Category: Book review

“The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness” By Jonathan Haidt Review

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In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

I need to admit here that I had some high expectations for this book, which it didn’t quiet live up to. But of course I will explain everything in this review. So if you are interested in hearing my thoughts about this book then by all means, keep reading this review my dear reader.

This book gives us a lot of good points about how and why the Gen Z (my generation since am a 2002 baby) and later generations are (or seem at least) to be more anxious or depressed than other previous generations.

I personally didn’t agree with some of the points which the author of this book makes in this book. Some of the points I didn’t agree with which are made in this book are that Social Media and Video Games are the only cause behind anxiety, panic attacks and depression. It all depends on the person and what they actually interact with when it comes to social media. But I might not be the best person to comment on that aspect because I almost never use social media. My social media usage is probably like 2 or 3 hours a week solely because I have no interested in watching Tik Toks and selfies people post on instagram. But again blaming everything (anxiety, panic attacks, depression and other metal health issues) only on social media and video games felt to me like saying “the cause of getting cancer is bad genetics from your parents”.

But this book does make some very good points about the current education system in USA, Canada and the majority of Europe. I personally finished high school in 2021 and I personally were very bad in school because I had hard time concentrating on the classes. And out PE classes where the last class we would have on Friday each week so its safe to say that the PE didn’t help me there during high school. 

At the same time this book is aimed more towards parents, because this book provides a fair share of advice and recommendations aimed towards parents with teenagers and younger children. 

This book provides us with some statements from parents who’s kids are having anxiety and metal issues because of video games and social media. Which are a good way to explaining the theory the author has, but at the same time its like the author of this book makes very hard to believe him because in a way he tries to force us to believe that social media and video games are the cause of all evil in the world.

However this book wasn’t all bad, because throughout this book the author makes some good points. But those points are pretty rare in this book. And I need to admit that this book has to be the weakest psychology book I have read so far in my life. And it is for sure not worth the money and time you will spend on it because there are far better psychology books available. 

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Apprentice to the Villain” By Hannah Nicole Maehrer Review

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Evie Sage has never been happier to be the assistant to The Villain. Who would have thought that working for an outrageously handsome, evil overlord would be so rewarding? Still, the business of being bad is demanding, the forces of good are annoyingly persistent, and said forbidding boss is somewhat out-of-evil-office. But Rennedawn is in trouble, and all signs—Kingsley’s included—point to catastrophe. Something peculiar is happening with the kingdom’s magic, and it’s made The Villain’s manor vulnerable to their enemies . . . including their nemesis, the king.

Before we start this review I need to say that this book is the second book in the Assistant to the Villain Series. With that being said I need to admit that this book is just as good as the first book in this series is. 

The plot in this book is very good but also a little bit on the slow side of things. But I still loved the plot a lot in this book. Because even during the slow moments in this book we get to see the very slow burn romance between Evie and Trystan which I have turned a sucker for. The best part of the plot in this book (and the whole series so far) is the slow burning romance between Evie and Trystan for me personally. 

The plot in this book is also very sweet, funny and cute. Which makes this book to a overall cozy read which is the main reason why I love this book (and the first one in this series) so much as I do.

In a way this book takes every troop the first book had and improves them. Which made me like this book so much more, because this book takes the things I loved in the first book and it just improves them to be better.  

The characters in this book are the same as in the first book, but they are so much better than they were in the first book. The reason behind this could be that I have spend 2 whole books with the same characters I already loved from the first book which made me fall in love with them even more in this book.

There have been so many times during reading this book when I wanted to smack Trystan solely because of how stubborn he is. I personally am very invested in the slow burn romance between Trystan and Evie which made me want to slap both of them in this book so many times that I have lost count halfway through this book. 

We also get much more of Kingsley in this book, which made this book so much better in my opinion. Because he adds flare and fun to the plot of this book, which makes it very funny and good read.

The writing in this book, is very good. Its simple and easy going which goes very well with the cozy and easy going plot in this book. Which made me give this book some extra points for doing.

This book also ends on a cliffhanger just as the first book in this series did. Which annoyed me a lot because I want to take a break from this series for a little while just because I read this book and the first one in a very short time and I don’t want to get tired of this series and be overly harsh towards the third book. But the cliffhanger made it very hard for me to actually take a break from this series because I want to know so badly what will happened next in this series.

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“Knife” By Jo Nesbø Review

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A man like Harry had better watch his back. Following the dramatic conclusion of number one bestseller THE THIRST, KNIFE sees Harry Hole waking up with a ferocious hangover, his hands and clothes covered in blood. Not only is Harry about to come face to face with an old, deadly foe, but with his darkest personal challenge yet.

This book is the 12th book in the “Harry Hole” series, and I just gotta admit that deeper I get this book the more and more bored and tired I get of this series. But as always I will explain everything in this review so if you are interested to here my thoughts about this book, then keep reading this book.

The plot in this book is decent for the most part. The biggest issue I had with the plot in this book was that there was something about it that didn’t allow me to enjoy it in full extent but also I just couldn’t get engaged enough in this book to actually enjoy it. The plot in this book was very long and drawn out without a reason, I personally think that this book would have been so much better if it was shorten and was straight forward without going back and forward between things which were very major and didn’t lead anywhere. For the most part the plot in this book felt like a very bad attempt at a soap opera in the Harry Hole universe, which I was not a fan of to put it in a pleasant way. 

At the same time the deeper I got in this book, the harder it became for me personally to finish it. Because as I’ve said above this book kept going on and on. And there were multiple times while reading this book I felt like this book would never end and I felt like I was back to high school and reading a textbook about something I just couldn’t bring myself to care about.

The deeper I get in this series the worse the books seem for me at least. I have bought the complete series 2 years ago which includes all the books from the first book in this series to book 13 in this series. So it means that I have one book left in this series which is the 13th book, and as I’m writing this review, I have very strong feelings that I will finish the 13th book in this series soon since I already own it. But I wont continue this series farther than that if the author decides to continue this series behind the book 13.

The characters we get in this book feel very shallow and watered-down after 12 books I spent with the main characters in this book. Harry Hole is barely recognizable in this book, because it is almost like the author of this book tries to rewrite who Harry Hole is as a character to try to make him likable for every possible read. Which felt like a “fuck you” to everyone who spend 12 books reading this series which is about Harry Hole and his problems. Even Harry’s detective skills seemed like they changed into fitting into the soap opera plot the author tries to give us in this book which didn’t sit well with me personally.

At the same time Harry Hole is the only one left alive from all the best and good characters in this book. Which felt like they author trying to make us as readers as pissed off at this series as possible. Because all of the good characters are gone and Harry has turned into a bad parody of himself in this book.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Assistant to the Villain” By Hannah Nicole Maehrer Review

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ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem and terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits. With ailing family to support, Evie Sage’s employment status isn’t just important, it’s vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer―naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

I had a lot of expectations for this book since I have heard a lot of good about this book. And now that I have finally read this book I gotta admit that this book is way better than I have expected it to be.

The plot in this book is very engaging, interesting and intriguing. In a way the plot in this book is a regular fairy tale retelling but from the “villain’s” perspective and apparently thats how to make me personally love fairy tales just give them to me from the villain’s perceptive.  At the same time the plot in this book is very fun to get into for me personally because it has magic, dragons and other fantasy book animals which I tend to love the most about fantasy books.

The plot in this book is very cozy read, but it also introduces us to a new fantasy series which doesn’t bomb drop a ton of information which I have experienced in other fantasy books I have reviewed on this website throughout the years. This book is more of the light fantasy type which is focuses more on the atmosphere and making the plot pretty cozy type rather than giving us a lot of action and dropping a truck load of information on us.

This book also gives us two perspectives from both Evie and The Villain. Which in my opinion made this book so much better. Because we got to spend a fair share of time with both of them and actually get to know both of them throughout this book. 

The characters in this book are very good characters. Because each of the characters in this book have their distinct personalities and their own quirks which makes to very easy to like every character in this book even thou some characters are more of a asshole than others. 

I personally found Evie as an amazing main character in this book. Because she is very relatable and likable. And I feel in love with her a lot from the very first chapter in this book. As of The Villain in this book, he is such an amazing character, even thou he is supposed to be the bad guy, he is very likable and I personally were rotting for him personally when this book tells us his backstory which was very bad. 

There are 2 huge plot twists at the very end of this book, which I didn’t see coming, so those 2 plot twists shocked me a lot. Not because there were bad, but because they were so good of an ending to this book that made me want to immediately grab the second book in this series which I of course did.

However there are some issues this book has, one of the main issues this book faces is that one of the characters in this book is named “Arthur” but then later on the author refers to the same character as “Albert”. Which made me pretty confused at the time and made me go back a few chapters to see how the character introduces himself to the main character and see that his name was in fact “Arthur” not “Albert.

One other issue this book faces is that this book doesn’t mention a few important things which clearly the characters were planning. So when that something happens and they start talking about how the characters talked about it and planned it made me pretty confused and considering if I had early signs of dementia because I could absolutely not recall the characters talking or planning that event. Which of course we didn’t see the characters talking or planning that event.

But overall, I loved this book a lot and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into the Fantasy genre because this book is a very good and easy fantasy book which is very likable and fun to read.

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“Exodus” By Peter F. Hamilton Review

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Forty thousand years ago, humanity fled a dying Earth. Traveling in massive arkships, these brave pioneers spread out across the galaxy to find a new home. After traveling thousands of light-years, one fleet of arkships arrived at Centauri, a dense cluster of stars with a vast array of potentially habitable planets. The survivors of Earth signaled to the remaining arkships that humanity had finally found its new home among the stars.

Ive heard a lot of good things about this book on the internet, which was the main reason why I have chosen to buy and reading this book, I gotta admit that this book is one of those way too overhyped books which I regret reading. 

The plot in this book had a lot of potential to actually being good. But in my opinion this book has way too events and characters to keep track of which made it very confusing to me personally. Because the author just bombards us with a truck load of information and characters at once. In my opinion it would have been better if the author tried to ease us as readers to all of the information which is relevant to this book rather than just throw all of those informations at once at us. 

The plot in this book was very predictable and contained a lot of generic SCI-FI jargon which didn’t let the plot anywhere, which really made this book disappointed by this book. Because the plot in this book had a fair share of potential which apparently the author decided to trash instead of use in this book.

The characters in this book are pretty shallow. There are too many characters which we get their point of few from, which means we don’t spend a lot of time with each of the characters in this book. Which means we don’t get a lot of sense of the personalities and quirks each character has, which made them seem very shallow and boring to be very honest here. At the same time the different point of views we get in this book, makes it seem like the author couldn’t decide who was the main character in this book and which character weren’t as relevant to the story as others. 

All of the characters in this book have the same pattern of thinking and doing things on, which made me constantly question which point of view we are currently following in this book. Which also made it very hard for me personally telling the characters apart in this book because they all seemed the same to me personally. Because there was nothing making the characters standout from each other and actually be likable in ay way.

A lot of the chapters in this book start off with describing different environments to just switch it without a warning to a character minding their own business and going to talk to someone else. Which made me question why the lengthy descriptions at the beginning of most chapters were even there if they weren’t that relevant in this book.

The writing style in this book was very generic in this book but also very high school textbook like. Which made me think that the author didn’t care about this book to actually make it fun to read. 

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“The Night House” By Jo Nesbø Review

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In the wake of his parents’ tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Black Mirror Wood. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear.

I need to admit that this book was pretty much a disaster, it had some good scenes spread out throughout this book. But other than that, I got an impression of this book that Jo Nesbø was a mix between “The institute” by Stephen King and “It” by Stephen King.

The plot in this book was all over the place. The plot in this book felt like it had too many ideas added to it in such a way that made me feel like the author was trying to get too many different readers to read this book, to actually work for any of them. At the same time all of those ideas which were thrown into the plot felt unfinished and unexplored in this book because the plot in this book tried to go into many different directions and because of it, the plot didn’t go actually anywhere meaningful.

As I’ve said above in the intro, the overall plot of this book reminded me of a heavy mix of “The institute” by Stephen King and “it” by stepping king. Because the overall premise of this book was pretty much the same, because there are those kids in a institute in a way and they are trying to get out because the “ghost” or the bad guy in this book is treating to kill someone the main character really cares about.

The characters in this book, are pretty flat and shallow. I personally had a very hard time trying to tell the characters apart in this book, which really made it confusing for me personally. All of the characters in this book lack personalities or something that would make them standout for themselves from the rest of the characters in this book.

