zsabella's reviews
90 reviews

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

read chapterhouse if you're wondering how the bene gesserit operate as they’re hunted from planet to planet. or if you’re a dune completionist with a morbid curiosity like me! otherwise, let me specifically point out that this will not be a fun read if you were hoping for an amazing return of sandworms, sheeana, the terraforming of chapterhouse, or miles teg.

avoid chapterhouse if you’re against revisiting the same awful plot device

(sexual assault of a child’s body)

used to recover ghola memories. it should have been retired after heretics but it’s here again. if it was meant to come off as simply a creepy tactic, I’m positive there were less voyeuristic ways to write it. also skip if you're not invested in the honored matres conflict in general.

one of the main arguments that herbert wanted to unpack in his last 2 books—whether love weakens or strengthens humanity—is all well and good. it’s just no one can convince me to take his discussion seriously when these opposing views are associated with two female cults who’s only differences are whether they kill people with their legs and their knowledge of “sexual augmentation”. even murbella

already talks and thinks like a bene gesserit that her choice to assimilate into the sisterhood to gain information (and lose her “love” of duncan)

ends up not that shocking or interesting. herbert may have been decent at writing women of distinct motivations, but his attempt to write them with a straight, sex-positive attitude was poor. the execution of it all feels dated and bogged down by odd, spacey sci-fi elements I wouldn't care to reread about.

Japan Sinks by Sakyo Komatsu

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

2.75

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

nk jemisin is sooo good at hooking readers with loads of mystery and intrigue that gradually introduces us to the world of the stillness. I adore a slow burn world-building atmosphere when it’s written this well! there are intense scenes and character revelations in this that will live in my mind for a while. but personally, this felt like reading a vividly told, heartbreaking prologue of what’s to come in the sequels, so my low rating is a reflection of me being impatient with the plot lines converging in the last few chapters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism, Violence, and Bullying

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.

maybe there’s a genuinely good character study buried in here about a crisis of faith, but we only see glimpses and I’ve lost patience over the unseriousness of the entire planning of the mission, a mary sue, and quippy side characters. I also can’t figure out what purpose withholding emilio’s detailed trauma on rakhat serves, aside from forcing readers to keep reading, when it seems the entire jesuit society already knows what sins and/or crimes emilio has committed. it’s an interesting premise that sadly never got to a point that convinced me to keep going.

The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore

emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

3.5

cultural factors and historical influences that are allowed to be explained and give the leads sincere depth and motivations? check!

well-written insta-lust that doesn’t make me roll my eyes? followed by intense, romantic attraction that’s totally believable? double check!

when I was debating over which historical romance would be worth my time this february, evie dunmore delivered in the full scope of these two genres and for that I am so thankful!

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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

3.5

neil makes some obviously discworldian moves in this and I ate it up. it’s wickedly fun and laugh-out-loud funny. I rarely reread books, but this was so enjoyable that I could see myself coming back to this at least one or two times more. patiently waiting for the live action miniseries to announce a release date sometime soon!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

The Sandman Book Four by Neil Gaiman

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

5.0

absolutely floored by the “the kindly ones” and could NOT stop crying the whole way through

"the wake"

. what an unbelievably bittersweet and fitting end that blends everything great about the sandman together. neil gaiman really is the best to ever do it.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

adventurous lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

maybe I can never turn my brain off enough to get into cozy fantasy? it’s paradoxical that this felt overly slow, yet overstuffed with misadventures of varying stakes and a finale that was rushed in the last 50 pages. I was happy to read footnotes, until I realized halfway in that they stopped being helpful for world-building and became spaces for emily to agonize over something trivial.

I picked emily wilde specifically for the “sweet” romantic angle and less so for fairies, but it felt like I was reading an unnaturally fast progression of rivals to lovers. I had to squint to read into the chemistry between emily and wendell. as a howl pendragon girl, I’m also not immune to a fussy pixie dream man, but I couldn’t buy that someone as unprofessional and lazy about fieldwork as wendell could also be a respected scholar who’s invited to academic conferences.

it did leave a strange taste in my mouth to find out

emily was willing to place citizens’ lives second to completing her research and exhausting her time in the field. and it seemed to me that she only got away with this kind of thinking because wendell never told on her, or a villager picked up on this attitude

. so I’m just disappointed that these were the “cozy and wholesome” antics I ended up signing up for.

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed reading about the lighthouse keeper but much less so about the director’s past, so when the perspectives were this fragmented and presented in a revolving door-type style I struggled to keep track of most details. each character’s journey was written with clearly cathartic intentions, but unfortunately I couldn’t fully connect to some of their endings. 

even after reading the ample background of the director’s final weeks before the twelfth expedition, I still couldn’t tell you much about the true purpose of the reach or area x… and I guess I’ll have to make peace with that. at times it felt like I was reading an elaborate companion novel that didn’t add much more to the current plot, but I don’t regret finishing the series. there are some memorable moments that I'll be thinking about for a while. jeff vandermeer is clearly a skilled writer with a knack for creating unique moods and an interiority to his characters that I see myself coming back to, so I'm still interested in getting into more of his work.