grey_jayne's reviews
760 reviews

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

Go to review page

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

5.0

I immediately poured Brainwyrms into my head after reading Rumfitt's debut Tell Me I'm Worthless. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors with both books her perversely poetic filth ragebombs lobbed at society. I absolutely loved that she introduced the book as if she was writing from the 2030s and reporting back, the satire has no bounds this time around and it's pretty great.

I still don't know if her work is accessible to cis people but honestly I don't fucking care. We needed her voice from out of the darkness and I will follow her wherever she goes next. Trans books for trans people!

This is also officially the book with the most trigger warnings that I've logged so far. The label "Extreme horror" should be treated with respect and care. Enter at your own risk.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Uzumaki by Junji Ito

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Uzumaki is my favorite Junji Ito so far. The premise is bananas since page 1 and is perpetually built up upon with a neverending imaginative ferocity so that the concept of dangerous spirals never gets old.

Remina was my favorite, until now. Such a masterwork of horror, Uzumaki absolutely rips.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Harrow County Omnibus Volume 1 by Cullen Bunn

Go to review page

adventurous dark 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

4.0

I had read Volumes 1-3 before but it was so long ago so gave them a re-read in this Omnibus. Dark and wyrd, Harrow County is a mood and its evolving story is just enough to hold it all together. A warning: I found Issue 12's art style to be distracting after being used to the regular look.

Gonna pick up Volume 4 in the smaller trades.
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the book but I'm just not engaged enough and that's when to move on.
Sensor by Junji Ito

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This is a totally decent book but I didn't feel overly engaged. Junji Ito's take on Akashic records doesn't ultimately end up going anywhere and that's really too bad. It's still an imaginative trip but feels like it's missing an ending and is also my least favorite of his so far.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Go to review page

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

5.0

Alison Rumfitt's debut smashed my expectations. I wonder if a cis person would get as much out of this art but as a trans person, I felt very seen, especially in the darkness. What a terrifying haunted house and such traumatized people. And that ending! Make sure you check the content warnings: when Gretchen Felker-Martin calls something "brutal", you know it's gonna hit hard. And it does.

Rumfitt is such my kind of author that I will be rolling into her follow up Brainwyrms soon. In the U.S. both books came out this year so I'm playing catch up.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.
This biography is written like an anthropological study of a trans woman by a cis woman and that gets old real quick. Giving cis people equal ability to discuss the main character's gender and existence is seen as journalism here when it's really casual transphobia dressed up as opinion. I think the person that this book is about is fascinating, yet the delivery of the content is too cringe for me.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Joe Hill's Rain by David M. Booher, Joe Hill

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

This story was just...okay. Zoe's art is gorgeous and was my draw into this comic. However, not much happens except piles of trauma so I was left wondering what the point was. Beautifully rendered lesbian misery porn is still misery porn.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Remina by Junji Ito

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Planetary Body Horror! Remina is my favorite long form story of Junji Ito's work so far. I didn't really care about the human characters but Remina the planet slays!!!! Dark cosmic goodness! I'm all aboard for more of his sci-fi storytelling. This was...simply...wow! Intense imagery for days.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

Go to review page

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

4.0

Sister, Maiden, Monster is wild! Lucy A. Snyder has a disturbingly fucked up bent for visceral body horror. This is definitely the best cosmic horror book in a while and I enjoyed how gay everything was. The imagery, the transformations, there is so much great horror here too. I will warn that the story's pandemic happens after the "coronavirus years" and follows the same procedures we had to, so could be triggering and too soon for some. Definitely check the content warnings.

Since this book is gloriously queer, I was let down by the use of "his or her" and other binary language. This is the second 2023 Nightfire book in a row to do this. We deserve better.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings