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thepurplebookwyrm's reviews
1069 reviews
A Guest in the House by E.M. Carroll
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
A Guest In the House mostly functions as a ghost/haunting story centred on an extremely timid and passive woman named Abby, newly married to a slightly older man named David, who starts seeing what she believes to be the ghost of her husband's first wife, Sheila, shortly after moving into a new house with her husband and step-daughter, Crystal.
I've read Through the Woods, and loved it. I've read Speak: The Graphic Novel which wasn't written, but illustrated by Emily Carroll as well, and loved it. This one, however, was largely a disappointing miss for me.
The art of this graphic novel was, yes, absolutely gorgeous. The story had beautiful, evocative imagery and symbolism, and I really liked the visual 'code' the author chose to convey different aspects of her story, and her protagonist's mind states. In her (incredibly pervasive) passive, repressed and 'disconnected from life' state, Abby's perception of everyday life is rendered entirely ing gray scale. But Abby also has a vivid imagination and active fantasy life, which starts to bleed into her life and supernatural encounters; these fantasies, waking dreams, 'illustrated feelings' are rendered in lush and vivid colours, and it is here too that the rich, often body-horror-adjacent and sensual imagery shines.
The plot, however, was a mess for me. There wasn't actually all that much depth to the story, nor its characters; I never really grasped what Abby's deal truly was, and there just wasn't much substance there, given the graphic novel's length. Yes, given its conclusion, I most certainly felt it was too long and meandering; Through the Woods' short stories worked infinitely better for me, as a comparison.
Thematically... sure, I'd agree A Guest In the House plays with the trope of the 'Mad Woman', somewhat, heterosexual domestic lassitude, and repressed lesbianism, but none of that was executed particularly well, lacking as it did necessary set-up and supporting development. And that ending... eh, not to my taste at all. If I have to 'peer-review' a story's conclusion to make greater sense of it, it has failed the assignment β in my subjective book of course.
And I felt nothing reading this, besides a little sorry for the kid.
The 'supernatural ambiguity' device really did not work for me here. A movie like The Others, for example, manages its plot and pacing in a way that actually makes the ambiguous ending feel clever and earned. But with something like A Guest In the House, I'm sorry (not sorry), but: I was legitimately led to believe and buy into the fact this was a ghost story, especially given the way Crystal was written to behave. But then... no? Abby was nutso all along? And then BAM! murder-suicide?! Just felt like a cheap post-hoc trope deployment to me.
I've read Through the Woods, and loved it. I've read Speak: The Graphic Novel which wasn't written, but illustrated by Emily Carroll as well, and loved it. This one, however, was largely a disappointing miss for me.
The art of this graphic novel was, yes, absolutely gorgeous. The story had beautiful, evocative imagery and symbolism, and I really liked the visual 'code' the author chose to convey different aspects of her story, and her protagonist's mind states. In her (incredibly pervasive) passive, repressed and 'disconnected from life' state, Abby's perception of everyday life is rendered entirely ing gray scale. But Abby also has a vivid imagination and active fantasy life, which starts to bleed into her life and supernatural encounters; these fantasies, waking dreams, 'illustrated feelings' are rendered in lush and vivid colours, and it is here too that the rich, often body-horror-adjacent and sensual imagery shines.
The plot, however, was a mess for me. There wasn't actually all that much depth to the story, nor its characters; I never really grasped what Abby's deal truly was, and there just wasn't much substance there, given the graphic novel's length. Yes, given its conclusion, I most certainly felt it was too long and meandering; Through the Woods' short stories worked infinitely better for me, as a comparison.
Thematically... sure, I'd agree A Guest In the House plays with the trope of the 'Mad Woman', somewhat, heterosexual domestic lassitude, and repressed lesbianism, but none of that was executed particularly well, lacking as it did necessary set-up and supporting development. And that ending... eh, not to my taste at all. If I have to 'peer-review' a story's conclusion to make greater sense of it, it has failed the assignment β in my subjective book of course.
And I felt nothing reading this, besides a little sorry for the kid.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Murder
Tomie by Junji Ito
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
Tomie is the worst Junji Ito manga I've read so far, unfortunately. π
It was way too long, and way too repetitive. Given this was essentially a collection of related vignettes, or very short stories, centred on the supernatural (?) character of Tomie, there was no real overarching story here, and no true resolution to the very mystery of Tomie. She remained a demonic, succubus-like cypher, and that was that.
