CoffeeShopReader

CoffeeShopReader's Reviews:

My Weakness for Pretty Books

Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince by V.E Schwab, Andrea Olimpieri, Enrica Eren Angiolini

March 19, 2019 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

I didn’t intend to buy this. I wasn’t a big fan of the main character in the main series whence this springs. He was just there, without much detail, mostly a stereotype. Until the end in which he does something that’s supposed to be self-less and brave, but ends up seeming pointless and meaningless. But there was a display of V.E. Schwab’s stuff, since she had a re-release out and the first volume of the Shades of Magic prequel/comic: The Steel Prince. It was pretty, and I was weak. After having read it, I regret nothing. You win V. You […]

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Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince by V.E Schwab, Andrea Olimpieri, Enrica Eren Angiolini

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3/19/2019 | CoffeeShopReader's CBR11 Review No:14 |

A rare find for me: a good short story collection

The Ancient Magus' Bride The Golden Yarn by Kore Yamazaki et al

March 10, 2019 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

So far I’ve really been enjoying the Ancient Magus Bride in its original manga form; I’ve also liked the anime but haven’t seen the whole thing yet. The general gist is that a Japanese teen, Chise, who has no family who wants her, puts herself up for auction. She is purchased by Elias, a non-human mage who wants to train her/ learn about humans from her. Chise has some magical abilities herself, and she fits in well with the mage’s world. It’s a really sweet story, since both Chise and Elias aren’t emotionally very steady, but they learn and grow […]

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The Ancient Magus' Bride The Golden Yarn by Kore Yamazaki et al

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3/10/2019 | CoffeeShopReader's CBR11 Review No:13 |

This review should have been done 3 years ago

Time Salvager by Wesley Chu

March 2, 2019 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

I only half read Time Salvager. I’m really stubborn and I absolutely hate to DNF but this book has been sitting on my coffee table and my Goodreads “Currently Reading” for three years. I wish that were an exaggeration. Even though my copy was signed by the author when I went to a reading when this first came out, it’s time. I should have liked this. The general premise and the opening scenes are really intriguing. Humanity can time travel but it’s really dangerous and eventually leads to the time-traveler deteriorating and dying. Time travel was discovered and regulated by […]

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Time Salvager by Wesley Chu

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3/2/2019 | CoffeeShopReader's CBR11 Review No:12 |

Beginning of the end, in which a series redeems itself

Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Legends by Lydia Sherrer

February 25, 2019 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

I’ve almost got my ‘started before 2019 began’ pile cleared out. This is the first of the final four: Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Legends. This book was a bit of a surprise in a few ways, most of them good. This was book 4 in a series I was starting to get annoyed with. Some structural patterns and a seriously pet-peeving plot development cliché seemed to be developing. I was ready to give up. I’ve mentioned the structure in reviews of previous volumes, but basically there was part 1 of main thread with central pair together, side story interlude […]

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Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Legends by Lydia Sherrer

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2/25/2019 | CoffeeShopReader's CBR11 Review No:11 |

In which Squirrel Girl and puns are not enough

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel You Know It's True by Ryan North and Erica Henderson, et al

February 17, 2019 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

What do you get when you try to write a story with no main plotline, and instead focus entirely on a bunch of hardly connected side stories? The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel You Know It’s True is what. I should have known I wouldn’t like this much since the first volume annoyed me, but I wanted to see if things got any better; they did not. My biggest problem with Doreen and her companions (now she has several, and I’m not totally sure how all that happened) is that she’s presented more as a parody of the Marvel universe. […]

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The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel You Know It's True by Ryan North and Erica Henderson, et al

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2/17/2019 | CoffeeShopReader's CBR11 Review No:10 |

Lost in Translation to Graphic

Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel by Eoin Colfer, Giovanni Rigano, Paolo Lamanna

February 17, 2019 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

I have read the original novel. In fact, I’ve also read all but the final novel in the original series. I was curious about the graphic novel adaptation. Given that the original Artemis Fowl is a YA novel, I figured a comic book style version would be reasonably similar. It both was and was not. The basic plot remains the same: devious genius Artemis and his loyal body guard/butler Butler devise a plan to kidnap a fairy for reasons which will not be revealed until Artemis explain his whole scheme ala evil villain monologue to Captain Holly Short of the […]

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Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel by Eoin Colfer, Giovanni Rigano, Paolo Lamanna

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2/17/2019 | CoffeeShopReader's CBR11 Review No:9 |

What to do when both the title and the back blurb are lies

John Dies at the End by David Wong

February 17, 2019 by CoffeeShopReader 4 Comments

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked up John Dies at the End. I think maybe a little bit of Welcome to Night Vale mixed with Sandman Slim, and possible a bit of Men in Black. This book is not any of those things, either in combination or alone. I should also admit that I have not seen the movie, don’t remember having heard of it before, and definitely have no plans to ever watch it now. I did not really enjoy this book much. The sad thing is that the premise is promising, and the back […]

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John Dies at the End by David Wong

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2/17/2019 | CoffeeShopReader's CBR11 Review No:8 |

Academic Fiction at it’s Best but also Worst

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

February 10, 2019 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

It’s probably been 15 years since I’ve read anything substantial by Umberto Eco. I’m pretty sure I was maybe a sophomore or junior in college the first time I read The Name of the Rose. Now, I find myself in the position of needing to reread it for a work-related event. In the intervening decade and a half, I’ve gotten a lot better at Latin, and I’ve also been exposed to a lot more primary source material concerning theology, philosophy, science, literature, and history of the European Middle Ages, as well as 20th century literary theory. What do my academic qualifications […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

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2/10/2019 | CoffeeShopReader's CBR11 Review No:7 |

dAvid on Everything changes in a SeasonThat sounds like how I feel at this point. I’ll probably finish the series and will probably end up liking it overall, but it will...
Chris on No bed of rosesSounds perfect for my church book club👍
tikkersweet on Everything changes in a SeasonI enjoyed the rest of this series but I had to force myself to sit down and read, I enjoyed it while I was reading...
Allison on The dangerous lull of monotonyOh, so glad to see more love for Severance. I agree with you that the "present day" scenes were less compelling than Candace just doing...
Malin on I so wanted to love this. Alas, it was not to be.If I'm going to have any chance of reaching a Cannonball this year, I need to review EVERYTHING I read (re-reads not necessarily included).