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magicant's reviews
130 reviews
Downside Up by Richard Scrimger
5.0
Downside Up tells the story of a boy that has lost a lot, some more than he even realizes. This is a story of him coming to terms with everything that he has lost and learning how important it is to push past that and when it is also time to not let go.
We see two very different worlds, one much like our reality, and this upside down that he visits to meet his recently passed dog. We see him balancing his two lives, and how exhausting it can be on a child to cope with loss. He experiences a lot of feelings that he doesn't quite understand, anger, sadness that doesn't come out in the conventional usual of crying.
He realizes how it is like to go into a world where no one cares or worries as much as the real world, where when it's someone's time, they accept it. This sparks a hopelessness, and frustration that you would expect to see from anyone confronted with this world's version of death. Death in this world being represented by dragons, taking things, people, and so on as it is their time.
No one in the world fights this fate, they accept it foolheartedly.
You can especially see this between the siblings, Fred and Isabel, Fred repressed the feelings that he had about his father passing to the point where he couldn't remember anything about him until he was forced to look at "the shadow" that hid his father from his view.
Meanwhile his sister coped in her own way, she repressed it in a much different way. She grew frustrated and angry, she held on to what little she had left of her father's presence. Which in her case was the shoes that her father had bought for her. She refused to part with them, despite how destroyed the heels were, they were her way of connecting with the father that she had lost.
In this later stage of the book, you see the siblings break that wall of silence, both of them not wishing to speak of what they miss. They finally come to realize that they can talk to each other about what they miss, and cry together rather than separately and alone. This moment bringing them close to each other in the process. So that when they leave the upside down permanently, they take solace in each other's shared struggles rather than repressing it alone.
Another honorable mention from this book is the inclusion of a therapist in this story filled with grief, Fred's sister and mother along with him all attended therapy to cope with their grief, something that is often underestimated when it comes to books that delve deeply into grief. Yes, of course you can find a solace on your own, but that isn't achievable for everyone. Sometimes you need those guiding thoughts from educated therapists along with those personal journeys to find that part of you again.
I heavily suggest this rather short book to anyone who has lost anything, or anyone. Even more so to people who haven't, grief can seem undecipherable to those who have not experienced it. So if anyone is struggling and not making a lot of sense, step back, don't focus on the facts in that moment. Focus on how they are feeling, and be understanding, even if it doesn't make sense to you.
We see two very different worlds, one much like our reality, and this upside down that he visits to meet his recently passed dog. We see him balancing his two lives, and how exhausting it can be on a child to cope with loss. He experiences a lot of feelings that he doesn't quite understand, anger, sadness that doesn't come out in the conventional usual of crying.
He realizes how it is like to go into a world where no one cares or worries as much as the real world, where when it's someone's time, they accept it. This sparks a hopelessness, and frustration that you would expect to see from anyone confronted with this world's version of death. Death in this world being represented by dragons, taking things, people, and so on as it is their time.
No one in the world fights this fate, they accept it foolheartedly.
Spoiler
Probably one of the most beautiful things regarding this book is the twist that comes later on, when he finds out that his sister is also missing someone. Someone that he originally thought was Casey, but in reality it was his father, that he had forgotten was even gone due to repression. Something that is very prevalent in children that experience heavily distressing things in their childhood, distressing things that can vary greatly in terms of severity as emotions are subjective and everyone responds to them differently.You can especially see this between the siblings, Fred and Isabel, Fred repressed the feelings that he had about his father passing to the point where he couldn't remember anything about him until he was forced to look at "the shadow" that hid his father from his view.
Meanwhile his sister coped in her own way, she repressed it in a much different way. She grew frustrated and angry, she held on to what little she had left of her father's presence. Which in her case was the shoes that her father had bought for her. She refused to part with them, despite how destroyed the heels were, they were her way of connecting with the father that she had lost.
In this later stage of the book, you see the siblings break that wall of silence, both of them not wishing to speak of what they miss. They finally come to realize that they can talk to each other about what they miss, and cry together rather than separately and alone. This moment bringing them close to each other in the process. So that when they leave the upside down permanently, they take solace in each other's shared struggles rather than repressing it alone.
