Read
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The Amber Spyglass
Finished
Ooh boy it gets very heavy-handed at the end. But I do appreciate how Pullman refuses to pigeonhole his characters and to wrap most things up with a tidy bow—characters who were antagonists early on show some goodness, perhaps even redeeming goodness, and not everybody gets what they want in the end. The wrap-up is full of messaging that I liked but which I suppose I wish were a bit more subtle.
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The Changeling
Finished
I think I might have liked this a bit more if I had read it rather than listening to the Audible audiobook, which doubled down on the author’s very simple, matter-of-fact writing style with a very simple, matter-of-fact narrator. It really stripped the magic from the telling. But the story it told was interesting and generally unlike a lot of the other books I’ve been reading—not sure how much of that is how unique this book is and how much of it is that I just don’t read a ton of magical realism.
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All the Birds in the Sky
Finished
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Repeat
Finished
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Silver on the Tree
Finished
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In an Absent Dream
Finished
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Something in the Water
Finished
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Black Sun Rising
Finished
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The Burning White
Finished
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Parable of the Sower
Finished
I enjoyed it as I was reading it but it feels like only part of a story? I’m going to have to read Parable of the Talents to see if it completes it in a satisfying way. There was no real arc in this—perhaps a rising action, but maybe it rises to something in the sequel.
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Bannerless The Bannerless Saga, Book 1
Finished
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The Girl Before
Finished
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The Ruin of Kings
Finished
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I'll Be Gone in the Dark
Finished
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Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue The Untold History of English
Finished