The main character in this book is very annoying and frustrating. Because he acts like a spoiled 9-year-old and he is the main reason why I hate this book as much as I do.

The writing itself in this book was very basic. It almost felt like YA-ish writing style which again comes back to the author trying to appeal this book to as many people as possible with this book. 

This book was very disappointing for me personally because I’m a huge fan of the “harry hole” series which this author has written. So I expected this book to be as good as the Harry Hole series which of course it wasn’t.

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“The Star Wars Trilogy” By George Lucas & Donald F. Glut & James Kahn Review

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More than twenty-five years after the groundbreaking movie Star Wars: A New Hope first hit the silver screen, Star Wars remains one of the most beloved sagas ever told. Together, the three original Star Wars movies–A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi–told one epic: a heroic tale of innocence lost and wisdom gained, of downfall and redemption, of the never-ending fight between the forces of good and evil. Read the story of the movies–all three in one trade paperback volume–and rediscover the wonder of the legend that begins

Before we start this review I need to point out 2 things here. The first thing is that this book is a collector’s edition which involves novelizations of the original star wars trilogy. And the second thing is that I have already reviewed each of these novelizations separately just to keep things simple and somehow short, instead of reviewing each book in this review which would have easily become 10 pages long if I did everything in this review.

I wanted to read those Novelizations of the original star wars trilogy for a few years now, and when I saw this collector’s edition I immediately knew I had to buy it and read it. And now that I have read it, I need to say that this book is one of the better star wars books I have read so far this year (2026).

I already reviewed each of those novelizations in this book as I’ve said above, so I wont repeat it here. But what I will say is that reading this book and those 3 novelizations of the original trilogy was very fun. I personally were clued to this book and I had a very hard time putting it down because I was sucked into this book and just couldn’t stop reading this book. I personally had a lot of fun reading this book.

All of the Novelizations in this book had different authors of course, each of the books were pretty decently written but I need to admit that Donald F. Glut had done the worst job of all the authors of the novelizations in this book. 

My favorite novelizations in this book was of course the “return of the Jedi” since I always preferred that movie in the original trilogy even though “a new hope” have started my star wars obsession and made me a nerd.

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” By James Kahn Review

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Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, has been delivered into the hands of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. Determined to rescue him, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Lando Calrissian launch a hazardous mission against Jabba’s Tatooine stronghold. Now, in the most exciting chapter of the STAR WARS saga, the Rebel commanders have gathered all the warships of the Rebel fleet into a single giant armada. And Darth Vader, who has ordered construction to begin on a new and even more powerful Death Star, makes his plans to crush the Rebel Alliance once and for all. 

Before I start this review, I need to say something. I’ve read this book in a collector’s edition which involves the original trilogy books in one big book. And I have decided to review each of these original trilogy books for itself because in that way each review will be shorter and easier to read rather than me giving you like 10 pages long review.

Return of the Jedi was always my favorite movie from the original star wars trilogy, so of course I had no other expectations for this novelizations of the return of the Jedi book. I have already reviewed “a new hope” and “the empire strikes back” novelizations of the original trilogy. And between all of those 3 novelizations this one was my favorite.

The plot in this book is the same as in the movie. There was a lot of action in this book as we could see in the movie. There aren’t any big differences between this book and the movie as the previous novelizations had, which wasn’t a big deal for me either way.

The characters in this book are as good and the same as we could see in the movie. But this book gives us their inner monologues and thoughts they had, which in a way this book gives us more insight into those characters which the movie didn’t give us. Which of course made me love this book so much more.

This book gives us also a lot of the Ewoks which made me love this book so much more, because I personally have the opinion of that we should have seen more of the Ewoks in the star wars movies because they are very good characters, and they are very underrated characters in my opinion.

The writing style in this book was more on the simple side of things, but it still was on the star wars theme level. The simple writing style in this book made it very easy and very quick to read this book because this book has around 180 pages which isn’t that long. Overall the writing style in this book was pretty decent, which isn’t a small task to do in a star wars book. 

Even thou this book doesn’t add much to the overall “return of the Jedi” timeline in star wars, I strongly believe that this book as the novelizations of “a new hope” and “the empire strikes back” are a must read for all star wars geeks and nerds as myself. Because those books gives us the inner monologues and thoughts of characters as the various events happen in the original trilogy. Which again gives us a deeper understanding of the characters we all know and love at this point.

