starrysteph's reviews
452 reviews

The Blood Gift by N.E. Davenport

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.5

An intense conclusion to an epic, bloody, and captivating fantasy duology.

I definitely felt what other reviews felt here – bummed at a condensed plot with very uneven pacing. I can see the bones of what this would have looked like as a full series, and I’m so sad that publishing took away that chance.

But there’s still lots to love. Ikenna grows SO much over these two books, and so do her relationships with the people who become her new family. There were quiet & thoughtful & nuanced conversations between some of the wildest battle scenes out there. All the conversations around systemic issues (racism and classism), how they could hope to reshape their world, and Ikenna’s personal growth & vulnerability were really nice to read. 

The battle scenes? Absolutely amazing. Who knew all the different ways blood could be used, spilled, and mutilated? 

The antagonists intrigued me as well. There are some standout villains, but there’s also a lot of juicy moral murkiness, and so many shades of gray. People grow, people stay stubbornly in the past, and people also betray those they are supposed to protect and care about. I wasn’t sure what to anticipate next.

There was too much silent communication between glances, lol. Nobody is THAT in sync.

It wasn’t exactly the ending I hoped for after how much I adored The Blood Trials (just SO MUCh chaotically crammed in without getting a chance to simmer), but this is still a duology I’d recommend.

CW: murder, death (parent/child), war, blood, racism, gore, sexual assault, slurs, misogyny, genocide, torture, guns, xenophobia, religious bigotry, fire, body horror, classism, kidnapping, vomit, sexual content

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Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

Spinning Silver is a rich & layered fairytale with Jewish themes – it had these shining delicate moments that I loved very dearly, but also struggled with pacing that felt sluggish rather than lush ... and it was a little too forgiving to cruel men.

Miryem and her family live in poverty, because even though her father is the village’s much-needed moneylender, he’s too tender-hearted to collect on his debts. So she embraces her inner coldness and does the work herself, quickly becoming known for her ability to change silver into gold.

But the Staryk - who live in an alternate wintery realm just beyond the forest - hunger for gold. So when their fey king hears about Miryem’s skills, he whisks her away and has quite a few demands.

Luckily, she gains two unlikely allies, a local peasant girl (Wanda) with an abusive father and the neglected daughter of a duke (Irina). Together, they learn how to bargain, how to stand up for themselves & know their worth, and how to save their kingdom from fiery tsars and icy kings alike. 

My favorite part of this read might have been the developing friendships, particularly between Miryem and Wanda. Wanda fears Miryem because she’s Jewish and thinks her prayers are dark magic, but she is slowly and warmly welcomed into Miryem’s household - and begins to realize that her past line of thinking was warped. Miryem teaches her math & reading and in Wanda’s eyes, that is beautiful & transformative magic. And Miryem’s parents look out for Wanda and her brothers when they all live in fear of their own father. There’s a found family element that is so, so lovely.

I also adored the Jewish representation (there were several ‘big’ moments that made me tear up in addition to smaller things like Miryem’s insistence on keeping Shabbat and a Jewish geography scene), and the growth of the three main women as they become stronger and surer. (I had mixed-to-negative feelings on some of their conclusions, but I won’t spoil anything.) The loose rules of magic and speaking something into being because of your own strength and self assuredness were quite lovely. There is real magic in a bargain!

“You were challenged beyond the bounds of what could be done, and found a path to make it true.”

But this book feels SLOW. And I generally enjoy a slower-paced read and a rich world. The fairytale inspiration led to a lot of repetition and rules of three which I do understand, but the middle of this story felt like I was stuck in a time loop and I wanted nothing more than to gnaw my way out. I kept putting it down.

Sometimes we would read the same exact scene twice in a row from different perspectives - and that additional insight was not worth it to me. 

I liked the atmospheric world and the rules of the Staryk. It kept me intrigued, and I do feel like Miryem and the king both had a lot to teach the other. Miryem has to challenge her own assumptions about the ‘other’, just like she is othered and viewed as monstrous by her fellow villagers.

Wanda is aroace in my mind. The other romantic relationships were a disappointment to me. 

Overall, I would recommend this for the elements I love, but I’m sure there’s a lot of readers who shut this book in frustration and never picked it back up, and I completely understand that.

CW: death (parent/child), murder, child abuse, domestic abuse, antisemitism, alcoholism, fire, kidnapping, sexism, body horror, grief, torture, xenophobia, miscarriage, classism, gore, war, vomit

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Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

An absolutely brutal spiral into the fear-soaked streets of NYC at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, mixed with hauntings and hungerings from the ghosts who are shoved out of the public’s eye and the public’s memory.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng follows Cora, who works as a crime scene cleaner in Chinatown after her sister Delilah was pushed in front of an oncoming subway train right in front of her. 

