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laurareads87's reviews
516 reviews
The River Judge by S.L. Huang
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
"The world ought to balance. It ought to, and it never did."
Having absolutely loved The Water Outlaws, I bought this novelette as soon as I saw it; it did not disappoint. This is a dark story of a young woman who realizes her father's "business" is more than hospitality when she finds a body in the storage room of their riverside inn; like the novel does, this story addresses themes of gender & gender roles, power, and familial responsibility.
You do not need to have read The Water Outlaws to read this story at all - it's clearly the same universe, but it doesn't presume any background knowledge of the world-building.
Content warnings: violence, murder, death, blood, sexism, misogyny, classism, and one I'm putting behind spoiler tags:cannibalism
Having absolutely loved The Water Outlaws, I bought this novelette as soon as I saw it; it did not disappoint. This is a dark story of a young woman who realizes her father's "business" is more than hospitality when she finds a body in the storage room of their riverside inn; like the novel does, this story addresses themes of gender & gender roles, power, and familial responsibility.
You do not need to have read The Water Outlaws to read this story at all - it's clearly the same universe, but it doesn't presume any background knowledge of the world-building.
Content warnings: violence, murder, death, blood, sexism, misogyny, classism, and one I'm putting behind spoiler tags:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cannibalism, Classism, Sexism, and Misogyny
Tauhou by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
3.5, rounding up. Tauhou is beautifully written and evocative, perhaps more a collection of vignettes than a cohesive linear narrative, highly experimental as far as novels go and utterly compelling. Nuttall can do a lot -a lot- with very few words, bringing characters and moods to life in scenes of only a few pages and exploring themes with depth and thoughtfulness. I can't say this novel was quite what I expected from the description, but I would absolutely read more from Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall based on this book.
Content warnings: colonialism, racism, residential schools, child abuse, sexual abuse, rape (mentioned, not on page), suicidal thoughts, suicide, fire injury
Content warnings: colonialism, racism, residential schools, child abuse, sexual abuse, rape (mentioned, not on page), suicidal thoughts, suicide, fire injury
Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Sweep of Stars is truly epic: it spans an alliance of multiple worlds, features many POV characters, and includes a wormhole, secret agents and spies, conspiring, and really well thought out political dynamics. There is a glossary included, but I didn't find I needed it - most of the terms in it are not 'made up' but rather actual phrases/words that were familiar to me, and context makes things clear enough. Broaddus is a great writer, and he accomplishes a lot here with a very ambitious book - it includes first, second, and third person POVs all while reading as fairly linear and clear, and the world-building is fantastic, rich and detailed. I will definitely pick up the sequel.
Content warnings: violence, gun violence, murder, death, torture, racism, war. Nothing particularly graphic or hard to read.
Content warnings: violence, gun violence, murder, death, torture, racism, war. Nothing particularly graphic or hard to read.
Cartomancy in Folk Witchcraft: Playing Cards and Marseille Tarot in Divination, Magic, and Lore by Roger J. Horne
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
<i>Cartomancy in Folk Witchcraft</i> is an introduction to working with playing cards in both divination and folk craft. Horne's method of interpretation involves reading "suit-number convergences," which he likens to alchemy [17]. He draws parallels between playing cards and the Marseille tarot lineage, and makes the case that his techniques for reading the pip cards are also applicable to the Marseille minors; he does include a chapter on patterns in the Marseille majors and also includes reference to the Knights in his discussion of court cards.
I would class this book as intermediate overall. The sections on playing cards read as fairly beginner friendly - I could easily navigate these sections as someone versed in pip tarot decks and basic numerology, but not particularly experienced with playing cards - whereas the section on the tarot majors I think would be most interesting to those already familiar with the major arcana. This is not a book I'd suggest as someone's first tarot book, or first divination book even, but it does feel approachable and for the most part doesn't presume much background knowledge. Horne notes that folk magic emerges "around what is available, what is useful, and what works best" [155] and presents ideas for workings that many could perform using only objects already present in their home. Basic folk magic concepts such as sympathy are explained clearly and concisely, and ethical and ontological questions (ex. the appropriateness of cursing, the possibility of communication with the dead) are addressed quite effectively given the book's short page count.
I really appreciate Horne's overall approach and tone. He presents cartomancy and folk craft as alive and constantly adapting, writing that "as participants in tradition, we are not confined but set free by its wisdom" [204]. He encourages readers to draw on their own lineages and traditions, and advocates for an inclusive approach to reading the cards that dispenses with some historical ideas that presumed and reinforced gender binary and gender stereotypical thinking by, for instance, associating certain cards with certain genders only. I would definitely recommend this book to an intermediate practitioner & look forward to reading more from Horne.
I would class this book as intermediate overall. The sections on playing cards read as fairly beginner friendly - I could easily navigate these sections as someone versed in pip tarot decks and basic numerology, but not particularly experienced with playing cards - whereas the section on the tarot majors I think would be most interesting to those already familiar with the major arcana. This is not a book I'd suggest as someone's first tarot book, or first divination book even, but it does feel approachable and for the most part doesn't presume much background knowledge. Horne notes that folk magic emerges "around what is available, what is useful, and what works best" [155] and presents ideas for workings that many could perform using only objects already present in their home. Basic folk magic concepts such as sympathy are explained clearly and concisely, and ethical and ontological questions (ex. the appropriateness of cursing, the possibility of communication with the dead) are addressed quite effectively given the book's short page count.
