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bisexualwentworth's reviews
751 reviews
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Fun Sleeping Beauty reimagining. Loved the lesbians. Pretty good handling of terminal illness. Would highly recommend to fans of Inkheart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, and Classism
Finna by Nino Cipri
- 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
This was so strange and I liked it a lot. Interdimensional IKEA is such a wild idea, and this story had a lot of heart within the wildness. Excited to see what else Nino Cipri does with this setting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Death and Transphobia
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I can’t believe I waited this long to read this book, but I’m also very glad that I won’t have to wait very long for the sequel. This was so much fun. Xiran Jay Zhao perfectly combines Chinese history, scifi chaos, and feminist rage into a compulsively readable novel. It is also exactly what is says it’s going to be, and this is so rare that I have to give Zhao and their team massive credit for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Xenophobia
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Extremely mixed feelings.
I definitely get why this book speaks to so many people and why it feels so comforting to them. The vibes are indeed very cozy, and the kids are great. Linus's arc was fine. Not the most satisfying for me personally, but I can see it being incredibly relatable to many readers. In particular, I think that Klune handled Linus's internalized fatphobia pretty well, and the treatment of his fatness by other characters was refreshing. Lucy was my favorite of the kids for sure, and I also enjoyed both of the silly ladies immensely. Any time we focused on the kids and their interests and hobbies, I was having a good time. Some of the bureaucracy stuff worked for me, too, as did aspects of the romance.
The biggest issue with this book is a lack of real, deep, thoughtful worldbuilding. We have no idea why things are the way that they are. There is a magical underclass, but why are they the underclass? What sociopolitical happenings created this regime? What justifications were used by those in power? We really only see the world through the eyes of 1) bureaucracy and 2) the main characters in this book, which means that the scope is small and it should be able to work with limited worldbuilding. Unfortunately, Klune writes in a lot of wider-reaching implications that made it impossible for me not to ask questions, and this is the sort of world where everything falls apart if you poke it a little bit.
TJ Klune has stated that he was "inspired by residential schools" (among other influences) in the writing of this book. I find that incredibly weird of him. Any reading of the children as indigenous-coded immediately further highlights the way that they are used to further the character development of the white protagonist. It also shows a shocking lack of care on the part of the author. If he wanted to use such a horrifying aspect of real-world history to inform some of his worldbuilding choices, then he should have actually committed to confronting those horrors, but he does not, and several parts of the book left a bad taste in my mouth.
Another sign of this book's poor worldbuilding is the total lack of thought put into ways that world history and culture might look different given the presence of magical creatures. You mean to tell me that no magical being has written a hit song? That no US presidents were elected based on their policy regarding magical people? As if. Maybe this vaguery would have worked if the world itself were clearly different from our own, but it wasn't. Don McLean's "American Pie" canonically exists, as do multiple other real-world songs and figures, and absolutely nothing about them is different. Lazy! So lazy! If you're writing fantasy oppression, you HAVE to think through your metaphors and how your marginalized fantasy people interact with the world as a whole. You HAVE to. And it feels like TJ Klune just had no interest in interacting with or developing his own world beyond the main characters and their direct experiences, and I think that's a real shame.
Overall, the parts that worked for me worked really well, and I genuinely enjoyed reading most of this book, but the utter thoughtlessness of the worldbuilding and influences cannot be overstated.
I definitely get why this book speaks to so many people and why it feels so comforting to them. The vibes are indeed very cozy, and the kids are great. Linus's arc was fine. Not the most satisfying for me personally, but I can see it being incredibly relatable to many readers. In particular, I think that Klune handled Linus's internalized fatphobia pretty well, and the treatment of his fatness by other characters was refreshing. Lucy was my favorite of the kids for sure, and I also enjoyed both of the silly ladies immensely. Any time we focused on the kids and their interests and hobbies, I was having a good time. Some of the bureaucracy stuff worked for me, too, as did aspects of the romance.
The biggest issue with this book is a lack of real, deep, thoughtful worldbuilding. We have no idea why things are the way that they are. There is a magical underclass, but why are they the underclass? What sociopolitical happenings created this regime? What justifications were used by those in power? We really only see the world through the eyes of 1) bureaucracy and 2) the main characters in this book, which means that the scope is small and it should be able to work with limited worldbuilding. Unfortunately, Klune writes in a lot of wider-reaching implications that made it impossible for me not to ask questions, and this is the sort of world where everything falls apart if you poke it a little bit.
TJ Klune has stated that he was "inspired by residential schools" (among other influences) in the writing of this book. I find that incredibly weird of him. Any reading of the children as indigenous-coded immediately further highlights the way that they are used to further the character development of the white protagonist. It also shows a shocking lack of care on the part of the author. If he wanted to use such a horrifying aspect of real-world history to inform some of his worldbuilding choices, then he should have actually committed to confronting those horrors, but he does not, and several parts of the book left a bad taste in my mouth.
Another sign of this book's poor worldbuilding is the total lack of thought put into ways that world history and culture might look different given the presence of magical creatures. You mean to tell me that no magical being has written a hit song? That no US presidents were elected based on their policy regarding magical people? As if. Maybe this vaguery would have worked if the world itself were clearly different from our own, but it wasn't. Don McLean's "American Pie" canonically exists, as do multiple other real-world songs and figures, and absolutely nothing about them is different. Lazy! So lazy! If you're writing fantasy oppression, you HAVE to think through your metaphors and how your marginalized fantasy people interact with the world as a whole. You HAVE to. And it feels like TJ Klune just had no interest in interacting with or developing his own world beyond the main characters and their direct experiences, and I think that's a real shame.
Overall, the parts that worked for me worked really well, and I genuinely enjoyed reading most of this book, but the utter thoughtlessness of the worldbuilding and influences cannot be overstated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Confinement and Violence
The Marble Queen by Anna Kopp
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This was fine. Not great. I loved the lesbians, but I would have loved them more if they weren't royalty/if the creators made more politically interesting choices. The plot and worldbuilding were both pretty flat, and the art was pretty but lacking in depth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
Very fun. Glad to have finally read it. As a person who is very very familiar with the film, I'm impressed at how much it is a beat-for-beat adaptation. There are some lines that I prefer in the novel and some that I prefer in the film, but overall they are very much the same.
The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A.
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Absolute chaos. Queer nonsense. Stunning visuals. Silly jokes. Memes. Plot? Never heard of her.
The Color of Revenge by Cornelia Funke
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Inkheart was one of my most formative reads as a child, and the whole series was very important to me (though the romance in book three pissed me off as a Meggie/Farid shipper and diehard hater of endgame love interests and major villains being introduced in the last installment of a series). I was thrilled when I saw that there was a new book set in the same world.
Ultimately, The Color of Revenge was fine. It's a one-off book with a plot mostly centered around Dustfinger, though Dustfinger does very little and has no real character development. The real character development belongs to the Black Prince (I'm not gonna spoil anything cause I legitimately recommend reading this book just for his story) and somewhat to Orpheus, who is the primary antagonist. There are some evil women and there's also a fun lesbian (yay!), but this book is overall pretty focused on the adult man characters.
Overall, glad to have spent time in this world again, and it's definitely better than other unasked-for continuations of middle grade faves I've read recently (looking at you, Rick Riordan), but overall not something I think you need to read and definitely not Cornelia Funke's best.
Ultimately, The Color of Revenge was fine. It's a one-off book with a plot mostly centered around Dustfinger, though Dustfinger does very little and has no real character development. The real character development belongs to the Black Prince (I'm not gonna spoil anything cause I legitimately recommend reading this book just for his story) and somewhat to Orpheus, who is the primary antagonist. There are some evil women and there's also a fun lesbian (yay!), but this book is overall pretty focused on the adult man characters.
Overall, glad to have spent time in this world again, and it's definitely better than other unasked-for continuations of middle grade faves I've read recently (looking at you, Rick Riordan), but overall not something I think you need to read and definitely not Cornelia Funke's best.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, and Violence
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
I really don't know how to feel about this book. It did a lot that I really liked. I also majorly struggled with the Keiko/Shiraha dynamic (more than we were already supposed to) because it hit way too close to home as an autistic misogyny-affected person who had a relationship with a deeply horrible and misogynist autistic man. I did ultimately love Keiko's arc, and the writing style really really worked for me. Overall, I would definitely recommend this odd little book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Classism