mauricekofi's reviews
73 reviews

Hands down one of the best books I've read this year. I haven't read a packed literary American contemporary novel since The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and yet this book tops even that novel in my opinion. A dark and trying tale of a young man's life beholden to the vices and ills of his rural Appalachian life, a heart too good for this world that he himself refuses to recognize, and yet still finds redemption and love through it all. It's not all doom and gloom, but it's highs only mark how lows the lows are.

My only piece of advice: listen to Demon when he says "it only gets worse from here". Because if you think it doesn't, you really don't understand the point of this story.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

For once, a book about the racial history and present of the United States forced me to understand the depth of wrongness and ills in this country. Growing up an African immigrant in America, and having grown closer with my Black identity over the years, I could tell what was obvious racism but could not understand why. How it was that as a child my white peers and friends could make disparaging comments despite "knowing" me, how they could look at me and make judgements and assumptions on their own despite years of friendship.

I will not say that by reading this book, anyone and everyone will suddenly know exactly what to do to remedy our discontents, but Wilkerson's message of hope at the end of the book, as well as her own relaying of her experiences up until this point in history points towards a certain hope that we can prevail the poisonous history that is America. It will be a struggle, it will be a challenge, but we can and will overcome this history. The only question is who is willing to join that venture.

Tista, Vol. 2 by Tatsuya Endo

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

3.5

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

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adventurous challenging mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Leckie has absolutely blown me away. It is safe to say that this is one of my favorite sci-fi novels of all time, and one of the best I've read this year (don't worry, Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy still takes top). Truly though, Leckie masterfully writes a story that exposes the fallacies inherit to law and order, war, and the assumptions of "superior" societies. From beginning to end, she lays out the contradictions obvious to everyone except the Radchaai, but contains it all within a character whose lack of humanity in the eyes of those around her make her the most human of all.

Leckie, in my opinion, is at the level of those such as Frank Herbert and N.K. Jemisin, using sci-fi to communicate elements of the human condition that we often ignore, with the implications of how they shape or societies and define our decisions. Ann Leckie deserves the accolades she has received. My only regret is that it took me so long to pick up this book, despite having heard about it years ago.

Content Warnings

Tista, Vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo

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adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.25

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mauricekofi's reviews 73 reviews

mauricekofi's reviews
73 reviews