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The Little Android
How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
The Gene: An Intimate History
A Clash of Kings
Клетниците: част първа - трета (Избрани произведения в пет тома, #1
SPOILER ALERT!
Cinder
While the book itself was enjoyable overall, I couldn't ignore the "reveal" being so obvious. I was constantly asking myself if the author expected me to already know and was setting up a subversion, only to be disappointed by the most likely twist possible in the end. Other than that, Cinder herself was a cool and overall enjoyable character, as was Kai. The book was a bit slow overall and the worldbuilding wasn't particularly deep, but it did get me interested in the Lunars and the overall politics of the world, so it must have been effective.
The Husband's Secret
I am happy to say I enjoyed The Husband's Secret almost as much as I did Big Little Lies, and for similar reasons: great character work and insights. Looking forward to more books from the author!
Dragon Age: Last Flight
After reading all the Dragon Age books, I can definitely say I've saved the best for last. Both the characters and the exploration of actions, morality and suffering were on a whole different level here when compared to, say, Asunder, which was my first Dragon Age book and almost turned me off from reading them any further. It was also fun to see some "real" Gray Wardens in the middle of their duty: as amazing as the Warden ends up being in Origins, there is still definitely the feeling of playing it by the ear as far as Gray Warden things go. Here, we get to see some more of their actual hierarchy and methods, for better or for worse.
The Stolen Throne
I honestly didn't have high expectations of The Stolen Throne - the other book I read by the author, Asunder, was on a topic that I found much more interesting, and reading it still felt like a drag. The Stolen Throne was a pleasant surprise though! While it definitely suffered from a bit too much telling (as opposed to showing), the characters were interesting and the writing - perfectly serviceable, if not great. The growth of the characters felt really realistic, and even though there were some extreme jumps in characterization, they felt properly built up and explained. Makes me wish that the next Dragon Age novel would focus on the same heroes, as opposed to what was teased at the end.
The Stone Sky
Such a good book! I was so impressed and couldn't get through it quickly enough (even though I was visiting family the whole time). I don't even know where to begin without spoiling things, but this book really made me think and it made me feel in ways no book had for a long time. Just an absolute recommendation for everyone who is willing to read hard books that talk about unpleasant truths.
The Obelisk Gate
This book might have started out slowly, but once it got going, I couldn't put it down. Both the ideas in the book and the way they were presented were amazing and the effects of being seen as "less than" are shown so well. Overall, I loved the book and definitely recommend it to anyone who isn't specifically looking for a positive, happy story.
Последното желание (Вещерът, #1)
I both really liked this book and was really annoyed by it. The last short story was the worst offender in my eyes, though, honestly, bits and pieces of... Really questionable ideas kept popping up. This was also a fairly cynical read, though less forcibly so than other stories I've seen recently.
 - Васил Велчев, Andrzej Sapkowski)
The Martian
Unfortunately a disappointment, though I loved the movie. The book felt like a badly done mystery book: Mark encounters a problem, how will Mark solve it? By bringing up a property of his equipment that was never mentioned before. While it's obviously not realistic to expect the author to go through everything in extreme detail, it made caring about the many, many arising problems. Moreover, the book had a very strong and unpleasant anti-nerd vibe that was honestly surprising considering the cast & target audience (including a "didn't get laid in college LOL" joke...). It honestly made me annoyed every time it came up and just made me be much more negative towards the whole book than I otherwise would have been.
I almost forgot another issue I had with the book: Vogel's constant germanisms. Especially as someone living in Germany, I can honestly say that I haven't once met a German person that says "Ja" in English. The stereotype of "foreign, therefore must speak English weirdly" was a constant annoyance as well.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel
It's a Neil Gaiman book that has to do with mythology, which should mean that it's perfect for me... Only this one suffered from the same problem that American Gods did: it was trying far too hard to be dark and "realistic". I definitely found myself enjoying this one far more than the other one, but found it getting more and more stale and forced the closer to the end it got. The beginning made me feel giggly and excited to know what will happen, while the second half mostly had me thinking that I'd really like to finish the book today and should therefore continue reading. I also got a bad vibe from the way children were seen in the book - it is a sentiment that I see fairly often, that children have a magical way of seeing the world, that adults lose it and so on, and I honestly don't think it has to be the case. I have known many imaginative adults, who create weird worlds in their head as they're talking to you and there would likely be way more if we would just stop thinking of imagination as a "kid thing".
Still, overall an enjoyable read with its own mysticism and mythology and one that made me think.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
Really interesting presentation of different neurological conditions, if quite unstructured at times. Some of the language felt fairly dated, but overall I loved the positivism of the author and would definitely like to read more from him.
Who Fears Death
This was definitely an experience, though I admit I couldn't get into it as much as I'd hoped. The book wasn't enjoyable, exactly, but definitely worth the read.
The Sleeper and the Spindle
I realized while reading the book that I had already read it before - probably as a short story somewhere - and I remembered it quite differently. I enjoyed it, especially the art, though I found the ending a bit lacking, especially compared to what I thought it would be.
Lolita
Lolita was... An experience. It was definitely too slow for my taste, though at the same time very well written and moving: I haven't been this angry at anything in a while, nor as disappointed in its ultimate end. After all Lolita's been through, she deserved a much better fate. It might not be that kind of book, but it pissed me off to now end how unlucky she ends up being I was warned in advance how easy it is to "fall for Humbert's manipulations", but... I honestly didn't see it? He was despicable, starting around 5% in to the very end, and I couldn't feel anything but disgust and anger for him.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
This book was such a big disappointment that it basically completely turned me off reading for a while. The cover made me expect a creepy, gothic, perhaps even horror story... Which this book decisively is not. It's YA, and a bad example of it, with incredibly unlikeable characters and an annoying, dumb and offensive protagonist.
A Little Princess
I used to love the movie when I was a kid, so I guess it's not surprising that I adored the book as well -the book was a product of its time and the style of it has definitely aged (the sheer amount of ejaculations in it!) - but overall the idea still remains - it is this really positive, really optimistic and it helped me get through a pretty hard time. I found the story to be really uplifting and overall great, with the caveat that it hardly had a rich plot or, for the most part, particularly deep characters.
The Fifth Season
I really enjoyed the book, though I felt it dragged a bit at first. It definitely had lows afterwards as well, but overall it was full of interesting characters and fascinating worldbuilding, so I found it quite difficult to put this one down. The prose is also beautiful as always, and I loved the LGBT+ inclusivity, as well as how casually it was presented.
