jaedia's reviews
101 reviews

Prophet by Sin Blaché, Helen Macdonald

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

5.0

SOFT BOYS 🥺

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Self harm, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Racism, Torture, War

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

dark sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Dementia, Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Terminal illness, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Alcohol

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Classism

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

2.5

 Hmm... I really like the way this was written. Presented as an autobiographical audiobook of a man who was in a movie in the early 90s that was never released due to something tragic happening on set, but clips of the movie and the script have since been released online and drummed up a lot of interest, and so the movie is being made in the modern day. We get chapters from the distant past, recent past, present, and the script itself, and it flips between these things to create a comprehensive story. It's fascinating and I loved reading it. 

I just didn't personally feel like this one is "horror". Not to say that it isn't! Just didn't work for me. And it got... pretty dang weird and it's taken me a few days to work out if that's good weird or bad weird and I.. think, it's not good weird but not quite bad weird, if that makes any sense. 

So 2 stars because the journey is great, but the ending really let it down for me. 

I do recommend this one to people who find the concept of movie making, particularly indie movie making, interesting. I think you'd probably get some joy out of this one. 

Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Grief

Murder Road by Simone St. James

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting

Minor: Racism

Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell

adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Xenophobia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, War

I Say Your Name in the Dark Nights: A Story of Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5