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effingunicorns's reviews
376 reviews
White Horse by Erika T. Wurth
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
I'm honestly still trying to wrap my head around how I feel about this book, but it was definitely a solid read. A lot of harsh realities intersect to form the playing field, and the mysticism is down to earth while still feeling real and consequential, as opposed to "oh, this is all just a hallucinatory framework for people to deal with their immense grief/trauma, and also I am very clever!" (Yes, I'm still bitter about The Midnight Club.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt
The Husky & His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 2 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
2.75
This volume just barely skims over what I feel is some pretty important character development in favor of indulging in a fanfic trope that's frankly jarring, given the story's overall tone, but it actually feels like we've moved forward by the end, and I'm curious to see if my suspicions about the villain's identity are correct or if we've been deliberately misled. Also: ✨emotional vulnerability✨
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Anne Rice is two for two in telling a story with a strong first half that collapses into utter boredom for the rest of the book. The blatant setup for Queen of the Damned near the end did pick things up again, but it was about two hundred pages too late to save the story it was actually a part of. It was also interesting to see all the positive-sounding talk of godlessness, given Rice's veering hard into Christianity later in life.
I'm sure as a teenager I adored the whole "actually Lestat was (mostly) a good guy the entire time" thing, but as an adult I've read the exact same fanfic too many times to consider this a particularly good execution. It does make me appreciate the IWTV show writers more, that they read all this and then still kept Lestat so horrible, but presented as-is it feels kind of like a narcissist trying to convince you that he's only ever been a victim here and it's the rest of the world that's wrong.
Ultimately, I'm super glad I only committed to reading the first three books instead of giving in to the urge to buy the whole series--I don't think I could take a gajillion more pages of this guy telling his own story.
I'm sure as a teenager I adored the whole "actually Lestat was (mostly) a good guy the entire time" thing, but as an adult I've read the exact same fanfic too many times to consider this a particularly good execution. It does make me appreciate the IWTV show writers more, that they read all this and then still kept Lestat so horrible, but presented as-is it feels kind of like a narcissist trying to convince you that he's only ever been a victim here and it's the rest of the world that's wrong.
Ultimately, I'm super glad I only committed to reading the first three books instead of giving in to the urge to buy the whole series--I don't think I could take a gajillion more pages of this guy telling his own story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest
The Husky & His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Can't say I'm overly fond of Mo Ran, but the way things are going by the end of the volume is interesting enough for me to at least consider giving part 2 a chance.
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (Novel) Vol. 4 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
3.0
The nice thing about a short story collection to round out a series is that it's easier to skip over the parts I'm not super interested in, which thankfully hasn't been as much of a problem with Scum Villain as with MXTX's later series. A little rearranging has done a lot of good, too.
Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 4 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
2.0
The magic is gone. I know I'm supposed to be oohing and ahhing over hualian and the fresh examples of the pervasive corruption in the world, but all I can see is a bunch of elaborate magic tricks attempting to disguise the fact that the overarching story is about four times longer than it needs to be. It doesn't help that each book cuts off pretty much in the middle of a scene, so I spend the first chapter of the next book scrambling to remember what the hell is going on and who some of these people are, but I feel like even finding some way to fix that when we're halfway through the series wouldn't address the underlying problem.
Also, Xie Lian's method of "tricking" Ling Wen into revealing her guilt was absolute nonsense. Spouting whatever comes to mind until the other party surrenders just to shut them up and just telling the reader that this was all very ingenious is not how mysteries work.
Anyway, from this point I'm probably dropping the series, or at least not contributing any more of my money to those bestseller stats. I'm sure it'll do fine without me.
Anyway, from this point I'm probably dropping the series, or at least not contributing any more of my money to those bestseller stats. I'm sure it'll do fine without me.
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
For all that fandom of a certain generation likes to (deservedly) talk shit about Anne Rice, it can be easy to forget how compelling this book is. For me it starts to drag in the back half, but there's something comfortable about literally having the bulk of the story told to you like you're sitting there while Louis tells Daniel everything. It's a nice book to come back to.
Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
It's deep lore and dirty laundry this year, gang.
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
4.0
I liked the use and adaptation of various fairy tales in this book, the ambiguity of some of the characters and monsters while others were relatively straightforward. Like the movie Pan's Labyrinth, it's largely up in the air whether the fantastic elements of the story were real or mere figments of the young protagonist's imagination, but ultimately it doesn't matter--they served their purpose.