I really appreciate Horne's overall approach and tone. He presents cartomancy and folk craft as alive and constantly adapting, writing that "as participants in tradition, we are not confined but set free by its wisdom" [204]. He encourages readers to draw on their own lineages and traditions, and advocates for an inclusive approach to reading the cards that dispenses with some historical ideas that presumed and reinforced gender binary and gender stereotypical thinking by, for instance, associating certain cards with certain genders only. I would definitely recommend this book to an intermediate practitioner & look forward to reading more from Horne.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
Someone You Can Build a Nest In is ambitious: not only is the character non-human, she’s not even approximately humanoid (unless she chooses to be) but rather a shapeshifting blob that can take objects in from her environment – chair legs, knives, body parts of others – and use them to shape herself. It’s well written and I’d happily read more from John Wiswell, but not everything about this worked for me.
What I liked: the novel includes thoughtful asexual sapphic representation, some well considered conversations about trauma and its impact on relationships, and a mix of graphic gore and violence with humour that somehow inexplicably worked in terms of overall tone. The pacing mostly worked for me. There are some fantastic descriptions and turns of phrase in this book.
What I didn’t love so much: Shesheshen felt way too human as a non-human POV; I understand wanting to make the POV character somehow relatable, but this didn’t quite work for me. The last 20% or so of the book felt like an unnecessary add-on. The insta-romance wasn’t convincing (I’m admittedly not a romance reader, and those who are might like this aspect of the story more than I did).
Thank you to the author, DAW, & NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
Content warnings: emotional abuse, physical abuse, gaslighting, child abuse, child death, blood, gore, body horror, injury detail, violence, murder, death, animal cruelty, animal death, grief, abandonment. Don’t be misled by reviews calling this ‘cozy’ – the abusive dynamics in this book are severe and pervasive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Grief, Abandonment, Body horror, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood
The Witch's Name: Crafting Identities of Magical Power by Storm Faerywolf
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
A solid book on considerations related to choosing a craft name, Storm Faerywolf's "The Witch's Name" covers a lot of ground in not many pages: reasons for choosing a name, contexts one might use (or not use) such a name (or names!), sources of inspiration (constellations, animals, mythology, deities, legends, etc.), exercises to try to find elements of one's name or see how a particular name feels, and additional considerations like signatures and self-protection. I would describe this, in craft terms, as intermediate; there is definitely the presumption here that the reader is familiar with some magical basics (protective work, grounding and centering, raising power) but no expectation that the reader do these things in any particular way. Inevitably, some parts of the book will be more relevant to any reader than others - for example, I don't work with the 'three part self' but the divination and sigil-crafting sections are highly relevant to my practice. I appreciate the author's mindfulness re: cultural appropriation, pronunciation of languages, and related issues. I would absolutely read more from Faerywolf based on this book, and I know some of these exercises will be very useful to me as I work on crafting a public-facing name for some writing/publishing I hope to do.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cultural appropriation
Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
Lake of Souls is a collection of short fiction divided into three sections – standalone short stories, stories set in the Imperial Radch universe, and stories set in the universe of The Raven Tower. I read this collection having read both the Imperial Radch trilogy and The Raven Tower, which I think has really impacted my experience. I had also already read one of the Radch stories included here, “She Commands Me and I Obey,” as well as one of the standalones, “The Justified,” which previously appeared in Lightspeed.
Inevitably, with a shorts collection a reader is bound to like some stories more than others. For me, I tended to prefer the stories set in established worlds over the standalones. That said I did really love the standalone story “Another Word for World,” which is one of the longer ones and which explores what happens when two treaty negotiators’ translating device is lost in a plane crash, leaving them alone and wondering who shot down their plane. This was absolutely a standout for me. I enjoyed some of the Radch and Raven Tower stories but wonder how much my enjoyment would translate to a reader who is unfamiliar with these worlds – Leckie is a masterful world-builder in long fiction, and I think some of the stories are stronger for having established background contexts.
I recommend this book as a solid short story collection, but if you’ve never read any Ann Leckie before, I’d absolutely suggest starting with Ancillary Justice.
Content warnings: sexism, violence, medical trauma (castration – not consented to), xenophobia, war
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Sexism, Violence, and War
Loving Country by Vicky Shukuroglou, Bruce Pascoe
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Loving Country is a collection of essays on a range of Indigenous sacred sites in “Australia.” For each one, the essay includes detailed descriptions of the land and water, their histories, and their cultural significance; they also include a section at the end of each chapter including information on available tours or other ways to visit and learn about the area, and there are landscape and nature photos throughout. The text citiques settler colonialism and its cultural and environmental impacts, how these histories are told (or, in too many instances, silenced) today, and discusses contemporary Australians’ responsibilities toward the First Peoples and the land itself.
I read this on an e-reader, and I really wish I could’ve gotten a hard copy – I would definitely suggest the hard copy route if you can find one in order to better see the photographs.
Content warnings: as a book detailing Indigenous experiences of and histories with their land, it does discuss the past and present violence of settler colonialism.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation
Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging by Jessica J. Lee
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Dispersals is an essay collection focused on plants and place: on a small scale, Lee explores our relationships with the plants we encounter and grow up with; on a broader scale, she explains, through a series of examples, some of the ways that human history is bound up with the movement of plants from place to place. I liked the balance of information about plants and their histories and autobiographical reflections (a hard balance to find, I think) and I learned quite a lot about plants. Lee writes beautifully. I do think the discussion of parallels in how we talk about people and plants ‘out of place’ could’ve been pushed a bit further.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley, & Penguin Random House Canada for providing an ARC.
Content warnings: discussion of xenophobia, racism, and war
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, and War
White Horse: A Novel by Erika T. Wurth
Did not finish book. Stopped at 12%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 12%.
I'm not going to give a star rating as I didn't get very far.
This doesn't read like adult fiction to me, and the characters feel one-dimensional - almost stereotypes.
This doesn't read like adult fiction to me, and the characters feel one-dimensional - almost stereotypes.