ribbenkast's reviews
108 reviews

Y/N by Esther Yi

5.0

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 by Ryoko Kui

2.5

Everything about this is good. The plot is good, the art is amazing, I really like the world building, it's well thought out. I fully understand why people love this. 

But I just can't get into it. It just does not appeal to my personal tastes. Hence my 2.5 stars. 

Transmuted by Eve Harms

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The body horror in this was killer good. I loved the writing style and prose. A good, actual gross horror read to read in one sitting. 

Im not the biggest fan of the ending though. It felt like a complete genre shift going more into the occult instead of the weird science that drew me into the book. It wasn't a bad ending per se, it was just not what I would've liked. 

Lost Boy by Christina Henry

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

A super quick read, but a bit more YA than expected. Yeah the discriptions of blood are kind off graphic but there is no real dread. 

I liked the story but I was expecting a bit more than just an origin story with a quick wrap up. I would've liked it more if the ending was the midway point so the emotional fallout and rivalry could be explored better. 

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

Black Sheep is a very entertaining book that does what it sets out to do well. 
I expected a fun horror romp but the author managed to sneak in a nice exploration of overcoming your parents expectations and becoming your own person. Which was done tactfully, if not a bit on the nose every once in a while.

The plot became a bit predictable and the twis  around the halfway point was visable from a mile away. That's not necessarily a bad thing, Rachel Harrison pulls it off well.  

All in all, I had a great time with this book.

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was such a great read! For a debut it's really strong. I read this in one day and I could not put the book down. 

Small notes: It could've done with some quicker pacing in the second half of the book. The stylistic choice (?) of not adding quotation marks anywhere was a bit weird and made it hard to read sometimes.

However, the premise was really strong and the plot did deliver on said premise. The world building seems really thoughtful, I love it when authors think the consequences of their magical world through and present us with things like folklore and sensible governing structures.

Despite the setting, I liked it that the story mainly focused on the people. Odile is a great and complicated character, very well written.  

If you like timeline fuckery, this one is for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is not subtle. It blends harrowing real live statistics about the (American) prison system, racism and general bigotry with extremely well done speculative fiction of where this might lead us in the future. It makes its point loud and it makes its point wel.

On top of this, the book is just so well written. The characters are lifelike and complicated, the plot fits tightly together, the prose is strong. Everything is just done right. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Penance by Eliza Clark

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Eliza Clark's writing is unlike anything other writing I've ever read. The way she got into a fictional sleezy crime writer's head and made this sensationalized "non fiction" book from his perspective.  It's a level of writing skill not many people posses.

Something that particularly stood out to me that deserves separate praise is just how well she captured 2014 tumblr culture around true crime. It was weird and you just had to be there to see it to believe it. 

I'm looking forward to Clark's next novel coming out this year! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert

fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was a fun romp. I enjoyed my time with it and I might pick up the other novels within this universe. 

The sex was well written but I expected a bit more from the presentend dynamic. 

The actual "plot" wasn't harrowing to sit through and even engaging at times. At least it was more than badly written filler scenes to get from sex scene to sex scene. That's more than most erotica novels. The world building is a bit silly sometimes, but it seems well thought out. 

However it quickly became really annoying just how overprotective everyone was of Eurydice. She's a full grown adult. 

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Pretty tense and quick read. The whale stuff was done well but the emotional core of the book kind of flat lined for me.