sarah984's reviews
631 reviews

At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.0

There's some really brutal writing here about war and colonialism and the lives that get swallowed up in them, but I found the first few chapters difficult to wade through (the first was interesting but the next few repeated the story with only minor additions - I believe this is intended to match oral tradition style but it was a challenge for me) and I didn't like the writing about any of the women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Grief, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti by Stephen Graham Jones

challenging dark medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

A strange little story; sad but darkly funny. It went a little off the rails for me at the end but overall great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Self harm

Minor: Medical content

Tell A Thousand Lies by Rasana Atreya

emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

Parts of this book were interesting but the plot just got way too wild for me. There was way too much going on (the part with the babies was particularly risible) and I feel like things were wrapped up way too neatly at the end.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Sexual content, and Stalking

Masquerade by Mike Fu

challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.5

I really enjoyed this odd little coming of age (transition into your 30s) book once I let go of my expectations of it and met it on its own terms. I do think some of the surreal plot lines were a little much for what the actual plot was but I really enjoyed the book within a book and Meadow's relationships with his friends.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

Minor: Mental illness, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Ushers by Joe Hill

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This story was fine but there wasn't anything really special about it. I enjoyed my time reading it but probably won't remember it in a week.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident

When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

I did not like this at all. The prose was miserable to read (it's a bunch of sentence fragments telling you what everyone is thinking all the time), the "revolutionary" character is like a cartoon villain and the twist is both deeply stupid and reinforces the class divisions the book is supposedly against.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Stalking, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

An incisive look at gender roles and gendered expectations in Japan, seen through the lens of an ambitious female reporter and how she is affected by interviews with a famous serial killer. There are a lot of interesting characters, and Rika's relationships form the backbone of the book. Her decisions about how she wanted to live her life were more interesting to me than the serial killer drama, which dragged in places.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Infertility, Misogyny, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

The Devil by Name by Keith Rosson

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked a lot of things about this follow up to Fever House, especially the conclusion of Katherine's story and the new character Naomi, but it is a bit more of a straightforward zombie story formula-wise and while I appreciated Dean's character I didn't feel like he had enough to do that wasn't accessory to Katherine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Genocide, Torture, Excrement, and Vomit

Eve in Overdrive by Faith Gardner

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? It's complicated

3.0

This one was fine. I liked the premise and the main character, but I wish there had been more focus on the car itself as antagonist instead of the guy since he wasn't really all that interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Car accident

Moderate: Suicide and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Rape, Excrement, Medical content, Stalking, and Death of parent

The Family Tree by Sheri S. Tepper

adventurous reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

Did not like this one at all. Dora is a cop, but goes to work maybe twice in the whole book and does not talk, think, or act like a cop. Nothing about the marriage or breakup feels realistic (which lines up with the plot twist but also girl what are you doing) and the constant misogyny and kind of eco fascist rhetoric from her put me off. The fantasy parts are mostly boring because nothing is described at all to avoid giving away the goofy plot twist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Genocide

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, and Sexual harassment