I get that you can sort of read theming on the objectification of women, sexual violence committed by men against women, and how the responsibility for said sexual violence is often laid at the feet of victims, out of this 'story', through the embodied metaphor, shall we say, of its character Tomie. But I mean... it was honestly a pretty janky metaphor β besides, I'm not a huge fan of stories over-committing to 'embodied metaphors' in any case β because as far as I understood it, Tomie is a supernatural monster who enjoys violence, if only to a certain extent β and even seducing children. Which is pretty fucked, if you ask me, in terms of theming. It's perfectly acceptable in terms of sheer horror, of course.
It was interesting to see the evolution of Ito's artistic skills (since Tomie is one of his earliest creations, I believe), and it was fun, yes, for a while. But I also struggled to finish it β those last 300 pages were honestly kind of boring.
Uzumaki thus still reigns supreme!
It was way too long, and way too repetitive. Given this was essentially a collection of related vignettes, or very short stories, centred on the supernatural (?) character of Tomie, there was no real overarching story here, and no true resolution to the very mystery of Tomie. She remained a demonic, succubus-like cypher, and that was that.
I get that you can sort of read theming on the objectification of women, sexual violence committed by men against women, and how the responsibility for said sexual violence is often laid at the feet of victims, out of this 'story', through the embodied metaphor, shall we say, of its character Tomie. But I mean... it was honestly a pretty janky metaphor β besides, I'm not a huge fan of stories over-committing to 'embodied metaphors' in any case β because as far as I understood it, Tomie is a supernatural monster who enjoys violence, if only to a certain extent β and even seducing children. Which is pretty fucked, if you ask me, in terms of theming. It's perfectly acceptable in terms of sheer horror, of course.
It was interesting to see the evolution of Ito's artistic skills (since Tomie is one of his earliest creations, I believe), and it was fun, yes, for a while. But I also struggled to finish it β those last 300 pages were honestly kind of boring.
Uzumaki thus still reigns supreme!
Extremophile by Ian Green
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Enjoyed this more than I thought I would when I started it!
β The plot had good pacing, maintained mostly evenly throughout.
β There were distinct character voices for each POV, though it's arguable whether all of said POVs were strictly necessary from a narrative standpoint.
β The 'biopunk' motif/vibes blended very well with the "ecoterrorism" plot, or sub-plot (depends on how you look at it I suppose). I was vaguely reminded of the movie The East, which I enjoyed at the time I watched it. The world-building was decent overall; at the very least, it was what it need to be to keep me going with the story and its stakes. Nice bits of writing about cellular and molecular biology; skirted with but never fully dove into info-dumping.
β Honestly decent, and emotionally touching theming on Nature, its intrinsic value, humanity's place within the Web of Life, and hope in the face of overwhelming, negative odds β especially as it relates to ecocide and our looming self-destruction (honestly point for not having to deal with yet another nihilistic tale).
My eyes watered at the end of this one, which is definitely not something I expected when I picked it up, free of charge, at World Con last Summer! It was solidly good, and certainly an encouraging start to this reading year. π
β The plot had good pacing, maintained mostly evenly throughout.
β There were distinct character voices for each POV, though it's arguable whether all of said POVs were strictly necessary from a narrative standpoint.
β The 'biopunk' motif/vibes blended very well with the "ecoterrorism" plot, or sub-plot (depends on how you look at it I suppose). I was vaguely reminded of the movie The East, which I enjoyed at the time I watched it. The world-building was decent overall; at the very least, it was what it need to be to keep me going with the story and its stakes. Nice bits of writing about cellular and molecular biology; skirted with but never fully dove into info-dumping.
β Honestly decent, and emotionally touching theming on Nature, its intrinsic value, humanity's place within the Web of Life, and hope in the face of overwhelming, negative odds β especially as it relates to ecocide and our looming self-destruction (honestly point for not having to deal with yet another nihilistic tale).
My eyes watered at the end of this one, which is definitely not something I expected when I picked it up, free of charge, at World Con last Summer! It was solidly good, and certainly an encouraging start to this reading year. π
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
Milkman by Anna Burns
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Full video review: https://youtu.be/75W25oszzcE.
What a nice feeling it is to end the reading year on a very good book! π
Outside of considerations of prose (the style of which I really enjoyed here), the effective conveying of dialect (which I was really able to appreciate given my partner is from the North of Ireland), or the satisfying depth of the book's character work... I primarily want to praise Milkman for its excellent (and most definitely, feminism-informed) theming on the actual intersection of axes of oppression β or forms of discrimination β as experienced within the context of a (rather complex) civil war (in this specific case, the Irish Troubles), and the experience of intimidation, fear and trauma on both a personal and a communal level. There was so much nuanced thought put into the substance of this text; a lot of hard, heart-hitting moments as well, that I could personally relate to, or relate to by proxy, in a way, given my now more personal connection to Irish culture and that particular chapter of Irish history. This is definitely one I would happily recommend!
What a nice feeling it is to end the reading year on a very good book! π
Outside of considerations of prose (the style of which I really enjoyed here), the effective conveying of dialect (which I was really able to appreciate given my partner is from the North of Ireland), or the satisfying depth of the book's character work... I primarily want to praise Milkman for its excellent (and most definitely, feminism-informed) theming on the actual intersection of axes of oppression β or forms of discrimination β as experienced within the context of a (rather complex) civil war (in this specific case, the Irish Troubles), and the experience of intimidation, fear and trauma on both a personal and a communal level. There was so much nuanced thought put into the substance of this text; a lot of hard, heart-hitting moments as well, that I could personally relate to, or relate to by proxy, in a way, given my now more personal connection to Irish culture and that particular chapter of Irish history. This is definitely one I would happily recommend!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: War
The story centres on a female character who is being stalked by a prominent member of her community, and takes place during the Irish Troubles.
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
Dreamsnake was fine. This tale of a snake-wielding healer, named Snake, sometime in a post-nuclear apocalypse Earth future, honestly felt like a puffed out novella more than anything else, but the padding didn't feel offensively boring so... I don't feel too annoyed about it. Still, there simply wasn't enough substance for me to really care about this one.
There wasn't any real theming, and the world-building begged for additional development, given the neat enough tidbits the story gave me: genetically engineered snakes used to catalyse various healing substances, alien snakes with three sex categories, matter-of-fact commonplace "polyamory". That was all pretty cool, but woefully under-developed given the novel format. I did also appreciate the fact a lot of the people in this story were (believably) decent human beings β I guess I was a little burnt out on darkness and cynicism in media without realising! But that's about it.
I'll probably remember this one just because sneks β and I like sneks β but otherwise? Yeah, like I said: it was just fine.
There wasn't any real theming, and the world-building begged for additional development, given the neat enough tidbits the story gave me: genetically engineered snakes used to catalyse various healing substances, alien snakes with three sex categories, matter-of-fact commonplace "polyamory". That was all pretty cool, but woefully under-developed given the novel format. I did also appreciate the fact a lot of the people in this story were (believably) decent human beings β I guess I was a little burnt out on darkness and cynicism in media without realising! But that's about it.
I'll probably remember this one just because sneks β and I like sneks β but otherwise? Yeah, like I said: it was just fine.
Cryptid Club by Sarah Andersen
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This little collection gave me exactly what I wanted out of it; it was cute, cute about creepy critters, and funny. My only complaint is that it was quite short!
Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
3.5
Note: I haven't read Black Leopard, Red Wolf, book 1 of the Dark Star trilogy (and don't plan to).
General impression:
I found Moon Witch, Spider King to be a good β not great, but good β (standalone for me) high fantasy story; it had a mostly, competently told and decently compelling plot, a decently compelling main protagonist, pretty good elements of theming and very engaging world-building.
In more detail:
β’ Moon Witch, Spider King tells the life story of its main protagonist, Sogolon, and this made for a decently compelling story β once it found its footing at the very least. That being said, there were major issues with pacing: transitions between life periods, or even within chapters, weren't always handled that smoothly, and there's a huge time jump β and increase in the story's overall pacing β about three quarters of the way in that left me reeling a little. There were also strange intra-chapter flashbacks at times that made the text a lot more confusing than it had to be β I really don't see why it had to be written that way.
β’ I never really took to the fact this book is written using a kind of pidgin English. It didn't make the text unreadable by any means, but I found it rough-going in places... and inconsistently applied at times too, actually. Mostly, it just wasn't my thing, and that's that. That being said, I'm glad to say it didn't necessarily hamper the book's more descriptive writing, and thus the quality of its world-building.
β’ I mostly enjoyed the book's character writing, though I'll note Sogolon's character development didn't always feel that consistent to me either. I found myself wondering how she knew what she knew a couple of times, and raising eyebrows at too-surprising changes in the way she spoke. Overall, however, she was an interesting character to follow. I don't have any strong feelings towards most of the story's secondary characters, though some, like Keme or Bunshi, stood out a little more (and there were certainly emotionally impactful moments where Keme and his part of the story were concerned). Tracker, who I know is the first book's main character, mostly came across as an arsehole to me, and I have zero desire to (sort of) re-read the story from his point of view.
β’ I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the book's exposition and understanding of, and empathy towards women's experiences and feelings living within patriarchal/male-dominated societies. It honestly borders on feminist theming in a way, so that was really neat. There was also theming on trauma, loss, grief and revenge that, whilst not the deepest I've ever encountered, I found engaging overall.
β’ By far, however, the best, or most stimulating part of this book was its world-building! Its roots in African cultures, languages, religions and related mythologies were very apparent, but (to my albeit limited perception at least) pretty seamlessly woven into their own unique and rich tapestry. Moon Witch, Spider King's world felt real and vibrant, and it wasn't hard at all for me to get immersed in it. Of special note was the presence of were-lions (and other non-lycan shape-shifters). That... certainly got interesting, and that's all I'll say about that. ππ And slightly different-feeling dark magic (with an emphasis on amnesia curse-magic... *shudders*).
I'm not particularly inclined to read the third book in this planned trilogy, but I certainly had a worthwhile enough time reading this one! π
General impression:
I found Moon Witch, Spider King to be a good β not great, but good β (standalone for me) high fantasy story; it had a mostly, competently told and decently compelling plot, a decently compelling main protagonist, pretty good elements of theming and very engaging world-building.
In more detail:
β’ Moon Witch, Spider King tells the life story of its main protagonist, Sogolon, and this made for a decently compelling story β once it found its footing at the very least. That being said, there were major issues with pacing: transitions between life periods, or even within chapters, weren't always handled that smoothly, and there's a huge time jump β and increase in the story's overall pacing β about three quarters of the way in that left me reeling a little. There were also strange intra-chapter flashbacks at times that made the text a lot more confusing than it had to be β I really don't see why it had to be written that way.
β’ I never really took to the fact this book is written using a kind of pidgin English. It didn't make the text unreadable by any means, but I found it rough-going in places... and inconsistently applied at times too, actually. Mostly, it just wasn't my thing, and that's that. That being said, I'm glad to say it didn't necessarily hamper the book's more descriptive writing, and thus the quality of its world-building.
β’ I mostly enjoyed the book's character writing, though I'll note Sogolon's character development didn't always feel that consistent to me either. I found myself wondering how she knew what she knew a couple of times, and raising eyebrows at too-surprising changes in the way she spoke. Overall, however, she was an interesting character to follow. I don't have any strong feelings towards most of the story's secondary characters, though some, like Keme or Bunshi, stood out a little more (and there were certainly emotionally impactful moments where Keme and his part of the story were concerned). Tracker, who I know is the first book's main character, mostly came across as an arsehole to me, and I have zero desire to (sort of) re-read the story from his point of view.
β’ I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the book's exposition and understanding of, and empathy towards women's experiences and feelings living within patriarchal/male-dominated societies. It honestly borders on feminist theming in a way, so that was really neat. There was also theming on trauma, loss, grief and revenge that, whilst not the deepest I've ever encountered, I found engaging overall.
β’ By far, however, the best, or most stimulating part of this book was its world-building! Its roots in African cultures, languages, religions and related mythologies were very apparent, but (to my albeit limited perception at least) pretty seamlessly woven into their own unique and rich tapestry. Moon Witch, Spider King's world felt real and vibrant, and it wasn't hard at all for me to get immersed in it. Of special note was the presence of were-lions (and other non-lycan shape-shifters). That... certainly got interesting, and that's all I'll say about that. ππ And slightly different-feeling dark magic (with an emphasis on amnesia curse-magic... *shudders*).
I'm not particularly inclined to read the third book in this planned trilogy, but I certainly had a worthwhile enough time reading this one! π
Gibbon's Decline and Fall by Sheri S. Tepper
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Full video review: https://youtu.be/6QU-j-MdAdw.
Okay, so, this one was wild... mostly in a bad way. Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first: I enjoyed Tepper's prose, as I enjoyed it in the other novels I read written by her. It was fluid, decently evocative, just-about-the-right-amount of descriptive, etc...
I'll give points for the fact the story centred on a group of lifelong female friends who all met in college, though by the time of the main storyline, all are middle-aged/post-menopausal. That was neat! What was also neat, was the fact they didn't always necessarily agree on everything, or have the exact same beliefs when it came to politics or relationships. Each character felt decently distinct; the nun had her own beliefs, so did the lawyer, the artist, the geneticist, etc... It all felt credible, and somewhat refreshing as well. The side or secondary characters, for their part, were mostly fine as well. I guess the story's main antagonist was a little strong on the 'blind misogynistic hatred', but it was still believable from a character psychology point of view. Especially given the ginormous problem that was eventually posed, in terms of world-building and theming, by the actual Big Badβ’ of the story...
So, deep breaths, here we go.
World-building and theming, the good:
β’ The story starts our relatively light on the SFF, but you do get a "loss of libido" pandemic, which I thought was quite the original concept! The very slight "sex itself is the problem/root cause of Patriarchy" stance this leaned into wasn't to my personal taste (much less belief), but it wasn't egregiously eye-roll inducing either, and it was intellectually stimulating to a certain extent β so that's all good.
β’ As expected, there was legitimately good (and properly feminist) commentary on the sex-based oppression of women, beauty standards in relation to heterosexuality, motherhood, gender, etc... On overpopulation and environmental destruction, and on the Nature v. Nurture dynamic. Some things were said about testosterone and sexual violence that didn't entirely pass my sniff test, but this book was written in the 1990s, and it really wasn't the worst I've seen either, by a long shot β so fine.
But then, yeah, it got weird.
World-building and theming, the bad (and wtf, honestly):
β’ Lizard people. No, seriously, LIZARD PEOPLE. Okay, technically, dinosaur people I guess, since them bitches stated they'd evolved from the saurian-avian line. So hey, cool, at least they weren't alien lizard people! But what. The. Actual. Fuck. Ms Tepper. π I'll say this: you legitimately surprised me there; I wouldn't have seen that coming in a million freaking years! But so yeah, this novel went from low-level SF with a 'libido loss plague' and suspended animation prison tanks to "let's crank this bitch up to 11, GO BIG OR GO HOME WOOOOO!" levels of (quite frankly immersion-breaking in this case) SF... and then fucking fantasy! Cuz okay, we got [parthenogenetic/all-female, if you please, "lizard people" (who were supposedly the fairy folk/nature spirits of old legend, yeesh π€¦ββοΈ), but then we got a fucking Patriarchy alien! The ΓΌber Big Bad of the story was, in fact, an alien entity β Cthulhu's third cousin no doubt β that fed on pain and violence, and was the principal cause of the emergence of Patriarchy in our species. It then got defeated by the Goddess (yes), in a literal deus ex machina. Fuck me.
β’ My brain noped out, because that shit cheapened everything! You can't just say Patriarchy was created by anevil alien in a story purportedly taking place in our real world, with its real world history. Not with me! The origins of Patriarchy is one of my pet niche topics of interest, I live and breathe this stuff, and I can't, not in a book that started out with decent feminist theming! Cuz then the freaking dinolizard folk just kept on tacking contradictory and inaccurate shit onto their tale of the elder days of humankind: saying we started out "animalistic", but then started to get wiser, only to be led in a more "chimp-like" direction again by the evil Patriarchy alien. Then you get a spiel about the Abrahamic religions and their fostering of male bodily urges, reproduction at all costs, etc... And I'm like: a) fuck the (always tragically oversimplified) chimp stuff, especially when you also mention bonobos earlier in the book, only for them to become magically irrelevant when it's convenient, b) if anything, the Abrahamic religions tend to over-value male-coded "reason" over Nature, the body, and the female. Plus, there's also condemning of humans destroying the environment earlier in the story, so why double-back like this and shit on the animal, the fleshy, etc... Where's the balance that was initially valued?! So many contradictions, painful misrepresentations, and shit that just didn't make a lick of sense!
And I mean, outside of the stuff I personally found unsavoury or irritating, the simple fact is Gibbon's Decline and Fall juggled with too many concepts that didn't mesh together at all, or taken from symbols and archetypes that really shouldn't have been made as literal as they were. There was more than enough worthwhile material in the story's base premise and its 'libido loss plague'; the Dawn of Humanity and wtf 'out there science-fantasy' stuff should've been left out.
I can't fathom why Tepper went the way she did with this story, but I'm not mad I took the time to read it. The turn it took around the 85% mark was insanely disappointing, and it was nowhere near as good as The Gate to Women's Country or even the two Arbai books I read, but it wasn't a complete waste of time either.
Okay, so, this one was wild... mostly in a bad way. Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first: I enjoyed Tepper's prose, as I enjoyed it in the other novels I read written by her. It was fluid, decently evocative, just-about-the-right-amount of descriptive, etc...
I'll give points for the fact the story centred on a group of lifelong female friends who all met in college, though by the time of the main storyline, all are middle-aged/post-menopausal. That was neat! What was also neat, was the fact they didn't always necessarily agree on everything, or have the exact same beliefs when it came to politics or relationships. Each character felt decently distinct; the nun had her own beliefs, so did the lawyer, the artist, the geneticist, etc... It all felt credible, and somewhat refreshing as well. The side or secondary characters, for their part, were mostly fine as well. I guess the story's main antagonist was a little strong on the 'blind misogynistic hatred', but it was still believable from a character psychology point of view. Especially given the ginormous problem that was eventually posed, in terms of world-building and theming, by the actual Big Badβ’ of the story...
So, deep breaths, here we go.
World-building and theming, the good:
β’ The story starts our relatively light on the SFF, but you do get a "loss of libido" pandemic, which I thought was quite the original concept! The very slight "sex itself is the problem/root cause of Patriarchy" stance this leaned into wasn't to my personal taste (much less belief), but it wasn't egregiously eye-roll inducing either, and it was intellectually stimulating to a certain extent β so that's all good.
β’ As expected, there was legitimately good (and properly feminist) commentary on the sex-based oppression of women, beauty standards in relation to heterosexuality, motherhood, gender, etc... On overpopulation and environmental destruction, and on the Nature v. Nurture dynamic. Some things were said about testosterone and sexual violence that didn't entirely pass my sniff test, but this book was written in the 1990s, and it really wasn't the worst I've seen either, by a long shot β so fine.
But then, yeah, it got weird.
World-building and theming, the bad (and wtf, honestly):
β’ My brain noped out, because that shit cheapened everything! You can't just say Patriarchy was created by an
And I mean, outside of the stuff I personally found unsavoury or irritating, the simple fact is Gibbon's Decline and Fall juggled with too many concepts that didn't mesh together at all, or taken from symbols and archetypes that really shouldn't have been made as literal as they were. There was more than enough worthwhile material in the story's base premise and its 'libido loss plague'; the Dawn of Humanity and wtf 'out there science-fantasy' stuff should've been left out.
I can't fathom why Tepper went the way she did with this story, but I'm not mad I took the time to read it. The turn it took around the 85% mark was insanely disappointing, and it was nowhere near as good as The Gate to Women's Country or even the two Arbai books I read, but it wasn't a complete waste of time either.
Un Lun Dun by China MiΓ©ville
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Un Lun Dun wasn't my favourite by any means, but I still found it very enjoyable, especially considering this one was primarily aimed at younger readers. It had a lot of heart, charm, wittiness and displayed MiΓ©ville's wonderful, brilliant and playful urban fantasy world-building, so... can't really go wrong with that, ever, really! πβ¨
Gyo by Junji Ito
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Gyo was more outright gross-weird and goofy than scary or even properly weird-creepy for me. Though I'll grant Mr Ito came up with one of the most original apocalyptic scenarios I've ever seen, in any medium, in this one... so kudos! I also liked the ambiguity he left in the story with regards to the presence, or absence, of a more supernatural element, thereby injecting a slight note of cosmic horror in what was otherwise more of a straightforward body-horror-fest. It seemed like there was also subtext about jealousy and mistrust in relationships in this one... but it really was on the sidelines more than anything else; I'm not sure how I was supposed to connect it to the rest of the story, so it was kind of 'whatever'.
I still love Junji Ito's art, I still love his crazy imagination, and I will most certainly keep reading his stuff... but this, like Sensor, wasn't anywhere near the level of Uzumaki for me, unfortunately.
PS: my edition also featured the short story The Enigma of Amigara Fault, and that was definitely more my kind of shit!
I still love Junji Ito's art, I still love his crazy imagination, and I will most certainly keep reading his stuff... but this, like Sensor, wasn't anywhere near the level of Uzumaki for me, unfortunately.
PS: my edition also featured the short story The Enigma of Amigara Fault, and that was definitely more my kind of shit!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror