afrofantasy. a weapon of the gods is cast to mortaldom and learns agency and affection. very nice
fine. interrogatee in a simulation psychic drives interrogator in a cutes way
quite charming. a lowly corporate worker on an alien planet realizes the ignorant evils being wreaked on the local intelligent fauna, and moves to throw a fucking wrench in those industrial cogs. ft. quaint, kind, odd aliens
gorgeous. read up to ch 43 as of reviewing. a quiet comic--it gives you room to breathe, in art and in words, and it asks such excellent questions about social expectations, and defining (or not defining) relationships, and so on. i love the questions it asks about amatonormativity. i love the aromantic, platonic adoration between the protagonists. i like that they get messy with it. just really really nice
hm. this one didn't convince me. and especially as a series-end, i'm kinda disappointed! henry was an odd addition. the antagonists of every book have been weird/dissonant, but this one was particularly uncompelling. everything i was really interested in in BLLB kind of fell away here. meh
it took 2 1/2 books but now i'm invested. purely because of the way character dynamics have curled and shifted and changed. i wasn't convinced and then all at once i was. the way antagonists are utilized in this series is fascinating.
these characters are fascinatingly messy. the plot is also that. ronan lynch the insane motherfucker you are
not usually a cult story fan but the emotional nuance & narrative voice here just pull me in. i like this one.
excellent narrative voice. guy who doesnt know what the fuck he's doing goes to a party and bails early. felt
fantastic. exactly my kind of short story. introspective, reflective, with gorgeous prose. orange juice vampire, immigrant labor, and old, old patience.
not what i expected! but then, it was kind of hard to know what to expect at all, since the various people who recommended TRC to me were vague as hell to avoid spoilers. i'm going to reserve full judgment for when i read the rest of the series, but this first novel on its own feels... mostly like a bunch of loose ends. some extremely juicy tidbits, some fascinating character work, but the overall story felt like i was following along as stiefvater meandered. a bit atlas sixy in the "sets up for a sequel without reaaaaally having a full complete first-book story" sense.
nonetheless i am eager to read the rest of the series..!
nonetheless i am eager to read the rest of the series..!
this & system collapse have me thinking that martha wells is just less good at pacing a mid-sized novel than she is at pacing novellas & fat novels like network effect. PD left me unsatisfied--i felt it stretched where it should have glossed over, and glossed where it should have stretched; there was an overwhelming focus on the mechanics and motions of the mission and very little characterization/character interaction. i need to reread the initial novellas and network effect neowwwww
this book had moments and pieces that captivated me, and just as soon as i was captivated, the narrative instantly turned away toward the least interesting possible thread to follow. but it sprinkled bits of captivation along the way, so i strung through it, and at the end find myself just kind of deflated.
the descriptions of magic--of how it functions, how yours can interact with another's--are beautiful, and fascinating. the hints of worldbuilding--the magicians' names especially--were equally interesting. i liked agnieszka's magical education. i liked very little else. kasia was not particularly a person; the attraction between agnieszka and sarkan was not believable; the court-and-trial-and-disaster stretch dragged; the fight against the wood felt hollower the more context was given. this book has too much going on, i think; it meanders in an ineffective way. i'll give you that it held my attention though
the descriptions of magic--of how it functions, how yours can interact with another's--are beautiful, and fascinating. the hints of worldbuilding--the magicians' names especially--were equally interesting. i liked agnieszka's magical education. i liked very little else. kasia was not particularly a person; the attraction between agnieszka and sarkan was not believable; the court-and-trial-and-disaster stretch dragged; the fight against the wood felt hollower the more context was given. this book has too much going on, i think; it meanders in an ineffective way. i'll give you that it held my attention though
really enjoyed the sensation of lostness before they give in to the party
really intriguing. a quick read. i looove a pair of fucked up siblings
very nice... interspecies cultural communication. keeping secrets to avoid harm. prioritizing yours over theirs.
the subject matter isn't much to my tastes, and the life perspective on display here isn't either, but the way it poses questions/contrasts did pique my interest
compelling post-apocalyptic world & compelling narrator. i love people that are selfish. i love kids that are stupid.
