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shottel's reviews
26 reviews
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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
5.0
I thought the hype over The Poppy War was probably unwarranted. I was wrong. If you can handle the visceral horror of the second half - without spoiling anything, it gets really dark - this is a must-read. Set in a fictional world heavily based on the interwar period, it takes heavily from the Second Sino-Japanese War, a topic western audiences are less likely to be familiar with. This gives it an unfamiliar, original touch even as it enjoyably uses well-established character types and tropes. It’s a great time - again, if you can get past situations that outstrip the darker parts of Game of Thrones.
The book rests on two interconnected themes. The first: The horrors that occur when humans think they are bigger and more important than they actually are. The second: The line between justice and revenge, and the consequences of pursuing the latter. These themes are explored through bigotry in the form of racism, classism, and sexism (primarily in the first half) and total war (primarily in the second half). It strikes a masterful balance between being too subtle and too outright as the story plays out and revolves around these themes. Neither preachy nor cryptic.
I recommend this book to any fiction reader who can handle the all-too-real depictions of human-inflicted atrocities. [If you’re on the edge, I attempted to be as thorough as I could with my content warnings attached to this review. This is one of the few times I’d actually recommend checking content warnings prior to reading a book.]
The book rests on two interconnected themes. The first: The horrors that occur when humans think they are bigger and more important than they actually are. The second: The line between justice and revenge, and the consequences of pursuing the latter. These themes are explored through bigotry in the form of racism, classism, and sexism (primarily in the first half) and total war (primarily in the second half). It strikes a masterful balance between being too subtle and too outright as the story plays out and revolves around these themes. Neither preachy nor cryptic.
I recommend this book to any fiction reader who can handle the all-too-real depictions of human-inflicted atrocities. [If you’re on the edge, I attempted to be as thorough as I could with my content warnings attached to this review. This is one of the few times I’d actually recommend checking content warnings prior to reading a book.]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Genocide, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Addiction, Torture, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Classism, Body horror, Confinement, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Grief, Infertility, Excrement, and Pedophilia
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, and Vomit
World Running Down by Al Hess
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
World Running Down isn’t innovating, but that’s okay. It’s solid fiction, set a couple generations after rich people jump ship to a new planet after deciding that earth is a lost cause. A few large cities remain the last bastions of prosperity, while outside their borders things somewhat resemble Mad Max. In this environment Valentine, a trans guy trying to scrape together enough money to buy a visa to one of the cities, takes a job that sends him down a path that involves a lot of reflection about what it means to be sentient and our duty to others and the environment. Less high-falutin, there’s also a lot of gay emotions and some sex. It’s a genuinely enjoyable novel, especially if you like more reflective fiction or trans or gay main characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Dysphoria, and Gun violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Animal death, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual content
Minor: Suicide
The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Oh, how much I wanted to like this book more. And yet, unless you’re a fan of the fantasy genre specifically, or perhaps of South American-inspired settings, I couldn’t recommend it to you.
Let’s start with what went well: The setting. One of my favorite fictional settings I’ve encountered in a long time. I’m a huge sucker for religious themes and topics, which weigh heavy on the plot. I personally haven’t read much inspired by South America, so it was refreshing and new to me to see a fiction book draw heavily on its history and culture. I might read the sequel just for further worldbuilding.
Additionally, I felt the one-on-one fights were excellent. Clear and visceral. I’ve read more than a few good novels with confusing, poorly wrote fights that drag down the whole thing.
Now, what didn’t go well: The characters. There are two main protagonists in this novel. I deeply disliked them both. One of them is self-righteous, to the point of overlooking her own deeply heinous actions; the other is cowardly and perpetually impulsive, an awful mix that made for a character that repeatedly made her own situation worse and regretted it moments later. That’s not enjoyable to read. It’s frustrating. At times, I was rooting against both of them.
To make matters worse, there was only one character in the book I felt was compelling, and the author hid away his motives until about 80% of the way through the book. When his backstory got more detail I was actually frustrated because it made him deeply interesting. I would’ve greatly preferred reading the entire novel from his perspective. That’s notable, because I read this novel in part because I love sapphic women leads, but I now wish the book was about the straight guy.
The other thing I felt went poorly was the fights that weren’t one-on-one. Most notably, there is a particular large battle in the second half which comes off as incredibly lackluster. Startlingly so, in fact, given how much I felt the one-on-one fights were great. Generously, it felt like reading a college freshman’s attempt in a creative writing class that got a B-.
