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goblinhearted's reviews
76 reviews
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
The novel has been described as "Lolita, but from the perspective of a woman," but that feels a bit reductive. Lolita is in fact frequently referenced within the book, becoming a point of connection between the protagonist and her abuser, but My Dark Vanessa stands on its own in terms of its depth and exploration of trauma.
What makes this story especially nuanced is how the protagonist reflects on the relationship as an adult, especially when her former teacher is accused by other students of similar abuse. She struggles to reconcile her past, unsure of how to feel about what happened since she never explicitly tried to end the relationship. This adds a lot of complexity to the story, making it a powerful look at power, manipulation, and self-identity.
This one could be an emotional experience to read, especially for those who have lived through similar experiences.
4.0
My Dark Vanessa is an uncomfortable read–a harrowing but realistic portrayal of grooming and abuse between a high school teacher and his student. The way the novel portrays dissociation and the emotional aftermath of abuse is incredibly vivid and honest, making it hard to look away even when it’s painful. While difficult to read, the discomfort is a testament to how authentically the story captures these traumatic experiences.
“What I want depends on what he wants.”
The novel has been described as "Lolita, but from the perspective of a woman," but that feels a bit reductive. Lolita is in fact frequently referenced within the book, becoming a point of connection between the protagonist and her abuser, but My Dark Vanessa stands on its own in terms of its depth and exploration of trauma.
"Sometimes I marvel at how easily I deceive people, doing it without even trying."
What makes this story especially nuanced is how the protagonist reflects on the relationship as an adult, especially when her former teacher is accused by other students of similar abuse. She struggles to reconcile her past, unsure of how to feel about what happened since she never explicitly tried to end the relationship. This adds a lot of complexity to the story, making it a powerful look at power, manipulation, and self-identity.
This one could be an emotional experience to read, especially for those who have lived through similar experiences.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
4.0
Attempting a synopsis of this book is a little bit of a mindbend. At least 50% of what happens would be a spoiler to mention it here.
Essentially: two members of a "family" of thieves embark on a plot to gain an inheritance from an extremely wealthy estate. The plan is created by a man called “Gentleman”. His plan is for protagonist Sue to pose as a maid for Maud, a woman who is to inherit her uncle’s fortune - only upon marrying. Meanwhile, Gentleman will be the one Maud marries. As the plan unfolds, things aren’t quite that easy - nothing is as it seems and things get unhinged.
(Also anyone who knows Sarah Waters knows there will be lesbians which is all I really need out of life.)
This was a rare occurrence where I watched the movie, The Handmaiden (2016), first and liked it so much that I wanted to read the book.
I can’t tell if I am pleased or disappointed that I found the book to be nearly identical to the movie. I was certainly surprised! It’s not completely the same, but in a lot of ways it felt very similar to watching it, except for the first and last few chapters (and the setting/nationality of the characters, who in the book are English). For that reason, it feels a little unfair to write a book review on this, since I was essentially "spoiled" from the start.
I loved the movie, and therefore I very much enjoyed the book. Perhaps I felt a little antsy because I hadn’t watched the movie all that long ago (maybe a few months tops?) and so I was waiting for something new and different to happen - which I think is pretty reasonable for novels that were adapted into movies. To my surprise, it was quite similar.
The ending is the main place where things diverge, and to my shock and surprise, I could see why the ending was changed for the movie - and I preferred it. This feels like a personal defeat, lol.
That said, I would still recommend the movie and the book (although not together, or at least spaced apart by a few years) to anyone who will listen.
Essentially: two members of a "family" of thieves embark on a plot to gain an inheritance from an extremely wealthy estate. The plan is created by a man called “Gentleman”. His plan is for protagonist Sue to pose as a maid for Maud, a woman who is to inherit her uncle’s fortune - only upon marrying. Meanwhile, Gentleman will be the one Maud marries. As the plan unfolds, things aren’t quite that easy - nothing is as it seems and things get unhinged.
(Also anyone who knows Sarah Waters knows there will be lesbians which is all I really need out of life.)
This was a rare occurrence where I watched the movie, The Handmaiden (2016), first and liked it so much that I wanted to read the book.
I can’t tell if I am pleased or disappointed that I found the book to be nearly identical to the movie. I was certainly surprised! It’s not completely the same, but in a lot of ways it felt very similar to watching it, except for the first and last few chapters (and the setting/nationality of the characters, who in the book are English). For that reason, it feels a little unfair to write a book review on this, since I was essentially "spoiled" from the start.
