vigil's reviews
189 reviews

When I Arrived at the Castle by E.M. Carroll

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

aesthetically beautiful, emily caroll’s art is superb but her storytelling capabilities…… not so much.

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Lone Women by Victor LaValle

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0


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Stage Dreams by Melanie Gillman

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

this was a cute comic, but not a very memorable one. I don't think it has any particularly glaring flaws, though i agree with other reviewers that the pacing is too fast and the romance (which isn't really all that compelling in the first place) doesn't get enough chance to breathe. it's also too cutesy for my personal taste, but that's more subjective. all in all, it was fine. 

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The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0


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Wilder Girls by Rory Power

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0


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Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 69%.
this book is approximately about nothing it is advertised as, and is actually about the epic highs and lows of boxing. also i don’t enjoy the use of sexual violence for cheap revenge plots, or poor characterization (what is pilar’s personality…. genuinely?)

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Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0


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When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

2.0

this book held my attention as i read it, but once i put it down, i had little inclination to pick it up again. 

i enjoyed the story, though if you’re looking for a fresh ghost story with twists and turns, this isn’t it. it’s a very classic revenge story and i think it’s strength lies more in it’s themes and how unflinching the author is in her criticism of racism, plantations, and how everyone can play into white supremacy, maliciously or not. my favorite portion of the book is towards the ending
where mira lives through the eyes of one of the slaves, and it uncovers just how horrific slavery really was, and how horrific everyone in the present is for ignoring and exploiting it.


it didn’t quite stick the landing though in my opinion. the latter portion of the book is rather unclear, making it hard to distinguish what fact from fiction and how did some of the more shocking events happen or didn’t happen. this vagueness isn’t bad in and of itself, but it makes the ending even more egregious. all the vague hallucinatory vibes disappear and the book is over because the protagonist literally says it’s over, not because anything is really done. i don’t need the protagonists to stick around and clean up the mess made by racist whites, but what about everything else? it felt like author thought she got her message across sufficiently and forgot about the story. the message it sends is good, but as a book it’s just okay.
also. i found celine’s character to be personally uncomfortable to me as a black person (but all too familiar) but i found the “poor girl dares to try to escape and gets put down like a dog by her partner” portion of the book to be rather distasteful. also a copout, no white person in this book has to personally reckon with anything. they’re either nameless racists, or end up dead.




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The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún Vol. 8 by Nagabe

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

I walked through darkness, on and on I walked. I knew that no destination awaited me. I was aware that it was meaningless. Yet despite that, I could not bring myself to give up. Some piece of me still vaguely remembered what it was like to be human. What I saw. What I heard. The weight of my own limbs. My own thoughts. I wasn’t wholly certain any of it was real. 

Desperate to cling to my self, nebulous as that concept was… I retraced an outline I wasn’t even sure was correct, over and over again. It felt as if the moment I stopped, I would cease to exist. I was… helpless. 

You were like the light of a flickering candle flame. Too faint to illuminate the path ahead. You were so small, so slight and fragile. And yet… you were all i needed, and more.”

there are no words. absolutely devastating.

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