the top 10 books i've read so far in 2023 (and the most disappointing)

I don't know if I'm gonna survive books three and four based on the five star experiences I've already had in book one and two

the depth of the World building and the political maneuvering and just the authenticity of the world in this series is kind of blowing my mind

I read the first three volumes of the Alice in Borderland manga series and I was just so disappointed I was so disappointed in them the sexual objectification of the female characters in the manga was off the charts

the use of a pistolary format in this book is the best I've ever seen it's brilliantly crafted this is a book that made me stop and back up and take a look at my own writing

book two was a five star read I absolutely loved this book I loved there was a character Arc in here that I think might be one of my favorite Fantasy character arcs between book one and two absolutely loved it the characterization is fantastic the dialogue is fantastic

The story was all over the place and the character work and motives for me was very lackluster and convenient and that was something that really drove me bonkers and Guinevere as a character in this story really frustrated me and I just really struggled to finish this book to be perfectly honest

It was the plot structure of the story The Complete removal of agency and the point of the rest of the trilogy just disappeared at the End of This Book I really struggled with some of the character contrivances and elements within this series and overall I just was really frustrated by the ending

I flew through this book and the commentary on the life of soldiers the conversations about mortality and loyalty and courage and all of the things I absolutely loved this book I had a great time with it

I really had a great time with never die and ponze Gambit the books preceding this

I really had a great time with never die and ponze Gambit the books preceding this

this tiny little book patch packs such a massive punch the Second Story I think it's the second story don't let this cover fool you there are some very dark fantasy moments in this book there's just some wonderful commentary about human nature and people

I had a fantastic time with this story I think it's absolutely brilliant and for anyone who's been waiting to pull the trigger because I recognize how intimidating this book is trust me I get it's worth every single page

when I read spirits of Vengeance and saw all of the Easter eggs and the through lines from the first two books and just the way that this book elevated the entire series up to that point I fell in absolute love with it

this book really surprised me in terms of the story structure and the way that the author really played and experimented with how to put this story together it's hard for me to be super surprised by books now and this book literally had me going what wait what so many times in a good way and I loved that

I loved it the characterization and voice of Mark Watney as a character is one of my favorites I've read in a long time I love the author's use of formatting and the way that he goes between perspectives and the different angles he provides on the story

I did not like how the characters were portrayed there were a lot of things where I felt like it was very anticlimactic I don't know I just felt like it was a very lackluster underwhelming read

The found family aspects in this book once again as you guys know I absolutely love that and it is present in this story there's so much mystery there's so much Intrigue to the magic system

I really didn't like this book which kind of surprised me I found that it was there was a lot of modern language thrown in with a very ancient setting which always pulls me out and the way that the author portrayed several of the relationships within the story was kind of misleading in my opinion