amylangdown_'s reviews
40 reviews

Gender Queer: A Memoir Deluxe Edition by Maia Kobabe

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel/comic all about Maia’s experience of being nonbinary and asexual. So many things mentioned in this really struck a chord with me. Would really recommend (I read it in 2 hours!!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria

Heat Wave by TJ Klune

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Beautiful end to the series. It was so cleverly written that when the characters were confused, I was too. The characters are what I love about TJK’s books so much. They are so lovable (bar the ones you love to hate) and so diverse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Flash Fire by TJ Klune

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

Unbelievable. God, I love TJ KLUNE’S writing SO MUCH! The characters are so diverse and lovable - the ‘bad guys’ are so complex and you love-to-hate them. Twists and turns like a loop-de-loop. A brilliant sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Death of parent

Minor: Medical content

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

Klune writes in a teenage voice so well. The cringey thoughts we all have are so well embodied in this superhero teenage love story. It’s complex and funny and intense and wonderful. Gosh, I love TJ KLUNE’S stories so much. They’re so diverse and always wholesome, even when they’re tense. It’s so special.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Blood

Black, Queer, and Untold: A New Archive of Designers, Artists, and Trailblazers by Jon Key

funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

5.0

An important read. I loved learning about the black queer artists/designers/ writers and more, and what they have contributed to our art history without their stories being previously known. It’s a beautiful, incomplete archive and I hope Key comes out with a part 2(and 3 and more!) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia

Moderate: Hate crime and Police brutality

Minor: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Death, Racial slurs, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, and Colonisation

Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan

adventurous challenging emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

A gorgeous and yet harrowing tale based around the Irish ‘famine’ and the relationship between English landowners and the Irish people who had always called the land their home. A tale of love and loss and politics and humanity and so beautifully spun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Violence

Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell

adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

A great little book that reflects on the lessons we can all learn, at all ages, from children’s books - books that encourage imagination and moral reflections. 

Something Wicked: The Lives, Crimes and Deaths of the Pendle Witches by Carol Ann Lee

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.25

This book is a really interesting look into the history of witch trials in England during the 17th Century. It focuses on the lives of the ‘Pendle Witches’, going into detail about what historians have recovered about their lives (and how they ended). It looks into corruption in the law, religious bigotry and how superstition and grudges led to the deaths of many. It also, however, discusses trials in the wider UK and world. Very interesting, sometimes a little hard to follow as everyone has the same few names!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

This book was a difficult read but an important one, reflecting on the conversation we’re having currently about family vloggers and the impact this has on children. It also shows how people can be pulled into a cult and on child abuse at the hands of a narcissist. I felt that the writer’s journey to find their faith again after being subject to extremist cult ideology was a positive one, and loved that she discussed the importance of chosen family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

well written short story with interesting descriptions which reflect on the blanket term ‘hysteria’ or ‘nervousness’ for any mental health condition experienced by women in the 1800s. It’s in interesting insight into how the mind can be affected postpartum, specifically with postpartum psychosis. I think it would have been really tense to have read it as a serial, as it was originally published. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting