tinyelfarcanist's Reviews (326)

The Blacktongue Thief

Christopher Buehlman

5.0

adventurous dark funny 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: No

A delightful ride from beginning to end. With frequent humor to even the dark themes, the author doesn't let the fun or grim stuff distract from the plot, or even the best part: the worldbuilding.

"Reminded me of an old poem about lovers separated by war. She asks, he answers.

How will you be coming back home?

By earth, by water, by fire or crow.

Meaning, not at all. They'll bury me in a grave, dump me off the boat, burn me on a pyre, or leave me for carrion. It seemed to fit my present state, only I had no lover at home to ask. Only siblings, a mother, and a niece to suffer for my failure. And there were no crows to eat me here. Only fucking puffins."

The narrator's voice is interesting and distinct, even for funny characters in fantasy. Filled with enough political intrigue, wise observations, unique memorable characters, and a touch of romance, it stands by itself but is still a great introduction to the Blacktongue saga. I finished this book with a sense of fulfillment, my only regret is not picking it sooner.

Content Warnings

Snotgirl, Vol. 3: Is This Real Life?

Bryan Lee O’Malley, Leslie Hung

3.0

mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Esther is the only salvageable character in this series. I’m mad that I’m intrigued enough to probably keep reading it.

Content Warnings

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

4.0

informative medium-paced

A little bit repetitive but short enoughto not getting tiresome.

Content Warnings

The Fall

Ryan Cahill

4.5

adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Great setting-up for The Bound and the Broken saga. Schemes, betrayal, and lots of action.

Definitely not a standalone but fulfills its mission of intriguing you into keep reading.

Content Warnings

The Weight of Them

ND Stevenson

5.0

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

Raw portrayal of Noelle’s identity exploration. As a transmasc person myself, this hits close to home.

Content Warnings

The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures

ND Stevenson

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Great compilation of Noelle Stevenson’s yearly blog posts and a couple extras. Her art style is beautiful and I enjoyed getting these snippets from her life.

Content Warnings

Flamer

Mike Curato

3.0

emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Flamer is a collection of toxic masculinity tropes represented in Aiden's summer camp peers and the bullying he is a victim of.

I was excited to read this highly rated queer tale. Unfortunately, I couldn't relate to the MC and the character development felt rushed.

Content Warnings

The Goddess of Nothing At All

Cat Rector

5.0

dark emotional sad tense 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

An outstanding debut novel from master story weaver Cat Rector.

From Grace Zhu's awesome cover art to the intriguing synopsis, I knew this book was meant for me.

As someone already acquainted with most of the myths included, this heart-rendering retelling of Sygin's life in the likeness of Circe surpassed my expectations.

The Goddess of Nothing At All has one of the best romances I've read. It includes my favorite depiction of Loki: he's complex, dreamy, and flawed. Sygin, while being a goddess, is still relatable. I loved the portrayal of gods as humane and spiteful, the display of the hardships of partnership and parenthood, and the queer representation.

I was fortunate to be an ARC reader and I want to thank the author for the opportunity to read such an amazing tale. This is a dark novel not suited for the faint of heart.

Content Warnings

Winter's Orbit

Everina Maxwell

4.5

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted 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

This is a simple story featuring one of my favorite characters ever: Kiem. He's informed that he is taking part in an arranged marriage the next day to his cousin's widower. Their interactions are the cutest and I loved the character development.

Albeit a little predictable, I had fun reading and found the world interesting. The gender identifiers are any trans person's dream.

Content Warnings

Both Can Be True

Jules Machias

4.0

hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

A sweet story of the relationship between a synesthetic genderfluid kid (Ash) and a boy (Daniel) who has trouble hiding his feelings and following the gender norm. They're both super cute and I love how they work together in the mission of saving Chewbarka.

Ash is super cool and a role model. I love them.

Daniel is so sweet and devoid of toxic masculinity. We need to teach more of that to our boys.

This is a great book for children and teens as it sheds light on important issues such as:

Trans visibility.

"People don't have a birth gender. We're assigned a birth sex."

I can't ask if he knows what Sam really is. It's the wrongest thing I can ask. It's fully disrespectful. Not to mention "what Sam really is" is a flawed concept to start with, which I totally freaking know, (...)

Sexism.

(...) even though he joked around her once that she'd friendzoned him and she gave him an earful about why that's a sexist concept that needs to die—(...)

"Tears don't mean you're weak," Iris says. "They mean you care real hard about what's right and good. That takes balls."

"Guts," I say. "It takes guts. My mom has no balls and she's a world champ at caring about right and good."

Toxic masculinity.

I don't know why Mitchell's brain works that way, where he transfers all his mad about one thing onto something else. But we'll never talk about it because Mitch isn't a "feelings" dude. I don't think he's aware he has feelings. He just acts on them while pretending he's made of logic.

Discrimination in the LGBT+ community.

It's not like there's a guarantee that just because it's called Rainbow Alliance, they'll be cool. One of the worst bullies at my old school was a super-girly lesbian who insisted that trans women aren't real women and that trans guys are just girls cross-dressing to smash the patriarchy from the inside. Which, no.

Non-binary gender experience.

It's a spectrum, not a binary. You can be both ends at the same time, or neither end. Hang out anywhere you want on the whole glorious continuum. You don't have to look like a guy to be a guy, or a girl to be a girl.

As a gender non-conforming person ever since I can remember and someone who could cry from being glared at, there are some things I had trouble with.

Daniel isn't just a kid who "cares a lot". He's going through a lot in his life and he's clearly depressed (something I learned after going to therapy). I believe men are allowed to show feelings too

and it's great that Daniel meets people who understand him and support him

, but he and his brother need to see a professional and learn how to deal with how they feel.

Content Warnings

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