rmnedder's reviews
74 reviews

Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia

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dark reflective tense slow-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

4.5

What a deeply disturbing little book! Despite its short length, Of Cattle and Men is incredibly atmospheric, full of beautifully done prose (which is a stark and welcome contrast to the casual brutality everywhere). The slow crawl of dread towards the inevitable end is masterfully done. There are some questions I wanted answers to that went unanswered, but I'm not necessarily upset about that! 

Come for the abattoir animal horror, stay for the insightful reflections on humanity, morality, and death.  As always, read the content warnings.
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Fear and His Servant by Mirjana Novaković, Terence McEneny

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

4.0

I was not expecting a book about vampires and 18th century aristocrats to be this funny! Fear and His Servant is equal parts ominous and funny, an atmospheric story with all sorts of intrigue. The narrative voice(s) are clear and incredibly witty, and the horror aspect (along with the accompanying character lore) is such an interesting and refreshing take on vampires. I will admit, I found the story confusing at times; it was hard to tell who was talking at tines, or how we got where we were, but it was never so bad that I couldn't get back on track.

Fear and His Servant is definitely a worthy addition to the gothic vampire canon. 
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

God, what a devastating, beautiful, tragic read. The prose is gorgeous; Maggie O'Farrell paints such vivid, specific pictures. The past and present are interwoven with such care and craft, tipping back and forth between a younger Agnes and her present self. 

I don't really have a lot of words for this one. It's such a striking portrayal of grief, of love and devotion and the absence that is formed from loss. It's just hit me in such a way. 
The Hunger by Alma Katsu

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

3.0

I love the Donner Party incident, and I love a good historical horror, so I had high hopes for this book. And unfortunately, I was let down. I will admit, the horror element of this book is intriguing, if a bit under-developed, and the inclusion of so many key players in the actual Donner Party was refreshing. However, there were so many things happening - so many secrets and so much interpersonal conflict - that the melodrama of it all actually eclipsed the horror. The plot crawls forward; any tension built up for the horror is immediately dissipated by the many strangely-placed interludes and frequent perspective changes. It's a little jarring and more than a little disjointed. 

It's a fine enough choice if you want a spooky Donner Party fiction novel (copious historical inaccuracies aside), but if you're looking for something true to history, or something genuinely thrilling, I'd skip this one. 
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Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

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adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

3.25

I have mixed feelings about this one. Conceptually, this book is fantastic - the folklore is woven into the story so well, the atmosphere is well-crafted, and the ending is strong. Cassandra Khaw’s weird, elegiac prose is actually beautiful; her descriptions are so specific, but they feel very tonally at odds with the stakes of the story - lots of description at moments it’s not necessarily warranted. I feel like we were always kept at arms length from everyone except the narrator (which makes sense, all things considered, but it stripped us of chances to find connection). 

This book is a great quick-and-dirty horror story - conceptually great, even if it left something to be desired in its execution.
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The Finite Canvas by Lee Mandelo

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

5.0

What a brutal, beautiful work. Despite its brevity, The Finite Canvas is full of brilliant world building, with such a haunting atmosphere. The way the layers peeled back to reveal more and more at play was fantastic. 

I will be thinking about this one for a while to come. 
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Sadie by Courtney Summers

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

4.75

Sadie is a fast-paced split narrative novel that had me tuned in from the very start. It's tense and sharp, moving at break-neck speed, with an incredibly well-crafted atmosphere and a complex central character. It manages to handle incredibly challenging material with a surprising amount of grace; along with its themes of loss, it asks us about all the various forms of exploitation we're willing to stomach in our daily lives. The split narrative of Sadie and the podcast is inventive - I love a good chance to play with the form, and the use of the podcast transcript is clever, even if it did leave me longing for more than what's on the page. 

Stomach churning and deeply moving despite (or perhaps because of) its sharp edges, Sadie left me disturbed and uneasy, which is the highest praise I can offer for this kind of book. As always, read the content warnings. This one's a doozy.
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Prisnms by Garth St. Omer

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

2.75

I found myself to be pretty unimpressed by this book. Prisnms is pretty much what it says on the tin - a reflection of one man's journey of self and status as an immigrant, done by a thoroughly untrustworthy narrator. While the through line about the main character's sense of self (or lack thereof) is compelling at times, that's really about it. He's such a reprehensible person, which isn't inherently bad, but the narrative style is dull and the actual content of the story feels a little underdeveloped, so there's not really anything to balance it out. And, despite the promise of uncertainty about knowing what to believe/trust, I didn't find that to be as urgent of a concern as the abstract made it out to be; it's certainly a feature of the story, but I think it lacks the degree of import it's given. It's a short "character study" style novella that ultimately does little to keep the reader engaged. 

Read the content warnings.
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Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis

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

5.0

I'm such a sucker for the "cannibalism as a metaphor for love/lust" motif, so it's really no surprise how much I enjoyed this book. This book moved and it kept me super engaged the whole time, and I really liked the characters. Maren's relationship with Lee and with the world around her, their attitudes about cannibalism, and her journey of self-discovery through the book were really well-crafted. I was a little let down by the ending; I kind of expected more, but I do understand why it ended the way it did. (I also do wonder how much more impactful some of the themes/motifs could have been if the book wasn't constrained by YA genre expectations, but that's just me.)

I devoured this book (pun intended). It was a fast, dark, disturbing look at what it means to accept all the darkest parts of yourself. As always, read the content warnings.
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The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk

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adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

The Man Who Spoke Snakish was quite the romp through the forest! The world-building is fantastical and incredible - it's such a richly constructed world and it draws you in from the very beginning. It's actually quite a funny book; I wasn't expecting it, but the dark humor of it all works pretty well. It took me a minute to figure out where exactly the story was going to go, but I was definitely along for the ride. Admittedly, I wasn't a fan of how the women were treated in this book; obviously everyone is secondary to the protagonist, but the women of this story felt tertiary at best. 

All things being said, this is a funny and deeply engaging story that, underneath the humor, makes powerful statements about identity, language loss, and the preservation of culture. As always, read the content warnings.
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