heelturn2's reviews
84 reviews

Floornight by nostalgebraist

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

3.75

to preface the rating: you know how sometimes a 7/10 video game is like, the most interesting, strange, imaginative game you’ve played in years?? this is like… deadly premonition or something, not in the sense that these 2 pieces of fiction have anything in common stylistically/thematically/etc but that both are very much *the thing that they are* and that thing is very fun and compelling and also executed imperfectly/a little messily, in a way that doesn’t actually detract much at all. this is an unpolished story but that’s ok. It’s so bonkers overall anyways that you can hardly fault it. 

I liked the characters a lot & found myself thinking about them; I felt very immersed in the world (

or at least the first world we’re introduced to, that’s functioning more or less the same way as ours

) and wanted to sit and think about the implications of the rules and science it established. I also kind of had no idea what was going on at points but it’s kind of one of those things where you have to trust that either the explanation will work itself out down the line OR it won’t/there is no explanation and you have to be down to just come along for the ride. to be clear: I think this story is largely the former. but I was often just like : ok!! sure!! I have no idea why

this kid who was kind of being set up as the Shinji to this story’s NERV is just dead now

or

what “shift radix” means, in a literal sense

and like, some of those things don’t matter (like not every sci fi term needs to be fully defined imo) and some things that aren’t fully explained have very interesting implications??

like wait, in writing this I’m now wondering why Kyle had such a powerful pneuma & was it branch shifting shenanigans??? Or have I missed something else?

either way it’s straight up fun to think about & be confounded by so I don’t mind. 

I would love to see this again one day with a gentle handed but substantial edit and author’s notes. like overall the writing is quite strong but you see sections where it breaks down a bit and loses fidelity on details it’s previously shown you & I think and editor/beta would help with consistency on that front. 

anyways I love that this ends like

eva but with a gay orgy where everyone melts at the end

Nobody, Somebody, Anybody by Kelly McClorey

adventurous emotional funny tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

honestly I was very lukewarm on this book until the absolute last second but

almost dying and then stowing away on a cruise ship because you fucked things up too bad and you’re a complete anxious lonely manipulative mess

and then leaving things wide open for the reader brought it back around for me. like the implications are so dark??? I think it makes the rest of the book work — you spend the whole story waiting for Amy to change, or have a revelation about how to be in the world, and she doesn’t. she’s not actually naïve in the way you think she is at first. instead she runs away instead of dealing with her problems, or realizing that other people like her until she does something unhinged that pushes them away, or extending grace and understanding to people she’s judged or decided have it out for her. she *is* like her mother and she doesn’t really have the introspective ability to see that or get a handle on her emotions and actions. I think what made the book not work for me for the first, idk, 3/4 was the slow pace, & this lack of backstory; like you get very quickly that Amy has Problems, something happened at school, her mother was difficult and sick, but you don’t see much of it or get details, really. it’s just a lot of Amy’s stream of consciousness/mental state. so the primary experience of reading, until the ending, is frustration at where the narration isn’t going and with the minutia of fairly uninteresting detail. and then you realize Amy’s not going there because she isn’t able to. she doesn’t really know how analyze her life like that and she can’t really take responsibility for her shit except in these fleeting moments. and what preoccupies her is overanalyzing a million perceived slights and thinking about her virtuousness and being deeply, deeply lonely and regretful. so 3 stars because I didn’t actually enjoy reading this BUT I think this story & character are kind of secretly compelling. 

Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

i feel like someone just fired a shotgun into my chest. brutal & sad. brings really interesting new depth to the first book. amazing narrator, deeply unlikeable in Black Leopard, Red Wolf and made human, understandable if hugely flawed here. Tracker is a villain in Sogolon’s story as she’s a villain in his. they both have their own motives & perspectives in telling their stories. they’re so similar in so many ways. extremely tragic characters, fuck!!!

The Northern Caves by nostalgebraist

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee

inspiring reflective slow-paced

2.0

there are a few essays I liked in here, but the whole book was bogged down by weird exercises in ego & the author’s blind spots about (his own) class and wealth. the overall result was not great. 

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 49%.

excruciatingly boring. sorry!!!

Your Love Is Not Good by Johanna Hedva

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Just not my thing. A little too slow, morally compromised main character a little too self absorbed (though to the author’s credit, she’s very believable & you get why she is the way she is, it’s not for no reason, & she’s clearly not supposed to be totally sympathetic), & I am just… not very interested in the art world for many of the reasons that come up as issues in this book! I think there were interesting things happening with race/whiteness & the marketability of art about race. and I like the choice to explore that with a main character who is a little bit terrible. Taking this as a sign that I should stop reading my roommate’s books just because they’re around the house and easy to pick up lol

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

continuing to really, truly enjoy necromancers in space, even if these books give me mental illness

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense

4.5

reread

Sarahland by Sam Cohen

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

4.5

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