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zillanovikov's reviews
65 reviews
The River Queen: Book One Stonemaw Chronicles by T.M. Mayfield, T.M. Mayfield
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
5.0
"Adara will either be my life or my doom."
This is an action-packed romantasy with all the goodies - fated mates, a magical kingdom on the brink of war, and the kind of love that starts as friendship. The chemistry feels relaxed and genuine, and the magical world is entrancing. I don't want to say too much because a LOT happens in this book and I don't want to do spoilers, but T.M. Mayfield is an author to watch!
This is an action-packed romantasy with all the goodies - fated mates, a magical kingdom on the brink of war, and the kind of love that starts as friendship. The chemistry feels relaxed and genuine, and the magical world is entrancing. I don't want to say too much because a LOT happens in this book and I don't want to do spoilers, but T.M. Mayfield is an author to watch!
Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Some of this book has, um, not aged well. But if you take it for what it was when it was written, it's very well written.
The Night Garden by Nicole Northwood
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a grown-up fairytale romance. Ellie and Max are foolish new adults, trying to navigate a world that doesn't have a place for people like them - people who live passionately and in the moment. This struggle between who they are and who the world demands they grow up into comes with a fairytale curse: behave, or be turned into a Beist, forced to live by day as a cat wandering the moors.
Nicole once again captivated my heart and my imagination. I loved Ellie and Max, and all the side characters who were as real and loveable as the main couple. A fantastic book from a consistently fantastic authour.
Nicole once again captivated my heart and my imagination. I loved Ellie and Max, and all the side characters who were as real and loveable as the main couple. A fantastic book from a consistently fantastic authour.
Mewing by Chloe Spencer
challenging
dark
fast-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
5.0
"Better for a beautiful woman to be terrifying than terrorized, she decided." In Mewing, those are the only options available, and everyone is beautiful.
I have a notoriously low tolerence for gore or body grossness, and I found myself squinting during reading this book, unwilling to look away despite the squelching of my gut. I think Margo would have approved of my body's response, that strange mix of fascination and revulsion, beauty and horror, seduced and repelled in equal measure. I'm certain the thing in the basement would have approved.
Mewing's gender politics are as visceral as its characters. Beauty is a standard created by and for men, but women are the ones best at making each other bleed. There's hardly a man in sight--I can't recall a single line uttered by a human male character--as women destroy and reconstruct each other for fleeting moments of validation. Men may hold ultimate power, but it's women who enforce it.
Steel your stomach, and read this book.
I have a notoriously low tolerence for gore or body grossness, and I found myself squinting during reading this book, unwilling to look away despite the squelching of my gut. I think Margo would have approved of my body's response, that strange mix of fascination and revulsion, beauty and horror, seduced and repelled in equal measure. I'm certain the thing in the basement would have approved.
Mewing's gender politics are as visceral as its characters. Beauty is a standard created by and for men, but women are the ones best at making each other bleed. There's hardly a man in sight--I can't recall a single line uttered by a human male character--as women destroy and reconstruct each other for fleeting moments of validation. Men may hold ultimate power, but it's women who enforce it.
Steel your stomach, and read this book.
Read and Then Burn This by Ryszard I. Merey
challenging
emotional
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
Remember when you were 14 years old and you sat on the edge of your bed and put a new CD in your Walkman and your headphones over your ears and as you listened to the music you thought, "This musician has been here, inside my bedroom, inside my skull. They must have been here. They understand."
And then you got older and you weren't 14 anymore and that sense of wonder from someone who understands a part of yourself you'd never been able to articulate doesn't happen so often, and besides, most feelings are universal so what's the magic in someone perfectly encapsulating a sensation, a feeling, that everyone has anyway. It's not special. It's not about you, alone in your bedroom, wondering what it would look like to find a connection.
This book hit me like a burning dump truck.
There's a special kind of lonliness that's not queer specifically, anyone can feel it, but it hits the part of myself that doesn't know who I am and who anyone else is either, not in their entirety, not what it means to be an authentic self, to stop reaching for something perfect and bury white hands in the filth and squalor because it's better to feel unclean than nothing. Anything's better than being cold.
If you're queer, or lonely, or burning, read this
And then you got older and you weren't 14 anymore and that sense of wonder from someone who understands a part of yourself you'd never been able to articulate doesn't happen so often, and besides, most feelings are universal so what's the magic in someone perfectly encapsulating a sensation, a feeling, that everyone has anyway. It's not special. It's not about you, alone in your bedroom, wondering what it would look like to find a connection.
This book hit me like a burning dump truck.
There's a special kind of lonliness that's not queer specifically, anyone can feel it, but it hits the part of myself that doesn't know who I am and who anyone else is either, not in their entirety, not what it means to be an authentic self, to stop reaching for something perfect and bury white hands in the filth and squalor because it's better to feel unclean than nothing. Anything's better than being cold.
If you're queer, or lonely, or burning, read this
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I like clever postmodern books. This is a clever postmodern book. Ergo.
But I didn't really like any of the characters. Oedipa, at times, but at times not. Certainly no one else. The acts of degeracy didn't land for me as the would have when the book was published - either too banal or too criminal for my modern sensibilities.
I'm glad I read it but I doubt I'll reread.
But I didn't really like any of the characters. Oedipa, at times, but at times not. Certainly no one else. The acts of degeracy didn't land for me as the would have when the book was published - either too banal or too criminal for my modern sensibilities.
I'm glad I read it but I doubt I'll reread.
Váried Parályses by Dale Stromberg
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Dale delivers another fantastic book of mind bending short fiction. Great stories.
Cold Rising by Rohan O'Duill
adventurous
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
5.0
It is a challenge for me to review a book that I love this much.
If I only liked one thing about the book—say, if I enjoyed the fast-paced adventure in the bowels of Mars, or the found family of Olgo choosing to love a brave Martian child, or the focus on making heroes from the too often-neglected stories of sweatshop workers—I could write about that thing. Or maybe I could write about the humour, the way Olgo's dry wit keeps you entertained despite their grim circumstances. Or the brilliance of the gritty worldbuilding which gives us a grim future, but one where there's still hope to improve it.
But what if it's all those things I love, and more? I can't write a review that's as long as the book itself.
I read this book half a dozen times to beta read it for Rohan, and I never once got bored. It is a very good book. And I love it.
If I only liked one thing about the book—say, if I enjoyed the fast-paced adventure in the bowels of Mars, or the found family of Olgo choosing to love a brave Martian child, or the focus on making heroes from the too often-neglected stories of sweatshop workers—I could write about that thing. Or maybe I could write about the humour, the way Olgo's dry wit keeps you entertained despite their grim circumstances. Or the brilliance of the gritty worldbuilding which gives us a grim future, but one where there's still hope to improve it.
But what if it's all those things I love, and more? I can't write a review that's as long as the book itself.
I read this book half a dozen times to beta read it for Rohan, and I never once got bored. It is a very good book. And I love it.
The Unfortunates by B.S. Johnson
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The style of the book is fascinating - a book in a box! - and I love a book where form serves story. The only problem is that I find myself thoroughly disliking the way the narrator regards women and indeed anyone. It's a brilliant novel with exquisite writing which I doubt that I'll ever reread since I did not enjoy the hours spent with the narrator inside his head. C'est la vie.
Can't Fight The Moonlight by Nicole Northwood
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Nicole Northwood does it again with another sweet, atmospheric romance. Sorcha is an anxious young woman, unsure of what she wants and who she is. After a failed romance in New York, she finds an unconventional kind of love that lets her grow into herself, supported by two extremely hot shifter men. It's the perfect marshmallows romance to brighten your evening as you drink hot chocolate through the dark Christmas nights.