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librovermo's reviews
226 reviews
Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata
4.25
I read (and enjoyed) Convenience Store Woman not long before Vanishing World and I gotta say… if you thought the former was odd, you are going to think the latter is way beyond that.
The bizarre future Sakaya Murata created in this book is so much wilder than I thought it would be. Like, okay, all the babies are born via artificial insemination and not many people have sex anymore - that’s not too weird, right? Add in the belief that sex with your husband/wife is considered incest because you’re family and everyone falls in love with anime characters instead of real people and it gets much weirder! Yeah! It’s super weird now!
Being inside Amane’s mind was a trip. She’s one of few people that still has an interest in sex, but not for reasons you’d expect. It was interesting how clinical and matter-of-fact sex was for her. She always had to teach men how to do it, and there was no shyness or self-consciousness even during her first time - just “okay, we’re lovers now, here’s where you put your penis.”
Vanishing World is about more than just a strange, sexless world. It made me think about the conformity and the things humanity leaves behind as it evolves (and whether or not that evolution is always a good thing). It brought forth the question of how important family is (or isn’t) to us all, and how much love and attention children need to grow into healthy, fully-functioning adults. It just did that in the weirdest possible way, and it was super entertaining.
Unfortunately, because it was translated, I can’t really tell if it was done on purpose or if it’s a product of translation, but there was a lotttt of repetition. To say it bothered me feels a little strong, but I guess it did ultimately have an effect on my rating. It definitely doesn’t make the book any less worth a read though, especially if you’re a Sayaka Murata fan or you just like offbeat books.
Thank you to Grove Atlantic, from whom I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley.
The bizarre future Sakaya Murata created in this book is so much wilder than I thought it would be. Like, okay, all the babies are born via artificial insemination and not many people have sex anymore - that’s not too weird, right? Add in the belief that sex with your husband/wife is considered incest because you’re family and everyone falls in love with anime characters instead of real people and it gets much weirder! Yeah! It’s super weird now!
Being inside Amane’s mind was a trip. She’s one of few people that still has an interest in sex, but not for reasons you’d expect. It was interesting how clinical and matter-of-fact sex was for her. She always had to teach men how to do it, and there was no shyness or self-consciousness even during her first time - just “okay, we’re lovers now, here’s where you put your penis.”
Vanishing World is about more than just a strange, sexless world. It made me think about the conformity and the things humanity leaves behind as it evolves (and whether or not that evolution is always a good thing). It brought forth the question of how important family is (or isn’t) to us all, and how much love and attention children need to grow into healthy, fully-functioning adults. It just did that in the weirdest possible way, and it was super entertaining.
Unfortunately, because it was translated, I can’t really tell if it was done on purpose or if it’s a product of translation, but there was a lotttt of repetition. To say it bothered me feels a little strong, but I guess it did ultimately have an effect on my rating. It definitely doesn’t make the book any less worth a read though, especially if you’re a Sayaka Murata fan or you just like offbeat books.
Thank you to Grove Atlantic, from whom I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley.
The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence
4.5
I’m not going to include spoilers in this review, which means it’s not going to be super detailed because it’s the third book in a trilogy which means there’s a whole lot I can’t mention without ruining things.
As with the first two books, every character’s story is so perfectly woven into and throughout time. If a character is there, there’s a thoughtful and deliberate reason behind it that is probably central to a major plot point. It’s honestly incredible that Mark Lawrence was able to make this entire trilogy make sense even though by all rights the story should be extremely confusing. How does he write this stuff in a way that allows for perfect understanding?
My favorite of the books is definitely the second, but I think this was a solid followup. The release and message of the book and really, the entire trilogy, is extremely timely. There’s discussion of fascism and book burning that broke my heart and had me crying. The war between Jaspeth and Irad feels more applicable to real now life than ever before and it’s a scary thing to think about.
The Book That Held Her Heart is a great ending to a fantastic trilogy. It’s not very often that I’m fully pleased with the final book in a series because an epilogue ruins it, or something is left unanswered and it feels like it was left that way just in case the author ever wants to add another book. Not this one. There are no loose ends and I don’t feel at all as if I’ve been left wanting.
Read this trilogy. Seriously. If you’ve been sleeping on the first two, waiting for the third to release, it’s out now, okay? So no excuses!
Thank you to Berkley/Ace, from whom I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley.
Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks
A character named Michelle! There’s not enough Michelle representation in books so I’m always happy when I come across one. And when the Michelle is a major character? Hell. Yes.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun reading this book, which felt a little more lighthearted than my first Dan Hanks book, The Way Up Is Death, but still gave me plenty to think about.
As someone who has no children and has never had to take care of any beyond babysitting as a young teen, I didn’t relate to any of the characters super easily when it came to juggling their sort of superhero status with their children’s needs, school functions, etc. But luckily, I know how to put myself in other people’s shoes (a dying art), and man did I come away from Swashbucklers with an even greater appreciation for all nonfictional parents who do so much for their children on top of everything else they have to take care of.
There was a lot of action and I’m learning that Dan Hanks has a way of pacing it out in a way I really like. It wasn’t lopsided or so jam packed with no breaks that I got tired. I loved all the video game references, the enemies Cisco and his friends (including Michelle!) fought were super creative, and the story went places I really didn’t expect. Literally. There was traversal through other worlds and I did not expect that.
And the ending! It was both satisfying and left me wanting more, a very strange (but good) mix. I feel like it could easily end there and I’d be okay because (spoiler reasons lol), but I feel more like I don’t want it to end, please write a sequel thanks.
5.0
A character named Michelle! There’s not enough Michelle representation in books so I’m always happy when I come across one. And when the Michelle is a major character? Hell. Yes.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun reading this book, which felt a little more lighthearted than my first Dan Hanks book, The Way Up Is Death, but still gave me plenty to think about.
As someone who has no children and has never had to take care of any beyond babysitting as a young teen, I didn’t relate to any of the characters super easily when it came to juggling their sort of superhero status with their children’s needs, school functions, etc. But luckily, I know how to put myself in other people’s shoes (a dying art), and man did I come away from Swashbucklers with an even greater appreciation for all nonfictional parents who do so much for their children on top of everything else they have to take care of.
There was a lot of action and I’m learning that Dan Hanks has a way of pacing it out in a way I really like. It wasn’t lopsided or so jam packed with no breaks that I got tired. I loved all the video game references, the enemies Cisco and his friends (including Michelle!) fought were super creative, and the story went places I really didn’t expect. Literally. There was traversal through other worlds and I did not expect that.
And the ending! It was both satisfying and left me wanting more, a very strange (but good) mix. I feel like it could easily end there and I’d be okay because (spoiler reasons lol), but I feel more like I don’t want it to end, please write a sequel thanks.
We All Rot Eventually by Mia Ballard
5.0
I don’t typically leave reviews that say “WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST READ” but I feel like this is a special occasion, so WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST READ?
brb, adding Sugar and Shy Girl to my wishlist so I can probably WTF at those too.
brb, adding Sugar and Shy Girl to my wishlist so I can probably WTF at those too.
The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn
4.5
In the acknowledgments, Ava Morgyn calls The Bane Witch a magical thriller, and that is the perfect description. Also, I think I might love magical thrillers and I need to find more.
I liked Piers as a MC. She’s hurt, angry, and lost, but still determined to find her way. She’s also not perfect, as she makes some mistakes while figuring out what the heck a bane witch is and how to navigate her new reality. I do think she figured out all the bane witch stuff a little too quickly though. She had a lot of help from her aunt, but it still felt like she went from clueless to expert too easily. The story took place only over a matter of months and I wish that even towards the end of the book, she’d still been kind of unsure of her abilities.
The Bane Witch isn’t a romance, but there was a romance subplot that felt necessary for Piers as she experienced a relationship full of tenderness and love instead of the horrible treatment she received from her husband. Similarly, her relationship with her aunt Myrtle was a loving replacement for her strained relationship with her mother. It was nice to see Piers get the love she deserved.
The entire idea of a family of bane witches is really cool and I want to be one. Ingesting poison and then seducing shitty men so I can transfer the poison to them and kill them? Sign me up. I love the way it worked and I imagine there are no plans whatsoever for a series but every member of the family does things differently and I think it would be awesome if certain members had their own books! Plus, think of all the feminine rage and revenge! Yesssssss.
Thank you St. Martins Press for the ARC, which I received via Netgalley.
Sky Daddy by Kate Folk
5.0
This book is hilarious, as I absolutely expected (I mean, even mundane things like when Linda forgot laundry in a washing machine had me cackling), but it’s also surprisingly authentic and moving (I even burst into tears once). I had a moment early on when I realized I felt so sad for a woman who longs to be with an AIRPLANE and can’t. A woman whose first love is a plane she calls by its registration number, N92823, which is out of commission and has been relegated to an airplane graveyard. I was rooting for lonely woman whose greatest dream is to be N92823’s runway bride, and I never thought I’d be so invested in such a thing, but Kate Folk made it happen.
Rather than grow increasingly unhinged over time, Linda bares all from the very beginning when she creates a vision board in hopes that the universe will guide her to the plane that will choose her as it’s soulmate. She reminds me a bit of Emily Austin’s characters, except she’s in her 30s and not a lesbian. She’s not at all attracted to people though, so she’s not exactly straight either. She’s a very unique person who just has a way of thinking that feels both strange and relatable. Something I personally related to was that though she struggled to make connections with and didn’t always see the humanity in people, she anthropomorphized more than just airplanes, at one point feeling bad about putting a lamp in closet because she wouldn’t be allowing it to shine as it was meant to. Her love of planes is similar in that she doesn’t just look at a plane and want to be with it. The planes have personalities. They respond to her in their own plane-like ways, just like the lamp has lamp behaviors. I thought that was extremely interesting as it gave a much deeper meaning to her attraction.
While it was easy to pick up this book thinking it would just be a fun, silly time, and I would have been happy if that’s all it was, I’m glad it was so much more. It provoked a lot of thought, especially about trauma and how far we go to chase nostalgia and better times. It forever changed how I feel about those people on documentaries who are in love with rollercoasters or their car or something. It made me wonder: does a book need a spice rating if the main character is turned on by airplanes? And it gave me a major hangover.
It also rearranged my brain a little bit. A few days after I read it, one of my friends said something about dating a bag of food, as in putting the date on it, and I thought he meant taking it on a date. Yep.