801224 Rohit 0 to-read 3.94 2008 The Shadow Pavilion (Detective Inspector Chen, #4)
author: Liz Williams
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Demon and the City (Detective Inspector Chen, #2)]]> 150932
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.]]> 242 Liz Williams 1597800457 Rohit 0 to-read 3.79 2006 The Demon and the City (Detective Inspector Chen, #2)
author: Liz Williams
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Naturalist (The Naturalist, #1)]]> 34330645
As a computational biologist, Theo is more familiar with digital code and microbes than the dark arts of forensic sleuthing. But a field trip to Montana suddenly lands him in the middle of an investigation into the bloody killing of one of his former students. As more details, and bodies, come to light, the local cops determine that the killer is either a grizzly gone rogue� or Theo himself. Racing to stay one step ahead of the police, Theo must use his scientific acumen to uncover the killer. Will he be able to become as cunning as the predator he hunts—before he becomes its prey?]]> 382 Andrew Mayne 1612184979 Rohit 0 to-read 4.09 2017 The Naturalist (The Naturalist, #1)
author: Andrew Mayne
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dark Dive (Underwater Investigation Unit, #5)]]> 175533200 A Wall Street Journal
Searching for a missing diver takes a Florida detective on a deep-diving adventure in a gripping thriller by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of .

After the Underwater Investigation Unit’s disbandment, public outcry ushers Sloan McPherson and her partner, former navy diver Scott Hughes, back into the depths of crime solving. But Sloan’s return comes with a personal case.

Longtime family friend Fred Stafford has disappeared. Left behind: his abandoned truck in the vicinity of an unmarked sinkhole and new findings that have Sloan second-guessing everything she thought she knew about the man. There are his gambling debts, his association with a treasure-hunting band of underwater cavern junkies called the Dive Rats, and most alarming of all, a discovery in Stafford’s storage shed that raises the stakes even higher and plunges Sloan into an unfathomable mystery.

As Sloan’s investigation unfolds, a tragic Florida cold case, local superstitions, and a shocking conspiracy collide. For Sloan, finding Stafford and uncovering the buried secrets of the past soon drag her deeper into the dark unknown than she feared.]]> 296 Andrew Mayne 1662506465 Rohit 0 to-read 4.37 2024 Dark Dive (Underwater Investigation Unit, #5)
author: Andrew Mayne
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Enchanted Wood (The Faraway Tree, #1)]]> 17491 213 Enid Blyton 0749748001 Rohit 0 to-read 4.24 1939 The Enchanted Wood (The Faraway Tree, #1)
author: Enid Blyton
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1939
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea (Narwhal and Jelly, #1)]]> 28503853 64 Ben Clanton 1101918713 Rohit 0 to-read 4.22 2016 Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea (Narwhal and Jelly, #1)
author: Ben Clanton
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Super Amoeba (Squish, #1) 9486602
It's SQUISH —a graphic novel series about a comic book-loving, twinkie-eating grade school AMOEBA trying to find his place in the world (or at least trying to make it through a school day). Inspired by his favorite comic book hero, SUPER AMOEBA!, Squish has to navigate school (bullies! detention! Principal Planaria!), family ( Hates to wear a tie. Secretly listens to heavy metal in the car), and friends (Peggy-rainbows! happy all the time! and Pod . . . who's . . . well, you just have to meet him). Can Squish save the world—and his friends—from the forces of evil lurking in the hallways? Find out in Super Amoeba —saving the world, one cell at a time!]]> 96 Jennifer L. Holm 0375843892 Rohit 0 to-read 3.98 2011 Super Amoeba (Squish, #1)
author: Jennifer L. Holm
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Full of Beans 28109644 Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award Five Starred Reviews!A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, 2016Grown-ups lie. That’s one truth Beans knows for sure. He and his gang know how to spot a whopper a mile away, because they are the savviest bunch of barefoot conchs (that means “locals�) in all of Key West. Not that Beans really minds; it’s 1934, the middle of the Great Depression. With no jobs on the island, and no money anywhere, who can really blame the grown-ups for telling a few tales? Besides, Beans isn’t anyone’s fool. In fact, he has plans. Big plans. And the consequences might surprise even Beans himself.Return to the wonderful world of Newbery Honor Book Turtle in Paradisethrough the eyes of Turtle’s cousin Beans!"A surprising coming-of-age story with a remarkably honest message."—The New York Times"[Holm] captures this colorful slice of Depression history with her usual vivacious wit. . . . Children will love Beans."—Shelf Awareness, Starred"A novel as entertaining as the motion pictures [Beans] loves to see."—The Horn Book Magazine,Starred“Inspired by actual events, Holm’s talent for writing historical fiction is on full display. . . . Interesting family and small-town dynamics further enrich this fascinating account of a young boy’s life in Florida’s ‘Recovery Key.’”—Booklist,Starred"Filled with humor, heart, and warmth."—Kirkus Review, Starred"Entertaining and illuminating historical fiction."—Publishers Weekly, Starred]]> 200 Jennifer L. Holm 0553510398 Rohit 0 to-read 4.05 2016 Full of Beans
author: Jennifer L. Holm
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sinister Booksellers of Bath]]> 175740860
There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch there, particularly on the entity who inhabits the ancient hot spring. Yet this time it is not from Sulis Minerva that trouble starts. It comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger. A desperate rescue is attempted by his sister the right-handed bookseller Vivien and their friend, art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage.

The map takes the trio to a place separated from this world, maintained by deadly sorcery performed by an ancient sovereign and guarded by monstrous living statues of Portland Stone. But this is only the beginning, as the booksellers investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths and try to unravel the secrets of the murderous Lady of Stone, a serial killer of awesome powers.

If they do not stop her, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.]]> 352 Garth Nix 1399606328 Rohit 0 to-read 3.97 2023 The Sinister Booksellers of Bath
author: Garth Nix
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wicked Problems (The Craft Wars, #2)]]> 133286922 Gods and lawyers battle for the soul of the world in the action-packed second volume of Max Gladstone's Craft Wars, an epic fantasy like no other.

A deadly force has been unleashed into the world. With apocalypse on the horizon, a girl and a god have joined in order to turn back the coming end. Young, brash, and desperate, they are willing to destroy anything and everything that stands between them and their goals. The structures of the Craft are theirs to overturn, with billions of lives in the balance. And it is all Tara Abernathy’s fault.

The battle for the world of the Craft is heating up. A dead god will rise. A mountain will fall. Ancient fire will be stolen. And while Tara races to stop Dawn’s plans, the end draws ever closer, skittering across the stars to swallow the world. The Craft Wars enter their second stage in Wicked Problems.]]> 480 Max Gladstone 0765395924 Rohit 0 to-read 4.39 2024 Wicked Problems (The Craft Wars, #2)
author: Max Gladstone
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction]]> 195820708
Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe.

Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruled The Raven Tower.

Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls.

And so much more, inthis masterfully wide-ranging and immersive short fiction collection from award-winning author Ann Leckie.]]> 403 Ann Leckie 0316553573 Rohit 0 to-read 3.95 2024 Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction
author: Ann Leckie
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Illuminations 25895521
While trying to help her family, Rosa discovers a strange magical box protected by a painted crow. But when she finds a way to open the box, she accidentally releases the Scarling, a vicious monster determined to destroy the Mandolini family at any cost.

With the aid of her former best friend and a painted crow named Payne, it’s up to Rosa to stop the Scarling before it unmakes the magical paintings that keep the city running, and hopefully save her family in the process!]]> 260 T. Kingfisher 1614505772 Rohit 0 to-read 3.92 2022 Illuminations
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Locklands (The Founders Trilogy, #3)]]> 55535618
Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have gone up against plenty of long odds in the past. But the war they’re fighting now is one even they can’t win.

This time, they’re not facing robber-baron elites, or even an immortal hierophant, but an entity whose intelligence is spread over half the globe—a ghost in the machine that uses the magic of scriving to possess and control not just objects, but human minds.

To fight it, they’ve used scriving technology to transform themselves and their allies into an army—a society—that’s like nothing humanity has seen before. With its strength at their backs, they’ve freed a handful of their enemy’s hosts from servitude, even brought down some of its fearsome, reality-altering dreadnaughts. Yet despite their efforts, their enemy marches on—implacable. Unstoppable.

Now, as their opponent closes in on its true prize—an ancient doorway, long buried, that leads to the chambers at the center of creation itself—Sancia and her friends glimpse a chance at reaching it first, and with it, a last desperate opportunity to stop this unbeatable foe. But to do so, they’ll have to unlock the centuries-old mystery of scriving’s origins, embark on a desperate mission into the heart of their enemy’s power, and pull off the most daring heist they’ve ever attempted.

And as if that weren’t enough, their adversary might just have a spy in their ranks—and a last trick up its sleeve.]]> 544 Robert Jackson Bennett Rohit 1 4.03 2022 Locklands (The Founders Trilogy, #3)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2024/03/31
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves:
review:
Well that was amazingly worse than my already low expectations. I suppose the good thing it can be read alone... Since the characters haven't bothered to bring anything about the previous books forward anyway. Some heavy handed attempts to justify democracy in terms of bifurcated viewpoints. Convenient plot armor and a weirdly elastic sense of fatalities. At least the previous book had one thing right, radom people seem to think they're just more deserving and special than the masses... Thousands die in the blink of an eye but someone's hand being broken is the worst of all horrors... I never thought I'd miss Shorefall but.. Here we are. What a truly miserable end to the trilogy, taking the characters of clef and crasedes with it. Also the MCs basically have the exact same world view but it's somehow.. Justified? Trying to demand a father kill his kid seems morally bankrupt. Sancia and the rest were no saints in the other books but now are.. While other characters get painted broadly with the villain brush. Vexing. Also the ending is incredibly asinine.
]]> <![CDATA[Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)]]> 45309582 As a magical revolution remakes a city, an ancient evil is awakened in a brilliant new novel from the Hugo-nominated author ofFoundryside and the Divine Cities trilogy

Having narrowly saved the metropolis of Tevanne from destruction, Sancia Grado and her allies have turned to their next task: sowing the seeds of a full-on magical-industrial revolution. If they succeed, the secrets behind scriving—the art of imbuing everyday objects with sentience—will be accessible to all of Tevanne’s citizens, much to the displeasure of the robber-barons who’ve hoarded this knowledge for themselves.

But one of Sancia’s enemies has embarked on a desperate gambit, an attempt to resurrect a figure straight out of legend—an immortal being known as a heirophant. Long ago, the heirophant was an ordinary man, but he’s used scriving to transform himself into something closer to a god. Once awakened, he’ll stop at nothing to remake the world in his horrifying image.

And if Sancia can’t stop this ancient power from returning? Well, the only way to fight a god…is with another god.]]> 493 Robert Jackson Bennett 1524760390 Rohit 1 4.02 2020 Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2024/03/31
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves:
review:
2 rounding down for general melodrama. Somehow this entire book fell flat for me. Set piece to set piece. No sense of character growth. Random rants about how only connections to people can be redeeming. Twists which were obvious from the word go. Weirdly hollow world building. Little or nothing was garnered. Towards the end, the little logic there was with scrivings felt rehashed from previous instances... Then just fell away completely, giving rise to plot armor and plot holes. Any new character introduced is either a raw trope, or dead fodder. Yay. I can't imagine going over the final book but for a strange sense of perfectionist masochism.
]]> Mad Sisters of Esi 196795364
When Myung flees the whale, she stumbles into a new universe where shapeshifting islands and ancient maps hold sway. There, she sets off on an adventure that is both tragic and transformative, for her and Laleh. For at the heart of her quest lies a mystery that has confounded scholars for centuries: the truth about the mad sisters of Esi.

Fables, dreams and myths come together in this masterful work of fantasy by acclaimed author Tashan Mehta, sweeping across three landscapes, and featuring a museum of collective memory and a festival of madness. At its core, it asks: In the devastating chaos of this world, where all is in flux and the truth ever-changing, what will you choose to hold on to?]]> 510 Tashan Mehta 9356994153 Rohit 0 to-read 4.28 2023 Mad Sisters of Esi
author: Tashan Mehta
name: Rohit
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Company Man 8077923
The McNaughton Corporation is the pinnacle of American industry. They built the guns that won the Great War before it even began. They built the airships that tie the world together. And, above all, they built Evesden-a shining metropolis, the best that the world has to offer.

But something is rotten at the heart of the city. Deep underground, a trolley car pulls into a station with eleven dead bodies inside. Four minutes before, the victims were seen boarding at the previous station. Eleven men butchered by hand in the blink of an eye. All are dead. And all are union.

Now, one man, Cyril Hayes, must fix this. There is a dark secret behind the inventions of McNaughton and with a war brewing between the executives and the workers, the truth must be discovered before the whole city burns. Caught between the union and the company, between the police and the victims, Hayes must uncover the mystery before it kills him.]]> 464 Robert Jackson Bennett 0316054704 Rohit 0 to-read 3.58 2009 The Company Man
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> American Elsewhere 14781178
Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different ...

From one of our most talented and original new literary voices comes the next great American supernatural novel: a work that explores the dark dimensions of the hometowns and the neighbors we thought we knew.]]> 662 Robert Jackson Bennett 0316200204 Rohit 0 to-read 3.77 2013 American Elsewhere
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Rohit
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

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