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vampfang's reviews
100 reviews
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
very shakespearean! i love all the commentary on magic vs words, and you can really see it come across in terry’s writing, it really does feel like magic :)
Understanding Socialism by Richard D. Wolff
4.0
an informative history of socialism! i feel like he does get a bit too distracted with Everything Every Socialist Has Ever Believed though. he spoke to my class over zoom and was very funny
Confronting Capitalism: How the World Works and How to Change It by Vivek Chibber
3.0
the first chapter is basically a summary of capital, the second is how capitalism and the state work together in present-day us which i thought was pretty good, the third talks about the importance of worker solidarity in perhaps more detail than necessary and implies that achieving economic equality is more important than racial or gender equality, and the fourth claims to offer alternatives yet really doesn’t
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
i really enjoyed reading this one!!! grady hendrix’s writing style is very engaging and i was never bored. the book tries to bring up a lot of interesting issues in horror like how we view horror in the era of modernity wrt technology, violent deaths vs natural deaths and society’s feelings on the matter, and the gendered nature of violence, but ultimately i think it’s impossible to tackle all these topics in a way that feels satisfactory. the issue of horror vs modern technology first comes up in the article clippings interspersed throughout which i thought were really interesting in general, but the physical mechanics of murder just interest me less personally than a lot of the more symbolic elements. it then felt weird for this to play a major part in stephanie’s motive at the end, which didn’t really make a ton of sense. she hated the women because they were old and thought she could do better than older killers? it just didn’t feel very fleshed out since hendrix tried to focus on too many other issues. i liked the exploration of horror vs natural deaths with michelle, there was a part specifically where lynnette talks about how she’d fought so hard to be able to die naturally like michelle yet it’s not treated with as much dignity that i thought was such a good point and really makes u think about how people think about society as well as the disabled/sick/elderly, i just wish it were discussed more. violence against women was really the crux of the book and i liked that because it’s a really interesting topic, but the two things that bothered me was a) the weirdness of applying a trope that exists in our world to real people in this world who then serve to create tropes? and b) the way lynnette’s response to her trauma is suspicion of men that felt like it was diving into radfem territory. this is kind of addressed with having a female killer but not entirely, and i think the book should’ve talked more abt the structural reason for these things rather than never challenging lynnette’s view of it as biological. still super interesting though i think the ending with stephanie didn’t make a ton of sense and was super rushed
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
i really loved this one! the writing style felt very “by queer people, for queer people,” with perspectives and cultural references that felt familiar to me, but at the same time i think is engaging and worthwhile for everyone to read! the premise is such an intriguing metaphor and when i first heard “a virus turns all men evil” it sounded like something a cis woman cooked up, and was really happy to see the idea executed by a trans woman instead. as a tme person it broadened my horizons and it was just really interesting to read from the perspective of transfemmes. i do wish there were a bit…more to the book. while the characters do undergo growth, there was no real sense of finality to it for me. everything after the escape from the screw felt incredibly rushed to me, with the sudden introduction of tons of new characters and confusing fight scenes. when the characters emerge from the turmoil, it’s not quite clear what changes have occurred. fran’s apology to beth felt hasty, and i would’ve liked more backstory about the two of them. ramona’s changing perspective on trans women seemed like it didn’t develop properly, though her ending at least made sense. while beth indi and robbie all had whole arcs i still find myself wanting more. i also think the virus metaphor and its implications could be explored a bit more. all in all, it feels like more of the first installment in a series than a standalone, and i for one would love to read more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Gore and Miscarriage
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
Did not finish book. Stopped at 39%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 39%.
the characters were so annoying. i got a third of the way through and it was all just them fighting about how they’d all slept with each other with like. two mentions of a ghost and really obvious foreshadowing. it was so millennial booo
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
ending was a bit rushed but otherwise so so good!! i liked that it wasn’t a “girls can do anything boys do” story but a “the idea that there are set things that girls and boys can do is completely arbitrary” story. terry pratchett u were ahead of ur time
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
i really liked the story and the mystery of it all, it kept me entertained and i always wanted to know what happened next. i didn’t really find the writing to be very good, however. none of the female characters seemed to be very well-developed. i feel like we definitely never got enough information about erika besides friend/lover of mikail and occasionally doing magazine things. cecelia’s motivations aren’t drawn out enough for the way she keeps changing her mind over and over to feel realistic or interesting. and while i did appreciate lisbeth a lot as a weird goth dude, i have a ton of problems with how she was written. it felt like an attempt to satisfy some sort of fantasy of a hot, mysterious woman finally opening herself up to a man. we only know she’s cool and mysterious and unknowable from the numerous descriptions we have of her unusual appearance, and the book repeatedly telling us how antisocial she is, even though she admits pretty early on into the book how she cares for her boss (and i think is attracted to him? which was unnecessary) and then again is supposedly uncharacteristically comfortable with mikail right after meeting him. we’re supposed to accept it as fact that she’s antisocial and hates people without any more development besides the fact that mikail wonders if she’s autistic. in my opinion she absolutely is autistic, by the way, and i think in some ways this is handled pretty well; while many people believe her to be stupid or violent due to how she ignores many social rules, our access to her perspective shows that this is not the case. she is intelligent, to the point where her skills are the key to one of the book’s great mysteries, badass, and, yes, attractive. i did feel that she was often really needy about her desire to be seen as attractive or not a “freak.” while this wasn’t necessarily unrealistic, it felt a bit out of character for this supposedly detached girl to lament her small boobs and photographic memory for validation from a sex partner she barely knows. i also didn’t really get the appeal of mikail anyway. the book went out of its way to show that while she did have sex with women, she REALLY liked sex with men, which felt like more of a lesbian fetish instead of bisexual representation. for all its weak female characters, the book still makes such an effort to Say Something about violence against women—violence that women themselves are actually acutely aware of. lisbeth being consistently surprised about men hating women, at 24 years of age, also felt really strange. it feels more like the author is only just now realizing how bad violence against women is, and by including statistics about how often women are raped and featuring sexual violence prominently throughout the book he is saying something profound even though he isn’t. the mystery was good tho. i didn’t understand any of the business stuff. lisbeth should’ve been a lesbian. i also don’t think she needed a sexual relationship with mikail at all, it would’ve been even more satisfying to see her have a real friend for the first time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Murder