stardustrohrig's reviews
78 reviews

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were really interesting and I enjoyed getting to know them. The word building was great – I really liked how everything started to come together as the story progressed and the characters learned more. There were a lot of twists and turns in this book and not everything was as it seemed. I liked the way the different relationships grew and developed during the course of the book. Though it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger it does set up the threads of the next book, which I’m looking forward to reading soon.

The Tensorate Series by Neon Yang

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-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

4.0

This was such an interesting series! The format of the third and fourth novellas are very different from the first two but I enjoyed reading all of them. I loved learning about the world and the characters. There were a few times I wished things had been explained a bit more, but it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the series. If the author were to ever write more in this world I would definitly read it.

Read my thoughts on the individual novellas at my blog: 
https://stardustrohrig.com/2025/03/27/the-tensorate-series-review/

Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories by Charlie Jane Anders

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

I really enjoyed reading this. There was a lot of great writing advice in this book, with a lot of details and explanations. I also liked that the author included her own experiences in the book to help explain things. It's not quite a memoir, but it's also more than simply a guidebook on how to write good stories.  The author also did a good job talking about why it can be important to write stories during hard times, as stories can get us through those times. While I'm not a fiction writer (yet), I did enjoy reading all of the advice, and I think it will be helpful in figuring out what I do want to work on writing. 

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Another great book by Andrew Joseph White! Since it set in modern times (shortly after President Trump's first election) without a large fantasy element it's a little different than his other books. Some of the plot seemed a bit far fetched on how things would go down. However the setting is small town Appalachia so maybe it works more than I think it would. I really enjoyed reading Miles' story and finding more about what had happened to the family and who the ghost that appears to Miles ends up being. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. I really liked the way in this story Miles actually had a family that cared about him and other community members who were supportive against the threat of the Sheriff. I really liked the ending of the book as well and the hopefulness of what could come next for the town.

Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass by Sarah Jones

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

This was a really good look at the various issues around COVID disparities and the vastly different outcomes because of race, disability and/or poverty. I felt like the author did a great job using various peoples’ stories to showcase all the different situations and outcomes. I also liked that the author discussed the issues with congregate settings and how people in those settings were basically doomed by COVID. There was a good focus on all kinds of congregate settings from people with Intellectual Disabilities in group homes, to elderly individuals in nursing homes to individuals in prisons and jails. There was also a good discussion about the way various jobs didn’t allow for any precautions to be taken and people were forced to work while sick or risk being fired because there’s no paid sick time for many.

There’s also the emphasis on how if you don’t have money or status and can’t work you’re not seeing as worthy. The rich and powerful only care about money and staying in power. The way things opened back up quickly just highlighted how much people cared more about the economy than people. I also liked the fact that the author didn’t shy away from saying that COVID is still a major problem and that people are still getting sick and dying from it. We never should have tried to return to normal because normal doesn’t exist anymore.

The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

The basic concept of this book is that we’d all be a lot better off if we learned how to care about each other and to take care of each other without getting caught up in our differences. Not that it’s ever easy – there’s a whole chapter on why even people with good intentions in the disability community doing disability justice work can cause harm to each other. But the basic fact remains if we worked together instead of fighting each other we be better off. The book was written during the first Trump presidency and the points made in the book matter even more now during the second.

It also makes the point that we often forget how vastly different our experiences can be. COVID impacted people very differently and while many people were stuck at home bored others were dealing with the deaths of friend and family on a near daily bases. COVID never actually ended and yet everyone wanted to go back to normal. Normal doesn’t exist and often disabled people are the first to learn how to adapt to a new world. Now is the time to learn.

He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters by Schuyler Bailar

funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed reading this book. Schuyler did a really good job using both his personal story and additional facts about being trans to provide a lot of information. There was as lot of good information about what being Trans means and how gender is never as simple as male or female. He also had a lot of discussion about the discrimination Trans individuals face and how the sports and bathroom bans are a lot of manufactured outrage. He tells his own story about being a swimmer along with another trans athlete and how all the outrage is ridicule in the face of actual facts about their stats and the stats of other athletes in competition. I also like how Schuyler outlines various ways to handle working with other people to help them understand and  how to respond to transphobic comments. The stories that Schuyler told about his own history were great too and I really enjoyed hearing about how his Korean family members responded to his transition. There are a lot of important things about this book and I think everyone should read it. 

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I can always count on Rivers Solomon to write something deeply disturbing and powerful while exploring various themes and this book, with the central themes of trauma, memory, racism/segregation, and parenting, was no different. There are a lot of different layers to what was actually going on due to Ezri’s (along with their siblings’) memories not being completely reliable. It’s clear their ongoing trauma has caused all of their memories are muddled and mixed up with what they believe happened and what actually happened. The truth does come out in the end and it’s even worse than you might expect. 

The writing style might take some getting used to as it’s somewhat stream of conscious deeply in Ezri’s head but I think it works once you get used to it. The ending is a bit abrupt and there are unanswered questions but it makes sense for the story. That said there is also the sense that the unresolved issues that still need to be worked out, between the siblings, will be more than they were before. 

Màgòdiz by Gabe Calderón

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

This was a really interesting and complex book with great characters. I really liked how everything developed and the way the characters ended up working together. I enjoyed the complicated ending and the fact that it ends with hope for a better future. The world building was interesting though I did feel like things could have been explained in a bit more detail. However that may have been intentional since a lot of information had been lost and what was left was very personal, including cultural stories that aren’t for outsiders. That said I really enjoyed the oral story telling aspect of the book and the various stories that were told throughout. I also liked the gender and disability representation in the book as well and the way both aspects just existed as part of the story. 

The book does get fairly graphic in places both with regard to the violence the characters experience and the bleakness of the dystopian future. There are also a couple sex scenes near the end of the book that are somewhat graphic as well. 

Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 by Eman Abdelhadi, M.E. O'Brien

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

This was a very interesting book about how things could be. It’s written as if it’s a non-fiction book of interviews with various people who survived all the uprisings and disasters and now live in what’s left of New York. The authors (who are academics) are written as themselves doing the interviews with fictional interviewees. It’s vitally important to read the introduction to this book as it explains the future setting and who the various people are. I think a lot of people are tempted to skip introductions to non-fiction books, but this one does the work of explaining what actually happened between now and the future setting. 

I think there’s a lot of good world building within the book, and while there is a lot of telling instead of showing I think it makes sense given the chosen format. That said I do think there are very obvious gaps in explaining everything. We get a general sense that things are better now for everyone but only on a surface level. We don’t really know for sure how things have been resolved – is racism still a thing? Sexism? Etc. 

In addition, while disabled people are mentioned don’t really get a sense of how things are for disabled people in general in this future. While many of the interviewees have mental trauma and mental health issues there wasn’t anyone with a physical or sensory or cognitive disability. I would have liked it better if at least one interviewee had been disabled themselves instead of just mention of specific individuals with disabilities. 

In general though I do believe the book works as an idea of how things could be and depicts a hopeful future after a series of disasters even if I wasn’t entirely convinced that everything is for everyone in this future.