rzarate9696's reviews
90 reviews

The Abyss by Jere Cunningham

dark funny tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Besides the abrupt ending it delivers on some great scenes and imagery. The first half is like a lost Appalachia show or movie from the 70s that you can't stop watching. 

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

adventurous funny fast-paced

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

4.0

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

This one was very impactful for me. There are reflections here that completely obliterated me and put me back together in terms of understanding myself and understanding others. Horror films present quite a helpful and engaging framing device for navigating queerness in a world typically fooled into thinking there was ever a real "normality" to fully deviate from. There are references to films, writers, thinkers, articles, and books galore and I'm excited to go back and reference them for further detailed analyses of their respective subjects. This book is full of beautiful, haunting, grotesque, horny, bloody, traumatic, and joyous memories that I'm still thinking about now, and it does a damn good job of making you see movies in such interesting and new ways. I love this book. It's my favorite book of the year, no competition. 

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

adventurous reflective 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

4.0

This one was really interesting. The political intrigue with Alia as the villain gets a little stale, as does a lot of the political intrigue in the Dune books in general. Events are foretold to you and you just watch them play out as described, which makes the reading feel sluggish and tepid. But for whatever reason it works, and I couldn't put the book down once I got into the flow of it. I'd recommend and I'm excited to get started on "God Emperor of Dune".

Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories by Andrew Cull, Gabino Iglesias

dark fast-paced

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

5.0

I loved this collection. It utilizes the prompt of "found footage" in very interesting ways. I just really dug it, I don't remember any duds in the story collection.

Decolonial Marxism: Essays from the Pan-African Revolution by Walter Rodney

challenging informative slow-paced

4.5

Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami

lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.5

I love his simplicity and candor. He reflects on things the way I imagine a well-spoken man of another era would. But that comes of course with his simplistic depiction of women as objects of desire to be admired, fawned over, and fondled like mannequins in an abandoned department store. He's not very open to the criticism he's received in general on his writing, including accusations of sexism, preferring to let his work speak for itself. I haven't read any of his fiction yet, but it was funny to see for myself that even in his nonfiction it's so clearly apparent that he's viewed women with the same set of non self-critical lenses for decades. He's enjoyable to read, yes, but it's good to be critical of these things and consider them while reading his work.

Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus

funny medium-paced

5.0

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I love its fatalistic dialogue and nostalgic tone. His dialogue is cheesy for me but it's still really compelling.