acemummerz's reviews
186 reviews

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Deportation, Death, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Violence, Torture, Child death, Pregnancy, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Suicide, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Incest

Please Stand By by Emily Rennie

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

An amazing dystopian novel! Really interesting to have one set in the UK, I think it made it  so much more tense and sucked me in as it mentioned places I have not only been to but currently live. The characters are classicly flawed never-asked-or-wanted-to-be main characters in their own ways, and the dynamics are great. Never tire of a queer relationship that doesn't revolve around the "horror" of being queer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Addiction, Abandonment, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Mental illness, War, Child death, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Violence, Sexism, and Drug abuse

Minor: Torture

Outlawed by Anna North

adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, Death, Confinement, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Racism, Murder, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, Animal death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Infidelity, Abortion, Violence, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Sexism, and Misogyny

Tripwire by Lee Child

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, War, Medical content, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Torture, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Domestic abuse

No actual adult/minor relationship but recounted desires for it with acknowledgement that it was wrong

A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

As good a murder/crime mystery as you can get in my opinion 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Racial slurs, Vomit, Xenophobia, Rape, and Racism

Minor: Vomit, Excrement, Trafficking, Gun violence, Stalking, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Remain Silent by Susie Steiner

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

A bit too focussed on the personal lives of the characters for my liking - personally I prefer the mystery of the crime more than the character stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Addiction, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Trafficking, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Infertility, Sexual assault, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Rape, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Grief, Hate crime, Incest, Medical content, Vomit, Animal death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

A wonderful fairly short text on the history of sex from a western/ UK perspective. Very well referenced with a multitude of links to other texts to expand your knowledge further. Funny and educational. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Vomit, Sexism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Murder, Racism, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Miscarriage, Death, Hate crime, Blood, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Slavery

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Murder, Police brutality, Colonisation, Death, and War

Coffin Road by Peter May

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Awesome mystery!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence

Traumatic memory loss is the main plot point so CW for that. The story also includes a lot of sailing / boat scenes including storms / disasters.

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, War, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Deportation, Infertility, Genocide, Pregnancy, and Racism

The book explores alien cultures during a space disaster - everything discussed is about alien races / species rather than human, but it does explore some moderately difficult topics. Medical content spoiler:

an alien child gets effectively CO2 suffocated (accident) and nearly dies