Graveyard Shift - M.L Rio
This was ok. I picked it up expecting a but more of a spooky and grotesque novella, which we got a little bit at the start of the book but not much more than that. Thought I was getting myself into a horror but horror where? I wasn't expecting it to mainly be a mystery, which just isn't my kind of thing. The mystery itself was ok too. There wasn't really much build up or suspense? And it felt like we got the answers really quickly and easily, pretty much as soon as the characters began trying to solve it. Then we spent another portion of the book with other characters trying to piece together what Hannah and the reader already knew, which I found boring. After that it just didn't really go anywhere. I would say this book needed to be longer to properly lay out and conclude a satisfying story, but let's be honest, if this book was any longer, I would definitely DNF.
I can't even confidently speak on the presence of stakes. You could argue that the fact that the Hostile Incidents are occurring counts as stakes, but they're never resolved. Yeah we find out *why* they're happening but that is literally it. They don't even actively occur in the novella, it's all spoken about in retrospect.
Again, mystery/thriller/whatever isn't my thing and not what I was expecting from the book so take this with a grain of salt.
I also just didn't really care about the characters. Except maybe Tuck.
Banger playlist at the end of the book, though! So many bands I love.
The Henna Wars - Adiba Jaigirdar
This was a quick read for me and I really enjoyed it. It took me some time to get behind Nishat and Flávia together but there were handfuls of scenes that sold them to me. I smiled and I teared up reading this book.
Parts of both Nishat and Flávia's stories painfully spoke to me. I found myself reflected in both characters, even if some of our experiences varied. Thank you, Adiba Jaigridar, for writing this book "to the queer brown girls".
This is How You Lose the Time War - Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar
This honestly just absolutely blew my mind. I'm still in just awe and just wow what the hell! I can't wrap my mind around just how fantastic this was. I devoured it, folded it under my tongue like the Seeker's spider and swallowed. I think this has rewired my brain to be honest. God.
It was witty, it was beautiful, it was touching, it was passionate, it was aching, it was ravenous, it was just everything to me. Gladstone and El-Mohtar write about things in ways I previously could never have even imagined. I desperately need to crawl into the authors brains and pick and sort them apart into neat piles to study. Because, HOW do you write like this? How do you make this in your squishy pink primate brain? Again, my mind is just thoroughly blown.
I fell so deeply in love with Red and Blue and felt so sorely through them in a way I couldn't ever have expected. The way Gladstone and El-Mohtar wrote them made them come alive within me.
I know I say this about so many different books, but if I had to pick one book to say this about, it would be this one: i just adored the imagery that this book conjures. If I could absorb anything about any book into myself, it would be the imagery and writing and descriptions in this book. I seriously just can't get the words down the describe it. I'm so overwhelmed by it it makes me want to cry.
I can definitely see how this is not for everyone, the writing style is very ornate and you will find yourself confused at many times, but if that's not something you mind, I could not recommend this enough. It did its twists just the way time travel should do them and it was fantastic. All that this book conjures was just, again, everything to me. The only time I felt myself slightly dragging through was in the middle but I think only because I had gone on a short holiday then and hadn't been reading so it took me a little bit to get back into but I read the entire rest of it in not even two days after that.
Please know this review is nowhere NEAR how I feel about this book. Despite it bursting from my chest, I simply can not put it to words how I feel. I need to be eaten alive by ants now.
GAGRGRGGHHHTHHHHHFGGVDVDHHHH REUEUEUEUE EUE EU UUU E E. E. E EUEUEH E E UEURUEYEHHRYYRYRY ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEEEE
P.S (get the reference?) I don't usually read Acknowledgements but I think I will more often from now on. I thoroughly enjoyed the Acknowledgements here, I found them lovely.
P.P.S I love when authors have silly portraits in the back of their novels. Absolute 10/10 for the swords
Thornhedge - T. Kingfisher
WAAHHH I'm so glad I picked this up after adoring What Moves the Dead. This was so sweet and I just treasured Toadling and Halim the whole time they were such enjoyable and lovely characters. T. Kingfisher never fails to write in an unexplainably beautiful and strange manner. She's really such an inspiration for me. Her retellings are written in a way where you don't always realise or remember that it is a retelling, but the fact still sits there, coming back to you at parts. I think that's a sign of a good retelling, in my opinion anyway. That it can be lost in its own otherness from the original and not just stand there using the original as a crutch or marketing point. Thornhedge was just delightful. It really felt like such a comfort and sweet book, despite the horror of a child animating the dead and torturing animals.
I was so engaged this whole time, never waiting for the last page to come, never finding my self thinking "ughh I could read one more chapter I suppose. Then i can stop". When I wasn't reading this, I was looking forward to coming back to it. I really just enjoyed every second of it, which was so refreshing after the few reading months I've had.
Toadling's story spoke to me at times, about isolation, loneliness, not fitting in, and critiquing yourself by the standards of others. Ha. The story about changelings is relatable to the autistic person who would have guessed. And also - I'm just always down for a slightly gruesome story, especially if it features freak mer type people.
Gallant - V.E. Schwab
This is my first v.e Schwab book, picked it up mid reading slump. I quite liked Schwab's writing and the imagery they create but the story was doing nothing for me. Everyone I've talked to about it says that it's definitely the weakest of their books compared to the others and if I like the writing then I'll love their other work. So looking forward for that!!! I really would like to read Vicious.
Otherwise this book was just a bit notthingburger
Heartstopper, Vol. 5 - Alice Oseman
re-read i think! (cant remember) nick and charlie are so sweet and its really healing seeing Charlie get comfortable with his scars
Gwenpool Strikes Back
I enjoyed this so much :D I'm in a reading slump rn and needed a comic.. gweenpool is so much fun and exactly what I needed
Goregous Gruesome Faces - Linda Cheng
I'm not sure if it was the fact that I was in a bit of a slight reading slump, the book itself, or a mix, but I struggled to stay interested, especially in the 2nd last eigth of the book (sorry that's SO specific). I was really quite intruiged for a lot of the book, and even forgot the gorey, thriller-y part that I knew awaited me. I just wanted to know what happened with Mina!! How Sunny was dealing with it!! How are Sunny and Candie going to get on now!!
While it did slightly feel all over the place, it's not something I can really hold against it to be honest. Even if not intended, I think that it was a good peek into how it feels for Sunny, the flashbacks included. She would be confused, she would be disoriented, she would be thinking about the past, about what happened, both out of grief and the fact that it was still very relevant to what was happening!
I would, however, have liked for the characters to be a little less flat. Some characters just felt a little lacking.
Some of the lines in this book were written so lovely. Beautiful yet horrid descriptions. Similarly, I was really fond of chapters 27, 28, and 29. They elicited strange and fantastical ghibli like imagery. Reading them, I could only picture them in ghibli style animation. The strange locations, the horrid clawing and rolling *something* that filled the air. You don't really know entirely what is going on, it's not logical, it's strange, it's a little bit awful to witness, but it's fantastic.
The Shattering - Kathryn Lasky
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
This has probably been one of my favourites in the series so far! The shift of focus to Eglantine was really interesting and I enjoyed it, especially the process of her being shattered and manipulated. I loved watching it all get pieced together.
I also really loved Soren becoming Ezleryb's Ward + revieving Ezlyryb's battle claws. I think it was really sweet and, well what can I say, I'm a humongous sucker for found family type dynamics, especially father/child ones. Also the idea of Soren with these famed claws is admittedly really cool. Can't wait to see them in action.
I find that these books (specifically this one and book 4) have a surprising theme of talking about cruelty, betrayal, guilt. It's really interesting to see in a middle-grade fantasy book about owls, but I'm here for it.
Since book 4, I've been reading the series as audiobooks (as I first did when I was 11/12 :) ), and it has been wonderful. The books work so well as audiobooks and Pamela Garelick does a fantastic job of them, I dont think they could be done in a better way than she does.
The Seige - Kathryn Lasky
These owl books getting real damn
Surprising amount of cannibalism + commentary on the horrible reality of war
More Rules for Life: A special volume for enthusiasts - Kitty Flanagan
Listened to this as an audiobook on a roadtrip. Perfect roadtrip book + I like Kitty, she's funny.
