jarvvis's reviews
91 reviews

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A fascinating concept that just doesn’t quiet make it there for me.
Manhunt has a lot of good ideas behind it, but mostly fails to take the lore and setting and form it into an interesting plot. It gets invigorating at times, but the last hundred pages or so introduce a lot of new ideas, characters and alliances that I couldn’t keep track of. It’s still an unbelievably cool transgender apocalypse novel though, gory and weird and sort of heartfelt at times. I’m definitely gonna be thinking about this one for a while.

10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

What’s better than a good Christmas rom com right in the middle of Halloween.
While it wasn’t as piss yourself funny as Boyfriend Material, and sort of lost me at certain points, this was a total blast and did have me in the middle of the proverbial “giggling and kicking my feet”. 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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

Damn this is really is one of the best books of all time.

I went into Wuthering Heights expecting to enjoy it, but not to adore it. As it stands, this is one of the most fascinating, complex and entertaining books I have read to date. Every character is so rich and full of life, they really are sort of lovable. And the prose is beautiful; of course. 

Bacon in Moscow by James Birch

funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

This has a better beginning than it does an end, but it’s still a pretty interesting story and well put together. Some of those small details about Moscow really struck me, and it’s nice to see people appreciate Francis Bacon’s wonderful wonderful work.

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

dark hopeful sad tense fast-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

4.25

Enjoyed this one a lot more than the first, even if it’s stupider. Warmed up to more of the characters (still not Andrew though) and it’s silly and shocking and fun. 

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

dark fast-paced

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

2.25

I don't talk about feelings, Neil. I don't have any, I've never seen one. I'm a night-stalking, crime-fighting vigilante, and a heavy metal rapping machine. I don't feel anything emotionally, except for rage. 24/7, 365, at a million percent. And if you think that there's something behind that, then you're crazy. Good night, Neil.

This was honestly one of the worst books I’ve ever read. Every line is painful. I now hate gay people. I need to find the second one. 

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

This was a kind of bland murder mystery that followed a set track until the twist (which obviously there was going to be a twist it was pretty fucking boring). It’s fun enough, god I should have read this faster. 

Also

I knew there was gonna be some reveal with their actual names vs nicknames, points for that I guess

The Sound and the Fury: 40 Years of Classic Rock Journalism: A Rock's Backpages Reader by Colin Dickerman, Barney Hoskyns

informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.5

A lot of really interesting essays, the Andy Warhol one is probably my favourite, followed by Madonna, Northern Soul and The Beatles. There’s a bit too much Jefferson Airplane and shitting on gangsta rap, but it’s still a good read.

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

eh.
I really thought this was going to be better than it was, or at the very least have a plot. It’s sort of a meandering exploration of archiving, vampirism and the butch lesbian to trans man pipeline. It’s written well, I’m not mad about it, but it’s just sort of lifeless and aimless. I like the stuff about vampirism making HRT work slower, and the fake 90s sci-fi show, that was fun. Everything else just feels sort of specific to a kind of person I am not.

Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Paris Hilton has always been and will always be, a complete fucking icon. This book is funny and grounded and shows great compassion towards a lot of people who don’t necessarily deserve it. What she went through in the troubled teen industry is honestly completely heartbreaking but I kind of can’t help but laugh when she juxtaposes those horror stories with tales of clubbing with Britney Spears and her love of her little dogs. Good for you Paris, good for you.

Minus 0.5 stars because NFTs make me do a little sick in my mouth.