I loved the movie, and therefore I very much enjoyed the book. Perhaps I felt a little antsy because I hadn’t watched the movie all that long ago (maybe a few months tops?) and so I was waiting for something new and different to happen - which I think is pretty reasonable for novels that were adapted into movies. To my surprise, it was quite similar.
The ending is the main place where things diverge, and to my shock and surprise, I could see why the ending was changed for the movie - and I preferred it. This feels like a personal defeat, lol.
That said, I would still recommend the movie and the book (although not together, or at least spaced apart by a few years) to anyone who will listen.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
2.0
Despite my love of dystopian fiction, this book fell completely flat for me. I was completely disappointed by how simply boring this was. It pains me just to recover the plot in my memory so I can write about it here.
I love character-driven novels. I have been known to enjoy books that are slow paced and where “nothing really happens”. I don’t require characters to be ‘likeable’. Despite all of this, I just did not enjoy this book.
Part of it was definitely the narration style. I did not enjoy Kathy’s voice or her tendency of explaining things. I felt tired listening to her recount experiences from her youth. In retrospect, I’m fairly confident that it’s not even the premise/concept that felt off to me. It was simply Kathy. I can do unlikeable characters, even unlikeable protagonists, but being locked into first person with such a dry, rambling perspective felt like jail.
Initially I rated this with 3 stars but I actually demoted it to 2 because I disliked it that much.
I love character-driven novels. I have been known to enjoy books that are slow paced and where “nothing really happens”. I don’t require characters to be ‘likeable’. Despite all of this, I just did not enjoy this book.
Part of it was definitely the narration style. I did not enjoy Kathy’s voice or her tendency of explaining things. I felt tired listening to her recount experiences from her youth. In retrospect, I’m fairly confident that it’s not even the premise/concept that felt off to me. It was simply Kathy. I can do unlikeable characters, even unlikeable protagonists, but being locked into first person with such a dry, rambling perspective felt like jail.
Initially I rated this with 3 stars but I actually demoted it to 2 because I disliked it that much.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.
There was just something I didn't like about this book. Somewhere between the writing style, the general concept, and how vague the time period is made this seem strange and unrealistic - like it was going for otherworldliness, maybe spookiness, but this missed the mark for me. I just couldn't bring myself to really care about the story. I'm of the mind that reading a book is more about the journey than it is about the destination, and the journey was just not enjoyable to me.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
2.0
My disclaimer is that I haven’t read a ton of traditional science fiction and I have a very strong inkling that my issues with this book are not entirely limited specifically to this book, but symptoms of larger problems in the sci-fi genre in general.
The writing style was not my cup of tea at all. I’ve seen it mentioned that the book was originally written in Chinese, and then translated into English. Many wonder if perhaps it’s a poor translation effort - which I think would be fair - but after reading more of it and looking into this issue more deeply, I’ve found confirmation from native-Chinese speakers that it’s not a translation problem. But I was determined to look past this. I try not to be a “reading-snob”.
A frighteningly large portion of this novel consists of what I call “science-dumping”: long paragraphs - pages, even, explaining complicated scientific phenomena that one assumes is meant to flesh out the concepts being explored in the story. In this book, these parts to me seem gratuitous and unnecessary and do little more than act as a flex for the author to show off their highly advanced scientific knowledge. It’s funny because right before this, I read The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, and the protagonist of that book was also a physicist and there were moderate pockets of science-dumping there, but I didn’t get the same impression from it. Also years ago I read The Martian by Andy Weir and I distinctly remember the sense of getting dumped-on with science and I enjoyed it a ton. I can’t completely articulate what fell short about the execution of it in this story, perhaps other than the fact that it was non-stop and difficult to follow.
The dialogue, in some places more than others, read like a poorly-written low-budget action movie. Reading these parts completely pulled me out of the flow of the story and made me think “... really?”
There’s also a lot of overexplaining. A character does an action, and then the narrative explains why that action is not suspicious/weird/out-of-character. This happened quite a lot, and I felt like it detracted overall from the reading experience.
At critical moments, when two characters would argue back and forth about their ideology, the combination of the lack of dialogue tags and the sense that both characters would speak with the exact same tone and voice would make it extremely difficult to follow who was saying what.
Overall, the experience reading it was very frustrating. I mostly just wanted it to end. I really wanted to like this!
The writing style was not my cup of tea at all. I’ve seen it mentioned that the book was originally written in Chinese, and then translated into English. Many wonder if perhaps it’s a poor translation effort - which I think would be fair - but after reading more of it and looking into this issue more deeply, I’ve found confirmation from native-Chinese speakers that it’s not a translation problem. But I was determined to look past this. I try not to be a “reading-snob”.
A frighteningly large portion of this novel consists of what I call “science-dumping”: long paragraphs - pages, even, explaining complicated scientific phenomena that one assumes is meant to flesh out the concepts being explored in the story. In this book, these parts to me seem gratuitous and unnecessary and do little more than act as a flex for the author to show off their highly advanced scientific knowledge. It’s funny because right before this, I read The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, and the protagonist of that book was also a physicist and there were moderate pockets of science-dumping there, but I didn’t get the same impression from it. Also years ago I read The Martian by Andy Weir and I distinctly remember the sense of getting dumped-on with science and I enjoyed it a ton. I can’t completely articulate what fell short about the execution of it in this story, perhaps other than the fact that it was non-stop and difficult to follow.
The dialogue, in some places more than others, read like a poorly-written low-budget action movie. Reading these parts completely pulled me out of the flow of the story and made me think “... really?”
There’s also a lot of overexplaining. A character does an action, and then the narrative explains why that action is not suspicious/weird/out-of-character. This happened quite a lot, and I felt like it detracted overall from the reading experience.
At critical moments, when two characters would argue back and forth about their ideology, the combination of the lack of dialogue tags and the sense that both characters would speak with the exact same tone and voice would make it extremely difficult to follow who was saying what.
Overall, the experience reading it was very frustrating. I mostly just wanted it to end. I really wanted to like this!
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.5
This was my first Le Guin novel, and it has lit a fire beneath me to read all of her other work.
I went in blind, not knowing much about this book aside from the “weird gender stuff”. I put off reading this (and other work) for a long time because of misconceptions I had about science fiction. For the first five or so chapters, I didn’t really understand what was going on or where the story was going - I was just diligently reading and trying to be a good sport and give it a fair chance. Then things started to come together and my patience began to pay off.
This book showed me what a great storyteller Le Guin is, as well as how she truly revolutionized science fiction by telling stories that were very different than the stereotypical “hero’s journey” stories. This one, despite having very rich worldbuilding (a fascinating world!), is very much character-driven.
A huge theme of this book is duality - think yin and yang. I was impressed by how eloquently Le Guin draws the connections and differences between a variety of things - civilizations, towns, people - through the use of positive and negative space (what’s said and left unsaid).
There are so many other powerful themes to highlight: nationalism and its impact, us vs. them mentalities, looking past differences and working toward unity, empathy, love, and more.
The thing I love about speculative fiction is that it makes you think. I’d say that Le Guin’s work makes you think a lot. This book, among her others, is a great book club read because it opens up a lot for discussion.
It’s also worth mentioning that this was one of her first novels. Having since read more by her, I can confirm that her writing and storytelling style only gets better and better from here.
I went in blind, not knowing much about this book aside from the “weird gender stuff”. I put off reading this (and other work) for a long time because of misconceptions I had about science fiction. For the first five or so chapters, I didn’t really understand what was going on or where the story was going - I was just diligently reading and trying to be a good sport and give it a fair chance. Then things started to come together and my patience began to pay off.
This book showed me what a great storyteller Le Guin is, as well as how she truly revolutionized science fiction by telling stories that were very different than the stereotypical “hero’s journey” stories. This one, despite having very rich worldbuilding (a fascinating world!), is very much character-driven.
A huge theme of this book is duality - think yin and yang. I was impressed by how eloquently Le Guin draws the connections and differences between a variety of things - civilizations, towns, people - through the use of positive and negative space (what’s said and left unsaid).
There are so many other powerful themes to highlight: nationalism and its impact, us vs. them mentalities, looking past differences and working toward unity, empathy, love, and more.
The thing I love about speculative fiction is that it makes you think. I’d say that Le Guin’s work makes you think a lot. This book, among her others, is a great book club read because it opens up a lot for discussion.
It’s also worth mentioning that this was one of her first novels. Having since read more by her, I can confirm that her writing and storytelling style only gets better and better from here.
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
3.0
I am a huge fan of ancient Egypt and was really looking forward to reading an entire novel based there. That said, this book fell flat for me.
The setting was gorgeous. I loved the descriptions of the temples, the nile, the statues and the architecture.