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“Alchemised” By SenLinYu Review

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In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.

I need to admit here that this book is the most overhyped book of 2025 and probably the most overhyped book of the 2020s. Now that I have read this book I need to be honest and say that this book is very very bad and it doesn’t deserve the hype and praises it gets because there is nothing good about this book.

The plot in this book started off very well because it was intriguing and interesting. But the deeper I got into this book the plot started getting more and more boring. This book tries way too hard to be a mix of fantasy and romance, which had really put me off because it was trying too hard to be something it wasn’t. I have also noticed that the plot was trying to be very similar and take a lot of hints from the A Court of Thorns and Roses Series which I personally loved a lot. But this book is trying to copy A Court of Thorns and Roses Series a lot which has really put the author of this book in a very bad light for me personally.

Reading this book was like reading a very gruesome history book, because the whole plot of this book was apparently all about the bad stuff that has happened to the main character and which kept happening to her. 

The plot in this book is also very repetitive which in my opinion makes it very annoying and boring. I lost count of how many times I read in this book about the main character walking down to the courtyard or touring around the house. Every time I read either of those things this book made me want to throw this book into the fireplace I don’t have.

The plot in this book also dumps too much information on us as readers which really made me very confused and annoyed. Because the majority of the information which is dumped onto us at any given time isn’t relevant to what is happening currently in the book. 

The characters in this book were trying very hard to be relatable and to me very much like the characters from A Court of Thorns and Roses Series. All the characters we got in this book had some form of personalities, but other than that I had very hard time trying to tell the characters apart from each other. Because all of the characters in this book seemed like the same person to me because their personalities were pretty much the same.

This book is also extremely long (over 1000 pages) which makes everything in this book drag on and on without an end. I personally think that this book would have done so much better if this book were 300 pages long. Because my main issue with this book is that it drags out everything that happens in this book, this book would have done so much better without the dragging out everything.

The writing itself in this book is very torturous in my opinion. Because it tries very hard to please both fantasy readers and the young adult readers, which gave me personally mixed signals about who exactly this book was for because it tried to please too many people to actually have a clear audience in my opinion. The writing style also reads like the a history book, which didn’t help me liking this book any more than I already did.

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade” By Delilah S. Dawson Review

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Padawan Iskat Akaris has dedicated her life to traveling the galaxy alongside her master, learning the ways of the Force to become a good Jedi. Despite Iskat’s dedication, peace and control have remained elusive, and with each setback, she feels her fellow Jedi grow more distrustful of her. Already uncertain about her future in the Jedi Order, Iskat faces tragedy when her master is killed and the Clone Wars engulf the galaxy in chaos.

I need to admit here that this book has to be easily one of the best star wars books I have read this year so far at least. 

The main character in this book is very likable and interesting. She takes quiet a big journey throughout this book because she start as a padawan, then she is made to a Jedi knight and ends up being a inquisitor. At the same time she gots a lot of personality to her and she is very clearly a good character which is very under explored, and her whole journey throughout this book is pretty tragic which in my opinion makes her so much more likable and relatable. 

When it comes to the rest of the characters in this book, they are just as good as the main character is. In my opinion each of the characters we get in this book has something that makes them stand out from the rest of the characters and at the same time each character in this book has a lot of personality to them which really makes them very likable no matter if they are Jedi, Sith, Inquisitor or anything else in between.

The plot in this book is very good. Because it is very interesting and very enjoyable. There is a lot of action in this book but also it sets the whole Jedi Council in a bad spot in my opinion because of how the Jedis treat the main character in this book. Which in my opinion brings more depth into the star wars universe, because the plot in this book shows that maybe the Jedis and the Jedi Council isn’t all good as it really hard tries to paint itself to be. At the same time this book gives us a very good origin story to the villain the main character in this book becomes. 

At the same time this book takes place around the time of the Order 66, which makes this book an good addition to the star wars universe around the time of Order 66. Because this book expands the universe so that we can get understanding and enjoyment around the time period of star wars where the Order 66 takes place.

The writing style in this book is very good, because the author uses very star wars appropriate writing style which fits the star wars theme of this book but also makes it unique enough to fit the plot in this book.

I Give This Book 5 / 5