nicnevin's reviews
182 reviews

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Good story but I feel like the titular character honestly didn't have much to do with her own story, especially since the more interesting aspects were with Cassandra and Clydemnestra.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Drug use, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Xenophobia, Violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Blood, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Sense and Nonsense in Psychology by Hans Jürgen Eysenck

informative medium-paced

2.5

Very much of its time, the book explores several pseudopsychological phenomena whilst intending that his branch of pseudopsychology (i.e. IQ and personality tests) is totally rad.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Sexism, Ableism, Body shaming, Classism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Racism

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

Poetic and raw, it's honestly beyond words for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Vomit, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

We Were Witches by Ariel Gore

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Truly unsure how I feel about the book. It's well written enough but given its feminist themes, it somehow made me feel less like a woman. Maybe that's just me being weird though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Blood, Alcohol, Body horror, Classism, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Lesbophobia, Cursing, Death, Rape, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

The Iliad of Homer by Elizabeth Vandiver

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

My first foray into a Great Courses Plus selection and I was impressed. Informative and the lecturer was very enthusiastic! Would recommend if you want a deeper dive into the Iliad

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: War, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Grief, Death, Blood, and Sexism

Loki by Melvin Burgess

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I have never felt so mixed about a book. It's a good read, interesting, vivid and frank.

However,

There was a lot of concentration on rape which I would have preferred not to read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, War, Animal death, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Rape, and Sexism

Undercover by Tamsyn Muir

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

If there's one thing I expect in Tamsyn's writing, it's queer characters and the undead.

It's a little gem with a twist ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Gore, Murder, and Cursing

The Last Necromancer by C.J. Archer

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

1.5

Maybe I'm the problem but I absolutely hated this book. I hated the main character, I despised the love interest, I hated the weird dynamics, the corsets, the utter lack of necromancy, I hate that Mary Shelley didn't exist in this timeline and the Frankenstein we got is definitely a pop culture of version. 

When it wasn't tedious, it was unsettling and not in a cool spooky way but more in a "do straight women find this abusive stuff hot?" sort of unsettling. The pacing was atrocious, over half the book was set up and then most of the plot happens in the last few chapters. 

Like, I've read other books by this author and I'm honestly really disappointed.

Maybe it'll be your cup of tea but it certainly wasn't mine.

There is a lot of attempted rape in this book, one of which was arranged by the love interest to show her how dangerous the streets are. It's kinda distracting how the possibility of sexual assault is just...constantly brought up??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Rape, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Classism, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Sexism, Medical content, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Violence

The Plague Stones by James Brogden

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I don't usually read horror but I do like plague stories, wonder why.

It's surprisingly paced with the horror and gore elements, dropping some here and there with most of the bloodshed at the end. The resolution seemed pretty obvious, unsure why the hell no one else tried it but I suppose the looking after our own angle that's weaved through the centuries meant it impossible.

My heart broke at a couple of places which I definitely did not expect. Interesting read over all but strongly suggest you scan through the warnings cause some of it is intense as hell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Suicide, Misogyny, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Chronic illness, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Body horror, Gore, Infertility, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

Sleepwalking by Cara Malone

lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

2.5

A quick story detailing the relationships of Leah - a college student finally starting to break out of comphet - and Morgan - who's relationship of three years is looking rocky.

It's more uh frisky than you would expect but decent enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Medical content, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship