sarah984's reviews
614 reviews

The Resurrectionist by Wrath James White

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This horror novel had an interesting concept but I don't think it was very well executed. There were a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes (multiple instances of mixing up Josh and Dale's names, missing words, homophones etc), characters' personalities sometimes felt inconsistent, way too many shopping lists, and I think the epilogue in this version made the story worse by wrapping things up a little too pat. The horror takes a little too long to get started considering that we know what's going on way before any of the victim characters do. I did really like some of the things it was aiming for though, especially around the solidarity between the female characters and some attempted realistic tension and support in Sarah and Josh's marriage.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz

Go to review page

challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Darkly absurd story about life under a totalitarian regime after a failed political revolution. The translation is breezy and readable despite the dark subject matter. Really liked this.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao

Go to review page

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.0

Decent enough family drama slash murder mystery marred by a terrible eleventh hour plot twist. Feels like it wasted my time.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Go to review page

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

5.0

Time travel stories can be a bit hit or miss for me - I find that a lot of the time they get too caught up in either the mechanics or the power fantasy, so they don't feel like they have anything to say. Kindred knows what it wants to say and says it effectively. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Ladipo Manyika

Go to review page

emotional hopeful medium-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? No

3.0

This was a sweet little story and I loved the main character's voice, but I think it needed to be either shorter or longer. Near the end it felt like it was kind of losing focus because there are so many side characters  for a book of this length. Most of it is kind of cozy and charming and then there's a terrible event that gets maybe 3 pages devoted to it near the end. Left me feeling a little weird.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee

Go to review page

dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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 loved the first two books in this series, but this one unfortunately disappointed me. The massive time skips made it feel like reading a summary a lot of the time, and the book's length felt unnecessary - a lot of things happened that didn't really seem to be that important and a lot of time was wasted restating the themes in case we missed them. A lot of the characters I liked in the earlier books (especially Shae and Wen) felt diminished, relegated into uninteresting roles and this book seemed way more invested in upholding the clan structure and nuclear family as solely positive forces than the previous books.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Long Division by Kiese Laymon

Go to review page

adventurous challenging funny 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? No

4.0

Fascinating time travel novel with great characters, use of place and language, and mind bending meta elements. Dark and sad and funny and hopeful all at once, and full of characters I'd love to meet. Some parts were a bit confusing to me (what was up with the cat??) but if you can handle that I highly recommend it.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
How to Kill Men and Get Away With It by Katy Brent

Go to review page

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

1.0

Absolutely nothing about this worked for me. The humour wasn't funny, the characters had no personality, the plot twist was ridiculous. A lot of it felt like it was written to be quoted on twitter.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The City & the City by China MiƩville

Go to review page

challenging mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I thought the setting was fascinating, and the way the thought processes of the characters navigating the city are handled was really well done. However the actual mystery wasn't that interesting or surprising, and I felt like the story kind of fell apart once more information about
Breach
was revealed.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany

Go to review page

challenging mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book has a fascinating structure, some really beautiful imagery and some striking set pieces, but it's also an overlong slog and a lot of it felt off putting. It somehow both feels timeless and extremely dated. I can definitely see the influence on other books that I've enjoyed. I'm glad I read it but I don't think I'd ever read it again.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings