pedanther's reviews
486 reviews

Down With Skool! by Geoffrey Willans, Ronald Searle

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

I got a few laughs out of it, but having been born a generation or two later in a far distant country, a lot of the specific things being lampooned don't resonate with me the way they would with someone who'd lived through this kind of schooling and didn't only know it from reading other old books. I'm also a lot more aware of the casual racism, gender policing, bullying, and the violence against children by adult authority figures.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War

Ithaca by Claire North

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Medical content, Grief

Minor: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Ribbon Dance by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

An Author Bites the Dust by Arthur Upfield

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

The Dragonhiker's Guide to Battlefield Covenant at Dune's Edge: Odyssey Two by David Langford

funny fast-paced

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

3.0

This collection of parodies has not aged well. There's a conspicuous reliance on humor involving drunkenness, sex, and the female anatomy, only some of which can be justified as exaggerations of elements present in the works being parodied. It says something that I laughed harder while reading the foreword than in any of the parodies that followed. The one that worked best for me, foreword aside, was "Lost Event Horizon", possibly because the parameters of the parody dictated a straight-edge hero and an absence of female characters and the author was consequently obliged to come up with some actual jokes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Homophobia, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Abortion

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

adventurous lighthearted fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Fatphobia, Rape, Medical content, Grief, Abandonment, Colonisation

Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

The star of the collection is the novella "Glass Cannon", which takes up about two-fifths of the book and single-handedly lifted my rating for the whole. The rest of the contents are not bad, but a lot of them are slight: there are a few that I would call proper stories, and a lot of brief vignettes and scenes that are interesting if you're already familiar with the characters but don't stand on their own. Still worth reading for a fan of the series; and for a fan of the series, the author's afterwords talking about his inspirations and influences are also good value.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Eating disorder, Genocide, Pedophilia, Excrement, Death of parent, Colonisation

The graphic sexual content is in the vignette "Gloves".

Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War

Minor: Genocide, Rape, Xenophobia, Excrement

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, War, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic