coolfoolmoon's reviews
318 reviews

The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams

tense medium-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? Yes

3.25

It's an alright debut. I don't know if I'd follow the author not consciously but maybe in five or ten years she’ll write another book and I’ll see her name in the library and go huh that name looks familiar, and maybe I’ll like that book. Who knows. We’ll see.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, and Classism

Moderate: Racism and Gaslighting

Minor: Infidelity

Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

That was weird but cool. Very weird to be thrown in the deep end of a fantasy world like that but I haven't read much high fantasy. Maybe that's normal. I wanna read the rest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, and Sexual assault

People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice: Stories by Ao Omae

emotional informative 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? Yes

3.5

sponsored by LINE

this is my fourth or fifth book by a japanese author and sex and romance are all written the same way, so now i have to read more books bc im starting to think either 1.) they all see sex and romance very differently from americans and or the western world 2.) the books that get translated are just the ones that have an alienated relationship to romance and sex or 3.) some other third thing, including i cant base my perspective on an amount of books i can count on one hand.

i do love this perspective tho i know what it feels like to feel alien from society. but when many individuals in the society feel the same its like oh maybe the society is the issue? theyre all thinking "other people wouldnt think that, other people wouldnt say that, so i'll be silent and not say how im feeling." i dont think thats universal here. common but not universal. the consequence is everyones suffering and wont tell the people closest to them. :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Vomit, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope by Patrice Caldwell

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

No real heavy hitters (except Zoboi) but I had fun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Gaslighting, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Aphrodite and the Rabbis: How the Jews Adapted Roman Culture to Create Judaism as We Know It by Burton L. Visotzky
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.

The book is good but I'm too brainrotted. I need the audiobook!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Rape

Those are all the ones I can remember rn

The Relatable Poetry Journal by Nicole Rose Julian

lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

3.75

Title is perfect. "Relatable" is very accurate, but also tells you what to expect. Almost none of them wowed me, but they were all nice. Poems are just okay enough. Pleasant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Racism, and Transphobia

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero

adventurous emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

It was cute I guess. I hate the formatting because it's not poetry. If it was I might've liked it a little more, but whenever I see books written like this I think wow a bunch of trees died for nothing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual assault

Bitter Root, Vol. 3: Legacy by Chuck Brown, David F. Walker

dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.25

In probably all my reviews for this series I've expressed how repetitive it is. Feels like nothing's happening story wise. And I’d be willing to ignore it all and give this book the same rating I gave the others EXCEPT for ONE thing that boiled over my tea kettle (idk what phrase I'm thinking of). Why did the Jewish German kid know English? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Slavery

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

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

3.75

Book review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/8e5083e0-64f1-49af-88a7-c50a45b69cbd

Audio review:
i kept hearing clicking for some reason? and unrelated its not completely the guy's fault but he would forget what voice he was using for what character and if i hadn't been reading along if i was just listening it would've been confusing to keep up with

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

adventurous challenging informative slow-paced

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

3.75

the grandfather of sassy men. what a messy book. love it. didn’t love a lot of elements. justice for ali! the sheer amount of adult minor relationships were disgusting, book could've been much much much shorter but it also wasnt intended to be read in 8 days. but i do love seeing the origins of infamous tropes. that was cool.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Slavery, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation