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effingunicorns's reviews
373 reviews
Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse
4.0
This book is very much about moving pieces around and revealing things: political machinations that clarify or confirm prior events and chart a course for the last part of the trilogy, and assorted lore which I imagine (hope) will be relevant in the finale, because it's really fucking cool. Sadly, I must wait until summer to find out, but I'll be there with bells on.
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
I came into this tentative but committed, wanting to catch up on yet another trilogy concluding in the first half of the year because I thought the final book sounded awesome but immediately running up against a story that, clear cultural differences aside, does read like a pretty normal high fantasy. I don't inherently object to the sub-genre, but it's not one I'm used to these days, so I had to adjust. On top of that, one of the protagonists soon proves to be in a real tooth-gnasher of a situation, making decisions time and again that left me begging for just a glimmer of situational awareness, for just one moment of "no, sorry, I don't fucking trust you".
Fortunately, I persevered. Partially, of course, this was because I was still so hopeful about that third book. Partially, though, the more I read, the more it felt like the storyline I was struggling with was one that had to unfold somehow, and the more obvious it became just how limited those somehows were. And then things finally came to a head, that third storyline dripping with irony, and now I'm ready to start the second book this weekend in full sickos.jpg mode.
Fortunately, I persevered. Partially, of course, this was because I was still so hopeful about that third book. Partially, though, the more I read, the more it felt like the storyline I was struggling with was one that had to unfold somehow, and the more obvious it became just how limited those somehows were. And then things finally came to a head, that third storyline dripping with irony, and now I'm ready to start the second book this weekend in full sickos.jpg mode.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter
4.0
Whoever wrote the summary for this book needs to get off of BookTok, because the expectations I went in with were wildly misinformed. What you might think this book is about, based on the summary, cover, and available digital sample text: a young woman caught between the twin points of family drama and some manner of entanglement with mermaids, probably inherently connected, and all centered around the family's ancestral coastal home. Maybe like What Big Teeth, except with more marriage plots and fewer werewolves. What the book is actually about: the main character dodges all of that stuff early on to go traipsing into the countryside through a series of fairy tales and folklore, gets entangled in a whole other set of family drama, and finally addresses the issues she entered the story on almost as an afterthought.
It's not by any means a bad book--I love fairy tale bullshit, so I would've gone for it either way--but it's very much a different beast from what the available information would indicate, and I think people should be aware of that.
It's not by any means a bad book--I love fairy tale bullshit, so I would've gone for it either way--but it's very much a different beast from what the available information would indicate, and I think people should be aware of that.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Incest, and Domestic abuse
Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones
4.75
There was a lot more going on this book, which inevitably got harder to track towards the end, but otherwise it's another good one. Lots of trauma, lots of ways of dealing with it, some of them bloodier or more posthumous than others, and I was genuinely excited to see a couple recent horror movies I've actually seen get integrated into the story. (My education in this genre is sadly a little shallower than that of the various horror aficionados in the cast, but we can't all be them, now, can we?)
Based on events so far and what I know so far about the finale, I've got some suspicions about how things might go, but we'll have to wait two more months to see.
Based on events so far and what I know so far about the finale, I've got some suspicions about how things might go, but we'll have to wait two more months to see.
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
The first and most important thing about this book, at least for me, is how clearly Jade exists as a bridge between the girls I knew growing up and the girl I was. My issues and the specifics of how I dealt with them were different, but I recognize the struggle to communicate in any meaningful way, the use of a less popular form of pop culture to try and paper over the holes, feeling on some level like at least some of my teachers understood me better than my own friends or family.
As for the rest of the story, it was fun and genuinely delightful to have a POV character genre-savvy enough to be calling out the story beats even as they were happening, but not quite genre-savvy enough (or her awareness too skewed by the trauma she was avoiding) to recognize her real place in it. It was incredibly relatable--but also incredibly frustrating--to watch her spin her wheels late in the story, trying to fit the escalating events into the version of the story she'd already decided it was, racing to figure it all out before the big reveal only to realize it was an option she'd abandoned ages ago. It was a necessary part of her final girl metamorphosis, though, so ultimately I can't bring myself to make any deductions for it.
I am, of course, diving right into the sequel within the next day or two, and the conclusion in March already sounds like it's gonna be phenomenal 👀
dark
hopeful
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
As for the rest of the story, it was fun and genuinely delightful to have a POV character genre-savvy enough to be calling out the story beats even as they were happening, but not quite genre-savvy enough (or her awareness too skewed by the trauma she was avoiding) to recognize her real place in it. It was incredibly relatable--but also incredibly frustrating--to watch her spin her wheels late in the story, trying to fit the escalating events into the version of the story she'd already decided it was, racing to figure it all out before the big reveal only to realize it was an option she'd abandoned ages ago. It was a necessary part of her final girl metamorphosis, though, so ultimately I can't bring myself to make any deductions for it.
I am, of course, diving right into the sequel within the next day or two, and the conclusion in March already sounds like it's gonna be phenomenal 👀
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Incest
The Husky & His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 4 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
I love myself too much and have too many actual good books to read to waste more time on a series so blatantly built on dragging things out as long as possible. Congrats to those of you who have the patience for it! I'll be over here with the series that quantifiably change from one installment to the next!
Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror by Garth Nix, Josh Malerman, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu
4.5
Okay, first of all, whoever's in charge of organizing book entries around here needs to get their shit together, because there's something like half a dozen digital editions listed, each with their own incorrect number of pages and no ID number at all to tell you which is most useful.
The book itself is utterly delightful--if you're a big nerd like me, there's a nice combination of popular and obscure folklore to roll around in, plus a bunch of stories putting old classics in new situations or just making the monsters up whole cloth. There's no Krampus here, but that feels like a good choice: everybody knows about him now, but who knows about the schnabelperchten? Even the stories that felt weaker to me (I can only really think of one off-hand, but I don't want to single it out) were technically pretty solid, which was refreshing given some of the things I've read over the years. Wish I'd finished it a little sooner, to end 2023 with a bang, but I sure can't complain about it being my first book of 2024.
The book itself is utterly delightful--if you're a big nerd like me, there's a nice combination of popular and obscure folklore to roll around in, plus a bunch of stories putting old classics in new situations or just making the monsters up whole cloth. There's no Krampus here, but that feels like a good choice: everybody knows about him now, but who knows about the schnabelperchten? Even the stories that felt weaker to me (I can only really think of one off-hand, but I don't want to single it out) were technically pretty solid, which was refreshing given some of the things I've read over the years. Wish I'd finished it a little sooner, to end 2023 with a bang, but I sure can't complain about it being my first book of 2024.
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
If vaccines actually caused autism, the people who think the stories in this collection qualify as horror wouldn't last a week. Like, even reading The Lottery itself for me is just, "Ah, yes, an arcane set of rules which seems horrific and arbitrary to the observer but perfectly natural to the people taking part. Must be a day ending in Y!" Which isn't to say it's a bad collection! Jackson still has all those sharp little details and only ever seems to linger on things if it's to really drive home how bad the awkwardness and confusion can get, so I'm probably going to recommend it to people on that basis if it ever comes up, but I genuinely feel like this is just some basic-ass literary fiction rather than horror.
The Husky & His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 3 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
2.5
Somewhere along the line I seem to have gotten it into my head that this series would be more serious than Scum Villain. Somehow that delusion survived past last volume's spontaneous de-aging arc! I think I've finally come to terms with that idea, but the reality feels more like the kind of gratuitous, overwrought angst fic where every choice and plot development is written for the suffering it causes the characters rather than because it makes sense on any level. The tone is uneven at best, and if there weren't only one volume left I'd probably look up spoilers to confirm my suspicions about the real villain and then bounce. I was an optimistic dumbass and assumed the series was shorter than it actually is based on translation publishing dates!!! Argh!!!
There is a good story in here about how monsters are made and redeemed and who deserves those second chances, but good god does it need polishing.
There is a good story in here about how monsters are made and redeemed and who deserves those second chances, but good god does it need polishing.