She shoulders anti-Asian hatred, tucks herself away to avoid all germs, and numbly nods along to her aunt’s insistence that she prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Delilah’s murderer has never been found, and the only things Cora has to go on were a spidery white hand and two terrible words: bat eater. And now as she cleans up the crime scenes of East Asian women and finds bats in their walls, Cora realizes that the hungry ghosts her aunt has desperately warned her about might actually be manifesting. Unless it’s all in her head.

It’s an incredibly dark story, with body horror & gore and scenes that will shock you. And chilling social commentary - real world terror - is mixed with hungry bottle-necked ghosts hopping from shadow to shadow, desperate to consume their way back into reality. The result is a terrifying cocktail that feels firmly rooted in our world, but also might make you take a double look at every shadow.

There’s so much hate blossoming from fear & then manifesting into the various antagonists here. And heart-wrenching scenes - moments where trauma reshapes itself into silenced ghosts. It’s a scary story, but there are also moments of levity, cleverness, and joy.

Cora learns the power of seeing and naming others. She learns to find her inner strength and push past her limits to adapt and exist in a world filled with germs and cruelty and fear. She finds a new respect for traditions that she shrugged off and felt disconnected to in the past. She slowly starts to understand that building community and trust is crucial if you want to survive all sorts of diseases, whether they’re literal pandemics or metaphorical infections of hatred.

I held my breath through so many of these pages. I was never quite sure what was going to happen next, and had NO idea who was going to survive the story. 

It forces you to reflect on who we choose to sacrifice, to bury, and to ignore. It explores strained family relationships, mental health, and how racism flourishes when one group turns another into an easy scapegoat, even when the elements of blame are completely nonsensical and contradict each other. 

Kylie Lee Baker crafted a terrible, brilliant, devastatingly haunting story that is going to stick with me.

CW: murder, death, grief, mental illness, gore, hate crime, racism, pandemic, blood, body horror, child abuse, car accident, animal death/cruelty, fire, sexism, racial slurs, vomit, forced institutionalization (mentioned), sexual harassment, police brutality (mentioned)

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

This Land Is Our Land: a Blue Beetle Story by Julio Anta

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

A fast-paced origin story that tackles community involvement & care, racism & xenophobia, and the indoctrination of young men into white supremacist ideology

Jaime is happy to live his life as an ordinary teenager in El Paso, helping out at his dad’s auto shop and gazing up at the stars every night. But when his friends notice one of their classmates is starting to buy into racist and xenophobic rhetoric, and tensions around immigration rise as the border is shut down once again, he can’t stay silent.

Especially because El Paso has an ACTUAL alien threat: An entity called the Reach is heading towards Earth, and they’ve selected Jaime as their representative. They claim their contact will be all about peace, but Jaime isn’t so sure, especially since he’s got some pretty violent new powers.

Jaime learns the importance of speaking up, building bridges, and becoming an active part of his community. He’s got great parents and a supportive friend duo, too, which is always lovely to read in YA. 

This was a quick read and a great way to make the Blue Beetle story even more relevant for young readers.

CW: racism, hate crime, guns, fire, xenophobia, classism

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

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

A quiet and reflective story that examines mothers & daughters, generational trauma, and class divides.

Red at the Bone weaves back and forth through time fluidly, following sixteen-year-old Melody at her coming of age ceremony in 2001, her parents who had her at seventeen, and their parents. 

The language is simple yet beautiful, and shows the ripple effects of decisions made in your childhood that shape the rest of your life, and your children’s lives, and their children’s lives. 

CW: death (parent/child), racism, pregnancy, grief, cancer, abandonment, fire, classism, chronic illness, addiction

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

Haunting Melody by Chloe Spencer

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.0

Haunting Melody is a charming & inventive sapphic murder mystery, with incredibly creative supernatural lore and a lovely coming of age arc.

Melody is absolutely miserable. She was supposed to have aced her First Sacred Hunt, especially with two renowned ghost hunters for parents. But instead, she’s left with trauma, facial scars, and humiliation.

She’s now struggling with PTSD and body image issues, so when her parents give her a chance to start over on a tiny island town, she’s all in. But even though her parents tell her to stay out of the ghost hunt that has left 3 of the island’s teenagers dead, she knows this is her one chance to prove herself. 

