sp1derfairy's reviews
129 reviews

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

good god she has so much anxiety. this is how i felt before i went to therapy honestly. it made it very hard to listen to at some points as i was practically begging her NOT to do something and she did it anyway. overall, it was a bit too meandering for me, but it did make me think twice about the things in life i take for granted. i haven’t been very existential recently, for better or for worse. i can’t say i loved any of the characters, but i enjoyed this books 

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Did not finish book. Stopped at 16%.

it’s not compelling me. i only ever liked gideon really and i dislike the narrator for this audiobook. 

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.5

suuuper boring. characters weren’t compelling and they were so unlikeable that i was just sick of them. characters don’t have to likeae to be effective, but they just weren’t either of those things. i was expecting more thrill i’d say. 

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

Machado’s prose is absolutely beautiful and her storytelling is so
vivid and effective. There were so many painfully relatable aspects of this memoir and it leaves a deep emotional impact on me. I love all of her narrative decisions, especially the use of 2nd perspective. Beautiful story all around. 

I love the bridge between her personal story and the effects of this personal story on society and I think she interlinks the two well. But I am excited for a time when we don’t have to constantly justify our existences. 

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i’m not huge on short story compilations, but i really enjoyed quite a few in this one. the peach one, the physicist one, and the jael one stick out to me the most, especially in their prose. it was really beautiful stuff. i love how these stories follow desire and the life of women in churches and their relationships with god and the people around them. each character in every story is written so well and so human. 

janina edwards is an incredible narrator and brings each character to life in a unique way. she embodies each person and i love it. 

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

3.0

finally finished this oh my god. the story and worldbuilding wasn’t compelling me for most of this, but i enjoy the characters and the evolution of harrow & gideon’s relationship. i’ll probably finish the series with audiobooks cause i’m mildly interested. 

Living Memory by Christopher L. Bennett

medium-paced

3.0

i really enjoyed this star trek novel. i love that it dives into uhura’s history, her characterization, and the effects of nomad upon her life. the lack of continuity and consequences in TOS is always the thing that has bothered me the most, so it’s refreshing to see a story centered around both of those. 

i like how self-reflective this book is (i mean that’s the entire theme), and it is very fitting. i enjoy bennett’s exploration of star trek and i really enjoy his characterizations. he’s a very nice writer. 

the dialogue becomes a little hard to read sometimes because of the hanging quotation marks, which i thought was an odd choice. 

i really enjoyed the author’s notes at the end and how many sources bennett consulted to create this. i love how star trek novels are such dedicated forms of fan fiction, it’s very sweet.  

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

3.0

I liked the first book more than this one, but I enjoyed seeing Annabeth and Percy grow closer and I loved Clarisse’s character development. Tyson was super random, but I liked him and I liked how Percy was challenged by his embarrassment. I liked that this book delved more into Poseiden’s (and by extension the gods as a whole) treatment of him and his siblings. 

I like that I’m more familiar with Odysseus’ adventures, but I can’t say I really cared for a book revolving around them as much. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. The explorations of nature and nurture and how people become products of their environments is endlessly fascinating to me. I really enjoyed reading through Coriolanus’ spiral downwards because you can see him grow more and more paranoid and coddled by his illusions of control. I love how he hates the mockingjays and how Lucy Gray loves them because they’re untameable and a chance creation of nature. It’s so funny how Coriolanus hates nature and how his hatred for lacking control, well, spirals out of control. I really love how Collins does her characters. 

On that note, being able to see all of the different characters be given more depth than they have in the movie was amazing. My favorite part of the book was definitely the first 2 thirds because we get to see so much of the tributes and Coriolanus’ classmates. They each have such interesting character traits that you can compare to Coriolanus, and that only grows more pronounced as Coriolanus grows more paranoid in the final third. 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

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? Yes

3.5

Reading Frankenstein was a really interesting experience. I love the way it explores humanity and how prejudice forms our opinions of others and how prejudice can form an identity for us. The differences and similarities between Victor and the creature were fascinating to witness. I especially loved reading through the perspective of the creature and seeing how his disposition changes, but not at its core, due to the response he receives from others.

"For while I destroyed his hopes, 1 did not satisfy my own desires. They were for ever ardent and craving; still I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me?"
 

"Think you that the groans of Clerval were music to my ears? My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy; and, when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change, without torture such as you cannot even imagine."

I love the inherent humanity in the creature. He is only seen as a demon and a wretch due to the beliefs that Victor holds towards him. He is shunned because he is a mirror of Victor's own desires and the passion that has gotten away from him. Whenever Victor looks into his creature's eyes, he feels a shame he can't bear, and it's so tragic.

The relationship between Victor and the creature is another thing I absolutely loved about the book. It reminds me of the Doctor and the Master from Doctor Who. They are two beings that are eternally tied to one another, and to lose the other would mean they lose some of--or all of--their purpose in living. They may hate each other, but they also don't know who they are without each other.

The appreciation and love for life in this book bursts from its seams. We often see Victor lament over his suffering, and then find moments of respite where he feels the beauty and power of nature deep within his soul. I love how Shelley writes this; this love for living is something that brings Victor and the creature together, as the creature puts,  ""I am satisfied: miserable wretch! you have determined to live, and I am satisfied"". Even after all that Victor has lost, he still lives and wants to live.

"Alas! why does man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings. If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows, and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us."

The book ends in death, and the creature's final words made me cry,  "Light, feeling, and sense will pass away; and in this condition must I find my happiness. Some years ago, when the images which this world affords first opened upon me, when I felt the cheering warmth of summer, and heard the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of the birds, and these were all to me, I should have wept to die; now it is my only consolation.  Polluted by crimes, and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death?"

Overall, it was a bit too dramatic for my taste, but I really enjoyed reading this book and thinking about this book.