grey_jayne's reviews
774 reviews

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Mostly Dead Things is beautiful in its fuckedupness and authentically queer. The taxidermy details and animal hard could be too intense for some. Totally not my usual kind of book, but in some ways it very much is, as indicated by the above. This book is such a strong debut.
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Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai

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I would like to buy a copy of the book and start again. DNF because I could only access the library book on my phone, instead of my Kobo, and it wasn't a great experience. Addie Tsai rocks!
Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Jo is the queer Green Lantern that we deserve. She rocks!

This comic is a little dense to start with, N.K. Jemisin usually provides supplementary reference pages for her world-building in novels, but once you get a few issues in, it goes to some wild and meaningful places. It's a powerful story, one only N.K. Jemisin could create.
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The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This novella was lovely. I was really enjoying it and the ending is fabulous....and after the acknowledgements, there's essentially a written after credits sequence, scenes I'd been curious about since page one. Fantastic!

If you're not reading Cassandra Khaw, change that now. This is a good one of theirs to start with. Body horror and unconditional love between a mermaid and her plague doctor. Never has a gory and morbid story been so sweet and gentle. Love it!
Sweet Tooth Vol. 6: Wild Game by Jeff Lemire

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A decent ending to a decent story. I didn't love this series but liked it quite a bit. This volume ties up the plot threads nicely.
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The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

I listened to the abridged audiobook and it was very informative and inspiring. God/Creator is used often, as well as "he or she" instead of "they" so I found parts isolating.

I love thinking about the 12 weeks as a recovery period. I also have a physical copy of the book on-hand so I might try out the experience at one point. It was more important for me to listen to it all to grasp the concepts at this time.
Sweet Tooth Vol. 5: Unnatural Habitats by Jeff Lemire

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This volume is broken into two arcs. The first, taking place in 1911, is too drawn out and involves slaughter of Indigenous people, I really wasn't interested, and it's 3 issues long. The second half of the book is better.

Time to wrap up the story in the next volume. It's been a time.
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Sweet Tooth Vol. 4: Endangered Species by Jeff Lemire

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

3.5

This volume allows the narrative to breathe and deepen. In some ways, the book feels like a lot of setup for the next arc, but was still not without its surprises. I like this story more as it processes.
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Sweet Tooth Vol. 3: Animal Armies by Jeff Lemire

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

3.5

Now that I'm halfway into the series, things are starting to come together. There is a lot of gruesome animal content so be warned. This sets up some pretty epic stakes for Vol 4 so will be checking that out soon.
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Mister Magic by Kiersten White

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Mister Magic is rad! It's a horror fantasy mystery that goes deeper into the darkness as it goes. The conceit of the main character not having memories does get a little worn out and I could guess some of the things we weren't being shown. But the journey is great and it's certainly ambitious. Really cool follow up to Hide, with much more depth.