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estroniaid's reviews
18 reviews
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
This doesn't feel like a book you can simplify to a star rating, so I'll leave that blank.
Spiegelman does a great job, honestly and unbiased, telling his father's and many others' stories. Glad to have read it.
Spiegelman does a great job, honestly and unbiased, telling his father's and many others' stories. Glad to have read it.
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Our Wives Under the Sea is a lovely short story (just under 200 pages) about loss, grief, the impending doom that is time and some delicious eldritch horror thrown in to season.
It wouldn’t want to be any longer, the slow building terror was on the verge of getting grating, but I liked it. There was a comment here and there about a character dubbed ‘the loud bisexual’, though it was challenged…. question mark? (the character challenging it had been defined as overly kind, so it felt weak).
The way the main narrator (Miri) and the book treated this ‘loud bisexual’ brought the book down for me. It would’ve been a strong read and not left me screwing my face up. I don’t want it to sound like I’m reaching, pulling for something to dislike, it just felt like the comments came out of left field. The main narrator isn’t the nicest person, sure, however, the book itself seemed to be making fun of this woman.
The constant grip that grief and time never stopping left me tender and maybe a little weepy. You don’t know. You could feel it in every choice (or non-choice) the main narrator made to ignore or subvert whatever was coming, and in the end...
The end! The ending felt complete, I felt like I’d seen a character break and break some more. It felt cathartic. You could see it coming, but in my opinion that never lessens a story. Especially when its main narrative is that no matter how hard you try to stop it, time will keep going without you.
It wouldn’t want to be any longer, the slow building terror was on the verge of getting grating, but I liked it. There was a comment here and there about a character dubbed ‘the loud bisexual’, though it was challenged…. question mark? (the character challenging it had been defined as overly kind, so it felt weak).
The way the main narrator (Miri) and the book treated this ‘loud bisexual’ brought the book down for me. It would’ve been a strong read and not left me screwing my face up. I don’t want it to sound like I’m reaching, pulling for something to dislike, it just felt like the comments came out of left field. The main narrator isn’t the nicest person, sure, however, the book itself seemed to be making fun of this woman.
The constant grip that grief and time never stopping left me tender and maybe a little weepy. You don’t know. You could feel it in every choice (or non-choice) the main narrator made to ignore or subvert whatever was coming, and in the end...
The end! The ending felt complete, I felt like I’d seen a character break and break some more. It felt cathartic. You could see it coming, but in my opinion that never lessens a story. Especially when its main narrative is that no matter how hard you try to stop it, time will keep going without you.
The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
Through a random act of luck, I won't be reading this.
A friend showed me a post discussing this racist book by this racist author.
How it is filled with black and brown characters, in power, who oppress the poor white characters/protagonist? My jaw is on the floor.
I'm sure other reviews, of the over a hundred one (1) stars, there is a better written and more concrete understanding of what happens in this festering pit, read through those if you need 'evidence'.
Don't give this author money, if you must hate-read it, 🏴☠️ it.
This is 'save the pearls' level of bullshit (google it).
But of course, where are my manners, this kind of media wouldn't be possible without the white queer readers ignoring (or supporting) this in favour of their sweet gay babies, bravo .
A friend showed me a post discussing this racist book by this racist author.
How it is filled with black and brown characters, in power, who oppress the poor white characters/protagonist? My jaw is on the floor.
I'm sure other reviews, of the over a hundred one (1) stars, there is a better written and more concrete understanding of what happens in this festering pit, read through those if you need 'evidence'.
Don't give this author money, if you must hate-read it, 🏴☠️ it.
This is 'save the pearls' level of bullshit (google it).
But of course, where are my manners, this kind of media wouldn't be possible without the white queer readers ignoring (or supporting) this in favour of their sweet gay babies, bravo .
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
there's so many more examples but they all made me want to crawl out of my skin.
the synopsis spoiled what the entire first arch was about so the first hour of reading was just a longer synopsis which didn't help with enjoying it right off the cuff.
this books 'feminism' is immature and lacking. zetian does not befriend another woman for majority of the book. other women are either idiots, cruel or some other kind of negative connotation.
the protagonist is always right even if she's wrong. she has character growth worth a net zero throughout the whole book. zhao- sorry i meant zetian is a walking mouthpiece for the author, nothing in the story was described it was told to us. the men suck, wait no, they used 'males'. males suck, they're evil repeated over and over for over 300 pages. we got it i promise. she has little personality beyond her original 'get revenge grr grr.'
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
iron widow was a weirdly uncomfortable historical fanfiction that i couldn't finish and got haunted by it through my friend whom i buddy read with.
the writing was ok if bland, just felt like fanfiction from a list of the authors interests with nothing creative to really distance itself from it. their personal site mentions they're a fan of yugioh, yeah, we can tell. the gender conversation in the beginning was so hamfisted i remember laughing, it was all i could do.
the dialogue made me cringe more often than not, very immature and juvenile.
the writing was ok if bland, just felt like fanfiction from a list of the authors interests with nothing creative to really distance itself from it. their personal site mentions they're a fan of yugioh, yeah, we can tell. the gender conversation in the beginning was so hamfisted i remember laughing, it was all i could do.
the dialogue made me cringe more often than not, very immature and juvenile.
“You’ve been living a dream for long enough!” I yell at the cameras
between bursts of maniacal laughter, raising my arms. “Welcome to your
nightmare!”
“Yeah, nothing Heroic about it.” Sima Yi rolls his eyes. “It’s more like
a...Villainous Form.”
“Sweetie, you are in no position to
make demands. You should be thanking your ancestors that we’re keeping
you alive at all.”
“Yeah, we’re not the ones who want you dead, you unhinged bitch!”
there's so many more examples but they all made me want to crawl out of my skin.
the synopsis spoiled what the entire first arch was about so the first hour of reading was just a longer synopsis which didn't help with enjoying it right off the cuff.
this books 'feminism' is immature and lacking. zetian does not befriend another woman for majority of the book. other women are either idiots, cruel or some other kind of negative connotation.
the protagonist is always right even if she's wrong. she has character growth worth a net zero throughout the whole book. zhao- sorry i meant zetian is a walking mouthpiece for the author, nothing in the story was described it was told to us. the men suck, wait no, they used 'males'. males suck, they're evil repeated over and over for over 300 pages. we got it i promise. she has little personality beyond her original 'get revenge grr grr.'
the treatment of the rongdi is uncomfortable, especially when the real derogatory word, róngdí, used for non-han peoples, often demoting them as 'barbarians'. therefore i will be spelling it correctly with the accent marks.
蛮夷 蠻夷 (Chinese) trad. 蠻夷, simpl. 蛮夷 Pronunciation Mandarin: mányí Noun 蠻夷 (historical, derogatory) The non-Han ethnic groups living in modern-day.
and,
'róngdí.... denoting "non-Chinese; foreigners; barbarians." Hieroglyphics refer to these groups all have a section for indicating "animal/insect". Nowadays, Chinese characters have omitted this symbolic section, so the Chinese characters quoted above only have the "dog symbol" 犭 in the word Dí 狄.'
which is incredibly weird when we are then introduced to the only half-róngdí character in a dog muzzle...
I don’t know what’s more terrifying
—the dark steel muzzle clamped around much of his face,.... (pg. 94)
are you serious?
speaking of him, Li Shimin deserves far better than whatever this story is giving him. the narrative objectifies him, treats him like shit, his character is torture porn through and through; brutalised, tortured, forced into drugs and organ trading, treated inhumanely (the other LI even tugs on his 'leash' and its treated as a positive moment.....). him being half- róngdí is used so weirdly....like the protagonist is written to think of him like this,
speaking of him, Li Shimin deserves far better than whatever this story is giving him. the narrative objectifies him, treats him like shit, his character is torture porn through and through; brutalised, tortured, forced into drugs and organ trading, treated inhumanely (the other LI even tugs on his 'leash' and its treated as a positive moment.....). him being half- róngdí is used so weirdly....like the protagonist is written to think of him like this,
It’s receiving nothing but a jumble of conflicting cues. Han versus Rongdi.
Danger versus docility. Drunkard criminal versus invincible pilot. Iron
Demon versus human boy.
versus? why is the next thing to come along danger or docility? this is all i could keep asking myself as i trudged through this. why why why.
on the topic of róngdí, the second and only róngdí woman is writtenly equally horribly. an insulting stereotype, her family is a bunch of cheats, liars and addicts take advantage of her financially. given these are the only róngdí in the entire book, and series (as of now) it sure isn't the kindest of representations.
lastly, a personal issue: the protagonist is meant to be 'chubby' or 'thick' (you can say fat its ok), in some way. in the book she's described as not 'thin' and yet the all the art the author commissions is thin as thin can be. nice work.
on the topic of róngdí, the second and only róngdí woman is writtenly equally horribly. an insulting stereotype, her family is a bunch of cheats, liars and addicts take advantage of her financially. given these are the only róngdí in the entire book, and series (as of now) it sure isn't the kindest of representations.
lastly, a personal issue: the protagonist is meant to be 'chubby' or 'thick' (you can say fat its ok), in some way. in the book she's described as not 'thin' and yet the all the art the author commissions is thin as thin can be. nice work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Peta Lyre's Rating Normal by Anna Whateley
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
it was an entertaining read, i enjoyed it while it didn't blow me out of the water. you get what it says on the can type deal.
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
1.0
I’m so uncomfortable and full of rage I don’t know what to say except: I really, Really didn’t like this book.
Most of my issues are spoiler territory but in my opinion that shouldn’t matter since this is so...gross? Gross is the only term I can think of, for this sludge. Non-spoiler issues is that I couldn’t get into the writing style and tempo it was too slow while never saying enough, i was confused a lot, had to re-read scenes. Also a lot of the emotional scenes fell flat for me, it just felt So bland. The character development felt surface level at best and I hardly remember any of the characters even though I just finished the book, they’re all rather forgettable except a few, characters reminiscing about ones that died or whatever and I didn’t remember a few of them like oof, and even then their personalities are like stale white bread.
Spoiler sections are...okay, for a book about women’s rights it likes to throw that around loosely and give praise to bare minimum bullshit, and for a book that’s YA I personally find that an issue.
Not saying teens are weak-minded and will follow what anything says, just that information finds a way to bury its way in.
The protagonist ‘falling in love’ with a poacher, a man who hunts— hunts, skins, tortures, you name it!— grace year girls was abhorrent. It was vile! ‘Oh but he Has to to feed his family’ ‘but he himself hasn’t killed one yet :(‘ I don’t care! I don’t care! He’s still okay with it, he never outright says it’s wrong he just gets a bit huffy when his pal gets grumpy with the MC and I—?? I don’t understand. I truly don’t.
And the humanising of poachers: MEN WHO HUNT AND TORTURE TEENAGE GIRLS. Was so, so gross.
They call the girls’ its! And MC is still like yes, this is what a want. they talk about getting married and they’re what? 16-17? Well, the MC is I don’t know about Riker (what a YA sounding name too, i nearly wrote Skyler lmao.
MC just saying fuck it and go run away with her new boy-toy when a) her little sisters would then be banished who would than b) on their first bleed be forced into sex work. We love caring about our family :). Also abandoning the drugged and poisoned girls. Also wild for rikerskyler to be all ‘my dad abandoned us’ but the second he got laid boy was packing his bags.
Also his death, no wonder he had such little personality and only existed in the last quarter of the book, he was just a plot point!
the MC getting pregnant I....hated that. She’s a baby, I don’t care what time or whatever it’s set in—she’s a child and she’s just like :) this is fine. The romance was not needed and if the author had to put some in a wlw relationship would’ve added more to the plot and made more sense.
Micheal can eat sand. He was annoying, never listened to the MC’s wishes, was ‘actually a good guy~’ (even though the MC specified multiple times that she was scared of him...), whiny and written like he pissed liquid gold.
I’m tired, it’s 4am and I haven’t slept so this is probably incoherent. The book was bad, the message left a bad taste in my mouth, not worth the read. Thank you, goodbye.
Most of my issues are spoiler territory but in my opinion that shouldn’t matter since this is so...gross? Gross is the only term I can think of, for this sludge. Non-spoiler issues is that I couldn’t get into the writing style and tempo it was too slow while never saying enough, i was confused a lot, had to re-read scenes. Also a lot of the emotional scenes fell flat for me, it just felt So bland. The character development felt surface level at best and I hardly remember any of the characters even though I just finished the book, they’re all rather forgettable except a few, characters reminiscing about ones that died or whatever and I didn’t remember a few of them like oof, and even then their personalities are like stale white bread.
Spoiler sections are...okay, for a book about women’s rights it likes to throw that around loosely and give praise to bare minimum bullshit, and for a book that’s YA I personally find that an issue.
Not saying teens are weak-minded and will follow what anything says, just that information finds a way to bury its way in.
The protagonist ‘falling in love’ with a poacher, a man who hunts— hunts, skins, tortures, you name it!— grace year girls was abhorrent. It was vile! ‘Oh but he Has to to feed his family’ ‘but he himself hasn’t killed one yet :(‘ I don’t care! I don’t care! He’s still okay with it, he never outright says it’s wrong he just gets a bit huffy when his pal gets grumpy with the MC and I—?? I don’t understand. I truly don’t.
And the humanising of poachers: MEN WHO HUNT AND TORTURE TEENAGE GIRLS. Was so, so gross.
They call the girls’ its! And MC is still like yes, this is what a want. they talk about getting married and they’re what? 16-17? Well, the MC is I don’t know about Riker (what a YA sounding name too, i nearly wrote Skyler lmao.
MC just saying fuck it and go run away with her new boy-toy when a) her little sisters would then be banished who would than b) on their first bleed be forced into sex work. We love caring about our family :). Also abandoning the drugged and poisoned girls. Also wild for rikerskyler to be all ‘my dad abandoned us’ but the second he got laid boy was packing his bags.
Also his death, no wonder he had such little personality and only existed in the last quarter of the book, he was just a plot point!
the MC getting pregnant I....hated that. She’s a baby, I don’t care what time or whatever it’s set in—she’s a child and she’s just like :) this is fine. The romance was not needed and if the author had to put some in a wlw relationship would’ve added more to the plot and made more sense.
Micheal can eat sand. He was annoying, never listened to the MC’s wishes, was ‘actually a good guy~’ (even though the MC specified multiple times that she was scared of him...), whiny and written like he pissed liquid gold.
I’m tired, it’s 4am and I haven’t slept so this is probably incoherent. The book was bad, the message left a bad taste in my mouth, not worth the read. Thank you, goodbye.