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mahtzahgay's reviews
126 reviews
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
There's a lot to say here, with this read fresh in my mind. Not just a well-written and well-crafted read, with attention to detail and structure, but a deeply compelling narrative, too.
The humanity injected into all the characters, even the ones you want to leap through the pages and beat bloody, is a feat of craft itself. Whether it's Offred, Ofglen, Janice, Nick, Selina Joy, The Commander, The Aunts.... they all are convincingly and horrifyingly human, in all that entails.
What really struck me was how believable Gilead is. This seems a moot and overdone point considering The Handmaid's Tale's legacy, but witnessing the rise in fascism and ultra-conservatist movements globally made reading the slow creep of Gilead's authoritarianism seem so much more uncomfortable. The complicity of everyone, whether out of fear, disinterest, power, or true vehement belief. How Luke reacts so blithely to Offred's loss of autonomy at the very beginning.
Read for uni.
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I wish this story were different. I wish it were more civilized. I wish it showed me in a better light, if not happier, then at least more active, less hesitant, less distracted by trivia.
There's a lot to say here, with this read fresh in my mind. Not just a well-written and well-crafted read, with attention to detail and structure, but a deeply compelling narrative, too.
The humanity injected into all the characters, even the ones you want to leap through the pages and beat bloody, is a feat of craft itself. Whether it's Offred, Ofglen, Janice, Nick, Selina Joy, The Commander, The Aunts.... they all are convincingly and horrifyingly human, in all that entails.
What really struck me was how believable Gilead is. This seems a moot and overdone point considering The Handmaid's Tale's legacy, but witnessing the rise in fascism and ultra-conservatist movements globally made reading the slow creep of Gilead's authoritarianism seem so much more uncomfortable. The complicity of everyone, whether out of fear, disinterest, power, or true vehement belief. How Luke reacts so blithely to Offred's loss of autonomy at the very beginning.
Read for uni.
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
Bulawayo's We Need New Names is less a novel about the experience of Darling moving to America and more about the history and struggle of a country and her displaced people. Without pity, Bulawayo paints the reality of Zimbabwe's people and the experience of immigration for colonized people's. All the characters are rendered as their whole selves; not perfect victims, or overly-gentle idealists, but flawed and multi-faceted people who are just trying to survive their circumstances in a world (or, worlds) that seems both too large and intimately small.
Darling is not a endlessly kind character: but she is a realised one. Her musings on identity, politics, capitalism, gender, immigration etc read like the real opinions of first a ten year old, to teenager, and finally a young adult just beginning community college.
I think what I appreciate most about how Darling is written, is that she's not an activist, or a visionary, or a saint. She's just a young girl/woman, coming to terms with herself and the two countries she's displaced between, missing home.
Read for uni.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I am hungry for my country and nothing is going to fix that.
Bulawayo's We Need New Names is less a novel about the experience of Darling moving to America and more about the history and struggle of a country and her displaced people. Without pity, Bulawayo paints the reality of Zimbabwe's people and the experience of immigration for colonized people's. All the characters are rendered as their whole selves; not perfect victims, or overly-gentle idealists, but flawed and multi-faceted people who are just trying to survive their circumstances in a world (or, worlds) that seems both too large and intimately small.
Darling is not a endlessly kind character: but she is a realised one. Her musings on identity, politics, capitalism, gender, immigration etc read like the real opinions of first a ten year old, to teenager, and finally a young adult just beginning community college.
I think what I appreciate most about how Darling is written, is that she's not an activist, or a visionary, or a saint. She's just a young girl/woman, coming to terms with herself and the two countries she's displaced between, missing home.
Read for uni.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
challenging
dark
sad
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
3.75
Much to think about.............................. Also that final line is crazy work.
The Devourers by Indra Das
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.75
Genuinely one of the most interesting interpretations of werewolves/shape-shifters I've ever read. Das manages to imbue a true sense of inhumanism into his narrative – the way the shifters are portrayed, and how they view the world and themselves, is so completely distanced from anything familiarly human.
The gore, too, is strangely abstract; this is not a negative. Das' use of dreamscape horror is effective in both enrapturing you within these blood-stained scenes while not not scaring away potential readers who are squirmish. His horror is surreal and lyrical.
The juxtaposition between the human element of queerness and its inhuman counterpart was interesting to see play out. I don't really have anything else to add without giving major spoilers, but I really enjoyed how these themes were handled and interwoven with one another.
The gore, too, is strangely abstract; this is not a negative. Das' use of dreamscape horror is effective in both enrapturing you within these blood-stained scenes while not not scaring away potential readers who are squirmish. His horror is surreal and lyrical.
The juxtaposition between the human element of queerness and its inhuman counterpart was interesting to see play out. I don't really have anything else to add without giving major spoilers, but I really enjoyed how these themes were handled and interwoven with one another.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Death of parent
A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Nicely fucked up little relationship paired with a pretty good horror mystery. I'm always a sucker for any sort of maritime/naval themed horror, and A Bone in His Teeth definitely scratched that itch.
I ticked "it's complicated" for the diverse cast only because while there are obviously plenty of queer characters present within the book, none of the characters are explicitly coded or written as not white.
