imaginary_space's reviews
215 reviews

Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson

challenging dark emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

Riding the red ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
Moody, which I love, but a little too abstract. Love the idea, though.

Money tree ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
Liked it, but it didn't seem like a horror story to me.

Something to hitch meat to ⭐⭐⭐
Very Mage: the Ascension-like.

Snake ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
Extremely uncomfortable for read, even though you know there will be a payoff.

Under Glass ⭐⭐
I tried hard (and several times), but I just didn't get that one.

The Glass Bottle Trick ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
Uncomfortable in a good way.

Slow Cold Chick ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Absolutely loved it.

Fisherman & The Woman Hands on My Belly Now... ⭐⭐⭐
Again, the concept is cool, I just find most sex scenes boring. That's not the author's fault, I think for somebody who enjoys sex scenes, this would be one of the better ones. So please read it and make up your own mind.

Tan-Tan and Dry Bone ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
Very nice myth/fairytale.

Greedy Choke Puppy ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Love a good creepy vampire story!

A Habit of Waste ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
This was super intriguing.

And the Lillies-Them A-Blow ⭐⭐⭐

Whose Upward Flight I Love ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ganger (Ball Lightning) ⭐⭐⭐
I get it, and I like the idea, but it was too much porn for me.

Precious ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
Loved it.

So, this was a mixed bag for me, but overall a great read. Even if I gave several stories 3 stars, there wasn't one that wasn't worth reading for me, and I got something out of all of them. 
I like how most of the stories have an ambiguous ending. 
Highly recommend reading this collection!

Freiheit: Gedichte by Erich Fried

challenging dark hopeful reflective

4.0

A small book with a lot of food for thought.

Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper

challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

3.0

This started so strong I absolutely loved it. Clever, insightful, emotional, raw, cosmic horror with weird body horror, the interactions between the protagonist and Magenta were well done...
 
But then during the last 3rd of the story it left all of that behind and became nothing but long. Very long. So long it annoyed me. By the end, I was so annoyed I was glad it was over and I didn't have to go through another rambling incoherent monologue again and that kind of ruined the whole book for me. Plus, I really didn't need the romance plot. 

I might re-read it to see if I'll have a different reaction the 2nd time around.

Das Café ohne Namen by Robert Seethaler

hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Ein unaufgeregtes Buch, das uns kleine Einblicke in das Leben mehrerer fiktiver Charaktere im Wien der 50er Jahre beschert. Wie im echten Leben sind sie mal hoffnungsvoll, mal traurig, mal erfolgreich, mal tragisch. Der ruhige Schreibstil hilft dabei, den Inhalt in den Fokus zu setzen und erinnerte mich mit seiner Sachlichkeit an "Der Alte Mann und das Meer". eines meiner Lieblingsbücher.

All das mochte ich an "Das Café ohne Namen".

Warum es für mich dennoch am Ende eher ein durchschnittliches Leseerlebnis war:

1. Die Charaktere haben mich emotional nur selten mitgenommen, so richtig konnte ich keine Beziehung zu ihnen aufbauen. Auch, weil sich ihre "Stimmen" in ihren jeweiligen Kapiteln nicht wirklich voneinander unterscheiden. 
2. Die Gedankenwelt der weiblichen Charaktere ist sehr eingeschränkt, obwohl eine Frau einer der Hauptcharaktere ist. Frauen denken nach über: Männer, Aussehen, andere Frauen, Geld, manchmal Arbeit. Männer denken über all das nach und außerdem: den Verlauf der Geschichte, Politik, Architektur undundund. Leider erhält der erwähnte weibliche Hauptcharakter dann auch keine Kapitel mehr aus ihrer eigenen Sicht, sobald sie verheiratet ist, und wir erleben ihre Geschichte nur noch durch die Augen ihres Ehemannes.

Ich finde, das geht in 2023 besser. Vor allem, weil ich die vorhandenen weiblichen Charaktere im Ansatz sehr gut dargestellt fand und gerade mit den Charakteren Mila und Martha hat Robert Seethaler bewiesen, dass er Frauen als komplexe Menschen schreiben kann. Nur hat er leider irgendwann in der Mitte des Buches damit aufgehört.

Ich hörte die Hörbuch-Produktion, gelesen von Matthias Brandt, und fand sie sehr gut produziert. Brandts Sprechweise unterstützt die Unaufgeregtheit des Textes und er lässt keinen der Charaktere zu einer Parodie verkommen.

Vielen Dank an den Ullstein/Claasen Verlag, Hörbuch Hamburg und Netgalley für das kostenlose Rezensionsexemplar.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Miscarriage

The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way

dark lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

Entertaining, but I kept wishing for a little more depth.

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.

I feel I got a really shitty translation from the library, done by someone who clearly isn't a native English speaker. Will go looking for another, possibly in German.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

slow-paced

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

3.0

A nice take on the story, I enjoyed the setting and worldbuilding in general, but unfortunately I found the story lacking. I think the pacing and writing were off to me, there was too much exposition and too little story progression, and specially towards the ending this didn't create much suspense.

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Slow-burn, tense horror that's more in your head than on the page with great writing is definitely my thing, so to nobody's surprise I really liked this book. Add the ocean and I'm sold.
I have a hard time connecting with characters when a relationship is the focus of the story, but here, I didn't mind. I understood why the romance was there. It seemed so authentic and raw. That contrast ... wow. The flow of it all seemed so organic and damn, Julia Armfield can write! I love her descriptions and non-descriptions, how she explored so many themes in this story and none of it felt forced. Her writing definitely made this book and I will be reading more of her work.

I listened to the audiobook with two narrators, which was really well produced.

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

slow-paced

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

1.0

I originally gave this 2 stars a few years ago and wanted to try it again because I read a lot of articles, posts etc. telling me this book series is "not like the other urban fantasy series" and "does not have such a dumb and questionable romance" etc. 
I don't particularly enjoy romance in my urban fantasy, but I am on a constant quest to find a good urban fantasy series and those usually come with romance, so I want the romance to at least be believable and not creepy. 
Based on the articles, and because I couldn't remember much about the book, I thought maybe I missed something the first time around and wanted to try again. 

Well ... my rating went from 2 stars to 1 star. 
The protagonist is your typical "I'm just a normal southern girl but I'm not like the other girls" girl - seriously, what is up with all those "southern girl" protagonists!? At least she's not religious. To be fair, she was a little more clearly characterized than other protagonists in similar series, I appreciate that. 
The guy is your typical "I'm dark and brooding and bad for you and also kinda rapey" love interest. He also does this annoying thing where he tells her what he's like, but then doesn't do it ... e.g. warning her about how impatient he is, while being extremely patient with her bratty ass. Oh, and of course he constantly violates her personal space and he hurts her, but he's hot so it's okay.

The writing is ... not that great. In fact, it's bad.
Most conversations between the two protagonists are probably supposed to be witty banter, but they just drag on and do not reflect the actions of the characters - they will say they are one thing, but then go on and actually show the complete opposite. 
The constant descriptions of how the protagonist looks, how she does her nails, what she is wearing... just stop already!
The author is weirdly fascinated by race and just racist. We learn what exact "mix" certain characters are when it's supposed to be something bad. One time the protagonist comments on the heritage of a character "there cannot be a more barbaric mix of genes", another time it was important that a character had "something dark, one of those dangerous arabic genes" and I just found that repulsive. You can't tell me it's supposed to be the main character's prejudices, because it's never adressed later and never challenged. So yeah ... that's a writing choice I guess.

The setting seems interesting and I do think the author could craft a good story, it just wasn't the focus of the book. There was a lot of exposition and I think the book would have benefited from some editing. I did read the first book is supposed to be the worst in the series, so I'll give the second one another chance.

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked this one more than the first book, mostly because there's not such a focus on a developing love story. Kaz and Inej are still edgy af, and my inner teenager still appreciates that. Overall entertaining and the city of Ketterdam is an interesting setting and a nice diversion from the usual fantasy settings.