Honest Book Reviews!

Silvercloak by Laura Steven My rating: 3 of 5 stars *I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.* This book was NOT how I expected it to be. More astonishing it is that the most aspects I didn't think to appear in this book happened near the end of the story. It's a mix of good and bad things, but most are rather good. First of all, this book reminded me a lot about Harry Potter — which isn't a bad thing since I like Harry Potter and it isn't just a copy of it. The whole idea that magic can only be refilled by either pleasure or pain and nothing else is a quite unique story idea, especially as one needs to choose between quantity (pleasure) and quality (pain). Thereof it shouldn't be a surprise that this book is featuring lots of painful scenes, which are usually torture. But it also shows happy moments — moments of hope. 'Cause of this wheel between pain and pleasure, I can confidentl...

Miraculous Chibi Vol. 1: Pizza Pursuit and Other Cat Tales by Josh Trujillo My rating: 3 of 5 stars *I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.* Since this is the first time ever my wish for an arc was granted, I felt very excited to read this one. As a mlb fan I was surprised to see that a chibi book was made from this series. Many mlb fans always wanted to have a book version of this great show, myself included. A chibi version definitely fits the usual mood for the series (at least for the first two seasons). The series might mature with its audience, but I like that the children touch of it comes back with this chibi art style in a book. The art style is very cute and I enjoyed the small little stories. My favourite story is the last one. The fourth story was the longest and included a bit more stuff related to the actual show. Due to it having a greater connection than the other stories to the original ...

Classroom of the Elite (Light Novel) Vol. 11.5 by Syougo Kinugasa My rating: 3 of 5 stars The first year is since the last volume coming to an end, but with this extra volume we get some more moments before the school semester ends. I'm personally very excited to read about the year 2 book series as the anime wasn't able to adopt them yet so this would be a new experience for me now too. Some scenes in this volume were (as far as I remember) not adapted into the anime, so it felt very odd reading them and slowly realising that I experience them for the first time. Though it's an extra volume I saw myself drawn to the whole Tsukishiro incident that continued in this volume. Sakayanagi was also seen for a certain chapter so I definitely feel satisfied with ending this book like this. Another thing I liked to see once more which was confirmed now finally is that Horikita did indeed have a great character development and that from this volume...

ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ 6 [Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (Novel) 6] by Syougo Kinugasa My rating: 3 of 5 stars I already know that something great, very exciting (in my opinion at least) is going to happen in the next volume! To be honest, this volume didn't feel that special, the next special test occurred but only halfway through and for the previous volumes it always managed to end each volume after finishing a special test, but not this time which is kinda disappointing and also therefore felt more boring. But I did notice that Ayanokouji made more friends, especially ones that he calls by their first name (though the idea wasn't his and is a rule for the friend group he entered). This volume also showed that even though Ayanokouji seems to have no interest in social interactions he does feel some kind of joy of experiencing them. It seemed I was somehow developing a social life. This’d be normal for anyone else, but I trembled w...

Alice in Wonderland: The Original 1865 Edition With Complete Illustrations By Sir John Tenniel by Lewis Carroll My rating: 5 of 5 stars Alice is very interesting to me as a reader, as she isn't just curious and has a great imagination, but she also seems to believe in superstitions and even though she doesn't know certain words she uses them as they sound nice to her. Many would say she is bonkers, which she probably is, but I think she is rather a funny character who I can also relate to in some way. The only thing I will never agree, (as I already saw people say this before) is that Alice is stupid. She might be stubborn, she might be clumsy, but not stupid. For instance, she didn't drink the bottle immediately even though it was labeled as 'Drink Me' and she also didn't try to fit through the door with her normal sized body, as she was smart enough to know that she would get stuck, even if her head would fit through. She is...

The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Ugly Duckling is my favourite Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. I grew up with lots of tolerance for no matter who, so when my parents read this book to me I felt angry for how the duck was treated. That was the first time I noticed how tolerant I am and how this story has such a strong meaning behind it. I felt sad for the duck, but no pity as I believed for the duck to find true happiness soon enough and I am still glad that this is also the way the story turns out to be. Nowadays the story also reminds me of mental health issues related to physical appearance. Many people seem to categorise themselves as 'ugly' and some people who didn't see an issue with their appearance were made fun of, making them feel the same way. This reminds me a lot about the ugly duckling as well, as I'm sure that the duck only started to see itself as ugly and miserable when...

The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Princess and the Pea is a ridiculous but still amusing story about a prince wanting to marry a real princess, but doesn't know who to marry as they all claim to be real princesses but don't act like one. I always understood by the pea that a princess must be sensitive (as also said in the text) and I also always thought that the sensitive part is due to noble people only getting the finest stuff so they are picky and notice if something isn't right than the poor folk who appreciates anything. Not sure till this day if that's the real meaning behind it, but I also noticed that the princess needed to be tested by a pea as she didn't have the appearance of a princess, so the story is probably about how looks can deceive. Nevertheless, I really like the story and I'm happy to have read it once more. View all my reviews

The Way It Is by Shirani Rajapakse My rating: 4 of 5 stars *I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.* The Book ‘The Way It Is’, is about a poetry collection ranging from politics and racism to war and death. Even though the poems don't rhyme most of the time, it still has a great flow while reading. I really liked about this book how wide ranging the topics were in it. After reading about war, I was reading about how woman dress and misogyny and then after that about slavery. Poems express so much more than outspoken words ever can and Shirani Rajapakse kept me intrigued with her poetry collection till the end. While reading I felt that these poems felt extremely personal and heartbreaking for me. The way the words were chosen for each poem, made me feel heard and understood, as I express the same feelings to certain topics that were covered in this collection. The poems were also not overly complicate...