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effingunicorns's reviews
397 reviews
The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter, Vol. 5 by Yatsuki Wakatsu
4.0
Gosh it's nice to read a story where people go along with the smart, sensible ideas.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
I forgot how goddamn frustrating this book was with its lack of certain specific answers. I'm also less tolerant than I once was for stories where it feels like there was no point to anything. The writing was still pretty solid, though.
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
4.25
Has a much better grasp of fae menace than some books I've read.
Hellblazer (1988), Volume 2 by Jamie Delano
3.5
This volume is really all over the place story-wise, a bunch of shorter stories grouped together like they don't fit anywhere else, but even as disjointed as it is I apparently liked it well enough.
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
3.5
The major obstacles to me finishing this in a timely fashion were a bunch of shit happening IRL at the end of October and beginning of November (in addition to the god-awful election) and Chapter 13 being an entire fucking novella.
Anyway, there's a solid air of mystery even if you already have a general idea of how things play out from either or both movie adaptations, and some equally solid tension in waiting for the bad things to happen. The glimpses of the human darkness that make Salem's Lot a prime target for Barlow feel almost mundane in how recognizably horrible they are--especially when we finally saw the bus driver again, and that one I admit was satisfying. I think otherwise the main points of interest for me are how wild it was to discover Barlow in the book is more Dracula than Nosferatu, and seeing how the various events played out when not condensed for runtime.
I do feel like the whole "let's look at the whole town" thing stretched coverage of individual characters a little thinner than I would've liked, and the whole Hubie Marsten thing in particular felt underutilized, but overall there are far worse things you could read for spooky season (extended).
Anyway, there's a solid air of mystery even if you already have a general idea of how things play out from either or both movie adaptations, and some equally solid tension in waiting for the bad things to happen. The glimpses of the human darkness that make Salem's Lot a prime target for Barlow feel almost mundane in how recognizably horrible they are--especially when we finally saw the bus driver again, and that one I admit was satisfying. I think otherwise the main points of interest for me are how wild it was to discover Barlow in the book is more Dracula than Nosferatu, and seeing how the various events played out when not condensed for runtime.
I do feel like the whole "let's look at the whole town" thing stretched coverage of individual characters a little thinner than I would've liked, and the whole Hubie Marsten thing in particular felt underutilized, but overall there are far worse things you could read for spooky season (extended).
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
3.75
On the technical end, the writing was great, lots of highly skilled authors showing their chops. On the satisfaction end... well, some stories were great, again, and then some stories reminded me of why I didn't gel with the Shirley Jackson short story collection: you can't scare a crazy person with stories of unaddressed craziness. There were some great monster stories, though, so over all I'd still recommend this to anyone who's in the mood for a wide-ranging horror anthology or looking to sample a lot of Native American authors in a short time frame.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail
The Book of Witches by Jonathan Strahan
medium-paced
3.5
This is generally a pretty solid collection, with stories ranging from a multicultural sampling of classic storybook witches to critical examinations of gender roles and who gets to be called/is forced into the role of a witch. There's also Wicca-flavored bullshit and one author who's recently outed herself as a transphobe! These problems are only a sliver of the total work, though, so I'd recommend picking it up anyway if you want a sampler of a lot of promising current names in spec lit.
I Got Reincarnated in a (BL) World of Big (Man) Boobs, Volume 1 by Tsukiji Nao
funny
4.0
I have no excuses.
I Got Reincarnated in a (BL) World of Big (Man) Boobs, Volume 2 by Tsukiji Nao
funny
4.0
Constantly getting called out by a fucking manga, but I don't care because I want Onizuka to get his man...
I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
Honestly I spent a not-insignificant part of this book thinking about how this would make an awesome backstory for a superhero who never makes it higher than second string because his power's too creepy and tragic, so I was too attached to really accept the inevitability of Tolly's death. That being said! I appreciated the big switcheroos of Amber being the final girl rather than Mel and peanuts being Tolly's weakness even after he became a slasher. Both points were obvious, but in that really satisfying way a good story gets where the payoff makes you feel clever and/or attentive.
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0