between this and lagoon i think okorafor's writing is just not for me... there feels to be substance lacking from the narrative
another solid book rec from ari! this was enjoyable as an introspective drama + i liked margaret's neuroses. i will say i was more interested in her life as tied to the town she grew up in, and less interested in the out-of-town stretch with penny and glo.
i reeeeally liked this. i really especially liked the conclusion of part 2(?) sweat lodge massacre. just fantastic stuff.
using this vol to represent the whole series. read all 70 chapters available in english today and wow... wow. i'm a proven supernatural + body horror fan & emotional angst fan & this hits on all those counts. i can even forgive it for being a romance manga. i liked this in a similar way to how i like the summer hikaru died
continuing my haunted house book quest... this was a fun read! the narration was witty without being overbearing & i enjoyed all of the character work on display here. the plot moved swiftly, and was on the whole intriguing and kept my attention, except for oooone step too far for me to fully suspend my disbelief. some things could have been tighter thematically. but overall it was enjoyable! i liked that the protagonist is an entomologist and likes bugs :]
this story was pretty whatever for the first long stretch of it, and then at the thomas turning point i was finally kind of invested!, and then that possibility was taken away and we were back with the boring initial set pieces and situation, nothing gained, nothing changed, and then we /lost/ for a pointless nothing reason. this story doesn't feel like it actually had any reason to be.
this book had me wrapped around its finger completely right up until the very last chapter. in tremblay's short story collection "the beast you are," in one of the editorial bits he wrote, he punches down on himself as not being able to write endings—and like man. Yeah it's clear that you can't
Horror Movie is fascinating, unsettling, capturing for its inscrutability and the reader's desperation to scrute it, to uncover the why of it all. the narrator—which, do we ever actually get a name for him that isn't "the thin kid"? god. good stuff—is from the very beginning a fascinating individual with a very particular voice. tremblay is great at writing characters with odd neuroses. beside the narrator, the other major characters (or screenplay-versions) are distinct and intriguing. the flip between modern narration and old screenplay is well-handled; i never felt that 'ugh' of going back to a perspective you were bored with reading. most of all though there's just this /sensation/ to it all. this feeling that creeps, that is inscrutable, that is absolute. that builds and builds and builds.
and then you get to the last chapter and 1/2 of it is the narrator going ha-ha welp all that was fucked up right? and it takes all the wind out of the sails of the whole novel. and then the second 1/2 of the last chapter is just a cheap the-narrator-embodies-the-monster-muhahaha thing that solidifies the mask/etc. as truly "cursed" rather than just heavily implying it. Like what happened show more to the narrator saying the idea he'd pushed the chainsaw down a little bit was his biggest fear? now he's eating a guy? Come on man
i liked this dont get me wrong but in the way where im going to pretend the last chapter doesnt exist and that im not even gonna fill in the blanks. just sit and bask in the gorgeous unsettlement of the long stretch of the novel. show less
Horror Movie is fascinating, unsettling, capturing for its inscrutability and the reader's desperation to scrute it, to uncover the why of it all. the narrator—which, do we ever actually get a name for him that isn't "the thin kid"? god. good stuff—is from the very beginning a fascinating individual with a very particular voice. tremblay is great at writing characters with odd neuroses. beside the narrator, the other major characters (or screenplay-versions) are distinct and intriguing. the flip between modern narration and old screenplay is well-handled; i never felt that 'ugh' of going back to a perspective you were bored with reading. most of all though there's just this /sensation/ to it all. this feeling that creeps, that is inscrutable, that is absolute. that builds and builds and builds.
and then you get to the last chapter and 1/2 of it is the narrator going ha-ha welp all that was fucked up right? and it takes all the wind out of the sails of the whole novel. and then the second 1/2 of the last chapter is just a cheap the-narrator-embodies-the-monster-muhahaha thing that solidifies the mask/etc. as truly "cursed" rather than just heavily implying it. Like what happened show more to the narrator saying the idea he'd pushed the chainsaw down a little bit was his biggest fear? now he's eating a guy? Come on man
i liked this dont get me wrong but in the way where im going to pretend the last chapter doesnt exist and that im not even gonna fill in the blanks. just sit and bask in the gorgeous unsettlement of the long stretch of the novel. show less