nerdatlas5's reviews
1701 reviews

Ghost Music by An Yu

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I kinda thought this would focus more on the relationship between Song Yan and her mother in law, but I still enjoyed it. It didn't really tie off any loose ends, but I still left it feeling like Yan grew as a character. 

Can You See What I See?: Curiosity Shop (from the Creator of I Spy) by Walter Wick

lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

5.0

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

challenging funny reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

Having watched the movie first I think that both mediums have things that worked and didn't work for me. On the one hand, theobie is lacking because it took the meat of the book, McCandless' narrative, and ditched the intro from Gray as "editor" and the ending of Bella's side of the story. While the movie had the makings of a good feminist narrative, by removing those elements that challenge and provide further societal context to the narrative, it instead reinforces tiring tropes that it was trying to subvert. 

On the other hand, I liked some of the changes the movie made. I liked the old lady character from the boat trip, and I thought that

the end confrontation between Bella and Blessington gave her more agency. I also liked that there was a little more emphasis on Bella as a queer woman. I do think both book and movie could have done better to learn on that more. I will never complain about a piece of media being made gayer, just saying.

I also feel that both narratives, while they make some pretty good commentary on colonialism and captialism, doesn't do enough to connect that to race. I think that the book does this better than the movie (I was not a fan of the scene in Egypt). I can't find the words to explain this right, but the movie, and to a lesser extent the book, shows such a charcature of Egypt and poverty that it feels like a gross oversimplification for the sake of making us the audience feel bad. 

The book had much more time for Bella and Astley to discuss how the British empire relies on racist logic to justify their conquest and subjugation of other nations. And yet, neither book nor movie let Bella really confront this besides having her cry about it, and her goals of helping the impoverished still only reaches those on British soil, which could have been a commentary on her privelage as a white woman of wealth, but doesn't quite land that commentary well. 

I still really enjoyed the movie, and this was a good book, though I don't have enough knowledge on modern Scottish/British issues to be able to gauge how that part of the book went over, I thought that it was a cool meta-narrative.

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

There were moments with potential. I like the mystery and the fantasy, but the way it resolved itself was a little too obvious. And the way the love triangle is sorted out is also dumb. And I just didn't feel the chemistry between Signa and Death much, besides the fact that an immortal centuries old being is one of the potential lovers to our 19 year old MC, which is still just a bit icky. It sucks, cuz I did want to see this through and it was close to being what I wanted but I probably won't finish this series.

The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

funny hopeful relaxing medium-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

3.0

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

The book moves like a slow train wreck that you can't stop; it turns out I can look away from those quite frequently lol. I think that while Roos makes a lot of mistakes, they are ones that make sense for her character. Van Veen created a protagonist that has been so steeped in abuse that even in the opportunity to find love with Agnes, she offers herself up in ways that are self destructive. I thought that the romance between the two was sometimes too slow, sometimes too fast. Similarly, the pacing at the end and how the events played out really took a lot of the tension out of the climax and the final confrontation. 

I will say, it seems to be a theme as of late to find the themes of love as consuming and becoming one with your lover in a lot of queer novels, both romantic and not. Not all instnaces of this is portrayed negatively and I do think it's a cool way to explore love that frankly I find lacking in straight romances. I need to make a list of books that fit this theme to sort out my thoughts on it, because ther 's quite a bit of variety in how this is portrayed too.

A History of Milwaukee Drag: Seven Generations of Glamor by Michail Takach, BJ Daniels

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Dionysus in Wisconsin by E.H. Lupton

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

Man, it's one thing to go, "Oh hey, this modern fantasy book is set in my state, neat" (the man motivation for me to pick up this book), but it's another to be reading said fantasy and start recognizing street name and knowing where everything takes place in because of your proximity to it. Its like when I watched an episode of Best of the Worst from Red Letter media and they land on a old VHS recruitment video from a nudist's club in my hometown, its a little jarring every time they name drop a street I recognize. Not a bad thing, just a weird thing to go through reading this.

I thought Sam and Ulysses' relationship was very cute. Like the descriptions of the little acts of tenderness they gave each other were wonderul, and yeah, it seemed like they fell for each other kind of fast, but it never felt unnatural despite that. I also really enjoyed how Ulysses' family interacted with them. I felt like however, despite being a big part of the plot, there wasn't enough of Sam's family. The plot itself moved very slowly, I think because of this.

I liked how the magic system is approached via the academic system. This is not necessarily a dark academia, but it is still a fun academic fantasy, and I think the way magic works and is weaved seamlessly into society. Overall it was a fun read.

Sabriel by Garth Nix

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Man, this could have been great. Like the world building was super cool. Like the opposing magic systems of charter vs. free magic, Death as a river with all the gates, and the contrasting Old Kingdom vs. New Kingdom stuff was super cool and unique. It also really picks up once Sabriel is in the Old Kingdom proper. Like once she has a companion with Mogget, someone to interact with, the plot picks up well and carries through to the end. But damn, Sabriel is a boring protagonist. She had all the set up to be a good one, but it felt like for the 1st third of the book she had no personality. Again, once we're introduced to Mogget, and then later Touchstone, having people to banter, argue, and build relations helped to show more character quirks from her. The worst part is that at the end of the copy I read, there was a short story set the summer prior to this book, and within that one short story, it filled in way more gaps to Sariels personality. It also gave more of an established relationship with her friend and her magic teacher at her school which would have made the end of the book hit way harder. I'd still maybe be interested in continuing the series, since book 1 ended on a high note, but man, I hope the other books don't stumble at the beginning like this one did.