rigbees's reviews
271 reviews

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

medium-paced

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

3.5

I don't know if it's the audiobooks I listened to, or reading a novel I've far outgrown, but I just struggled to retain the content of this book. It seemed to literally go in one ear and out the other. I don't think it's a fault of the novel itself, per se, but it didn't work for me. I'll probably try the next book in the series via physical copy instead of audiobook and see if it clicks (if not, I'll probably chalk it up to being a novel for a much younger audience!).

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

5.0

Damn, this book was good. The first 100 pages and the premise are deception - it's very much a story about living under fascism and then learning about how you've been wrong. Since I'm now in my 30s, I can't really talk much about if I think the teen characters feel like teen, but it feels like there's a great arc around realizing that the thing you want is actively harmful to the world.

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.5

A horror novel that mostly takes place during the plantation wedding of the Black main character's white high school friend. In this Southern horror novel, the past literally haunts the town where the characters live. It's well-paced with each reveal happening at a satisfying time. The work also strongly speaks to the way the past affects the current future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Slavery

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This is a wistful novel the looks at the 20s of a gay man living in Seoul. Given other reviews I've read of this book and discussions from the author, it sounds like this book is read both universally from people who don't live in Korea, and with utter specificity for people who have lived the life of the narrator. I believe that this speaks to the strength of the work in depicting that post-graduation, figuring-out-relationships murkiness of queer life.

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Wonderful narrator for the audiobook; I highly recommend it. My first T Kingfisher book, and I understand why she's so strongly recommended. I really enjoyed this take on a southern gothic story. I t has a strong ending, which I've really come to appreciate these days.

The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is on the cusp of being great, but its most prominent flaw is that it's confusing. Now, this confusion is absolutely on purpose (there's shifting perspectives, and one of the narrator isn't revealed until 75% of the way in), because it seems like it's meant to impart the feeling of disorientation. It feels very much like the back half of Evangelion, where the focus is on the psychological horror and mindscapes the main character gets locked into. However, it's missing scaffolding leading up to that. And, again, it all feels like it's a deliberate artistic decision instead of a flaw of the writer, because information comes out in the last 25% of the book that makes the pieces lock into place.

While I'm not sure I could recommend this book without caveats about what to expect, I'm interested in where the series is going. With the world-building pieces revealed in the conclusion, I feel like the next parts of this series are likely going to be better than this first book. Maybe that's because I really, truly wanted to love this book - but we'll see where it goes next!

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.

Harlan Ellison is a terrible narrator. I'm going to try another copy.

The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman

funny informative medium-paced

3.75

My biggest regret about this book is that it didn't seem like it went deep enough. As it is, it's a set of essays about the 90s, ranging from movies to Ross Perot. While I enjoyed it reading it and thought that it was well-written, it ultimately felt like it left avenues of analysis open that it should've explored. However, I am an erstwhile academic and enjoy a hearty academic book, so I probably expected something from this book that it wasn't able to give.

The essay that sat with me the most was the on about Quentin Tarantino and the way that movies became about the movies; I've carried that with me as I've been making art and thinking a lot about if I'm making content about content, or if I'm grounding content in real experiences.

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Stephen Brusatte
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.

I switched audiobooks, but I'll probably come back to this one when I'm done with my long-awaited hold of The Vampire Lestat.

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.

This is on me; I can't do books that have plot-relevant tumblr drama because it feels so dated.