starrysteph's reviews
383 reviews

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

Ocean’s Godori is a clever sci fi adventure with an eclectic cast and a whole lot of heart.

Ocean Yoon is a brilliant spaceship pilot, but she’s been demoted after a [redacted] mission that squandered her reputation and chances of rising up in Korea’s renowned space agency the Alliance. Luckily, she’s found support from her charming crewmates on her simpler but safer new assignment.

Haven is Mortemiam - a religious, thoughtful, and ostracized group that does death rituals. His dad has sent him off to work for Captain Song for a bit and immerse himself in the greater galaxy. He wants to bridge the gap between him and his father, has mixed feelings about his expected marriage to his fiance back home, and is quietly curious about his crewmates - especially Ocean.

And Teo is the outwardly cocky and charming second son of the Anand Tech empire. He never wants for anything, but secretly struggles with living up to his father’s expectations and being there for his family. He’s also got a lot to learn about the truth behind his empire, especially after he winds up at the center of a complicated & violent plot.

Then there’s a whole swirl of chaos and escapades. It’s a story of navigating identity & figuring out your legacy, tackling complicated parental relationships and expectations, and finding family outside of blood.

There are intense spaceship battles, terrifying body morphing technology, thrilling escapes, the SWEETEST misfit found family, and two smatterings of romance (once is queer and one is very will-they-won’t they). The technology is both interesting & fun, and I enjoyed learning some Korean words (and some imagined future Korean slang). The glossary, which was written in-character, was both helpful and a delightful addition to the journey. This was a really cool and creative world and vision of the future.

The events of the summary don’t happen until the book is more than halfway through - I actually flipped back a few times to make sure I had read it right, since it seemed like the inciting event. And then I was just anticipating it! I think that’s a bit of a marketing mishap. And then there’s a massive cliffhanger at the end. I don’t see this listed as the first in a series, but it HAS to be, right? If so, I think this story will absolutely shine now that the setup is done.

I absolutely adored these characters. They’re a prickly but loveable group, and even though we only get deep glimpses into some of them (it’s a very large cast), I was thoroughly charmed. I particularly loved the raider Phoenix and his crew who came in at the end; I’m sure that their roles will be much bigger if there are future books.

There’s a start here to a galactic exploration of colonization & capitalism - mostly through Teo’s influential family - and Teo starts to unpack his own biases. There’s also condemnation from supporting characters from various planets who have been directly hurt by the Anand Tech exploits and innovations. I would love to see deeper conversation around these themes, going beyond just acknowledging them. How do our main characters envision a better world? What will they do to bring us closer to that?

If you love books featuring charming found families & characters puzzling out their relationships with their parents - AND books set in cool, futuristic worlds with action scenes galore - I think Ocean’s Godori will be a perfect match.

CW: death (family/parents), murder, war, colonization, classism, guns, panic attacks, fire, grief

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(I received a free advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Content Warnings

The Spice Gate by Prashanth Srivatsa

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adventurous hopeful tense medium-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

3.75

The Spice Gate was a colorful & creative standalone epic fantasy – while the world building wasn’t quite integrated smoothly and the dialogue was a bit awkward at times, I really appreciated the vision and journey.

In a land of eight distant kingdoms, spices are both power and balance. Each kingdom cultivates one critical spice, and each kingdom is connected to the others only through the magical Spice Gates, a gift from an ancient and powerful god.

Amir is a Carrier – the spicemark on his shoulder distinguishes him as a person who can travel through the Gates and transport spices from kingdom to kingdom. Though Carriers are critical to every aspect of society, they are a terribly oppressed group, essentially treated as slaves. Amir experiences extreme pain, both from moving through space in moments and from the sacks on his back, and he fears for the day his kid brother will enter the trade.

He dreams of escaping the kingdoms and their cruel royalty altogether, and all he needs is one vial of the Poison (which will help his spicemark-less pregnant mother travel through the gates alongside her sons to live among rebellious pirates). But as Amir searches for his freedom, he gets sucked into a deeper conspiracy – and perhaps a revolution against everything he thought was true about his world.

I think this book has a challenging start - there’s a lot of info & lore tossed at you all at once in a bit of a clumsy way - and I can see a lot of readers DNFing this one. However, if you’re comfortable diving into new fantasy worlds and open to being a bit confused throughout the first chunk, I think it’s worth it.

It’s a story about fighting back against oppression & the costs of revolution and reshaping, what it means to re-evaluate ancient traditions through a more just lens, and about what it means to be a good parent, child, and sibling.

