mar's reviews
321 reviews

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

Go to review page

emotional hopeful slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

really loved most of this book!!! i do think the climax was weirdly tonally dissonant but for 90% of the book i was having a great time :)

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo

Go to review page

sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

idk i think this should've gotten more fucked up sorry. i mean i got the themes it was going for - kinship with animals, ethics in science/research, loneliness, repression - but it just fell competely flat for me :/ 

also, very confused as to why this book is labelled as horror - it's unsettling in the way a nonfiction book about climate change is unsettling, but i really wouldn't call it horror. unless you're creeped out by a failing marriage ig

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
README.txt: a Memoir by Chelsea Manning

Go to review page

dark informative medium-paced

5.0

as someone who was only vaguely familiar with chelsea manning's story beforehand - i'm not american & was a child when it all went down - learning what she had to endure was absolutely infuriating. nothing new i know but GOD the shit the american military gets away with is fucking mind-boggling

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

dark and funny, fantastical and defiant, dreamy and bloody all at the same time. a fabulous, surreal subversion of what makes a "trans memoir" and a love letter to trans womanhood :')

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary by Travis Alabanza

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn

Go to review page

emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

could've used some more fleshing out+editing, but still - short but sweet for the most part :)

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why by Amanda Ripley

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.
yeah comparing the experiences of israeli soldiers and cops in police shootings to those of victims of natural disasters or plane crashes is where i sign off. 
These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

I heard "trans" "technothriller" and "clones" and immediately knew I was in for a fun ride <3

I really enjoyed the iconic noir tone and absolutely fell in love with Dora - look, give me a character with very little regard for her own life to a suicidal degree who'll fight tooth and nail for her friends, and I'm SOLD.  
Where the story suffers is its brevity, honestly - I do love a fast-paced thriller, but the shortness of the book left frustratingly little space for worldbuilding, atmosphere and character development (especially glaring in Theo's case). I think the concept behind the story is phenomenal, and as a huge fan of clone narratives (and a nonbinary person) it was exciting seeing it through a trans lens, but even so I was left wanting more, and not in a good way. I would've liked to see it delve deeper into the themes of personhood and autonomy, the ethical implications, and all the complicated feelings Dora and Theo have about it.

Overall, very cool idea with lots of potential, but MAN it should've been a full novel 😭

(Thanks to Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for the ARC!)

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
On the Origin of Species and Other Stories by Kim Bo-young

Go to review page

reflective medium-paced

5.0

From the Afterword by Sunyoung Park:
Overcoming human form, in Kim's world, is not quite a way of transcending our limits, as is often the case in superhero narratives, but rather a desperate attempt to survive by the marginalized and the vulnerable.

this is genuinely one of the best short story collections i've ever read, and i do not say that lightly. 
evolution and devolution, themes of marginality and struggle for survival (even in the face of the unforgiving passing of time and impermanence of life), a boundless creativity in exploring alternate scientific realities that i've only seen rivalled in the works of Ted Chiang, the familiar made alien and the alien made familiar so thoroughly it makes you question the subjectivity of not only your lived experience, but also of the reality humans take for granted... oh i fear this book will live in my mind forever

Expand filter menu Content Warnings