The characterization of both Nefertiti and Akhenaton seemed very one-dimensional. I got tired of reading about them. I wanted their characters to develop, but it seemed like for each of them, they both just became caricatures of what they started as. They both have this unquenchable desire for power. That is the essence of their personalities and it just becomes cranked up to eleven as the novel goes on.
I enjoyed the character of Mutnodjmet, but I was disappointed that basically her entire character, by the end of the novel, boiled down to her just wanting to settle down with her husband and have kids. I understand that she just wanted a “normal life” outside of her sister’s palace, and that is what a normal life looked like to her. I just hate that. Lol.
The book leans very heavily chick-lit; this means a huge majority of the entire novel focuses on the ability to get pregnant or have children. The entire last half of the book is essentially Nefertiti aggressively giving birth to new children. I get it; it’s about royalty, and of course royal blood matters because of lineage and who will take the throne, etc. I just really, really, would rather read about anything else.
I recognize wholeheartedly that me not liking this novel is a “me-problem”. It’s just not the sort of thing I would be into. I suspected it would be like this, going into it. It ultimately made me realize how much I crave a story about ancient Egypt that isn’t about royalty.
The setting was gorgeous. I loved the descriptions of the temples, the nile, the statues and the architecture.
The characterization of both Nefertiti and Akhenaton seemed very one-dimensional. I got tired of reading about them. I wanted their characters to develop, but it seemed like for each of them, they both just became caricatures of what they started as. They both have this unquenchable desire for power. That is the essence of their personalities and it just becomes cranked up to eleven as the novel goes on.
I enjoyed the character of Mutnodjmet, but I was disappointed that basically her entire character, by the end of the novel, boiled down to her just wanting to settle down with her husband and have kids. I understand that she just wanted a “normal life” outside of her sister’s palace, and that is what a normal life looked like to her. I just hate that. Lol.
The book leans very heavily chick-lit; this means a huge majority of the entire novel focuses on the ability to get pregnant or have children. The entire last half of the book is essentially Nefertiti aggressively giving birth to new children. I get it; it’s about royalty, and of course royal blood matters because of lineage and who will take the throne, etc. I just really, really, would rather read about anything else.
I recognize wholeheartedly that me not liking this novel is a “me-problem”. It’s just not the sort of thing I would be into. I suspected it would be like this, going into it. It ultimately made me realize how much I crave a story about ancient Egypt that isn’t about royalty.
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
4.0
As someone who is not typically very familiar with high fantasy fiction, I enjoyed this book. It ticked many of my boxes including female main character, lesbians, flamboyant but moody elf dudes, and librarian necromancers.
However, I waited a while before writing this review because I wanted everything to really sink in. Time and then more time passed. Something has prevented me from loving this book. Even though I was enjoying what I read, it felt like things slowed down. I had intended to read the sequel after finishing, but I felt like I needed a break before jumping right into it.
The worldbuilding was one of my favorite parts of the book. I loved the concept of the maze, a kind of hub world that one travels through to get somewhere else. The descriptions of the different areas of the world were impeccable. I really enjoyed the writing style and even jotted down some notes about techniques that I really liked and would like to emulate in my own writing (someday).
Maybe it’s just that I’m drawn to very character-driven novels, and I’d say this one is definitely more plot-driven. Csorwe, our main character, has a little bit of a past but is for the most part a blank slate. I feel like I would have liked to get to know her and Shuthmili a lot better.
The highlight of this book for me is the relationship between Csorwe and Shuthmili. I loved how Csorwe, given her life experience, could suspect that something similar was happening to Shuthmili. I also didn’t expect to grow so fond of Tal (who at first just seemed to be plopped into the story to be an insufferable asshole) and of course, Oranna.
However, I waited a while before writing this review because I wanted everything to really sink in. Time and then more time passed. Something has prevented me from loving this book. Even though I was enjoying what I read, it felt like things slowed down. I had intended to read the sequel after finishing, but I felt like I needed a break before jumping right into it.
The worldbuilding was one of my favorite parts of the book. I loved the concept of the maze, a kind of hub world that one travels through to get somewhere else. The descriptions of the different areas of the world were impeccable. I really enjoyed the writing style and even jotted down some notes about techniques that I really liked and would like to emulate in my own writing (someday).
Maybe it’s just that I’m drawn to very character-driven novels, and I’d say this one is definitely more plot-driven. Csorwe, our main character, has a little bit of a past but is for the most part a blank slate. I feel like I would have liked to get to know her and Shuthmili a lot better.
The highlight of this book for me is the relationship between Csorwe and Shuthmili. I loved how Csorwe, given her life experience, could suspect that something similar was happening to Shuthmili. I also didn’t expect to grow so fond of Tal (who at first just seemed to be plopped into the story to be an insufferable asshole) and of course, Oranna.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
3.0
This is about a man who purchases a sentient sex doll and enters a kind of weird, toxic, and abusive relationship with her.
This was a very quick and easy read. However, something vital was missing for me. It seems that the whole first half, maybe even the first ¾ is building up towards something that never (or barely) pans out. We get to know Annie, who wants more than anything to please her owner, Doug (it’s how she was coded). Throughout the entire story, she strives to achieve this - but it’s difficult, because her owner is a piece of shit misogynist who views her as barely more than property. I’ve seen others call this story an allegory for abusive relationships. I think, in a lot of ways, it is.
However, after reading everything that Doug puts Annie through, I feel like, for me at least, there is a desire for revenge, for something to even the scales.
But I get it. At the end of the day, she’s not human. She’s a highly advanced robot, essentially. However, it’s made quite clear that she is much more autonomous than the average bot. At times it’s easy to forget that she’s not actually human. But it’s clear that she is meant to seem human; the lines are being blurred on purpose. And regardless of whether or not she is actually human, I think it’s deeply uncomfortable to see her just accept his treatment from someone that she loves.
She only becomes angry toward the end, and after a time that fades. Eventually,she manages to escape . But it happens so fast, so quietly, that it doesn't feel satisfying or gratifying to read. It felt lukewarm. I just wanted more.
This was a very quick and easy read. However, something vital was missing for me. It seems that the whole first half, maybe even the first ¾ is building up towards something that never (or barely) pans out. We get to know Annie, who wants more than anything to please her owner, Doug (it’s how she was coded). Throughout the entire story, she strives to achieve this - but it’s difficult, because her owner is a piece of shit misogynist who views her as barely more than property. I’ve seen others call this story an allegory for abusive relationships. I think, in a lot of ways, it is.
However, after reading everything that Doug puts Annie through, I feel like, for me at least, there is a desire for revenge, for something to even the scales.
But I get it. At the end of the day, she’s not human. She’s a highly advanced robot, essentially. However, it’s made quite clear that she is much more autonomous than the average bot. At times it’s easy to forget that she’s not actually human. But it’s clear that she is meant to seem human; the lines are being blurred on purpose. And regardless of whether or not she is actually human, I think it’s deeply uncomfortable to see her just accept his treatment from someone that she loves.
She only becomes angry toward the end, and after a time that fades. Eventually,
Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir
3.0
This took me way longer to read than it ought to have, especially for a 150 page book. I thought the premise was cute and am a fan of Muir’s “Locked Tomb” book series so I decided to give this a try.
There are parts of this book that I really liked a lot - I enjoyed Floralinda’s character development and how she changes over the course of the book. I especially liked the volatile, haughty fairy, “Cobweb” (what a cute name!). The dynamics between the two were cute - honestly I probably would have finished a 150 page book about just those two trapped in a room together much sooner.
I think I struggled with the actual action of going down flight-by-flight and killing the monsters. I just don’t think I’m an action scene girly. Something about it seemed tedious. There was nothing particularly surprising, suspenseful, or interesting about each floor. I found myself feeling eager to finish it.
Something about the ending fell a bit flat for me. It just didn’t tie up in a way that made me feel satisfied or that made everything that had happened feel worth it.
All of that said, I think the subversion of the “princess trapped in a tower” is a very cool concept and I respect the existence of this story, even if it didn’t hit me as hard as I would have liked.
There are parts of this book that I really liked a lot - I enjoyed Floralinda’s character development and how she changes over the course of the book. I especially liked the volatile, haughty fairy, “Cobweb” (what a cute name!). The dynamics between the two were cute - honestly I probably would have finished a 150 page book about just those two trapped in a room together much sooner.
I think I struggled with the actual action of going down flight-by-flight and killing the monsters. I just don’t think I’m an action scene girly. Something about it seemed tedious. There was nothing particularly surprising, suspenseful, or interesting about each floor. I found myself feeling eager to finish it.
Something about the ending fell a bit flat for me. It just didn’t tie up in a way that made me feel satisfied or that made everything that had happened feel worth it.
All of that said, I think the subversion of the “princess trapped in a tower” is a very cool concept and I respect the existence of this story, even if it didn’t hit me as hard as I would have liked.