A Far Wilder Magic - Allison Saft
AAaa first book I've borrowed from the library in a long time!!
I quite enjoyed it. The book had some really powerful visuals/scenes that I could just picture so clearly and made me want to draw them honestly. And the book in general painted its picture very well imo, never was I really unsure of what i was supposed to be visualising and what I DID visualise was, for lack of a better word, very vibey.
I love the aesthetic of the wild sea and the salt licked town of Wickdon, as well as the frenzy of the hunt and the wildness in the characters. If I felt inclined to do so, I reckon I could whip up some really awesome pieces from scenes of this book.
However, I did find some of the writing a bit awkward. Especially a lot of dialogue as well as the way the tense was written (?). I was a bit jarred by the former at first but soon stopped noticing it.
Dialogue-wise, I also felt like (specifically towards the end, post them getting together) Maggie and Wes's communication was too... I don't know I guess it was sort of like they were a little bit too suddenly on the same page with either other and over any communication issues etc?????? I don't know if that quite explains what I mean. I just felt the shift very acutely. Reminds me of a tumblr post I saw about writing characters like they're "trying to win therapy". It's not exactly like that but I think some stuff later in the thread maybe gets at what I mean a bit better.
The stakes also felt really quite all over place for me. There seemed to be a bit of back and forth and the pacing was a bit odd too. I don't have much more to say on that really. There was so much build up to the hunt and I feel like there wasnt that much .. weight put on the hunt in the end? It sort of just ends up being this thing that happens.
I didn't ever find my self dragging myself through this which is a plus considering the slightly odd pacing.
Good lord do I fucking hate Evelyn I don't even want to get into it. Kudos to Saft for successfully writing characters that can do that.
But yeah!!! Overall I did enjoy A Far Wilder Magic, and it's probably my first dip of my toe into romance too. If you don't mind some slightly awkward writing and pacing, then I really don't think it's that much of an issue, just sort of stuff I picked up on while I was reading.
The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R Tolkien
Going into this, I thought I'd struggle and be a bit bored (perhaps because I read the Hobbit when I was 10 or so and it was a bit tricky for me, which likely cemented that in my mind) but I had such a fun time and have completely fallen in love with the characters and world.
The only time I was well and truly bored was that one chapter where Elrond and Gandalf are just taking turns infodumping for about 10 pages straight each or the like. But other than that, I enjoyed this so much and can't wait to read the rest as well as watch the extended editons of the films (why watch the theatrical versions when there's more hours of movie and story out there to be see
I absolutely adore Frodo (and the rest of the company) and am also keen to create more Lord of the Rings fanart as I get further into the story. I don't think I could properly articulate what I would like to, as it's just so feeling based. But as I said, I just had so so much fun with this book, it's just such an incredible, genre defining piece of work.
The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
SPOILERS!
Picked this up off my friend's shelf as I left my book at home. It was interesting and a nice quick read. I drew a comparison to the story and how it is to be someone with depression — specifically how other people's attitudes are/change towards you. Gregor has this change to him that keeps unable to leave his home and alters how he must live completely. Over the course of the book he gains an indifference to the cleanliness of himself and his space, as well as an indifference to eating/a complete loss of appetite. These I found to be very similar to some experiences of living with severe depression.
In Gregors family's case, Grete is the only one who shows some empathy/tries to take care of him. But this soon wears thin. Gregor is a nuisance to his family — a constant burden. They are embarrassed by him and do not attempt to care for or help him. A lot of people often treat those with depression/other mental illnesses in a similar manner. Helping them only when/how it suits their own self, if at all (many cases being greeted initially with an attitude of disgust), and treating them with very little decency. Often also alongside horrid dehumanisation, which we can obviously see in The Metamorphosis, not only in Gregors literal physical state, but also in the language directed at him by his family (eg. the transition of "him", "Gregor", etc. to "it", "animal", "monster", etc).
The poor treatment of Gregor and the general nature of his condition, results in his death. Which I'm sure you can guess what I would liken that to in this interpretation.
The Rescue - Kathryn Lasky
The majority of this one was set-up, I feel, developing our owls place at the Great Ga'hoole Tree and sowing the first seeds of a darker conflict. At the end, we got our first direct look at the Pure Ones as well as larger battle and the first moment that has dropped my jaw. Can't wait to read book 4.
Bunny - Mona Awad
This was a really odd book, and I don't mean that in a bad way.
I really loved some of the writing, especially the way some things are described or the vivid similes used. I read this really quickly and that was refreshing after my previous, long and emotional wrecking reads.
I reckon I have a fairly decent understanding of the story, but I do know that I could definitely delve deeper into it. However, I'm happy just having gone along for the ride and I don't really feel that compelled to dive into the contents of the book that much. I enjoyed the freaky, girly, strangeness to it and it did its job to fill me with such an odd feeling at times.
I didn't really understand the line at the end with the mud but that's ok.
The Burning God - R.F Kuang
SPOILERS! for both this book and The Ballad of songbirds and Snakes lol
I think I'm still in shock of finishing the trilogy.. Watching Rin and the decisions she made throughout The Burning God was so fascinating. You know she's making choices that a morally sound person would not really be making but you can't help but enjoy it with some kind of sick satisfaction. Speaking of such, the times in the book where she seemed to just have incredible divine power and influence, specifically at the Anvil and Mount Tianshen, were just SO satisfying to read. In general, it was great to see Rin once again fall into a devote-myself-to-this-superior-force-because-they-tell-me-how-crucial-i-am-to-the-cause-but-then-the-second-im-not-anymore-im-instantly-betrayed-and-discarded situation and then just go fuck this im doing my own thing now
In chapter 33 I couldn't help but draw a comparison to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The character, determined for things to end how they will it, spiralling severely into paranoia, which then violently turns them against the person they were closest to (although Coriolanus was a bit more of a straight up horrible person and did not have any even slightly redeeming qualities lol).
Anyway, this isn't much of a review yet, more just me sharing some thoughts I had. So:
Overall, this was a great last novel in the trilogy. Despite the fact that I do feel a little unsatisfied and jarred at the ending, its the way things should have probably gone. I didn't enjoy (if enjoy is the right word for The Horrors experienced) The Burning God as much as I did The Dragon Republic, which is still by far my favourite in the trilogy, but this still rakes up 4 stars. I just feel like a lot of the book, I wasn't as invested in what was going on? I guess it just felt like there was a fair bit of reading to get to the bits which were just a bit more interesting to reading, which IS fair for the topic of the book and understanding the gravity of everything going on, you can't have a book about war without large amounts of chapters on the military movements and engagements. It didn't diminish the book for me but The Burning God just wasn't quite what The Dragon Republic was to me.
I'm never going to forgive R.F Kuang for what she has done to me. In my review of TDR, I'm pretty sure I said I would kill myself if anything happened to Rin and Kitay so I better get onto that then. /lhj The trilogy was devastating and the characters are just so believable and complex. I adore how R.F Kuang writes and I'm not sure what to do with myself now that I've finished all the books. These books just amazingly well show the absolute horrors and brutality of war. The absolute devastation it leaves in its wake. How it changes people and what it drives them to do. The Poppy War trilogy has got to be one of my favourite fantasy series I have read, they are so well done.
The Journey (Owls of Ga'hoole 02) - Kathryn Lasky
Read this fairly quickly, I'm just reading this series in the background of my main book. I loved getting to know the Great Ga'hoole Tree and its exciting to see the story start to come together with some of the previous little details we've seen already! The only thing that bothers me is the like.. species supremecy stuff? Like with the tyto supremacy/purity, it's there for the plot so, whatever. But the other stuff like with birds that aren't owls or animals that aren't owls etc idk it just doesn't feel like it's... super necessary and it's just a little bit uncomfortable really. Like obviously not all the characters subscribe to these beliefs, at least not completely, but I feel like we would be able to have the world and the plot with the Pure Ones both exist as they are without having this other trope of anything that's not an owl be viewed as lesser by most owls. And also the fact that Mrs. P sorta suffers from house-elf syndrome where she's painted out to agree with that view. Not that nest maids are treated as badly as the majority of house-elves in Harry Potter, they are generally on a more equal standing, especially in Soren's family, but just the way yhat Mrs. P talks about the very notion of daring to compare oneself as a nest-maid snake to great and noble owls and that kind of stuff.
