jenny_librarian's reviews
1164 reviews

La Différence invisible by Julie Dachez, Mademoiselle Caroline

informative inspiring fast-paced

3.5

C’est pas mauvais, mais ce n’est pas le meilleur livre à lire si on n’a pas déjà fait des recherches sur le sujet.

Déjà ça commence à être pas mal daté (2016). Le syndrome d’Asperger n’est plus reconnu dans le DSM-5 et par la majorité de la communauté scientifique anglophone (comme le dit le livre lui-même, les français sont en retard sur le truc…) et plusieurs des gens explications à la fin son un peu douteuses. Le 4/1 entre autre, et le fait qu’on est incapables de mentir. Au contraire, on ment souvent quand on masque justement pour essayer de “rentrer dans le moule”.

Mais bon, comme Marguerite le dit “quand on rencontre un autiste, on a rencontré un autiste.”

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Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade by Delilah S. Dawson

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adventurous dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.0

This is a hard one to review. Think about the most unreliable character you know, and Iskat is basically it. Everything in this story is tainted by the way she lets the dark side whisper to her, and possibly a mental illness undiagnosed in there too.

I can’t say I loved it, because it’s very heavy and critical of the Jedi. I’m a fan of the Jedi order, so it was hard to read without being mad at Iskat, but I also understand how she could feel at times. It’s an interesting take on the Jedi Order, which has always been to me a bunch of neurodivergent force sensitive folks. Yes they have rigid rules and beliefs, but they always bend a little to accommodate their members. So Iskat seeing them as completely against compromising felt off.

It also felt a lot more YA than adult to me. Not a bad thing, but the general vibe gave me YA. Iskat acts very much like a teenager the whole time, and couldn’t be over 20-22 in the epilogue.

Not my favourite Star Wars book by this author, but definitely miles better than Phasma. I hope Delilah S. Dawson keeps on writing good female OC for the franchise.

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Star Wars: Ewoks - Flight to Danger by Dave Manak

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

3.75

It’s pretty cute, as far as children comics go. It definitely has that 90s vibes too.

My only complaint would be the dialogue with other species. Lucas made it clear the Ewoks don’t speak or understand basic. Especially Wicket. To have the intra-species dialogue in English is fine (we do need to understand what they’re saying) but every time they come across another sentient species, there should be some kind of language barrier. Even more so in the last issue with folks from another planet entirely…

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Siege by Karen Miller

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.75

Karen Miller strikes again! The queen of Star Wars Legends wrote yet another masterpiece.

Could Gambit be a single book instead of a duology? Yes. It’s pretty much one storyline, and the cliffhanger at the end of Stealth feels more like a chapter end than the stopping point between novels. But that doesn’t make it any less good.

I have been yelling it and will keep doing so: Karen Miller knows what the polycule shippers want. Anakin/Padmé/Bail/Obi-Wan is so present in subtext here that it’s almost canon. Or Legends… whatever. If Wild Space gave us Bail/Obi-Wan, Stealth and Siege dive deeper and give us the bases for a proper polycule. Yes, even with Taria.

Speaking about Taria, I loved the terminal illness and chronic pain rep in this book. Very well done imo.

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Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was one hell of a triggering roller coaster.

I usually love everything Alice Oseman does, with the exception of Solitaire. When I started Radio Silence, the writing style made me worry it would be the same thing with this one. But I pushed through, and while I like the themes, it ended up being a lot more triggering than I could’ve imagined.

The whole thing about going to university or not isn’t relevant to me anymore, as I already have a master’s degree. Had this book already been out when I was applying at college, it would probably have hit very close to home (having been pushed into college by a mom who never finished high school and wanted me to have better opportunities in life). The conversation about whether or not you should go to university was well done, and Oseman included examples of people from all backgrounds and with different goals (Daniel, Raine, Aled, Frances). Had it only been that, the book would of course have been a little more boring, but not nearly as triggering.

What got to me, though, was the depiction of depression as viewed from a third party. It got to the point that I was wondering if a certain character would commit suicide every time I finished a chapter. And the abuse didn’t help. It was incredibly hard to read. Maybe it would have been easier when I was a teen with a more naive view on life but as an adult reading the scenes of parental abuse (there are two pretty horrific ones) sent me into a meltdown.

The subject of this book is important and well done. It was just really hard for me to read some of it.

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