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dufremde's reviews
176 reviews
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
adventurous
challenging
funny
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? No
4.5
utterly unlike anything else I've ever read, and I mean that as a high compliment. maybe some very specific vibe comparisons to TLT, but otherwise defying any attempt at distilling its plot down to a tidy description. the book drops you into the shit and gleefully refuses to explain any of the worldbuilding, and that feeling of fumbling around for any crumb of understanding is heightened by a series of POV changes, from Carolyn (she is plotting some sort of revenge against the cultish, superpowered family that raised her) to various normies who are even more confused, and even a goddang lion. it's delightful.
there's a frankly unhinged cornucopia of religious, mythological, and metaphysical references that never get unpacked, and honestly it's almost better that way. loved the suffusion of psychological and cosmic horror throughout—one of the normie characters who we spend a lot of time with has a realization that Carolyn is operating on a vastly different plane of existence than he is, and that's the sort of absurdity we're dealing with—and the ending felt romantic as hell to me. not in a genre sense of the word, but in the sense of ... the universe swelling with possibilities. man, what a strange and beautiful reading experience.
there's a frankly unhinged cornucopia of religious, mythological, and metaphysical references that never get unpacked, and honestly it's almost better that way. loved the suffusion of psychological and cosmic horror throughout—one of the normie characters who we spend a lot of time with has a realization that Carolyn is operating on a vastly different plane of existence than he is, and that's the sort of absurdity we're dealing with—and the ending felt romantic as hell to me. not in a genre sense of the word, but in the sense of ... the universe swelling with possibilities. man, what a strange and beautiful reading experience.
Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Don't Let the Forest In is a visceral reading experience that should appeal to fans of dark fairytales featuring plenty of body horror and queer longing.
The story opens with Andrew Perrault and twin sister Dove returning to school in the shadows of a traumatic incident that happened the previous year. Andrew is looking forward to being reunited with Thomas Rye, the only person who understands Andrew's twisted writing and translates them into nightmarish illustrations, and who might be something more than a best friend to Andrew, but he hasn't found the words to describe what that is yet. However, Dove seemingly abandons Andrew at school, while Thomas is hiding a dangerous secret, one that has to do with horrific monsters that show up in the forest, which resemble the creatures that Andrew crafts in his stories and Thomas draws. To prevent the terror from reaching the school, Andrew must figure out how to defeat them for good, even if it means destroying what he loves.
The novel takes its time revealing its secrets, and although certain twists and revelations aren't difficult to guess, the obfuscations are heightened by Andrew's position as an exceptionally unreliable narrator, not only haunted by the past but very much afraid of the present. I enjoyed the overall writing style; it's heavy on descriptions, and the emotional landscape is rendered just as vividly ("There was an explosion happening in Andrew's chest, a thousand flowered vines growing around his heart.") as physical surroundings, sensations, and actions ("The world slid sickeningly left, and pain shot behind his eyes in a white-hot spear of excruciating agony"). This is a book that will reward readers with strong visual imaginations.
With such fantastical supernatural horrors lurking in the forest and causing very real, very bloody damage, though, the human bullies that Andrew and Thomas encounter at school feel somewhat flat and trite in comparison. There are two in particular—a student and a teacher—and neither of them are as dimensional as the threats that emerge from Andrew and Thomas's stories and illustrations. However, I did appreciate the asexual representation a lot. Andrew is firmly asexual and struggles to come to terms with it in the context of his romantic attraction to Thomas, and the book treats that with a lot of care.
Between the horror elements, the tender-obsessive relationship, and a strong execution of external atmosphere and internal voice, this was an easy book to slip into—like a dark forest—for a few hours.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this book.
The story opens with Andrew Perrault and twin sister Dove returning to school in the shadows of a traumatic incident that happened the previous year. Andrew is looking forward to being reunited with Thomas Rye, the only person who understands Andrew's twisted writing and translates them into nightmarish illustrations, and who might be something more than a best friend to Andrew, but he hasn't found the words to describe what that is yet. However, Dove seemingly abandons Andrew at school, while Thomas is hiding a dangerous secret, one that has to do with horrific monsters that show up in the forest, which resemble the creatures that Andrew crafts in his stories and Thomas draws. To prevent the terror from reaching the school, Andrew must figure out how to defeat them for good, even if it means destroying what he loves.
The novel takes its time revealing its secrets, and although certain twists and revelations aren't difficult to guess, the obfuscations are heightened by Andrew's position as an exceptionally unreliable narrator, not only haunted by the past but very much afraid of the present. I enjoyed the overall writing style; it's heavy on descriptions, and the emotional landscape is rendered just as vividly ("There was an explosion happening in Andrew's chest, a thousand flowered vines growing around his heart.") as physical surroundings, sensations, and actions ("The world slid sickeningly left, and pain shot behind his eyes in a white-hot spear of excruciating agony"). This is a book that will reward readers with strong visual imaginations.
With such fantastical supernatural horrors lurking in the forest and causing very real, very bloody damage, though, the human bullies that Andrew and Thomas encounter at school feel somewhat flat and trite in comparison. There are two in particular—a student and a teacher—and neither of them are as dimensional as the threats that emerge from Andrew and Thomas's stories and illustrations. However, I did appreciate the asexual representation a lot. Andrew is firmly asexual and struggles to come to terms with it in the context of his romantic attraction to Thomas, and the book treats that with a lot of care.
Between the horror elements, the tender-obsessive relationship, and a strong execution of external atmosphere and internal voice, this was an easy book to slip into—like a dark forest—for a few hours.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this book.
The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
not my favorite of the Singing Hills books, but still managed to deliver a great twist, making the reader reevaluate whose stories get centered, whose are deemed worthy. the sense of wrongness that infuses the first half of the story is quite wonderful; there's something almost gothic about this one.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this was the kind of ambitious genre mashup whose synopsis had me vibrating, and thus I found it slightly disappointing only because it was good but could have been great. the combination of romance (fine, it was believable but I wasn't rooting for them), spy thriller (eh, ramped up in the second half), time travel mystery (ymmv, I'm ok with some handwaving but still found it underbaked), workplace satire (very good), and slice-of-life (great!!) yielded mixed results, but I definitely applaud the vision and the attempt.
overall, the narration style really worked for me, and I found the the unnamed protagonist well-characterized; the issue was that her flaws started taking over when it came to making big decisions (or small ones with big consequences), which made the meat of the story feel slightly unbearable after a certain point, especially when it came to her blinkers regarding her Ministry job, and all the baggage about her cultural heritage that she would leave internalized. it's understandable for this specific character, but the book didn't leave a whole lot of room for her to come to terms with her actions, while at the same time being written from a very specific hindsight POV (can't really say more without spoiling), so I found it difficult to find much sympathy for her.
however, the rest of the characters were great, especially Commander Graham Gore and Margaret, and the found family aspects of the story involving the time travelers acclimating (at first badly, then charmingly) to contemporary society drove my interest for much of the book.
overall, the narration style really worked for me, and I found the the unnamed protagonist well-characterized; the issue was that her flaws started taking over when it came to making big decisions (or small ones with big consequences), which made the meat of the story feel slightly unbearable after a certain point, especially when it came to her blinkers regarding her Ministry job, and all the baggage about her cultural heritage that she would leave internalized. it's understandable for this specific character, but the book didn't leave a whole lot of room for her to come to terms with her actions, while at the same time being written from a very specific hindsight POV (can't really say more without spoiling), so I found it difficult to find much sympathy for her.
however, the rest of the characters were great, especially Commander Graham Gore and Margaret, and the found family aspects of the story involving the time travelers acclimating (at first badly, then charmingly) to contemporary society drove my interest for much of the book.
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
4.25
this time period (mid-century America) is clearly Sebastian's comfort zone when it comes to historical settings; it feels like such a lived-in backdrop to these queer romances. I loved the stakes in this one—it touches on the tricky relationship between a reporter and his source, the calculus of safety and freedom that affects each protagonist's worldview, and the sacrifices and concessions they each have to make in order to maintain the important relationships in their lives.
it also hit another soft spot of mine—baseball—while also examining grief with devastating emotional clarity. Mark's friendship with the aging sportswriter was a pleasant surprise, and while some of the team dynamics felt a little too good to be true (mostly in Ardolino's characterization, although I was ultimately ok with the soft-focus approach to depicting a major league baseball team 10 years into integration in a romance book), I still enjoyed Eddie's journey to finding his place within this ragtag bunch.the late-night batting practice scene where Mark tags along was especially well-done, and the idea of the magazine profile as a form of love letter really landed for me.
it also hit another soft spot of mine—baseball—while also examining grief with devastating emotional clarity. Mark's friendship with the aging sportswriter was a pleasant surprise, and while some of the team dynamics felt a little too good to be true (mostly in Ardolino's characterization, although I was ultimately ok with the soft-focus approach to depicting a major league baseball team 10 years into integration in a romance book), I still enjoyed Eddie's journey to finding his place within this ragtag bunch.
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
much like my reading experience with A Magical Girl Retires, I could have used 100 more pages of this. I loved the world-building, the embedding of Slavic mythology in the underbelly of an urban setting (the way the main families sourced their energy, like a chain of funeral homes to harvest sadness? so good), and of course the Chicago-ness of it! the character work was slightly underdeveloped as a result of the length, though, and I'm not sure the romantic (or even platonic) dynamics were fully earned, so the emotional impact didn't quite land. I would definitely not object to more novellas in this universe.
Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
this was a slow and shattering read, not slow as in pacing but slow as in: the author wrote in a way that forced me to consider every single minute detail of his characters' lives. a story that's too specific to be allegory, yet universally devastating, featuring prose that's lovely and incisive and unsparing. the central characters—Old Second, Bao Mei, and Yan Hua—felt so real and ordinary, and that's what made this hurt so much, I think. their journeys to America were suffused with the immigrant dream, which is so indelibly tied up in survival, both material and spiritual, and anyone familiar with that specific struggle is gonna feel some kind of way when reading this. add to that the isolation of the pandemic years and the prejudice that came on its heels, and it's just big old emotional wallop.
I have so many thoughts about this book and they are unfortunately so scattered. in another world this could have been a nostalgia-soaked love letter to a specific time + place, but there's not a lot of romance in the way the Worker's Cinema was depicted; it was a ratty old movie theater in a small town, but it was what they had, and then it was destroyed, and lives were ruined, and everyone had to move forward in whichever way they can. in that way, over time, the nostalgia became a lament.
Yan Hua was an astonishing character to me simply because she spent the longest time grappling with her past actions, and did so in some pretty misguided ways, but she always stayed true to herself and never gave up, which I found admirable to a certain extent. Bao Mei had my favorite POV chapters, though, and I think the last section of the book really benefited from seeing the story—both past and present—through her eyes.
I have so many thoughts about this book and they are unfortunately so scattered. in another world this could have been a nostalgia-soaked love letter to a specific time + place, but there's not a lot of romance in the way the Worker's Cinema was depicted; it was a ratty old movie theater in a small town, but it was what they had, and then it was destroyed, and lives were ruined, and everyone had to move forward in whichever way they can. in that way, over time, the nostalgia became a lament.
Yan Hua was an astonishing character to me simply because she spent the longest time grappling with her past actions, and did so in some pretty misguided ways, but she always stayed true to herself and never gave up, which I found admirable to a certain extent. Bao Mei had my favorite POV chapters, though, and I think the last section of the book really benefited from seeing the story—both past and present—through her eyes.
Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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? No
4.5
it's difficult to summarize this book because it straddles several genres (psychological mystery, women-centered lit fic, food writing) in surprising ways, but that intersection actually resulted in a much more interesting and nuanced reading experience that I expected going in.
the setup of a career-driven journalist determined to profile an infamous murder suspect who plied her victims with lavish food had a pulpy appeal to me, and in execution it achieved a Hannibal-esque progression of manipulation games and obsession that bordered on psychosexual; Rika (the journalist) and Kajii (the suspect) represented opposite ends of the feminism spectrum and the way they affected—and were affected by—each other was a fascinating slow burn. a third character completed the sort-of-but-not-quite-romantic triangle: Reiko, Rika's best friend from her school days, who was trapped in her own complicated marriage. there were undertones of Rika and Reiko's devotion to each other that could be read as sapphic, but even without the queer lens it's a complex and compelling look at the limits and dimensions of female friendship, offset by the relationships with the men (and other family members) in their lives, all of which were depicted in an equally nuanced way.
aside from the central mystery, which was less a typical crime investigation and more a philosophical reckoning with guilt and responsibility, there was also a delightful exploration of food (I'm absolutely planning to recreate some of the dishes in the book) and domesticity and found family (to me this was the most surprising and rewarding part of Rika's storyline), and the narrative was also deeply concerned with unpacking the many harmful side-effects of misogyny in modern Japan (including some pretty stark depictions of body shaming). at times, the book felt long and meandering, but overall it was worth the slow savor, like any good stew. I'm not sure if the original Japanese text read as lyrical, but there were some really beautiful lines and passages, for instance:
- "The grapeskins ruptured" to describe eyes filling with tears
- "To drink in a person in their entirety, to chew them up until there was nothing left of them—that was Kajii's mode of communication. It was maybe also her way of loving somebody—like peeling off a scab again and again to create a scar that would never go away."
the setup of a career-driven journalist determined to profile an infamous murder suspect who plied her victims with lavish food had a pulpy appeal to me, and in execution it achieved a Hannibal-esque progression of manipulation games and obsession that bordered on psychosexual; Rika (the journalist) and Kajii (the suspect) represented opposite ends of the feminism spectrum and the way they affected—and were affected by—each other was a fascinating slow burn. a third character completed the sort-of-but-not-quite-romantic triangle: Reiko, Rika's best friend from her school days, who was trapped in her own complicated marriage. there were undertones of Rika and Reiko's devotion to each other that could be read as sapphic, but even without the queer lens it's a complex and compelling look at the limits and dimensions of female friendship, offset by the relationships with the men (and other family members) in their lives, all of which were depicted in an equally nuanced way.
aside from the central mystery, which was less a typical crime investigation and more a philosophical reckoning with guilt and responsibility, there was also a delightful exploration of food (I'm absolutely planning to recreate some of the dishes in the book) and domesticity and found family (to me this was the most surprising and rewarding part of Rika's storyline), and the narrative was also deeply concerned with unpacking the many harmful side-effects of misogyny in modern Japan (including some pretty stark depictions of body shaming). at times, the book felt long and meandering, but overall it was worth the slow savor, like any good stew. I'm not sure if the original Japanese text read as lyrical, but there were some really beautiful lines and passages, for instance:
- "The grapeskins ruptured" to describe eyes filling with tears
- "To drink in a person in their entirety, to chew them up until there was nothing left of them—that was Kajii's mode of communication. It was maybe also her way of loving somebody—like peeling off a scab again and again to create a scar that would never go away."
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-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? N/A
4.0
this was a big-hearted YA novel where friendship is treated as the ultimate form of love, hell yes. I'm well past my YA days, but the aroace rep is so important and I'm glad this exists. I loved that the main characters were imperfect in a truly Young Adult kind of way—both had selfish, stubborn, or ungenerous moments—but the friendship that developed made them both better people. I do think it might have benefitted from less specificity in the setting; I get that it's the author's love letter to Wellesley, but I think the details overwhelmed the universality of the messaging at certain parts.
A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
based on the description, concept, and cover art, I had monumentally high hopes for this book, and it was both more and less than I thought it would be. I loved the protagonist's narrative voice, which reflected her relatability as a depressed millennial suffering from crushing debt and a bleak future. her emotional arc worked for me, for the most part, as it was handled with empathy but never felt too bleak or precious. but let's be real: I needed about twice as much world-building, because the premise was so rich for exploration! I wanted to know more about how the magical girls fit into normie society, the workings of the union, the legal and economic impact of their actions (Hench-pilled on this one, perhaps), and all that fun stuff. also, I wanted much more of Roa's presence, more buildup with Mirae, more of the aftermath, just more! this could have been 100 pages longer and I would have eaten it up.