maiakobabe's reviews
3862 reviews

World Heist by Linnea Sterte

mysterious fast-paced

3.75

Two thieves, one a cursed child and the other with the face of a cat, set out to steal things as rare and difficult to obtain as a whole magical pocket realm and the lover of a god. Dreamy, brief, and gorgeously illustrated. Linnea Sterte is doing comics on a whole other level!

Coming Back by Jessi Zabarsky

emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Preet is the most powerful magic user in her island community; her wife Valissa can't use even the most basic powers. But when the island is threatened by a dangerous withering fog, Valissa is the one who volunteers to try and discover its source. In her absence, Preet does a work of magic which is forbidden by the community to do alone; she and her child are exiled from the island and must find a new place to live safely. Will the two women be able to find other another again, and reconcile their believes about tradition, family, and power? This is a very beautiful and ultimately gentle story, mysterious, but compelling. 

Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

Lord Penric is on the way to his betrothal to a local cheese maker's daughter when he comes upon an elderly divine of the Bastard's order collapsed on the side of the road, surrounded by her anxious retinue. He stops to offer aid; he doesn't realized that he will end up becoming the host of the centuries old demon she carried. Suddenly the path of his small and certain future is thrown askew, and the road under his feet leads to places he hardly dared imagine. If, that is, he can figure out how to co-exist with a demonic being. I'm excited to start in on this novella series! I'm such a fan of Bujold's writing and very pleased to find many of these books are available in audio. 

Private Rites by Julia Armfield

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

Set in a near future world which is drowning under decades of torrential rains, this lyrical, tense family drama follows three estranged sisters after the death of their patriarch father. Isla, the oldest, is a therapist in middle of a divorce; she feels the most pulled to manage the family tragedy of the death, funeral, will, and her more unruly sisters' emotions. Irene, the middle sister, struggles to throw off her teen role as "the angry one", though a very loving partner has softened her rough edges over time. And their half sister, Agnes, younger by 11 years, wants nothing to do with any of this and doesn't feel she owes alliance or family feeling to the others. But all of them are haunted by the ghosts of their dead or missing parents, the abuse and neglect they suffered during a disrupted childhood. Plus there's the matter of the family home to deal with: a cold and luxurious house built on stilts which hold it above the rising water. I enjoyed the lovely prose, the fact that all three sisters are queer, and the exploration of how traumatized people try or fail to build and maintain relationships under many pressures, including climate crisis. The ending is a bit rushed and leaves as many questions open as answered. I might later lower my rating to 3.75, but I rounded up because I enjoyed my book club discussion about it so much. 

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

5.0

Ista is now the Dowager Royina of all Chalion, but she's having trouble shaking the titles she's been known by for most the past two decades: Mad Ista, hysterical Ista, Ista who needs to be watched because she is danger to herself. In her mid-40s, Ista despairs that the family curse, now broken, might define the rest of her life as well. Then inspiration strikes: perhaps a pilgrimage under an assumed name could prove the vehicle to travel, see some more of the world, breath some clearer air, and spend company with some young, adventurous people less defined by their dark pasts. And so Ista takes to the road with just one young lady's maid, two travel wardens, a small trope of soldiers dedicated to the Daughter and one a divine of the Bastard's order as her spiritual advisor. In truth, Ista wants nothing more to do with the gods. But the gods, it seems, are not yet done with her. The simple pilgrimage quickly runs into demons, secret conspiracies, death magic, and a danger that might strike all the way to the heart of the kingdom. And Ista finds that she still has the capacity for both sweetness and steal when the world demands them. This was my second time reading this book, but the first as an adult, and I absolutely LOVED it this go around. The audiobook reader is excellent and I am living for middle-aged fantasy protagonists these days. Give me a character who has seen some shit and nevertheless persists! 

I Think Our Son Is Gay, Vol. 05 by Okura

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

4.0

I'm so glad the main character finally confronted her husband on his careless homophobic remarks! Also I loved the story like of Hiroki getting into a girl idol group named Soup=Soup, what a perfect name for a group. If this is the last book of the series I am satisfied :) If there are more I will read them! 

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton

adventurous medium-paced

2.75

The plot of this book is engaging, but the prose is bad. Mickey Barnes is an "expendable" on a terraforming human colony mission on a cold, icy planet. Before the mission left, his entire consciousness was scanned and uploaded to a server, and his biology encoded so the mission can print new versions of him as needed. He is the only member of the roughly 200 person colony who has received this treatment, and it's his duty to do jobs that require a human but will likely get them killed, such as fixing the nuclear reactor, testing out medical procedures, or exploring the system of crevasses and caves below the ice- which happen to be full of insect-like alien species of unknown intelligence levels. This book has some very fun world building and clever twists, but the main character himself is an idiot who regularly makes mistakes that could have been easily avoided with even just a modicum of advanced planning. I would describe the writing as workman-like, just competent enough to get the story told, but often undercutting the emotional impact of the events with quips and fairly shallow character work. I haven't seen the movie but I have a feeling it might be better than the book, a rarity. 

Sea Legs by Jules Bakes

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

Set in 1993, and heavily based on the author's lived experience, this graphic novel follows Janey's very unusual fourth grade year. Her parents own and live on a 40-foot steel sailing ship. They've been mooring in Miami, Florida, and Janey has been attending a regular public school where she has made a best friend, Rae. But Janey's parents want to set to sea again, so Janey and her cat Sassa are off to the Caribbean. There are many wonderful things about sailing- new islands, new food, new views every morning- but it's lonely too. Janey sends letters to Rae but can only receive them when the family stays in a port long enough to get a PO box. She's often bored, doesn't want to do her homework, wishes she had any friends near by. Finally the family's boat, the Merrimaid, stops St Thomas for a while, where her parents get part time jobs. Janey spots a girl only a little older living on another boat in the harbor. Astrid is aloof, challenging, mysterious, and knows a lot of places on the island where kids can get into trouble. Janey is entranced by her, but too young to see the precarious and potentially abusive situation Astrid is living in. This book is BEAUTIFULLY drawn, bright and sharp. I was completely drawn in to Janey's world and the struggles she faces with her parents and her two very different friends, Rae and Astrid. This book brought back how hard it was to maintain a long distance friendship in the 90s, and also pointed out how easy it is for kids without responsible adults in their lives to disappear off the map. It's more challenging and dark than the colorful cover suggests but I HIGHLY recommend it. 

I Think Our Son Is Gay, Vol. 04 by Okura

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

4.0

Tomoko is such a wonderful and loving parent to her two probably queer sons. The elder son is dealing with the very normal high school rejection of his crush starting to date someone else, and the younger feels more and more aro-ace and maybe even agender. This is such a gentle, soft parenting story with a lot of sweetness and humor.

I Think Our Son Is Gay, Vol. 03 by Okura

emotional funny hopeful

4.0

The cast of characters is slowly expanding! A neighbor, who probably has a crush on her gay son Hiroki, starts at Hiroki's high school. I like that we are starting to learn more about Hiroki's younger brother Yuri, who at the moment reads like a very aro-ace character. The main tension point is Tomoko's husband, who has some really basic homophobic beliefs and occasionally says shitty things without seeming to realize they might be hurtful. Tomoko is more patient with him that I would be.