Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling

3 reviews

jillyfae's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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madarauchiha's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.75

 โค๏ธ ๐Ÿงก ๐Ÿ’› ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’™ ๐Ÿ’œ  my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara ๐Ÿ’œ ๐Ÿ’™ ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’› ๐Ÿงก โค๏ธ

 
I don't like the power imbalance and vague attempt at a very white cis woman version of lesbianism. I dare say there isn't really a lesbian romance in this book. Mainly because
itโ€™s never stated outright, and itโ€™s barely implied until SOMEONE ELSE. POSESSING THIS GIRL GAY LIL BODY. TELLS HER FUCKING LOVE INTEREST THAT THE NOW-DEAD D-KE WAS IN LOVE WITH HER ALL ALONG. 


Her being Violetta's employer and superior and MC of the book. Also this is like a historical fantasy so the employee love interest cannot really consent without issue. Also this is set in a pandemic so like thatโ€™s another issue of being unable to consent. You say no to anything all youโ€™re out on the streets catching idk, piss shit out your ass to death disease.  


Also what fucking relationship? The employer/MC has
Violetta, the employee love interest, doing gross shit like burying murder victims and changing bedsheets soiled with excrement?
That's not a partner helping her partner, that's employee obeying her master's orders. 


Like other than the employer [mc] going on about how invaluable her servant was there was zero emotional connection. There was no fucking relationship. And I harp on that because itโ€™s sold as a sapphic short story. Or it was to me, anyways. 


i hate this. Also this book made no goddam sense and was up its own ass a lot. The vibes are fun, I got real Dishonored 1 and 2 video game vibes from it. But if it weren't for me being familiar with said Dishonored game this novella would be very flat and uninteresting. It has a very pretty veneer of aesthetics and cohesively purple writing, and that's it. You start thinking too hard on the plot and it all falls to shit. 


It also vaguely reminded me of The Unraveled Kingdom by Rowenna Miller. Not necessarily a bad thing, but when reading a novella makes you want to read other books instead... hm. I really wanted to enjoy this book because horror AND parasite based horror? Amazing. The only other decent horror/scifi book with parasite horror I really enjoyed was The Breach by M T Hill. I've been dying for more, honestly.


The other thing I hate about it is the status quo, and the ending. Alright ok so the big bad, very distant government
was um. Overthrown? Overnight? You really telling me that some parasite ghost creature genocided the current ruling government because some upper class rich white woman is sad her pet lesbian love interest got killed because she abandoned her in order to save her own rich white ass? I get that this is a novella but maybe don't put this drastic shit which obviously takes time to happen into your novella. Seriously, overnight? Or smt? Like this is the age where ships still use clothe sails. How are you going to get word out? That quickly? I use question marks a lot because this plot is incredibly flimsy and if I use hard stop period marks everything will collapse.
 


Non spoiler of the above. Authors, especially white authors, are terrified of changing the status quo. They can write about revolution, and overcoming the Bad Guys, but ultimately the Good Guy MCs they write of simply replace the Bad Guys and maintain the status quo. White authors cannot write revolution or societal change because they don't understand what changes need to be made because they are part of what needs to be changed. 

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f18's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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