gxuosi's reviews
326 reviews

The Seep by Chana Porter

5.0

i am everything i don’t know and everything i have lived through. i am nothing but what i have been designed to be. there is no mistake in any part of my existence and the end is not the end is not the end is not the end.

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

5.0

there aren’t enough words in any language for what i would do if i got my hands on pierre, julian, and d’albret

Crossed by Ally Condie

4.0

hey besties, it’s me, notorious middle book lover (5/5). but it’s also me… back and forth perspective swap hater (3/5)…. anyways fucking BONKERS world building. love this shit

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

3.0

that sure was a book!

Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong
Did not finish book.

dnf at like 15%. i wanted to like this. but there were just so many glaring issues for plot holes along side a confusing pile of organization names being used rapid fire. like they’re chinese spies in shanghai and their cover is to have european code names, speak english and french… like that makes you stand out more?? i couldn’t even try to keep up with the white flower, scarlet gang, communists, nationalists, the japanese, the russians. it was just too much. then it became at least 3 povs, maybe more but i bailed before finding out. i just can’t get through all that when i’m not into the book.

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina

5.0

my rage is incomprehensible. i can’t even put into words the bone chilling dread and disgust. at every fucking turn anna was ignored, prodded, beaten down, cast aside, tormented for being the thing that would save them all.

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

2.0

i wanted soooo badly to like this. i just felt annoyed and disappointed by the time i finished it.

every single minister, general, princess, and king was a blundering idiot in the way where none of their decisions aligned with the previous ones they’ve made. their politics were circular talk with no consistency. and i don’t know if that was the point, that they’re all asshats, or that the author neglected the overarching plot so horribly. the princess was completely void of characterization except for her inexplicable desire to play a game where she tries to murder her own son. the only relief was alizeh who had a moral code and goals which she stood by as her character grew in the world.

Circe by Madeline Miller
Did not finish book.

dnf'd at 34%. it just really wasn't for me. i like the greek classics well enough and i love a retelling from a different perspective. but the only part of this that was feminist is that circe is a woman, it's her pov, and she has autonomy. she has spent a third of the book vying for the love of men and hating women for doing the same. the writing itself was also so stilted and distant that it didn't feel like circe was an active participant in her own life, even on the aeaea island where she has autonomy. just really not for me.

The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

4.0

i don’t think tinsley really needed or deserved a redemption arc. we can know she’s done the right thing without placing the focus on her because giving her that redemption arc fully overshadowed what this was supposed to be about: justice for nova, processing grief for duchess. tinsley became the main character in a story about black girls in the south seeking equality, right to life, and justice. the ending felt like it was written for white people to absolve their guilt, which the novel had already previously criticized. idk man.

Staying Dead by Laura Anne Gilman

1.0

i think this was probably the worst book i’ve ever read in my life. the author made a herculean effort to use the most asinine language possible, boot licking a thesaurus. the complete lack of characterization along side rambling plot that went absolutely nowhere, speckled with moments that actually mattered, was astoundingly handled. i’ve never known an author to be able to write 400+ pages where only 100 or less mattered.