alphonzs's reviews
65 reviews

Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

 Horror is a genre that I haven’t really touched until now. I’m more of a sci-fi and fantasy reader, but I set myself the goal to read outside of my comfort zone for this year, and I’m very glad I did. 

Maggie’s Grave is a campy slasher 80’s horror story, and an incredibly fun read at that. It’s gory, has lots of action, and it offers plenty of over the top moments -ritual sacrifice with james blunt soundtrack- that are kind of silly but in a really fun way.

Totally recommend it if slasher horror sounds like something you might enjoy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood

System Collapse by Martha Wells

adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

System Collapse is the direct sequel to Network Effect (Book 5), therefore, it is highly recommended to review it prior to diving into this one. There is no introductory summary, and initially there are characters aplenty that would make you feel confused if you've totally forgotten the previous story.

Murderbot is having more feels, even if it doesn't like it. It continues bonding with more humans, and consuming digital media on the side to help it cope with everything going on. We still see it analyzing and overcoming the many situations it gets into (or rather dragged into by its humans), but it is struggling as it bears the weight of the recent events.

This new story has a more introspect and trauma-overcoming tone compared to Fugitive Telemetry's murder mystery and the action-focused Network Effect, but the action scenes are still there and still great.

The series has been really relatable to me so far, and this is no exception. I continuously see glimpses of my own experiences and inner monologues in Murderbot. This one went a bit deeper though. I also have a diary where I've redacted a traumatic event that I tend to not think or talk about, and I had to learn how to process it. I don't blame Murderbot for not knowing how to process things; I'm human and I don't know how to process 90% of my emotions (yeah, I just had my performance reliability drop by 4 points). This read left me feeling emotions so I'm going to the couch to process them in private.

I'm really glad to have given the whole series a read over the last couple of months 🤖💜

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

Murderbot has hacked himself out of main control.

The idea of an android, part bot with lingering organics, gives rise to ideas of a machine that sometimes feels human, a very introverted and relatable human; with its increasing independency situations develop more unexpectedly than what I anticipated, and that kept me reading the whole book almost in one sitting.

The secondary characters add enough depth to the story and help the development of Murderbot throughout it, queer characters are also a welcomed presence.

It was a very fun and fast read 😁

Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer

medium-paced

4.5

Fascinatingly disturbing. I arrived at this book with just a vague recommendation. What I found is hard to place. Feels like sci-fi and urban fantasy dipping into grotesque body horror, and I absolutely enjoyed it.

At first I found myself lost, much like when I read the Neuromancer, until it started to unfold. It’s a futuristic setting where bioengineering experiments have found a place in society, a city, and the story of 3 characters struggling in this place and its many floors below ground. The descriptions are very graphical at times, but it’s a gripping journey into strangeness.

”Soon he would bend into a totally new shape altogether. He welcomed that. He wanted that. Maybe the new thing he would become would no longer hurt, would no longer fear, would no longer look back down into the void and wonder what was left of him“

[Oshi No Ko], Vol. 2 by Aka Akasaka, Mengo Yokoyari

3.75

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

 My main take from the story is that it gave me a better perspective on what it’s like to grow up as trans. It has a lot of hurt, but it’s also a reminder that kindness can go a long way.

🎻 There is a lot of music interwoven in a beautiful story. The author describes musical performances in a way that I could even imagine the sound, just from words and emotions. I also liked that it has a high geek factor, there are mentions of Star Trek and references to music from games and anime.

Beautiful story worthy of a recommendation 🧡

 

Living in Data: A Citizen's Guide to a Better Information Future by Jer Thorp

5.0

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

5.0

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

3.0