While there are sex scenes in the book, the overall plot and relationship between Alba and Eridanys is still the main focus, and I wouldn't consider the amount of sex scenes excessive. The sex scenes were written pretty well, and I did enjoy that consensual rough sex was depicted – I find that when sex is explicitly detailed in a book, it tends to lean on the more vanilla side. It was a nice change of pace.
I ticked "it's complicated" for the diverse cast only because while there are obviously plenty of queer characters present within the book, none of the characters are explicitly coded or written as not white.
While there are sex scenes in the book, the overall plot and relationship between Alba and Eridanys is still the main focus, and I wouldn't consider the amount of sex scenes excessive. The sex scenes were written pretty well, and I did enjoy that consensual rough sex was depicted – I find that when sex is explicitly detailed in a book, it tends to lean on the more vanilla side. It was a nice change of pace.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Transphobia
Chronicles of a Village by Nguyen Thanh Hien
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Gorgeously lyrical prose. The weight of the unnamed narrator's love for his village is felt within every sentence, between each space of every word. Each fragment of memory is interwoven with one another like a stream of consciousness.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent
Minor: War
To Wield The Darkest Night by Beau Van Dalen
Did not finish book. Stopped at 53%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 53%.
I really, really tried. I did.
I thought perhaps Van Dalen's poor writing in his Prince's Loving Guards series was simply because they were plotless, airheaded erotica. Unfortunately – for me, more specifically – Van Dalen's writing is of Wattpad quality regardless of publishing length.
Usually I try and finish books I dislike so I can accurately & cohesively critique why I didn't like them; I think it's imperative to giving negative critique & necessary to properly deconstruct why a media does or doesn't work. However, I got to the 160-page mark, suffering the entire time, and asked myself, "does a poorly-written smut book really deserve this much effort to critique it?"
The answer is no. It doesn't.
Again, as I said for my review of Van Dalen's previous novellas: if you're looking for well-written erotica, go to AO3 instead. I am being 100% serious when I say there's far better written and significantly more interesting erotica on there than in these books.
I thought perhaps Van Dalen's poor writing in his Prince's Loving Guards series was simply because they were plotless, airheaded erotica. Unfortunately – for me, more specifically – Van Dalen's writing is of Wattpad quality regardless of publishing length.
Usually I try and finish books I dislike so I can accurately & cohesively critique why I didn't like them; I think it's imperative to giving negative critique & necessary to properly deconstruct why a media does or doesn't work. However, I got to the 160-page mark, suffering the entire time, and asked myself, "does a poorly-written smut book really deserve this much effort to critique it?"
The answer is no. It doesn't.
Again, as I said for my review of Van Dalen's previous novellas: if you're looking for well-written erotica, go to AO3 instead. I am being 100% serious when I say there's far better written and significantly more interesting erotica on there than in these books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Dysphoria
Moderate: Death, Violence
The Prince's Loving Guards by Beau Van Dalen
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I was SOOOO bored. The sex is so dull and uninteresting, which is worrying considering this entire series is meant to be a mindless, plotless erotica series.
The characters are still so boring, too. Kaiser was given slightly more attention and interest in this one, but Hal, Elwood, and Kaiser are all still such wooden and boring people to read and listen to. Also, I'm sorry, but for a series that was marketed as a poly romance, there is very little polyamory happening – while a triad isn't necessarily an endgame goal for all poly relationships, I was still expecting some sort of amicable and developed relationship between Elwood and Kaiser, but the two seem as distant as ever.
Again, if you're looking for erotica, go read some AO3 fanfiction. I can promise you that it'll likely be both better written and far more developed than this series.
The characters are still so boring, too. Kaiser was given slightly more attention and interest in this one, but Hal, Elwood, and Kaiser are all still such wooden and boring people to read and listen to. Also, I'm sorry, but for a series that was marketed as a poly romance, there is very little polyamory happening – while a triad isn't necessarily an endgame goal for all poly relationships, I was still expecting some sort of amicable and developed relationship between Elwood and Kaiser, but the two seem as distant as ever.
Again, if you're looking for erotica, go read some AO3 fanfiction. I can promise you that it'll likely be both better written and far more developed than this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Dysphoria
Minor: Violence, War
The Prince's Dearest Guards by Beau Van Dalen
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
It's plotless porn. It's fine. I found the characters both one-dimentional and boring (and also ZERO personality tbh), and the sex was pretty dull.
Honestly if you want a trans romantasy, so read Reclaimed by Seth Haddon instead, where the writing quality is far better AND you get a much more interesting fantasy world that stands on it's own regardless of the slow-burn romance. And if you just want erotica? Go find some AO3 fanfiction. Seriously.
Honestly if you want a trans romantasy, so read Reclaimed by Seth Haddon instead, where the writing quality is far better AND you get a much more interesting fantasy world that stands on it's own regardless of the slow-burn romance. And if you just want erotica? Go find some AO3 fanfiction. Seriously.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Dysphoria
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Both harrowing and tender. One of the best works of climate dystopia fiction I've read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence