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librarymouse's reviews
347 reviews
Garlic & the Witch by Bree Paulsen
emotional
funny
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
I enjoyed this continuation of Garlic's story! It's just as cute as Garlic and the Vampire, and I loved learning more about Witch Agnes and the way new witches are created.
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying and Mental illness
mental illness tagged for anxiety
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I really loved this retelling of the sleeping beauty story. Toadling is such an interesting character! Braiding Toadling's childhood into the interplay between the changeling and the foundling and her telling both stories to the gentle knight is a very neat way of revealing the story to the reader layer by layer. I love a character with atypical perceptions of what it means to be beautiful, and Toadling's love for the Green Teeth, especially the eldest for her size, glory, and skill, is one of my favorite ways in which a character has equated love with beauty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Child death
Body horror tagged for bodies changing in unhuman ways, though it is a positive
Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel by Julian K. Jarboe
funny
medium-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? It's complicated
3.75
I thought it was kind of a funny quirk of the organization that the titular story came so late in the book. Some stories I really liked. Others, I'm conflicted on, but overall, I enjoyed the book. This might be something I'll read again. I really enjoyed the extended nature of the titular story, and especially "The Heavy Thing," "We Did Not Know We Were Giants," "I Am a Beautiful Bug!" and "The Thing in Us We Fear Just Wants Our Love." My issue was with some of the earlier stories. They almost made me put down the book, but I'm glad I didn't. I think I may read this one again. The integration of eco criticism in a post-apocalyptic setting in which the world ended with a shuddering gasp and then kept on kind of going made these stories interesting and for the most part interconnected, even as they spanned a variety of subject matter and characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Transphobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Dysphoria
When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This funny little science fiction book was a fun, alien romp right up until it made me cry - but in a good way. The twist of this book with the "aliens" being the consciousnesses of lost loved ones was wonderful. What really broke me were the reveal that Wayne Hastings' nefarious-seeming late night activities was him leaving flowers on his daughter's grave every night and the moment where he used his body to protect the kids from the tornado, promising them that they'd be okay and he wouldn't let anything happen to them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Abandonment, and Classism
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer
emotional
informative
medium-paced
2.75
I don't know that this was necessarily what I was expecting. It was thought provoking at some points. At others, I lost the plot. While critiquing gender essentialism in general and in its association with power dynamics and gender stereotypes, the author often relies on it in the language used around her critique of powerful men.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism
Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a solid mystery/thriller read! Readers come to the novel as the main characters' mother dies. With Beth acting as the long suffering saint who had her dreams crushed by a sports injury and watched her mother die, Nicole as a drug addict, a day away from her first sobriety chip the day her mother dies, and Michael as the sibling who got out of the Grove, Wisconsin and made it big, none of these characters are particular good nor likable, but in a very engaging way. The mystery is full of red herrings and the progression of the storytelling reveals things in such a way that there's never a lull.
I thought Christie was going to be revealed to be the killer, but I'm very glad she wasn't. Having the misunderstood loners and overly sheltered/neurodivergent children not be perpetrators perfectly turned that trope, which I pretty greatly dislike, back on itself. The killer being the overly spoiled son so proud of hav gotten out, and having the tools he used to do so be put into his possession as a way for his parents to redirect his nascent murderous tendencies was a fantastic twist! The end, in which Lucas, Beth, Nicole, Beth's daughter, and Lucas and Beth's newly adopted son come together lends a found family flavor to this book about the lengths to which parents will go for their children.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Suicide and Abandonment
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.0
The Luminous Dead calls into question the reliability of its characters' perception and creates such a thick fog of paranoia and confusion that it remains tangible even after the end of the novel. Both characters are terrible people who are terrible to each other.
I don't really know that this was the case, but my interpretation of events is that the tunneler was using the likenesses of those who died in the tunnel's depths to lure victims to reveal themselves. However, Gyre's fever, the spores, and the general paranoia of her time in the tunnels makes it unprovable. Gyre feeling herself be dragged by the sporified corpse of Jenny reinforces that uncertainty of reality. Especially with the pull of the depths like the call of the void made manifest. Em is a terrible person. Sympathetic, but still terrible. She killed so many people in the search of corpses she wasn't sure would still be there, and ran when Gyre found them. They're so toxic for each other - Gyre holding the kill switch to Em's livelihood and future and Em having broken Gyre's body and mind. Not to mention Gyre's willingness to mutilate herself for the sake of getting a job for the money to get off planet and find the mother who abandoned her and whom she grows to hate, and Em's willingness to desecrate her mother's memory by sending caver after caver down into the depths that swallowed her parents, only to turn away and leave Gyer alone in the dark when her father's body is found. They're terrible people and terrible for each other, but in this sort of off world horror, you kind of have to root for them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Call Me By Your Name really reminds me of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader, and despite its literary merit, I am similarly unsure that I enjoyed reading the novel. The writing is beautiful in some parts, but Elio's unhinged obsession and Oliver's acquiescence to the sexual advances of a minor are both cause for concern and not particularly enjoyable to read. Elio is damaged from the experience, unable to let his history with Olive go in order to form new and lasting bonds in adulthood, in a way that Oliver is not. The power imbalance in this novel is stark. Call Me By Your Name is considered a romance, but I don't see it as such. It's about obsession, miscommunication, and social expectations. There are also an egregious number of scenes that focus on feet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Terminal illness
Minor: Death, Homophobia, and Abandonment
Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book didn't make much sense. So much of it was left unexplained and there was a lot of deeply confused religious piety paired with the desire to kill God. Poor execution in the storytelling conflated queerness and disability with monstrosity. At least I'm hoping it's poor execution of content and not intentional. Giving the bad guy AIDS was ... a choice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism and Kidnapping
Minor: Excrement, Police brutality, and Islamophobia
Rainbow! Volume 1 by Sunny, Gloomy
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
5.0
I'm kind of mad that this book is brand new because I'd like to read the sequel right now, please.
Boo and Mimi are really interesting and nuanced characters in a book with a bubble gum sweetness to its illustration style. I deeply hope that in the next book Boo gets the courage to ask the people who love her for help and tell them why. Her mom bursting into the cafe on the last page might do that for her, though.
Reading this after reading K. Ancrum's The Wicker King made me initially dubious of Boo's imagination. At this point, I don't know if that's a fantasy element of the book, or if it's also something she should be seeking help for.
Boo and Mimi are really interesting and nuanced characters in a book with a bubble gum sweetness to its illustration style. I deeply hope that in the next book Boo gets the courage to ask the people who love her for help and tell them why. Her mom bursting into the cafe on the last page might do that for her, though.
Reading this after reading K. Ancrum's The Wicker King made me initially dubious of Boo's imagination. At this point, I don't know if that's a fantasy element of the book, or if it's also something she should be seeking help for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Child abuse and Medical content
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
Child abuse tagged for neglect of the main character by her mother.