bargainbinkazbrekker's reviews
849 reviews

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

3.5

Belle Révolte by Linsey Miller

2.75

Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews

3.0

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I thoroughly enjoyed the horror elements of this book, the body horror reminded me of hell followed with us by A.J. White; the descriptions were gruesomely and wonderfully descriptive and well written, as well as the general horror elements that weren’t body horror. I think the horror was the strongest part of this novel.

 But alas, the horror was (to my surprise) not the main focus. The bulk of the story was focused on Andrew and Thomas’s relationship and Andrew's identity. Had this been marketed as more of a romance and self exploration novel with elements of horror, I wouldn't have been so caught off guard. I was getting tired of the constant descriptions of Thomas, it felt like every other sentence was Thomas this and Thomas that, to a point that I genuinely didn’t have an idea who Andrew was outside of Thomas. I get that's sort of the point but I think it would’ve been nice to have a starting point where we compare and contrast Andrew at the beginning vs the end with his obsession with Thomas but the very first chapter he’s already completely obsessed. (A break would’ve been nice as well, I was actually getting irked with how much of Andrew's narration was just Thomas).

I also felt as though the story progressed too slowly. I got more than 50% of the way through and only two major things had happened, one at the very beginning and one right after half way, and everything in between was so slow and repetitive. Every night and every morning followed a similar pattern until it would be broken up by a major event before it would start to fall back into that pattern again. There were also some elements and plot points that were mentioned and then just completely dropped? Thomas’s parents and the following investigation? Hardly mentioned outside of the first few chapters. The enforcement of not sneaking out at night by the school staff? Never actually (conveniently) happens.

In summary, I think marketing this as primarily a horror novel was a bit of a disservice to the book. I think it would be better and more true to the actual story for it to be marketed as a romance with horror elements. I loved the horror elements, they were the best parts for me, but I got a bit sick of the romance and main dynamic because of how overwritten I felt the relationship and descriptions was. The writing, for me, was beautiful for the non romance elements. I may reread it once it's released and see how I feel knowing and not expecting it to be a horror book first and romance second. I would recommend this to body horror lovers, darker queer romance appreciators, and people who enjoy flowery prose.

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

4.25

A dark, rage filled, beauty of a novel that’s balanced with moments of hope and young queer love. Even though I felt the pacing was a bit slow and there were some missed opportunities for characterization that would lead to a bigger emotional impact, I still really liked the story as a whole. Those smaller issues didn’t detract from the story for me. 

Supernova by Kazu Kibuishi

3.25

The Gilded Crown by Marianne Gordon

3.5

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an Ebook arc in exchange for an honest review!

The atmosphere, magic system, and world building were the best parts of this book for me! I loved the interactions Hellevir had with Death and the world that he inhabited. I loved the exploration of religion and religious structures (one of my favorite topics to be explored in fiction, it's absolutely fascinating to me). The world felt very alive to me, I genuinely enjoyed being it. I also really appreciated the casual queer rep we got. It wasn’t a big deal that there was a gay (man-loving-man) relationship, and our main character develops feelings for another girl. That being said, I didn't care much about the main romance, I just didn’t feel like it was realistic the way it progressed but that may just be me. Romances hardly ever work for me in fiction.

I don’t have much else to say, the ending felt a bit abrupt, like I got to the second to last chapters and was like there's no way it's ending in one chapter, there's still so much happening, but I know that this has a sequel, so hopefully things get resolved in it. 

A solid fantasy read with queer rep and an interesting world and magic system!

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

2.0

its dumb as hell but I had fun

Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar

3.25

Fireblood by Jeff Wheeler

1.0

well. when i originally put this one my tbr about 4 years ago i was intent on reading it and the sequel because i had copies of both (family copies i would not use my own money for this). but i am much nicer to myself than i was four years ago and i will not be forcing myself to read the sequel(s).

maybe i’ll come back once my thoughts have settled down and write more in depth but for now we’ll go with initial thoughts upon finishing.

what i liked

1. the descriptions of the world, specifically of Mirrowen, were well done and provided some much needed atmosphere to the novel

that’s it. 

everything else (disliked and hated):

1. racism. surprise! this was my biggest issue with the book! in a book where everyone has fancy fantasy names and races, you can imagine my absolute surprise and horror when i turned a page and say the word “Romani”. it only got worse; it’s like wheeler looked up every stereotype of Rroma and said “yes, that’s what i want in my fantasy novel. change the name? why bother!” the Romani in the book: steal and sell children, travel in caravans that stop outside cities where they steal, cheat, and rob. girl what???? why was this necessary— it’s wasn’t!!!! and the way wheeler didn’t even change the name, he was so confident in his bigotry that he wrote pretty much every stereotype about Rroma into his book and called them Romani, just in case we couldn’t catch what he was alluding to i guess. absolutely mind boggling to me.
2. bad boring characters. for a more technical stand point (the book isn’t great from an actual plot and writing perspective, not just the bigotry), the characters are so BORING. i do not care about any of them, they feel so disjointed from any emotion, they rarely do anything, things just happen to them. how am i supposed to learn about this people? why won’t they *do* anything?
3. dialogue. i couldn’t do it. it was like two ai’s trying to out human each other but failing. 
4. and plot. i actually don’t remember it. 

anyway, 1 star for the descriptions, everything else was either hateful or just badly written! 

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

4.5