luhos's reviews
206 reviews

Into a Star by Puk Qvortrup

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.5

beautiful, sad, realistic, hopeful. this is autofiction done right.

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

this was just mildly interesting from start to finish 

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

it was certainly illuminating to hear the story of the origins of the US opioid epidemic, laid out so matter-of-factly. this is well researched and well presented, and 100% horrifying. after a bit of a slow start, lingering on the original rich sackler and his personal affairs, this really got going into how one family made their incredibly vast fortune on the suffering of others. every sentence in this book was more shocking than the one before it, yet somehow i am left completely unsurprised by everything i read. it really just highlights how systemic the immorality of capitalism is in the united states - rich people first, everyone else later.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

adventurous inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

this was so much fun. the premise of Project Hail Mary is so creative and it was really interesting to read all of the problems and solutions from a scientific perspective in this sort of “what if” scenario. the only thing about it that irked me was that the protagonist’s tone of thinking, as well as dialogue between anyone, could be kinda cringe. 

Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan

emotional reflective fast-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

4.5

Dinan is just so good at writing and exploring messy characters and relationships. It’s a mix of many things, including the trans experience of Max, the MC, and the queer experience in general, what it’s like for queer people in the face of traditional, cishet experiences like marriage, children. It’s nice to read something where it isn’t so straightforward, and not everything is wrapped up in a nice little bow, because that’s how life is. A very personal (to me) opinion is that I wish this were longer and spent a bit more time developing some of the characterisation, as it felt a little smack-you-in-the-face-with-it, forgoing nuance in favour of brevity. 

Something I continue to love about Dinan’s writing is that she says something wonderful and profound in one sentence and the next is quite a funny spit-your-drink-out one-liner; it catches you by surprise and makes for a fun reading experience.

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

If Only by Vigdis Hjorth

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

my god, this was such a slog. it was about 320 one-note pages of a destructive and abusive relationship, then when the very clearly inevitable happens, the grief and reflection that comes after. and honestly those final 20 pages bumped up my rating, i’m not sure if it’s because they were good or because i was just glad to be reading something that wasn’t the same tortured relationship. 

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

a satisfying finish to the southern reach trilogy. i really enjoy this kind of horror/weird/speculative/mysterious/scifi/ecolit story. acceptance gave a lot of insight into the psyche of some of the key players across the southern reach trilogy and made for a compelling read. just the right amount of stuff was left unsaid, in my opinion, and I'm looking forward to picking up absolution soon.

The Night Alphabet by Joelle Taylor

challenging dark emotional slow-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

3.5

3.5. this essentially read like a series of short stories, most of which i enjoyed, but then they were linked by alternate chapters of the storyteller. it was this story that i wanted to get more invested in, but couldn’t. the prose was beautiful and the stories truly harrowing, but in the end it didn’t fully come together for me.