The romance element here is between Amir and Harini, a young woman who is also a throne keeper. Harini very readily dismisses the way she has been raised to view the world (we see this briefly in a flashback) and is wholeheartedly there for Amir. In my opinion, the nature of Amir and Harini’s relationship is a little too fairytale-esque when paired with the more brutal elements of their hierarchical world. I just don’t buy that Harini is SUCH an inherently good soul that she is able to immediately see past everything she has been told.

As far as the writing goes, I generally found it quite compelling. The dialogue was the biggest issue (differentiating between character voices, leaning into cliches, mixing words so it felt partially fantastical and partially modern, and so on). But the descriptions of places and the inventiveness of the magic system really let the author’s creativity shine, and I thought the action scenes were well done.

My favorite elements were most definitely the mythological ones. The description of the ancient god was visceral and chilling. And the beasts who prowled the outer forests were just as good. The sensory elements (how the spices smelled - how they brought up emotions & memories - the tastes of food) were really beautiful, too.

CW: death (parent), classism, murder, gore, animal death, grief, addiction, mental health, abandonment, vomit, excrement

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(I received a free advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Content Warnings

Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

In Indian Burial Ground, Nick Medina has yet again crafted an incredibly compelling blend of supernatural & real life horrors.

We’re following two characters in two timelines. In the present, Noemi has just lost her boyfriend to a horrific car accident. She soon learns that it may not have been an accident at all, and she grapples with grief and attempts to find some closure. At the same time, her Uncle Louie comes back to the reservation for the first time in many years.

In the past, we’re following teenage Louie as he witnesses a series of strange deaths on the reservation. He fears that there’s a monster on the hunt and wants to protect his loved ones (including then 3-year-old Noemi), but not everyone even believes that there is a real threat.

In this dual timeline setup I definitely preferred Louie, but both narrators were engaging in different ways. Louie’s was more visceral and more gory, with a high stakes mystery and horrifying deaths around every corner. Even though it takes place in the past, you have NO idea how it will wrap up. Noemi’s was slower and more mundane - more tender and agonizing as she processed her grief. However, both storylines involved losing loved ones, and both focused on learning to fend for yourself and learning how to have compassion for yourself & others.

I loved the clever twists on the trope of an “Indian burial ground” that used genuine Indigenous stories and myths. There were so many oral storytelling elements here that touched my heart. There’s gore and there’s body horror and there are people rising from graves, but there were also stories about the importance of balance and respect for nature and other living creatures. And about the dangerous desire to consume and destroy with no regard for others.

The chapters were short & engaging, and kept the story moving really quickly. And there were beautifully covered themes of family, alcoholism, depression & suicide (and patterns of depression within marginalized communities), greed & balance, and dedication & love for community and the earth/nature.

There was also some openness in the ending, which intrigued me – it wasn’t clean, but it was hopeful. (After a totally trippy & terrifying final showdown, of course.) The characters are moving forward and starting new journeys.

My one complaint - which I can’t say too much about without spoilers - is that I felt like there was a metaphor that was used a bit lazily/haphazardly. I think Medina is talented enough to not need to rely on old messy stereotypes.

Overall, Indian Burial Ground was a terrifying piece that swirled together mythical predators and dangers that are all-too-human. It’s both a quiet look at trauma and generational weights and a bone-chilling horror story.

CW: death (child/parent), murder, gore, suicide, animal cruelty/death, grief, fatphobia, ableism, addiction, alcoholism, mental health, car accident, fire

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(I received a free advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow

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dark mysterious 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

5.0

Yeah, yeah, I know I’m late to the party. This was a beautifully crafted little piece. It reminded me of the distressing short stories I read as a child in school - the ones that stick with you forever.

Also when second-person narration works, IT WORKS.

CW: death (child), war, murder, injury, gore, toxic relationship, child abuse, body horror, torture, genocide, gaslighting, suicide

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.75

The Sins on Their Bones is a very dark & very Jewish fantasy that explores surviving domestic abuse and the brutality of war. It’s got mysticism & dark rituals, a caring found family, and a baby goat who can sense demons (best character??).

In many ways, The Sins on Their Bones feels like a sequel. We’re dropped into the devastating aftermath of Novo-Svitsevo’s civil war, following the broken & defeated dethroned Tzar Dimitri as he watches his brutal, estranged husband Alexey rule with cruel ambition.

Alexey has used the forbidden Holy Science to return from the dead, and is now seemingly indestructible while Dimitri and his court plot in hiding. Dimitri can’t separate himself from his former abuser – and when he finally begins to open up his heart to spymaster Vasily, Vasily comes up with a terribly dangerous plan to infiltrate Alexey’s court and take him down once and for all.

It’s curious to meet characters in the middle of their arcs. Dimitri has separated from Alexey, but he has not grown enough to love himself and rule with confidence. Vasily has escaped his abuser and has skills like no other spy, but he is too afraid to tell Dimitri he loves him. And Alexey has already accomplished the seemingly-impossible by reincarnating as an immortal being – his next step is just to take over the world.

For me, this setup made the first half of the book a bit laborious to read. Dimitri is agonizingly defeated & depressed, and it takes his friends hundreds of pages to get him to even consider fighting back again. Alexey was a relatively fun POV, but he is a bit of a run-of-the-mill villain (even though his choices sometimes puzzled me). Vasily was definitely the most interesting to me, and I wonder what it would have been like to read entirely from his limited narration. However, I generally thought the characterization of both our trio of narrators and the rich cast of supporting players was complex and well-developed (I just wanted to SEE them develop more on page).

Aside from the pacing, I do also think the writing itself was a bit clumsy. I read an early copy - so small things could shift by publication - but I often found the sentences to be choppy, awkward, or repetitive.

It is wonderfully Jewish, with a deep love for Jewish ethics and Ashkenazi traditions (and a delightful splash of kabbalah) throughout the pages. The characters pray, question everything, and ponder what it means to be good & how to sacrifice for those they care about. This was a real high for me.

I also thought the exploration of domestic violence and what it is like to survive your abuser was well done. These emotions are complicated and overflowing, and I think they were handled with care.

The sex and romance aspects were mixed for me. I loved the queernormative world, and I was rooting for Dimitri & Vasily to make it as a pairing. I didn’t 100% love the characterization of the ace character. The sex scenes were sometimes a bit repetitive – we’d see almost the same exact sexual encounters between two characters several times. Several of these encounters were with an abuser, and I’m not sure why the decision was made to repeat them since they didn’t seem to move the story forward or expand on anything else (and of course graphic sexual abuse can be quite distressing to read as well).

Lastly - and this is personal taste - I’m not super into the ‘good monarch’ plotline, even though it was really pushed on us that Dimitri would lead with ethics and care.

However, I really appreciated the lushness of the world and folklore, and Vasily especially captured my heart.

CW: domestic abuse, emotional abuse, graphic rape/sexual abuse, mental illness, war, gore, torture, body horror, death, sexual content, vomit

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(I received a free advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Beasts of War by Ayana Gray

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I can’t believe that the epic Beasts of Prey trilogy has come to an end. I’ll really miss my time with Koffi and Ekon.

We jump in right where Beasts of Ruin left off, and are treated to a whirlwind of an adventure filled with more often-terrifying mythological creatures, awe-inspiring gods, and our very stressed heroes.

I loved experiencing so many different settings, from big cities to turbulent rivers to sprawling plains. The book was split into segments and the action never stopped. I read Beasts of War in close-to-one sitting, which is saying something considering that this is a 440 page book! I just kept thinking maybe one more chapter …

The descriptions of the gods and creatures were excellent. I especially adored how much our characters think about protecting life (human and animal) and acting ethically & with care.

Koffi and Ekon have both had MASSIVE arcs, and here we saw them start to more solidly settle into their identities and strengths. There’s a great cast of supporting characters, too.

The ending happened a little too quickly and a little too neatly, but the epilogue did make me grin from ear to ear.

CW: death (parent/child), violence, panic attacks, confinement, mental illness, terminal illness, grief, fire, abandonment, war, drug abuse

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Blood Orange by Yaffa

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emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

So much emotion is packed into this small book of poetry – beautiful, clear, compassionate, strong.

I sat down to read Blood Orange as part of a readathon, but I think this would be better experienced with more spaciousness and time to reflect on each poem before moving on. Maybe even reading one or two a day and sitting with them.

These poems are part of Mx. Yaffa’s way of processing their grief, anger, and desire for home and a world where they feel safe and valued. They are defiant, thoughtful, and quietly hopeful.

CW: genocide, colonization, death (child), grief, racism, violence, islamophobia, transphobia

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

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funny fast-paced

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

3.0

Several People Are Typing is told entirely through the Slack channels of a PR firm, and takes off right as a corporate employee gets sucked into Slack. Then we get a breakneck, deeply funny adventure involving a dog food scandal, a woman haunted by howling, a few office romances, and an AI assistant takeover.

It really nails the absurdist moments of corporate life, and the human disconnect between employees and the bosses who view them as outputs. Fun shenanigans and a smidge of satirical commentary on capitalism.

Huge content warning for

rape / a nonconsensual sexual encounter where an inhuman consciousness inhabits a human’s body and someone else knowingly has sex with that person. The person whose body was violated strangely doesn’t seem to be bothered at all and it is brushed over very quickly, but this baffled me as a plot point. There are infinite other ways to start a romance and this was unnecessary & did not sit well with me, enough to bring my rating down a full star.

CW: rape, confinement, animal death, excrement, body horror

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The Fall That Saved Us by Tamara Jerée

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dark emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

The Fall That Saved Us was a whirlwind of a sapphic romance between a nephilim ex-demon-hunter and a succubus, but it was also an exploration of healing, surviving toxic families, and finding home.

We follow Cassiel, who has fled her toxic demon-hunting family and her angelic duties to start a peaceful life that’s all her own. So when a succubus named Avitue shows up in her bookstore, she’s not sure whether to trust her old instincts or open up to something new. As their relationship deepens beyond simple seduction, they realize they have quite a lot in common. But they’re both haunted by past trauma and current dangers – from both angels and demons.

It’s got some cozy elements (how many of us dream of living above the bookstore we own?), some light but intriguing angel & demon lore, healing & rediscovering your identity after trauma, and a big splash of romance.

The pacing is a little strange (bursts of intense action and insta-love - then a bit slow and repetitive in the middle - then way too fast of a resolution), but I was engaged the whole way through.

All in all, a compelling paranormal romance that was cozy, sexy, and healing.

CW: trauma, toxic family, emotional abuse, self harm, eating disorder, off-page death/murder, sexual content

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The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

3.25

The First Bright Thing was a complicated journey through an abusive relationship - wrapped in a very magical, very Jewish, very queer, time-traveling atmosphere.

In a world where a small percentage of people (“Sparks”) developed magical powers, we follow Ringmaster Rin and her troupe of loveable outcasts. Rin has the power to jump through space and time, her wife Odette is both a trapeze artist and a healer, and their best friend Maude can peer into the future.

So they bring the Circus of the Fantasticals all around the country – and always change the life of one particular person in the audience.

It’s 1926, and everyone feels relieved that the war to end all wars is finally over. But Rin, Odette, and Maude know there is more to come. And Rin has more immediate troubles, too: the Circus King is after her and her family. And his dark tents and darker, manipulative magic won’t stop until he has what he wants.

It’s a heightened version of an abusive cycle - where the abuser’s manipulative prowess becomes an ACTUAL magical power. While there is hope and love, this is a dark story. We watch Rin violently struggle to separate her thoughts from her husband’s. Though the story begins after she has built a new life for herself, she is not free from his influence nor his gaslighting. She self harms in a myriad of ways.

This is often a horror book.

In addition to the abuse, the trio is struggling with the knowledge of upcoming World War II. They see devastation everywhere, and how outsiders like themselves are targeted. They want safety and peace, but it seems impossible.

So how do they grapple with all this pain and abuse? Rin - whose past memories are a bit jumbled - pulls from her Jewish childhood. She strives to do mitzvahs every day (sometimes sacrificing her own health and happiness) and ponders teshuvah (returning home). There are beautiful, shining morsels of finding home, family, and love after and amidst devastation. And they are created from Rin’s Jewish values.

“What is the absence of love called? It’s not hate. It’s not even apathy. The word lives in the anticipation of waiting for someone who will never come home.”

I loved how the story highlighted art as transformation, especially for a war-broken society that desperately needed something more than darkness. The descriptions of the performances themselves were a strong point.

My biggest struggle here was the writing. I could see the vision, but the sentences themselves were often clunky and awkward, and the pacing with the back-and-forth time jumps was not quite right. Things were explained very slowly over and over. It was hard to get into the flow of the story when you’re sinking into repetitive darkness.

I also think the author was juggling a few too many characters, and I wish more time had been spent developing a small supporting cast in addition to the trio. I appreciated how the magical realism elements (the Sparks’ powers) were ways of reshaping their trauma, but we didn’t get to linger in those threads enough.

But overall, this is a book I’d recommend. If you can handle a lot of pain, there are beautiful moments of Jewish & queer joy that you’ll get to soak in.

CW: war, emotional domestic abuse, toxic relationship, gaslighting, alcoholism, murder, death, homophobia, antisemitism, grief, death of parent, gore, gun violence, suicidal thoughts, sexism, child abuse, stalking, genocide, psychosis, pandemic, vomit

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starrysteph's reviews 383 reviews

starrysteph's reviews
383 reviews