All in all, I only recommend this book if you’re a fantasy genre fan or want some more South American in your fiction. Otherwise, spend your time elsewhere, because if the setting won’t carry it for you, then characters definitely won’t.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Chronic illness, Body horror, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Confinement, Infertility, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault
Minor: Slavery, War, Vomit, and Medical content
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.75
This book deserves the positive acclaim it’s received. It could fit in with the Great Novels that I was forced to read in high school, and I say that completely as a positive thing. Its depiction of overlapping cultural communities as conflicting and misunderstanding but ultimately looking out for and genuinely caring for each other is as hopeful as it is realistic. In the end, the villains aren’t the people with deep biases. If that were the case, there would be no one to root for in this book. Instead, the villains are the people who refuse to care about people who aren’t like them, and our protagonists are people who don’t let their misconceptions about other groups of people get in the way of doing the right thing. It’s a wonderfully positive message.
The writing style is immaculate as well, with perfect balance and flow and a dry sense of sarcasm. The presentation choices (font, spacing, etc.) present this book like great work of literature, like a fancy looking Bible, and it manages to earn these dressings. The plot is well-paced, with just the right amount of twists and turns. I couldn’t suggest a single phrasing or word choice or paragraph restructuring that I feel would be better.
The sole reason this is not a 5/5 review is that for all its excellence in depicting numerous different ethnic groups and people of different ages and abilities, the identity of the author as a straight man comes through. It’s the sole mark against the book’s virtual universality, an impressive feat given it’s situated very firmly in interwar-period Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, the repeated references to women’s breasts and buttocks and the greater priority men have in the story, among other things, was hard for me to miss.
Nevertheless, this book is still very close to a must-read. If you can manage the lengthy list of heavy topics the book covers (it pulls absolutely no punches with regards to the difficulties of life) and you think you even might possibly be interested in the setting and style, it’s worth your time.
The writing style is immaculate as well, with perfect balance and flow and a dry sense of sarcasm. The presentation choices (font, spacing, etc.) present this book like great work of literature, like a fancy looking Bible, and it manages to earn these dressings. The plot is well-paced, with just the right amount of twists and turns. I couldn’t suggest a single phrasing or word choice or paragraph restructuring that I feel would be better.
The sole reason this is not a 5/5 review is that for all its excellence in depicting numerous different ethnic groups and people of different ages and abilities, the identity of the author as a straight man comes through. It’s the sole mark against the book’s virtual universality, an impressive feat given it’s situated very firmly in interwar-period Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, the repeated references to women’s breasts and buttocks and the greater priority men have in the story, among other things, was hard for me to miss.
Nevertheless, this book is still very close to a must-read. If you can manage the lengthy list of heavy topics the book covers (it pulls absolutely no punches with regards to the difficulties of life) and you think you even might possibly be interested in the setting and style, it’s worth your time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Mental illness, and Racism
Moderate: Excrement, Rape, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Hate crime
Minor: Colonisation, Medical content, Classism, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Slavery
Provenance by Ann Leckie
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
Provenance is a very interesting novel, and not just for its compelling and lightning-fast plot or creative sci-fi setting. The structure of the book is different. In high school I learned of the traditional structure of fiction stories: An opening to set things up, a middle where the plot really rolls, a grand climax of action, then a conclusion where things slow down as the ends are tied up. Provenance doesn’t quite do that. Instead it feels more like it snowballs until it slams straight into the ending of wall. The pace gets increasingly frantic as the stakes rise all the way up to the last ten or so pages, and there is no clear point that you can point to while reading it that says “okay, we’re in the climax phase now.” It’s a different, and very pleasant, reading experience.
There are other things that make it interesting. It’s definitely LGBT fiction, depicting a variety of different gender and sexuality regimes. Without spoiling anything, it’s very subtly implied that the main character is an awful judge of character and intention, which contributes to the political mystery that unfolds. The book in general is frequently very understated, from the setting to the characters, but there’s just barely enough to make sure you can realize there’s more than meets the eye. And this is very much a me thing, but I found it significant: The font choice was perfect. The majority of the letters, the normal lowercase ones, are positively generic. But the italics and capitalized letters are quite interesting - something that’s hard to catch from the main text, but fits with the overall mesh of the book: A world of characters who look and act and pretend like everything is fine, but in reality the interesting parts keep forcing through.
The interestingly different structure of the book combined with the positively creative use of sci-fi to depict alternate societies leads me to highly recommend this book.
There are other things that make it interesting. It’s definitely LGBT fiction, depicting a variety of different gender and sexuality regimes. Without spoiling anything, it’s very subtly implied that the main character is an awful judge of character and intention, which contributes to the political mystery that unfolds. The book in general is frequently very understated, from the setting to the characters, but there’s just barely enough to make sure you can realize there’s more than meets the eye. And this is very much a me thing, but I found it significant: The font choice was perfect. The majority of the letters, the normal lowercase ones, are positively generic. But the italics and capitalized letters are quite interesting - something that’s hard to catch from the main text, but fits with the overall mesh of the book: A world of characters who look and act and pretend like everything is fine, but in reality the interesting parts keep forcing through.
The interestingly different structure of the book combined with the positively creative use of sci-fi to depict alternate societies leads me to highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Violence, War, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Deadnaming and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Religious bigotry and Alcohol
Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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
4.0
A fun novel with a touch of macabre. Daisy Ellery outwardly sports the role of a 50’s housewife, but really comes a hair shy of being a serial killer. Her targets are all awful men, but this only offsets the vibes so much, as she hums cute little murder ditties while baking specially-ordered death pies.
This tonal dissonance is can be very amusing, but sometimes is too outwardly stated; by 50 pages in the very pleasing image a housewife intent on killing abusive men has set in, so when she acts cheery as can be while lying about her weekend there’s no need to state that she’s lying. We can pick it up on our own.
Other than being a little too forward with the protagonist’s moral complexity and the rare confusingly constructed sentence, the mystery also didn’t take too much hold on the plot. By the halfway point the picture was fairly clear, and the question began to shift to “well, how do we solve this problem?” Not complaining too much about it, just found it odd it was billed as a mystery novel.
Despite these issues, I enjoyed reading it. It got several laughs out of me and I loved the representation. The love triangle was also well done, nuanced by the way their very different personalities influenced Daisy. Some people may not like how the love triangle is resolved, but I was okay with it.
Overall, if this book seems interesting to you, I recommend it.
This tonal dissonance is can be very amusing, but sometimes is too outwardly stated; by 50 pages in the very pleasing image a housewife intent on killing abusive men has set in, so when she acts cheery as can be while lying about her weekend there’s no need to state that she’s lying. We can pick it up on our own.
Other than being a little too forward with the protagonist’s moral complexity and the rare confusingly constructed sentence, the mystery also didn’t take too much hold on the plot. By the halfway point the picture was fairly clear, and the question began to shift to “well, how do we solve this problem?” Not complaining too much about it, just found it odd it was billed as a mystery novel.
Despite these issues, I enjoyed reading it. It got several laughs out of me and I loved the representation. The love triangle was also well done, nuanced by the way their very different personalities influenced Daisy. Some people may not like how the love triangle is resolved, but I was okay with it.
Overall, if this book seems interesting to you, I recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Murder, and Misogyny
Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Death, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping
Minor: Abandonment, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Trafficking, and Cancer
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
4.75
Not as good as A Psalm for the Wildbuilt, but that’s a pretty high bar. A must-read for people who liked its prequel. Nearly as moving and thought-provoking and almost as well-wrote. A beautiful and hopeful vision of a kind and sustainable world. I want more books like this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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
4.75
A delightfully down-to-earth story set in a world most of us recognize as the backdrop for epic adventures of high magic and dangerous beasts, Legends & Lattes has us follow the main character as she opens a coffee shop in an unfamiliar city which has no knowledge of what coffee even is. She deals with some very mundane issues of corruption, business, and old friends, while a romance blooms in the background. My sole problem with this book is that it seems that romance stays a bit in the background; maybe the author is trying to riff on the whole "oblivious lesbians" stereotype, but I don't feel like there was a satisfying conclusion to that line, even as every other thread gets tied up in a neat knot by the end. Nevertheless, the book is generally quite lighthearted, very well-written, and a wonderful break from the "big" stories most fantasy novels trade in. I strongly recommend it, with the sole caveat to not expect much from the romance part of the story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Violence
Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-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
4.5
Muir loves switching up her genres. While Gideon was moderately mystery-focused and Harrow was definitely a mystery novel, the mystery of Nona takes a back seat to how goddamn precious Nona is. Unfortunately, that fact makes an already sad series even sadder. It’s fortunate that Muir’s writing style is hilarious, because otherwise the entire plot of Nona the Ninth would’ve been pretty depressing.
Still, I would say it’s better than Gideon and a mark worse than Harrow - which is to say, it’s very good. I had a harder time following the plot than before, and while Muir makes great strides with diversity in this book, it sometimes comes off a tad awkward (like in the repeated misgendering of a character with they/them pronouns, just for them to correct themselves). But those are pretty small problems compared to the rest of this deeply dark and funny novel. If you liked Gideon and Harrow, I highly recommend it.
Still, I would say it’s better than Gideon and a mark worse than Harrow - which is to say, it’s very good. I had a harder time following the plot than before, and while Muir makes great strides with diversity in this book, it sometimes comes off a tad awkward (like in the repeated misgendering of a character with they/them pronouns, just for them to correct themselves). But those are pretty small problems compared to the rest of this deeply dark and funny novel. If you liked Gideon and Harrow, I highly recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Mental illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Toxic friendship, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Body shaming, Medical content, and Transphobia
Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Trafficking, and Sexual violence