The Capture (Owls of Ga'hoole 01) - Kathryn Lasky
I loved Ga'hoole when I was younger so I'm having so much fun reading the series now! I had read this one before so I was fairly familiar but I must say I did not recall the cannibalism. ANYWAY so excited to read the rest of the series. The world is just so so cool, owls are one of my favourite animals so it is heaps of fun to read a fantasy world revolving around them.
Nimona - ND Stevenson
I had so much fun with this!!! I hadn't read it yet but I have seen the movie (trust that I ugly cry everytime I watch it) so I was so excited when I got my hands on a copy of it!! As it was a graphic novel, it was a super quick read. I could have easy done it in one sitting but I did space it out a bit to savour it :) At first I think it maybe felt a little jarring in comparison to the movie as it sort of jumped right in to Nimona being Ballister's sidekick etc etc but as I was reading it, it all started to feel more natural to the novel. In my opinion the movie did a more solid job of setting up characters, back stories, world building etc but that suits that media type while how the graphic novel did it suited its media type. Plot wise, they're fairly different, but again they both stand really well on their own and both are excellent pieces of media and I love them both dearly. It was great to be able to experience another version of Nimona and Ballister's antics and again, seripusly just such a fun and cool story. I love the characters and their, I love the cool futuristic medieval type world, I love the plot and its message (and i love the artstyle!!! its sososososo much fun as well)
Star Wars (A New Hope) - George Lucas, (ghost written by) Alan Dean Foster
This was a nice short read from a franchise I love. It's only just under 200 pages long so not very hard to get through at all although I did find I was dragging myself through parts of the middle/3rd quarter of the book a bit. Perhaps because I was familiar with the events and thise chapters werent particularly dramatic or vibey. The start and end were definitely the best bits imo. the start being vibey in the way that Star Wars is, nostalgic and full of the wonder of the rich world. And the end was exciting even despite knowing the outcome. The writing style was a little bit wordy at times but otherwise worked well for the story and provided lavish descriptions both of setting and what was happening. Overall, this was a great novelisation and captures the film well, although I say that as someone who has seen the film many times so I'm not sure how it would be to someone who hasn't, but I'm sure it would still stand regardless. I think perhaps the only thing it could have done better was make the stakes feel higher? Maybe my brains making stuff up but they feel higher in the film, but that makes sense as that was the original format and therefore would feel more like it's naturally achieving what it sets out to do. I also appreciated some little details and such that were I suppose more exclusive to the novel.
The Dragon Republic - R.F Kuang
This is def my fav in the trilogy so far!! I just couldn't put it down, I was so engaged the whole time. I had taken a bit of a break from reading it initially because I had just gotten started and was travelling and not quite fully into the book yet but once I *was* into it, I just consumed it. I read the vast majority of it over about 2 days. It was so brilliant to see R.F Kuang further take us on the characters journey and see how things have affected them, how they've changed and developed as people, and I really felt like I was along for the ride with them, never really knowing who I could trust and it was really interesting to watch Rin's views change throughout the book as well as straight up question my own in regards to the book's politics. There were so many little twists and I had my jaw on the floor in shock quite a few times. Kuang really knows how to pick you up and throw you around like a rag doll, my emotions were all over the place in regards to the characters istg I am never getting attatched to a character ever again /od But alongside all the backstabbing and betrayal that I felt on a personal level, the book also gave us characters and character dynamics you can really root for. Particularly, Rin and Kitay. GOD they mean so much to me. I just aboslutely adore how you can really see their closeness and comfortability just through the little ways in which they interact with each other. And you better know that I am an absolute SUCKER for strong and close platonic love. I eat that shit up. If anything happens to them in The Burning God I'm going to kill myself right there on the spot. My only gripe with the book is that sometimes I'm just not really sure what I'm supposed to be picturing as the book is more focused on the action than descriptions at the time. I had the same problem with The Poppy War too, but it's literally no big deal anyway and the scenes still have really effective imagery.
The book was much less graphic than The Poppy War but still had some tough and/or gorey scenes.
Overall, I just super super enjoyed reading this and the ending has me so so so excited for the next book (I also am keen to get more pirate action). I hope Rin gets to go nuts she deserves it.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins
I had watched the movie before reading this, and although I intended to read the book prior to seeing the movie, I'm glad it was too long for me to fit in. I think I enjoyed the movie more not knowing anything about the plot. I was able to enjoy all the dramatic moments for the first time and I really liked the movie it was great!!! Then, reading the book was like gaining further insight on Coriolanus and his story. I was able to look further into his inner monologue and annotate the book with my thoughts and notes, which went better having already known the storyline. I was in a little bit of a rush to finish the book so I feel like I could have slowed down to drink it up a bit more but I enjoyed it well enough anyway. I think that the book itself is really interesting. Giving us this insight on a hated character, making us almost feel bad for him in his past but also showing us the twisted workings of his mind. Coriolanus Snow really gave me something to annotate good lord. It was also really great seeing the early years of the Hunger Games, what shaped them, how they've evolved and come to be how they are in the original trilogy. Overall a great novel on the nature of humanity, trust, power, and control and a great addition to a much loved story. Also the first book of 2024 :> started it Jan 1!!!
The Poppy War - R.F Kuang
I had some points where I had gotten a bit stuck with it and did not pick it up for a few days. But once I got into it, I got into it. The book is easy to read but still has really well done writing. There are so many horrible things the story talks about and it's made even more confronting by the fact that it is based of real history. The characters are believable and complex, especially our main character, Fang Runin. Characters changed and developed, were complex and realistic, and left you questioning who you believed/agreed with anymore. The ending has me extremely intrigued to see where this goes the next two books and overall this is a really good book and I enjoyed (and also not enjoyed, but only because I don't think it's possible to enjoy reading some of the topics this book addresses) reading it greatly. Speaking of such, holy. balls. I knew the TWs going into the book but chapter 21 was beyond what i had expected. It was extremely graphic and confronting. I needed a break for a day and a bit after reading it. But it was well addressed and like the rest of the novel, well done despite the awful topic matter.
me and a friend are planning on buddy reading the second book in the trilogy which I'm keen for!
i would continue with my review but holy fuck coding this is the biggest pain in the ass on my art tablet its so (bashebashes the screen in). gid I'm done tryintrying to fix mimits mistakes now
The Boy from the Mish - Gary Lonesborough
AAAAAAAAAA okokokok hehehehhehe giggling kicking my feet crying first of all i just want to say HOW HAPPY THIS BOOK MADE ME as a queer Aboriginal person it was AMAZINGGG to have a book reflecting those parts of my identity, especially when there are SOOOOO little queer Indigenous pieces of media.
The writing wasn't anything special as such, but that made it a quite refreshing and easy read. It's not a book that needs advanced or complex writing, and it having so would take away the authenticity and just overall not suit the novel. This book was so cute and yet well reflects the conflict of trying to find a space where you are accepted for being both queer and Indigenous, the racism that Aboriginal people face in this country, internalised homophobia, and other important topics. We need more books like this.
Under the Whispering Door - T.J Klune
I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style and it was a lil cheesy at times but it was enjoyable. I feel like the characters could have been explored way more tho + their relationships w each other (especially Hugo + Wallace. They were the "main" relationship here yet it felt like it jumped around a lot and rlly just could have been expanded upon more). The book itself felt fairly well paced, I didn't feel myself thinking it should be any longer or shorter than it was although pretty early on i was thinking about what i'd read next so It was overall a cozy read and good lord would I love to go be a regular at Hugo's tea shop. Despite flaws, I did like this book ps shout out to the book shop employee the day i bought this who recommended only queer books when i never mentioned anything to do with that when i asked about what books they'd recc 