Lee Hunts

I just finished reading Breach of Peace, by Daniel Greene. Greene is a booktuber, and this is his first novel. I went in interested to see how he would implement his critiques in his own writing, especially because he is a first-time author, and because he has a lot of other writing planned down the line. This novella is a mixture of horror, investigative fiction, and fantasy, centered on the killing of a noble family. Overall (No spoilers) Overall, I the book was alright, though there were some first time author vibes. I want to specify that I am evaluating this book along the same lines of any other story; I'm not going to rate it according to my expectations of a booktuber book. I liked the mystery that was built into it. I was interested from the beginning, and I liked seeing the characters piece together the evidence in real time. When the story tied itself to the rebellion, and you started to learn about the Empire, I immediately got the sense of a larger world and a whole lo...

I just finished The Dragon Republic, the second book in The Poppy War Trilogy. In the aftermath of the events of the first book, Rin was left traumatized and addicted to opium. She lost Nehza, a close friend of hers, she committed an act of genocide against an entire country, and her friendship with her only remaining friend is consequently on the ropes. Rin is now forced to rely of the help of people who have no regard for her humanity, as she works to take down Su Daji, the Empress who betrayed her country and set the Federation loose on her people. The book is a fast paced and gripping tale that continually makes you question where the story is headed, and who the real danger is. In true grimdark fashion, the waters are incredibly muddy, and friend and foe are equally susceptible to cruelty and vicious pragmatism. Overall, I enjoyed the book, and consider this to be a very strong follow up to The Poppy War. Overall (No Spoilers) The best part about the book is the overall plot progr...

I just finished the first third of The Stand, by Stephen King. I chose to read this book in thirds, breaking up the reading with other novels, so this post will cover only parts that I have read. I will post reviews of the second and third chunks of the novel later on. The Stand is about a pandemic, where 99 percent of the population is decimated by a bioweapon accidentally released onto the population, but with a creepy wizard named Randall Flagg spliced in, as he takes advantage of the aftermath. This is widely considered to be one of King's best novels, the book coming in near the beginning of his career. (As a slight aside, I am reading the uncut version released a decade later). Overall, I really enjoyed the first third of the book. This is actually something that I have read before. My first time I read through, the first third of the novel was amazing, but I DNFed the book due to distractions. My reading this time around, older and honestly much wiser, I can say that the fir...

I just finished reading The Men Who Take Eyes, by the new author Justin Little; he is also known as Vernaculis, a former Youtuber who would commentate on politics. He is one of the first political channels I followed when I first came onto Youtube, and he was also among my favorites, as well. He was the one who inspired me to make my own channel. Years have passed since, and our views have diverged a fair amount from one another; he would probably dismiss me as a cynic now due to my pragmatic outlook on life and politics, but so it goes, I suppose. Regardless, once I learned he was writing a novel, I preordered it the moment I could and even got a signed copy. Little has always been a George Orwell fanboy, and so I expected as much from this book. The book is a satirical novel about a "bitter revolutionary" caught in the middle of an endless civil war between two factions known as the Vigil and the Insurrection. This revolutionary, Oliver, is firmly planted in the latter camp...

I just finished the book Sharp Objects, which is the debut novel of Gillian Flynn. Flynn is the author of the Gone Girl novel that broke out into the mainstream with the movie adaptation. Personally, I have seen neither the movie nor read that book—Sharp Objects is my first Flynn story—so my review will come from that perspective. Sharp Objects is a psychological horror novel that follows Camille Preaker, a severely disturbed woman who works as a reporter in Chicago. After a murder, followed by another abduction, in her hometown, she is sent back home to investigate for the purposes of a story. Camille is resistant from the outset—and once she does arrive, her complicated relationship with her mother, and the detached relationship with her half-sister, give light to the reasons. This is not a story about an investigation nor is it really a thriller—this is a story about the dark side of femininity and psychological trauma, and it is heavily focused on character instead of plot. Overall...

I just finished reading Pet Sematary, one of Stephen King's most widely praised novels, one which he, himself, thought he had taken it too far. This is a horror novel about a doctor who, with his wife and kids, moves to a home in Maine with a heavily trafficked highway just without their front door. The highway is notorious for killing pets, leading to the creation of the Pet Sematary, where children would bury their pets once they've turned into roadkill. But there is something deeper to this cemetery, something darker than you can imagine. What ensues is a disturbing, slow-burn story where you track the lives of this newly moved-in family. Overall, my reaction to this story is actually kind of mixed. The premise of the story is amazing, and most everything leading up to the end was great, but I thought the ending did not quite work, both coming off as low-brow and too sudden. Strides (Spoilers) Behind the Pet Sematary is an ancient Native American site called the Micmac buryi...

I just finished reading The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang. This is a grimdark fantasy novel based on Chinese history. In particular, it is based on the second Sino-Japanese war that started in the late 1930s, bled into the Second World War, and ends with two atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The novel follows a character named Fang Runin, who is a war orphan, a child left parentless in the wake of conflict and given off to a family who does not love her. She decides to study for a major nationwide exam that would purportedly give her opportunities beyond the impoverished life of a slave that she is confined to. This book is a visceral and violent experience, with nothing held back in terms of the brutality of war, or the troubles of class in the people's lives. The ending most of all, captures the horrors and the bleak nature of war, and what it does to people. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, my enjoyment increasing the further into the novel I progressed. Strid...