rigbees's reviews
309 reviews

Novel Study by Kristen Tate

5.0

The strongest craft books are those that actively make me want to turn around and apply their ideas to my own work. Novel Study has that in droves. It also is focused at helping writers build their own tools and analysis over providing prescriptive advice. 

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

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Oof.

The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Bleak, strong prose, but I'm not sure that the plot arc worked for me. I feel like this book felt disconnected - and one of my pet peeves in writing is having characters give long speeches about their beliefs. This work was full of them (understandably so). Complex, though, and a book I may end up revising my opinion up as I chew on it.

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

4.5

Summer in the City of Roses by Michelle Ruiz Keil

2.0

I need to stop reading YA. It just isn't for me.

The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly

emotional medium-paced

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

3.25

Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin

5.0

Doing the exercises with a peer workshop group fundamentally changed my life. It improved my writing. Parts of the book seem deceptively simple or "no duh", but the experience of working through the exercises one-by-one helped me identify bad habits in my writing and break them.