Scan barcode
mweis's reviews
1104 reviews
The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz
2.5
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to love this because it's sapphic Venezuelan inspired fantasy, but I knew it had gotten mixed reviews so I went in with lower expectations, and ultimately I can say this is a book that I finished.
The ideas are fantastic! Our main characters are both trying to find their places in the world and go about it in interesting ways. There are old gods that are trying to come back. I loved the folklore/mythology elements and I loved the exploration of power dynamics. That being said, I think this needed another round of edits because the pacing was all over the place. While I appreciated the descriptive language, in many cases it felt like it was placed (and repeated) in the story at the expense of plot and/or character development. I personally struggled with the character development the most. I found myself often forgetting who was who because there were so many characters introduced via infodump and then never really developed any further. I also found some of the naivete of the main characters became a little grating. Yes they were both sheltered and the reasoning behind some of their choices made sense but there was a point near the end where one of them realizes she'd been played and I remember thinking 'really you didn't see that coming at all?'
While I didn't love this as much as I hoped, I would still be interested in picking up the sequel because I do love the use of the old gods returning trope.
I wanted to love this because it's sapphic Venezuelan inspired fantasy, but I knew it had gotten mixed reviews so I went in with lower expectations, and ultimately I can say this is a book that I finished.
The ideas are fantastic! Our main characters are both trying to find their places in the world and go about it in interesting ways. There are old gods that are trying to come back. I loved the folklore/mythology elements and I loved the exploration of power dynamics. That being said, I think this needed another round of edits because the pacing was all over the place. While I appreciated the descriptive language, in many cases it felt like it was placed (and repeated) in the story at the expense of plot and/or character development. I personally struggled with the character development the most. I found myself often forgetting who was who because there were so many characters introduced via infodump and then never really developed any further. I also found some of the naivete of the main characters became a little grating. Yes they were both sheltered and the reasoning behind some of their choices made sense but there was a point near the end where one of them realizes she'd been played and I remember thinking 'really you didn't see that coming at all?'
While I didn't love this as much as I hoped, I would still be interested in picking up the sequel because I do love the use of the old gods returning trope.
Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
3.0
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
It is very clear that Alexis Pauline Gumbs is passionate about her work and is incredibly knowledgeable about the subject. That being said, I struggled a bit with the structure of this. Each section centers a segment of Audre Lorde's life but contains individual stories that don't always flow in a way that made sense for me. It made entry into this book feel a bit overwhelming when I was already a little overwhelmed by the sheer length of this book. While it began to flow better for me once we moved beyond Lorde's childhood, the reading experience never fully recovered from the choppy start for me.
That being said, I think there are parts of this that I will absolutely return to. Gumbs weaves Lorde's work with her personal life with the politics and current events of her time period (and beyond). Coming at this as someone with only surface level knowledge of Lorde, I think this work is meant more for those who are already knowledgeable about Lorde's poetry and the African diaspora and the intersection of Black, queer, feminist identities.
It is very clear that Alexis Pauline Gumbs is passionate about her work and is incredibly knowledgeable about the subject. That being said, I struggled a bit with the structure of this. Each section centers a segment of Audre Lorde's life but contains individual stories that don't always flow in a way that made sense for me. It made entry into this book feel a bit overwhelming when I was already a little overwhelmed by the sheer length of this book. While it began to flow better for me once we moved beyond Lorde's childhood, the reading experience never fully recovered from the choppy start for me.
That being said, I think there are parts of this that I will absolutely return to. Gumbs weaves Lorde's work with her personal life with the politics and current events of her time period (and beyond). Coming at this as someone with only surface level knowledge of Lorde, I think this work is meant more for those who are already knowledgeable about Lorde's poetry and the African diaspora and the intersection of Black, queer, feminist identities.
The Palace of Eros by Caro De Robertis
3.75
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Sapphic retelling of Psyche and Eros featuring a nonbinary Eros and lots of sapphic yearning. Retellings are a subgenre of speculative fiction that I've grown weary of in recent times, especially Greek myth retellings but I've heard nothing but great things about De Robertis' other works (Cantoras has been languishing on my TBR for ages) so I was excited to give this a try.
I think the biggest reason I see readers bouncing off of this is the prose. It is very flowery and lush which I think I would have struggled with if I read it physically but I had grabbed the audiobook from my library so I found it made it easy to sink in to the setting of the story. I did sometimes struggle with the differentiation in point of view, as we have Psyche written in first person and Eros written in third person. I ultimately understood why that choice was made narratively, but I don't know if it fully paid off in my opinion. That being said, thematically I loved everything this was doing with gender and the idea of power and building space for yourself within the constraints that society has placed on you.
Overall, while not a new favorite I did really enjoy my time in this book and recommend it!
Sapphic retelling of Psyche and Eros featuring a nonbinary Eros and lots of sapphic yearning. Retellings are a subgenre of speculative fiction that I've grown weary of in recent times, especially Greek myth retellings but I've heard nothing but great things about De Robertis' other works (Cantoras has been languishing on my TBR for ages) so I was excited to give this a try.
I think the biggest reason I see readers bouncing off of this is the prose. It is very flowery and lush which I think I would have struggled with if I read it physically but I had grabbed the audiobook from my library so I found it made it easy to sink in to the setting of the story. I did sometimes struggle with the differentiation in point of view, as we have Psyche written in first person and Eros written in third person. I ultimately understood why that choice was made narratively, but I don't know if it fully paid off in my opinion. That being said, thematically I loved everything this was doing with gender and the idea of power and building space for yourself within the constraints that society has placed on you.
Overall, while not a new favorite I did really enjoy my time in this book and recommend it!
Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu
3.0
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
This collection is imaginative and diverse. E. Lily Yu uses a mix of fantasy and science fiction elements, from fairytale/myth retellings to post-apocalyptic settings and more to tell these stories. The range through these 22 stories is reason enough to pick up this collection.
As is the norm with short story collections, this was a mixed bag. I really enjoyed some of the stories, I really disliked a couple, and I was ambivalent about most. The first three stories were rough for me, though the third story (The Cartographer Wasps & the Anarchist Bees) was nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy Award so do with that what you will.
I really liked Music for the Underworld, which was a futuristic take on the Orpheus myth. I also liked The Wretched and the Beautiful and The Urashima Effect. There was also a really interesting take on the Emperor's New Clothes that I enjoyed. My least favorites were The Lamp at the Turning and The Eve of the Planet of Ys.
The writing is quite nice but on the whole I don't know how memorable I will find this collection so I settled on 3 stars. I would be interested in seeing a full length work by this author though.
This collection is imaginative and diverse. E. Lily Yu uses a mix of fantasy and science fiction elements, from fairytale/myth retellings to post-apocalyptic settings and more to tell these stories. The range through these 22 stories is reason enough to pick up this collection.
As is the norm with short story collections, this was a mixed bag. I really enjoyed some of the stories, I really disliked a couple, and I was ambivalent about most. The first three stories were rough for me, though the third story (The Cartographer Wasps & the Anarchist Bees) was nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy Award so do with that what you will.
I really liked Music for the Underworld, which was a futuristic take on the Orpheus myth. I also liked The Wretched and the Beautiful and The Urashima Effect. There was also a really interesting take on the Emperor's New Clothes that I enjoyed. My least favorites were The Lamp at the Turning and The Eve of the Planet of Ys.
The writing is quite nice but on the whole I don't know how memorable I will find this collection so I settled on 3 stars. I would be interested in seeing a full length work by this author though.