torts's reviews
1715 reviews

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

https://electricliterature.com/now-more-than-ever-we-wish-we-had-these-lost-octavia-butler-novels/

The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey

adventurous hopeful

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Addie LaRue did the immortality curse with flashbacks/alternating perspectives plot better, but the vampire element (and focus on maternal rather than romantic love) made for an interesting take on (im)mortality. I kept waiting for more to happen (or for there to be another big twist after the main twist relating to Leo's family), but in the end it was kind of nice for it to just be about making her peace with immortality and learning to join her fellow vampires instead of moping around and trying to make a life among mortals.

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski, Emily Nagoski

informative

4.0

at the time it seemed eye-rollingly obvious and kind of not worth writing an entire book to say "do some cardio to complete the stress cycle and let your body relax" but i keep finding myself referring back to it so maybe it was worth an entire book to hammer home that point

Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee

challenging dark emotional funny sad

• 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

4.0

This book is

like what you'd get if you took Stranger Than Fiction's bumbling protagonist facing imminent death, with the existential dread and capitalist ennui of The Pale King and the surreal dystopian magic of I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself and an element of the satirizing of racial and class-based displacement of They Cloned Tyrone and romantic memory-sucking of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and stitched it together with the undercurrent of deeply-unsettling-twin nightmares of Annihilation (the movie). But also

wholly its own thing.

Goldenhand by Garth Nix
Did not finish book. Stopped at 2%.

it's been too long since i read the last one of these 😕

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

2.75

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

dark hopeful informative inspiring sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

THE FOREWORD BY NK JEMISON SPOILS THE SECOND BOOK, AND I AM SO ANNOYED THAT I INTENTIONALLY DIDN'T READ IT TILL I FINISHED THE FIRST BOOK CUZ I WANTED TO AVOID SPOILERS AND THEN SHE WENT A-SPOILERING. (I liked what she wrote about the series though.)

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

emotional funny mysterious slow-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