Another honorable mention from this book is the inclusion of a therapist in this story filled with grief, Fred's sister and mother along with him all attended therapy to cope with their grief, something that is often underestimated when it comes to books that delve deeply into grief. Yes, of course you can find a solace on your own, but that isn't achievable for everyone. Sometimes you need those guiding thoughts from educated therapists along with those personal journeys to find that part of you again.
I heavily suggest this rather short book to anyone who has lost anything, or anyone. Even more so to people who haven't, grief can seem undecipherable to those who have not experienced it. So if anyone is struggling and not making a lot of sense, step back, don't focus on the facts in that moment. Focus on how they are feeling, and be understanding, even if it doesn't make sense to you.
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
5.0
A very LGBT friendly and wonderful book by Sarah Gailey, had it not been put on display at my local library, I would have missed a beautifully written book.
In every sense, this is the kind of representation that LGBT people live for, a focus on a plot completely disconnected by the orientations and genders of the cast. Or at least, the representation I so badly look for in books. No one questions, is hateful, or anything like that. This is a book that feels like a safe cozy space for LGBT folk who just want a read with representation with none of the uncomfortable questions and uncertainty of living in a world still growing to understand us.
Due to this kind of representation that is present, this book is suited to anyone, even to those who may be a little less open-minded as it doesn't linger hard on those details. Leaving everything in a sweet implication throughout the book.
I highly suggest escaping into this Wild-West style fiction.
In every sense, this is the kind of representation that LGBT people live for, a focus on a plot completely disconnected by the orientations and genders of the cast. Or at least, the representation I so badly look for in books. No one questions, is hateful, or anything like that. This is a book that feels like a safe cozy space for LGBT folk who just want a read with representation with none of the uncomfortable questions and uncertainty of living in a world still growing to understand us.
Due to this kind of representation that is present, this book is suited to anyone, even to those who may be a little less open-minded as it doesn't linger hard on those details. Leaving everything in a sweet implication throughout the book.
I highly suggest escaping into this Wild-West style fiction.
Abandon Us by E.T. Gunnarsson
Did not finish book.
Did not finish book.
I will admit, I struggled a little with this one. I want to first start off by thanking NetGalley for giving me a free copy of this book for an honest review. I will preface this by commenting that I read half of this book, as I started to struggle reading it in it's latter parts.
This is a book about how down and bad the world can get, Robert, the main character is struggling through a constantly changing world at the brink of destruction. War on a national and international level, and plague is the backdrop to this sobering story.
First off, this is a post-apocalyptic story, a dystopian world, it is meant to often be a warning for a possible future to come. This book is not for everyone just for that, you have to have a very good headspace to handle this kind of book. There will be death, suffering, and stuff that will remind you of the current day which can be too much for some readers.
The first thing I enjoyed quite a lot about this story was the amount of description given for all the elements within the story, always getting a real clear image what things look like in their world. The harsh winds, dirt lining the windows outside, it brought you deep into the world and left you there to sit on the possibility of that becoming our world.
This book has a very slow start, if you came into the book expecting to be hooked, you might find yourself waiting. The romance between the main characters, Zilv and Robert felt, daydreamish and childish. Much like two teenagers gushing over each other, and while I am sure that many people have a relationship like it, it just felt like we walked into something really private.
There was points where things were redundant and said multiple times, like the story about Robert not seeing flowers since he was eight and Zilv's mother having a flower shop. Which gave a feeling as if maybe this wasn't read very thoroughly by beta-readers, or simply not noticed.
I found myself wishing for a more confident main character or wishing he was a bit more dimensional with his feelings and wants. Often times he just fell into survival mode, which did a genuine disservice to his character even before the book got very far in, I didn't know who he was. What kind of hobbies he had outside the work he was doing for money. This may also be in relation to the amount of timeskips in this book, every chapter being a timeskip in some manner. It made things feel like an episodic tv show rather than a book.
Lastly I want to bring up that there was too much going on, the civil war and international war alongside the plague made this book overwhelming to comprehend everything going on and disconnected the reader.
I am sure that there are a lot of people who would love this book, and can follow it much easier than me. William was a nice breath of fresh air to the more passive Robert and Zilv, pushing them into better or worse situations. I would definitely love to read more about William's adventures.
This is a book about how down and bad the world can get, Robert, the main character is struggling through a constantly changing world at the brink of destruction. War on a national and international level, and plague is the backdrop to this sobering story.
First off, this is a post-apocalyptic story, a dystopian world, it is meant to often be a warning for a possible future to come. This book is not for everyone just for that, you have to have a very good headspace to handle this kind of book. There will be death, suffering, and stuff that will remind you of the current day which can be too much for some readers.
The first thing I enjoyed quite a lot about this story was the amount of description given for all the elements within the story, always getting a real clear image what things look like in their world. The harsh winds, dirt lining the windows outside, it brought you deep into the world and left you there to sit on the possibility of that becoming our world.
This book has a very slow start, if you came into the book expecting to be hooked, you might find yourself waiting. The romance between the main characters, Zilv and Robert felt, daydreamish and childish. Much like two teenagers gushing over each other, and while I am sure that many people have a relationship like it, it just felt like we walked into something really private.
There was points where things were redundant and said multiple times, like the story about Robert not seeing flowers since he was eight and Zilv's mother having a flower shop. Which gave a feeling as if maybe this wasn't read very thoroughly by beta-readers, or simply not noticed.
I found myself wishing for a more confident main character or wishing he was a bit more dimensional with his feelings and wants. Often times he just fell into survival mode, which did a genuine disservice to his character even before the book got very far in, I didn't know who he was. What kind of hobbies he had outside the work he was doing for money. This may also be in relation to the amount of timeskips in this book, every chapter being a timeskip in some manner. It made things feel like an episodic tv show rather than a book.
Lastly I want to bring up that there was too much going on, the civil war and international war alongside the plague made this book overwhelming to comprehend everything going on and disconnected the reader.
I am sure that there are a lot of people who would love this book, and can follow it much easier than me. William was a nice breath of fresh air to the more passive Robert and Zilv, pushing them into better or worse situations. I would definitely love to read more about William's adventures.
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
5.0
How do I even begin to recommend this book? I had no idea how bonkers this book could get, I am still at a loss on how a book like this could even EXIST! It was the most captivated I have ever been reading a book ever since my multi-year hiatus of reading ended. I want to say, the amount of things that Stuart Turton would have had to plan out in advance would be so extensive I can't even imagine how he could have written this.
There was no way to guess where this book would be going, a mystery true to it's name all the way till the last few pages. I thought multiple times, maybe it had finally gotten figured out, but I was only further and further from the truth. This is the first mystery novel I ever read, and definitely after such an introduction, it won't be my last.
Anyway, pushing away from just general praises, this book is about a murder, big surprise, one that the main character, Aiden Bishop goes through multiple hosts to try to figure it out. But by going through all these people, he loses himself more and more, his thoughts and memories mingling with those of his hosts and him fighting against the natures of his hosts while he tries to figure out the truth.
First thing I would like to start with is the difference between the hosts and their effect on Aiden in how he acts and talks, and you can see how drastically it increases over the course of the book. There's never a moment where you think its the same character just in a different body, you never forget who they are in, and who that person was before Aiden inhabited that body.
Stuart gives us a lot of description about the areas that we venture into, using words I never even knew of existing, I have to admit this book expanded my vocabulary. It was as if he knew exactly how much description was needed without feeling like it was too much.
I wish I could even begin to put my words together regarding this book, please, you have to read it you don't understand.
There was no way to guess where this book would be going, a mystery true to it's name all the way till the last few pages. I thought multiple times, maybe it had finally gotten figured out, but I was only further and further from the truth. This is the first mystery novel I ever read, and definitely after such an introduction, it won't be my last.
Anyway, pushing away from just general praises, this book is about a murder, big surprise, one that the main character, Aiden Bishop goes through multiple hosts to try to figure it out. But by going through all these people, he loses himself more and more, his thoughts and memories mingling with those of his hosts and him fighting against the natures of his hosts while he tries to figure out the truth.
First thing I would like to start with is the difference between the hosts and their effect on Aiden in how he acts and talks, and you can see how drastically it increases over the course of the book. There's never a moment where you think its the same character just in a different body, you never forget who they are in, and who that person was before Aiden inhabited that body.
Stuart gives us a lot of description about the areas that we venture into, using words I never even knew of existing, I have to admit this book expanded my vocabulary. It was as if he knew exactly how much description was needed without feeling like it was too much.
I wish I could even begin to put my words together regarding this book, please, you have to read it you don't understand.