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poisoned_icecream's reviews
1969 reviews
A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
Botanist Gregor Sandys and his taxidermist partner Simon Rievaulx live together in a garden. Gregor receives a mycelium that is really smart and decides to put it in a human corpse. Their housekeeper is grieving the death of her friend Constance. These four characters become a family.
I really enjoyed this and I'm glad I took my time with it. It is so gothic and so unapologetically queer. I will definitely read more of Noah Medlock's books. :)
I really enjoyed this and I'm glad I took my time with it. It is so gothic and so unapologetically queer. I will definitely read more of Noah Medlock's books. :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder
Vicious by Chloe Spencer
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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
Yay a sequel to Vicarious. In this novella Gertie and Bea get married. They are happy until a video of them dancing goes viral on TikTok. Bea doesn't have a social media presence due to her past. This event leads to Gertie either ruining some peoples' reputations or brutally killing them.
This is such a fun sequel. I really enjoyed Bea and Gertie's messed up romance in Vicarious, and reading about them planning their wedding, getting married, and taking down their enemies was a great experience. There is a lot of gore and bloodshed, but there's also several sweet moments in which Bea and Gertie are vulnerable with each other. In one of these moments Gertie discovers she is demiromantic when Bea brings up how she's only felt romantic feelings for her and her deceased husband. I adore Bea and Gertie so much. They're now one of my favorite fictional sapphic couples. :)
This is such a fun sequel. I really enjoyed Bea and Gertie's messed up romance in Vicarious, and reading about them planning their wedding, getting married, and taking down their enemies was a great experience. There is a lot of gore and bloodshed, but there's also several sweet moments in which Bea and Gertie are vulnerable with each other. In one of these moments Gertie discovers she is demiromantic when Bea brings up how she's only felt romantic feelings for her and her deceased husband. I adore Bea and Gertie so much. They're now one of my favorite fictional sapphic couples. :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Homophobia, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse and Rape
Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This is such a bleak book about a woman who's trying to cope with the effects of a plague. She lives alone after her divorce and nannies a disabled child who compulsively eats anything he can. She also visits her ex-husband, who still cares about, at the hospital after he got infected. Her relationship to her mother is complicated. The book switches between past and present. This book is timely and important but it definitely won't be for everyone. There are mentions of animal death, child death and suicide. The writing is exquisite, but at times it came across as pretentious. There were also times I came across words I've never seen, but I didn't feel like looking them up so I just kept reading. This is a decent work of speculative fiction, science fiction, and eco-horror. I'll read it again someday but I'm not in a rush to do that right now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Suicide
Bellies by Nicola Dinan
I had a hard time staying focused on this book. It's not a bad book but I don't consider it one of the best things I've ever read. I did not feel invested or interested in Tom and Ming's relationship and breakup. I felt indifferent towards the side characters except Rob, who I've headcanoned as aromantic, but he gets hit by a car and dies. His death leads Ming and Tom to reunite and come to a reconciliation. I'm so annoyed that Rob dies. There was a missed opportunity for him to figure put that he's aromantic and then Tom could have decided that he's fine with being single. But anyway this book is fine. I did like it but I don't see myself ever rereading it or reading anything else by Nicola Dinan.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Car accident and Death of parent
What do Nightmares Dream of by Antonija Mežnarić
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
Sanja is being haunted by a creature known as a mora. She has terrible nightmares and feels pressure on her chest. Her childhood was traumatic due to being raised by her abusive grandmother after the death of her parents. Also at her job as a teacher she becomes friends with a substitute named Ana and goes on a date with her.
This novella had me hooked the entire time. The dreams Sanja has are so unnerving and the way she reacted to them and the mora had me intrigued. There is an interesting twist towards that provides some information about why the mora chose to haunt Sanja. I also really liked reading about Croatian folklore in this book. I would recommend this to readers who like sapphic horror.
This novella had me hooked the entire time. The dreams Sanja has are so unnerving and the way she reacted to them and the mora had me intrigued. There is an interesting twist towards that provides some information about why the mora chose to haunt Sanja. I also really liked reading about Croatian folklore in this book. I would recommend this to readers who like sapphic horror.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Ableism
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Cordelia lives with her sorcerer mother Evangeline, who is extremely overbearing and abusive towards her daughter. She does a spell to make Cordelia obedient, which means she controls her actions and behavior. They are both poor, and after Evangeline's "benefactor" decides he no longer wants her, so she makes him obedient and has him murder his family, then she is determined to marry a wealthy man and finds a bachelor squire who lives with his sister named Hester. Cordelia grows to care about them and with the help of Hester and some friends sets out to stop her mother from hurting and killing more people.
Like everything T. Kingfisher has written this did not let me down. It is a real page-turner and towards the end I did not want to stop reading. One specific image will live rent-free in my mind and I'm honestly fine with that. Also while this is a retelling of The Goose Girl, it is not necessary to have read that to enjoy this book. This story gets 10/10 geese.
Like everything T. Kingfisher has written this did not let me down. It is a real page-turner and towards the end I did not want to stop reading. One specific image will live rent-free in my mind and I'm honestly fine with that. Also while this is a retelling of The Goose Girl, it is not necessary to have read that to enjoy this book. This story gets 10/10 geese.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Flashes of Fright: Thirteen 1,000-Word Horror Stories by D. T. Adams
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
Some of these stories made me feel a bit frightened and unsettled, but the majority were more funny than scary in my opinion. Still enjoyed this collection and would recommend to readers who like horror, fantasy and scifi.
F**k You, Mary Sue - The Extended Edition by Elton Skelter, Elton Skelter
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Garrett Biedermeier is the survivor of a massacre. He is privileged and adored by the community. Four outcasts are angry and resentful towards Garrett for bullying them, so they come up with an extremely idiotic and irresponsible plan to teach Garrett a lesson.
Despite how gory this is, there's also a lot of heart and humanity in this book. I really cared and felt so bad for these characters. I'm excited to read the sequel.
Despite how gory this is, there's also a lot of heart and humanity in this book. I really cared and felt so bad for these characters. I'm excited to read the sequel.
As Above So Below: An Indie Author Dark Fiction Anthology by Remington Shell, Kristen M. Long, Destiny Webster, Sarah Zane, C.M. Tillman, Vera Vixon, Jay Michael Night, Ariella Isabella, Kelly Covic, Allie Shante, Fleur DeVillainy, B. L. Talley, Annait L.J., Emma Hamm, Allison Paige, Johnna Dee, Winnifred Tataw, Savannah Lee, Samantha Paternoster, C.L. Cabrera
I really like this anthology. Some stories are horror, fantasy, scifi or a combination of one or all three of those. All of the stories are excellent and the illustrations before each story added a nice touch. I'm excited to read this again later.