bencaroline's reviews
55 reviews

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

adventurous funny hopeful fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Car accident

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino

challenging informative reflective

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, and Sexism

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

Minor: Addiction, Confinement, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Abortion

PET by Akwaeke Emezi

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Confinement, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Slavery, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Vomit

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

This book's author is a bigot. The book is extremely influential in the sci-fi genre, for good reason, but it MUST be discussed within the context of a hateful author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexism, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

challenging informative medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Xenophobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Drug use, Incest, Racism, Terminal illness, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Ableism and Cannibalism

Content warnings are largely in the context of sterile narration of often-gruesome history of various ancient civilizations, and the clashing of societies and cultures throughout the history of the American continents.

My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi

hopeful lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Blood, and Police brutality

The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang

emotional reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Excrement

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Blood, Trafficking, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Stalking, and Death of parent