bites_of_books's reviews
763 reviews

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

4.5

This was an impactful and incredible collection of short stories that felt like a treasure trove since it introduced me to plenty of authors that I want to read more of. 

Some stories were mysterious and supernatural while others were raw and horrific. All the stories opened up new perspectives about indigenous beliefs, histories, and lives, from the absolute darkest to very hopeful ones. 

I highly suggest looking at content warnings for some of the stories, read with care! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.5

A heartwarming and wholesome story of being different and finding belonging and purpose in a world that is not made for you, simply wonderful! This might be my new comfort series <3 

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

There is little space for expressing one's true self in the world of classical ballet, and that couldn't be more true for Laure. She is a black girl who has spent her whole life in devotion to ballet and it still isn't enough. Her devotion to ballet is obsessive and truly all she wants is acceptance and recognition, something that the French institution is not willing to give (especially to someone like her). Laure then finds a different way to belong, to give in to her basic instincts, she finds people who accept her truly for who she is and don't expect her to be perfect. 
This is a book where we can see how, those who are seen as monsters/others/weird/unusual/etc in society are often the ones with the most empathy and humanity than society itself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Classism

The Tournament of Heirs by Amilea Perez

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

First of all, thanks to the author for a copy of the book as part of the tour hosted by Hear our Voices! 

The Tournament of Heirs is inspired by Mesoamerican mythology and features Metztli and her brother Acalan, heirs of the House of Life and champions who will fight to the death in a tournament that will decide who continues to lead the empire and grant a wish to the winner from the gods themselves. 

This is a slow burn story with complex politics between the houses and secrets that are trying to come to light. For those who are fans of prophecies, love at first sight, and the enemies to lovers trope, you'll find them all within these pages. 

If anything I wanted things to go faster so that we could see how the tournament would unfold. I adored Xuki, a dog who ends up in the mix of the tournament, and the way he became a key player for the siblings. 

All in all, I do want to keep reading this series to see how it all unfolds after that massive cliff-hanger at the end of book one. And don't worry, things wrap up nicely, but it'll leave you wanting more! 

One By One by Freida McFadden

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This was a really entertaining thriller. It had me really thinking about who could be this anonymous POV and, while I didn't empathize with any of the characters, I was really invested on what was happening overall. 

I'm definitely interested in checking out another McFadden thriller. 

James by Percival Everett

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

A retelling of the classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Jim does not have much to his character beyond being superstitious. In James, we follow Jim as he flees in order to avoid being sold and separated from his family. However, we also learn that he is simply putting on this persona of "Jim" for the white people around him, while with the other slaves he communicates using good grammar and no accent. He also taught himself the ability to read and write, which is something that he loves to do.

I really liked how there is a lot more depth to these characters, including their motivations and dreams. I would recommend this book, especially if you've read the Mark Twain original.

Pelea de gallos by María Fernanda Ampuero

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

"La gente no es capaz de verse a sí misma y ese es el principio de todos los horrores." 

Pelea de Gallos es una colección de historias sobre las formas en que las personas pueden causar daño a otros y a si mismos. Parecen contextos extremos pero son demasiado reales. Seguimos a mujeres sometidas a las reglas del hombre de la casa, mujeres, niñas y jóvenes que sufren varios tipos de abusos, violencia, y engaños. 

Una colección muy necesaria para poder entender como el verdadero horror sí se encuentra en los vivos. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King, Owen King

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I was not a fan of this book. Having read The Stand, this seemed like a watered down version of it with flat characters who are trying to say something but never quite get to it properly. 

Also, for an affliction that specifically targets women, I would have appreciated the inclusion of gender non-conforming folks, transgender people, and non-binary people. This was not written in the 80s so they have all the information and tools needed to be able to be inclusive. 

My favorite character was the fox and could read a whole (different) book from the fox's POV. 

Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

This is one of those books where we follow unlikeable characters all the way through. Once I accepted that, I was able to dive deeper into the story and it became more enjoyable. We follow Anna as she embarks on a vacation in the Italian countryside with her truly awful family. Many times I questioned why she was even there in the first place! 

Nevertheless, she remains in the vacation, trying to follow her older sister's strict schedule and focusing on her nieces. As the vacation starts and continues it becomes clear that there's more to this villa than what was advertised in the website. 

I liked that Anna was unapologetically herself throughout, even though she did bite her tongue a lot of the time around her family. She's already seen as weird and an outsider by them so it seems like she doesn't want to give them more reasons to cast her out. 

The part that I wasn't satisfied with was the Italian context. I felt like there could have been more about the community but they mostly remained in the shadows, putting the American tourists at the forefront. All of them mostly want nothing to do with them (for good reason), but I needed just a bit more from their perspective, maybe one or two chapters from their point of view would have sealed it for me as a solid 4 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This was quite a surprising book for me, in many ways. Previously I've loved How to Sell a Haunted House and did not like Final Girls Support Group so, this was supposed to be in tie breaker. I find myself in the middle. I think this book had a great atmosphere for a book that brings horror into suburbia. I did not love how Mrs. Greene was more of a secondary character and would have loved for her to be the main character here (especially since she ends up doing most of the work herself). I did like the discussion on race and privilege, but there could have been some more action in giving Mrs. Greene more agency than she had, instead of making her to passive until Patricia finally decided to do something. 
Overall a good book for the fall season but be prepared for really horrific scenes dealing with abuse (of all kinds), vermin, gore, etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism