pedanther's reviews
486 reviews

The Widows of Broome by Arthur Upfield

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

The Mountains Have a Secret by Arthur Upfield

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, Classism

The villains turn out to be

a Nazi remnant organisation

; I didn't tag for "hate crime" or "

antisemitism

" because the crimes they commit are practically motivated, not ideological, and the story doesn't go into their ideology at all really, but I figure it should be noted for readers to whom the presence of

Nazis

in any form is significant.

Cobra by Timothy Zahn

adventurous challenging sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol

I couldn't find a good tag for this, but a significant theme involves the difficulties faced by military veterans trying reintegrate into civilian life.

He Do the Time Police in Different Voices by David Langford

lighthearted medium-paced

3.25

A collection of parodies and pastiches from a career spanning more than three decades - and it has to be said that some of them have not aged well. The early ones, grouped together, show a marked tendency toward people getting hilariously drunk and male leads checking out the female lead's prominent features, which is only sometimes justifiable as an exaggeration of elements present in the works being parodied. There's one story in particular, originally published in 1984, that leans on stereotypes we now recognise as homophobic and transphobic to such an extent that I'm kind of surprised to find it being reprinted in 2015, even allowing for a desire for completeness of collection.

There are some good works in here; on the whole, my experience was that the more successful were the short parodies that didn't outstay their welcome, and the longer pastiches that were trying for some degree of being a worthwhile story in their own right. Several of the more successful pastiches are detective stories, including the Father Brown story "The Spear of the Sun" and the Sherlock Holmes story "The Repulsive Story of the Red Leech"; perhaps the form imparts some extra degree of discipline. The Lovecraftian pastiche, "Out of Space, Out of Time", is also not bad, though the title makes it sound more parodic than it actually is and it suffers a bit from being more interested in its Big Idea than in the plot and characters. The collection ends strong with the Nero Wolfe parody "If Looks Could Kill", which is both a reasonably satisfying mystery and genuinely funny, allowing me to part on good terms with a collection that, by that point, I was pretty glad to be moving on from.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Gaslighting, War

The Regina Monologues by Rebecca Russell, Jenny Wafer

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Classism

The Last Song of Penelope by Claire North

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy

Fortunately, the Milk... by Neil Gaiman

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Violence

House of Odysseus by Claire North

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Suicide, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Abandonment

Tesladyne Industries Field Guide by Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25