Except after Melody meets a local ghost, she soon realizes there may be way more at play here … and that everything she THINKS she knows about the recently deceased might not be so right.

Melody has been through a LOT, and has a lot to unpack. She’s still in denial about her toxic last relationship, she has a lot of self hatred for her new facial scars and her larger body, and she feels cut off from her former community. But while there is a lot of pain, I thought the story overall kept things upbeat and hopeful. Also, no bullying/mean girl arcs!

The mystery is engaging, and I thought the world building was very unique. I loved that ghost hunters were non-human, loved how much detail we got into their religion and culture, and loved all of the Fantastical lore overall. And as Melody shifts her thinking around the paranormal, the ghostly scenes shift as well (from spooky to heartwarming). 

I also adored the characterization of Melody’s first friend in town (Tomai) and the cute ghost girl that changes everything (Cyrus). Both Tomai and Cyrus are complicated and interesting, and both have significant arcs of their own while also building relationships with Melody. 

I really appreciated the arc between Melody, her parents, and Simon. There’s so much initially left unsaid between them, with Melody holding onto a lot of trauma and making a lot of assumptions about her parents - and her parents cutting her out instead of treating her like a full human. It was great to see them start to turn that around and become a healthier family unit. 

The internalized fatphobia was rough, and while there was a short conversation about it towards the end of the book, I did wish it was addressed earlier and we got to see more of that healing process. I think that aspect could be very triggering for young readers - and we see Melody acknowledge and accept her PTSD way more than a potential eating disorder.

A+ work on the fake fantastical musical names, though. I giggled more than once at those.

I thought the ending was very sweet and the writing style overall was very easy to digest. The pacing was quick, and the mystery was fun. The author balanced scarier elements with sweeter elements with deeper & more nuanced issues very well.

A great read for anyone who loves spooky YA, murder mysteries, and unique fantasy lore! 

CW: murder, death (child), body horror, body shaming, eating disorder, fatphobia, mental illness, panic attacks, gaslighting, kidnapping, blood, car accident, grief, fire, religious bigotry, queerphobia, toxic relationship, vomit

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

But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo

dark 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? No

4.0

A deliriously weird little novella that combines monstrous gothic horror with sapphic romance.

Be bold … but not TOO bold.

That phrase is displayed all across the Capricious House, and every maid, groundskeeper, and cook knows to serve the lady of the house (Anatema, an Archaic One who is sort of a humanoid spider) well and carefully. Otherwise, you might end up eaten alongside all of her other short-lived human brides.

But someone has stolen living memories from Anatema. And so she consumed the last keeper of the keys, whose former apprentice Dália now has to step into the role.

Dália has prepared to serve Anatema her whole life and isn’t afraid, but she’s running out of time to solve the crime. And on top of all that, Dália is young and beautiful … just like the brides Anatema can’t help but devour. 

But Not Too Bold is colorful and atmospheric - each word across the 112 pages conjures something eerie and new. Capricious House is an otherworldly place that both terrifies you and pulls you ever-closer.

There are themes of identity, of vulnerability, of monstrosity, of loneliness and of being truly seen in love and romance.

I was captivated from start to finish, and felt my heart melt for the fierce yet lonely Anatema and the daring Dália who is the first human ever ready to bear witness to her full self.

CW: murder, death, body horror, addiction, blood, confinement, spiders, animal death/cruelty

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

Solis by Abby Sher, Paola Mendoza

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.0

Whew. That hurt.

Solis is a bleak, devastating dystopian story following a group of prisoners (mostly undocumented immigrants & a lot of children) who are forced into dangerous labor and medical experiments by an extremist government.

It’s 2023, and the New American Republic is obsessed with mining toxic aqualinium in order to control the weather and tamper the impact of climate change. If America is the first to succeed with its aqualinium experiments, they’ll be the most powerful country in the world. 

The story is split between four narrators, most of them held in the horrific labor camp. The final narrator is training with the resistance (SOLIS) in California, which has seceded from the rest of the US. There’s a dangerous plan in motion to free the prisoners and destroy the aqualinium research and mine.

It is a really, really bleak and disturbing story. There’s a lot of child death and torture, and of course tons of xenophobia and racism and homophobia as well. I found this tough to read as an adult, and would definitely encourage parents/educators to take caution and make sure this book is the right fit for the teenager you know. 

There are sparks of revolution and sparks of hope - and compassion and strength from those going through the most horrific experiences  - but I wasn’t quite sure what to walk away with here. Perhaps that this is possible. This could happen anywhere. These are the ripple effects of welcoming hatred & bigotry, of dismissing our impact on each other & the earth, of corrupt politicians. You’re bearing witness to so much trauma as a reader. A lot of it is heightened, but some of it is indeed closer to our current reality (in the US and outside of the US). 

I appreciated the character development and do feel as though I got to know our narrators. The writing was very simple and very direct. 

I wished for a bit more resolution and framing at the end, especially because this is a young adult book. I wanted a smidge more hope or ferocity or empowerment. But the final sentences were quiet. 

CW: death (child/parent), murder, slavery, genocide, racism, torture, drug use, emotional abuse, gun violence, gore, suicide, vomit, excrement, police brutality, deportation, fire, confinement

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

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

emotional funny reflective sad 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

4.5

Martyr! asks some big, messy, complicated questions - how can we ensure our lives and deaths have meaning? - through rich characters, layered timelines and narrators, and language that is both poetic and simple to take in.

Cyrus is looking at the puzzle pieces of his life and not quite sure what they all mean. His mother died in a horrific accident when he was a baby in Tehran, shot by an American missile in a civilian plane. His dad spent his days hard at work on a chicken farm before leaving as quietly as he lived. And his uncle is haunted by his job as an Iranian soldier, dressed as an Angel and comforting dying soldiers on the battlefield.

Now, adult Cyrus is fighting to stay sober, pushing away love, writing poetry, and dreaming of martyrs. He’s obsessed with the act of dying for something and doesn’t know how to fully grasp it, and his journey of researching martyrs leads to some unexpected truths about his history and future.

There are dark topics at play here, but the writing is clever and quick. It’s very clear that Kaveh Akbar is a poet, but his words are crisp and not too heady. They land precisely right.

Cyrus can make frustrating decisions, but he is so multilayered and so earnest with his search for martyrdom that it is hard not to love him. He’s a great analyst, though he sometimes misses what is right in front of his face. And his narration is so vulnerable and so intimate.

“If the mortal sin of the suicide is greed, to hoard stillness and calm for yourself while dispersing your riotous internal pain among all those who survive you, then the mortal sin of the martyr must be pride, the vanity, the hubris to believe not only that your death could mean more than your living, but that your death could mean more than death itself—which, because it is inevitable, means nothing.”

The interludes of narration from Cyrus’ family were just as interesting, and an additional element that I loved were the dream sequences. To help his insomnia, Cyrus imagines two figures (historical, real, people he knows, people he doesn’t) having a conversation - a classic writing exercise. And we get to witness them interact, sometimes with a wink to the fact that they are actually iterations of Cyrus’ thoughts and mind. Each sequence was fascinating. 

This is a book that celebrates the act of dreaming, that comforts the artist in all of us, that challenges what it means to have lived a worthwhile life, that welcomes uncertainty and bewilderment, and so much more. It didn’t offer up a grand emotional release, but instead thousands of little sparks of curiosity and the warmth of seeing some of my quietest thoughts and questions reflected back at me.

“He felt a flash of familiar shame—his whole life had been a steady procession of him passionately loving what other people merely liked, and struggling, mostly failing, to translate to anyone else how and why everything mattered so much.”

CW: death (parent), addiction, alcoholism, suicide, grief, cancer, terminal illness, racism, abandonment, islamophobia, queerphobia, infidelity, mental illness, xenophobia, war, pregnancy, slurs, self harm, vomit

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

Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

Ghostroots is a riveting collection of stories that will creep up and haunt you. 

What a blend! One story masterfully flowed into the next, and while there were some central themes around ancestry & innate identity & community responsibility, each piece had a weight of its own. 

What are we willing to carve out of ourselves? What do we owe for our past crimes - or the crimes of our ancestors? How much of us lives on in our children, and then in their children? 

Many stories centered around women or girls and how much ownership and freedom they have. Some are trapped in cycles, some question where their mothers end and they begin, and some will do anything to feel something.

And the setting was so rich. A slightly shifted version of Lagos, layered on top of cityscapes that feel familiar. At what point do we become part of our community? How much must we serve it? 

It’s a strange journey, and many of the arcs are left open-ended. These were subtly (but powerfully) disturbing reads! Some transfixed me more than others, but overall this was an excellent read that tickled my imagination and left me a bit frightened. 

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think “Masquerade Season” will be tucked up into my ribcage for a long while. 

CW: murder, death (child), animal cruelty/death, body horror, confinement, kidnapping, car accident, abandonment, pregnancy, abuse, self harm, infidelity, pedophilia, rape, incest

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