brnineworms's reviews
163 reviews

Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan

dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

“Most of the time, the future felt like an obscure projection I was afraid to want because there wasn’t evidence of future me anywhere, in life or in fiction. I just knew Jack Halberstam and I were the same, so I existed there, in theory.”

You know when it’s evening and everything’s just so clear but also hazy? This book is like that. The text is split into small chunks, which makes it easier to swallow.

The first two thirds of the book are eclectic and frenzied and the last third feels like it’s settling. It works well thematically. The book hinged so heavily on its writing style, is the thing. I wasn’t invested in the characters so much as the prose. So when the prose changes shape and we see the characters more clearly, it feels odd. I stuck around for the purple, so why is it fading now? The ending is sweet, though.

Ponyboy isn’t for everyone but it (mostly) worked for me.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Spoiler

lots of drug use and drinking, addiction/alcoholism, bulimia, dissociation, suicidality, dysphoria, transphobia, sexual assault (including csa), cheating

 

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

“It’s hard to just look, isn’t it?”

To describe Irina, the protagonist/narrator of Boy Parts, as unlikeable and unreliable would be an understatement. “Cruel” is a word that comes up a few times. She’s sadistic. She’s irreverent. She’s, uh... messy. She’s also a photographer, which is neat. Clark does some interesting stuff with this; the camera producing a perfect record vs the human mind distorting images, Irina wanting to be seen – or wanting her actions to be seen – while she situates herself firmly behind the camera, documenting. There’s a lot to interrogate thematically.

Since there’s not much in the way of plot, I’m compelled only by the quality of the prose. Fortunately, I really like the way Clark writes. I’ll keep an eye out for her other work.

Unfortunately, I don’t like the way the story starts to form

Spoiler

as the titular(?) “boy” is revealed and Irina’s delusions become more severe as she fixates on him

but that belated momentum goes nowhere. It just... stops. There’s no satisfaction in the ending.

I liked most of it. I’m giving Boy Parts four stars because it is good, but not spectacular.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Spoiler

violence, murder, sexual harassment and assault, grooming, verbal abuse from a parent, classism, body image stuff, self harm and self-destructive behaviour, drugs and alcohol, vomit, some blood and gore, hallucinations

 

Girl Flesh by May Leitz

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

Too gratuitous and melodramatic for me. The shed scene in particular felt very writhing-on-the-stage-pulling-red-handkerchiefs-from-my-armpit. That said, I know this sort of thing can be cathartic; sometimes you need to indulge in a bit of woe.

The concept is decent. Internet celebrities are forced to reckon with the horrors of meatspace, and the pervasive terror of existing as a woman in a misogynistic world.

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And the experience turns Angie into a man-hating lesbian. Good for her.

Spoiler

What happens to Wes makes a lot more sense if you interpret him not as a person but as a personification of heteronormativity. Angie isn’t killing her husband, she’s killing comphet; she’s killing her straight persona to set herself free.

I assume that was what Leitz was going for? That’s how I’ve chosen to read it, at least.

But I don’t like it, and I don’t know why. I can’t quite articulate it. There were lots of little issues that bugged me – pacing issues, backstory exposition interrupting the actual story, etc. – but I can’t pinpoint exactly where or why it falls apart for me.

I can see how Girl Flesh might resonate with other readers. I thought it was okay.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Spoiler

stalking, kidnapping, drugging, alcoholism, disordered eating, self harm, suicidality, death (including animal death), violence (including gun violence, sexual assault, and torture), blood/gore/injury, vomit, misogyny, transphobia

Corrupted Vessels by Briar Ripley Page

dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

Corrupted Vessels is disturbing. I mean that as a compliment.

Page has a way with words, conjuring evocative imagery and reeling the reader in as the tension mounts. There are some brilliant phrases that have stuck in my brain (for example: “Ash came back like the flame on a trick candle”) and some interesting worldbuilding concepts too. I like the idea of

Spoiler

angels being primordial beings who created God to govern humanity because they were spread too thin across the universe.

But then I wasn’t at all disappointed when it turned out to be

Spoiler

a fiction that sprung from Ash’s psychosis. I think their schizophrenia(?) was handled quite well. Their hallucinations were vague and intertwined with their delusions, their beliefs are “confirmed” by voices and visions, and they are convinced that they have power but obviously not in a way that can be proven or (more importantly) disproven. Ash does some awful things, in large part because of their mental illness, but the narrative neither demonises nor exonerates them fully. It’s a sympathetic portrayal of a deeply fucked up person.

All in all, it’s an enthralling and sickening exploration of the human condition.

My copy pairs the titular story with a short story called “New Eden.” It’s fine. I don’t have a Christian background so it doesn’t resonate with me as deeply as it might for other readers, but even then I just don’t think it’s as strong as Corrupted Vessels.

I intend to seek out more of Page’s work and I look forward to reading it.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Spoiler

drug use/drugging and overdose, seizure, psychosis (hallucinations and religious delusions), cults, verbal abuse/manipulation, physical violence, rape of a minor, non-consensual groping and voyeurism, stalking, suicide attempt, death, body horror/gore (corpse decomposition), cannibalism, vomit

 

The Seep by Chana Porter

fast-paced

1.5

“The room was filled with about forty or so people of all ages, races, gender expressions, doing all manner of things.”

I think The Seep is the worst book I’ve ever read.

It’s very... affected? Diversity purely for the sake of scoring representation points, jarring weirdness that comes across as lol so random XD, therapy-speak dialogue at all times. I dunno. It’s over-the-top and totally underdeveloped, maybe even undeveloped. The author hardly engages with her own worldbuilding. Nothing is explained or explored. The protagonist, Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka, is hard to root for. She has this general attitude of distaste and her motives are inscrutable. The central message of the book – that life isn’t perfect and that’s okay – is fine, I guess. The execution is clumsy to say the least.

I could dissect it further but frankly I just want to move on to something else. I had a miserable time reading this book.

This edition also includes “And the World Was New”, a sixty-six page “short story” which I cannot bring myself to read. Sorry. I’m done here.

CONTENT WARNINGS: alcoholism, suicidality, death

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

It’s Maus. What is there to say?

CONTENT WARNINGS: war, the holocaust (antisemitism, deportation, genocide, starvation), stalking, violence including lynching, racism, domestic abuse, self harm, suicide

Sonic the Hedgehog: The IDW Collection, Vol. 3 by Ian Flynn

adventurous fast-paced

3.0

Cheap and contrived. It felt as though the writers regretted having a disease storyline which coincided with a real world pandemic and rushed to wrap things up as quickly as possible – I don’t know if that’s true, that’s just the impression I got. One anticlimax after another, man.

One plot point in particular that I want to mention is

Spoiler

Sonic’s amnesia after eradicating the Metal Virus. The writers could have explored the parallels between Mr Tinker and Mr Needlemouse. Or maybe the memory loss could have represented a sort of post-pandemic trauma, with Sonic not understanding that the Virus had been defeated and being mentally stuck in this state of desperation. Or, in any case, the Restoration could have been forced to seek out Dr Starline, not to neutralise the threat he poses but to beg for his assistance. This memory loss could have set up an entire arc but instead it’s resolved in the very next issue. I guess the writers just wanted to give Blaze something to do.

The whole thing was kind of pointless and a missed opportunity.

Also the artwork in the first issue was really substandard (though the rest of the collection looked good).

CONTENT WARNINGS: infectious disease, zombie mindlessness, violence, mass panic, evacuation 

Sonic the Hedgehog: The IDW Collection, Vol. 2 by Ian Flynn, Tracy Yardley, Adam Bryce Thomas, Evan Stanley, Jennifer Hernandez

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

Alright so

Spoiler

this volume introduces the Metal Virus, a synthetic pathogen designed to turn the people it infects into metallic zombie slaves, or “Zombots.” Sonic himself is contaminated. He has to constantly run at top speed to prevent the Virus from converting him, and he has to stay away from others or he’ll spread the Virus to them. It’s interesting how this plays into and against his impulses; yes, he does like to go fast, but this is unsustainable and exhausting, and his instinct is to run over and help those in peril but he has to constantly check himself and remind himself he’s dangerous to be around.

It’s well done. It’s also worth noting this storyline started in 2019, aha... Hits different now.

The fight scenes and story beats do get a little repetitive, but I actually think that’s good.

Spoiler

It reflects Sonic’s fatigue; another city besieged by Zombots, another friend in danger, on top of the ordeal of having to outrun the Virus again and again just to keep it at bay for a while longer.

Spoiler

As with most zombie apocalypse stories, there’s more violence than would usually be permitted, eg: pushing villains down a refuse pit, and ploughing through a crowd with a truck. It is established that the Zombots are more or less invulnerable and cannot feel pain.

Still, I do feel a little weird about this. I dunno. Homogeneous hordes are not my thing. Then again, I suppose you can’t just do the Master Overlord arc again – you have to follow it up with something completely different.

Speaking of things that are completely different, this collection also includes a few comics from the 2019 annual, plus the Tangle & Whisper spinoff miniseries. I don’t have much to say about them but I liked them well enough.

CONTENT WARNINGS: infectious disease, zombie mindlessness, violence, guilt, evacuation

Sonic the Hedgehog: The IDW Collection, Vol. 1 by Ian Flynn, Tracy Yardley, Adam Bryce Thomas, Evan Stanley, Jennifer Hernandez

adventurous funny hopeful fast-paced

4.5

Background: I’ve always liked the idea of Sonic. I watched Sonic Underground as a child and I remember drawing fanart and even creating a few OCs (lost to time, unfortunately) but I never enjoyed the games – just not my style of gameplay. I figured the comics would be a good way for me to engage with the franchise. Also, I’ve been fascinated by Metal Sonic since Mario & Sonic: London 2012 and I’d heard the IDW series features him prominently.

I was not disappointed.

This was a lot of fun! I was worried at first that the pacing would be marred by having to introduce all the main characters before the story can actually start, but the comics did a good job of weaving the plot into those early scenes and getting the ball rolling immediately. The narrative flows well. There’s lots of action but also some contemplative moments. Fantastic artwork throughout. Not sure about the design of

Spoiler

Metal Sonic’s “Master Overlord” form

but in a way it kind of works, in that he’s straying too far from the Sonic model. Blaze was rad as hell. Silver was surprisingly cute. I had a great time reading this :)

CONTENT WARNINGS: war, violence, shock therapy

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

mysterious reflective slow-paced

3.0

“Tell me, old worm, is there a monster penis hidden in that monster body of yours?”

God, where do I begin...?

I really liked how Leto was characterised to begin with – his boredom, his dry humour, his internal monologue (meta in its transcription as journal entries/the text of this book). After Hwi’s introduction he’s a completely different character. I have mixed feelings about this.

Spoiler

I understand that this shift in personality was deliberate on the author’s part and a key part of the story he was trying to tell, but I personally don’t care for the love makes you more human cliché, especially since Leto had been so compelling up to that point.

As for Hwi’s characterisation, well, we’ve already seen that Herbert struggles to write women with as much depth as he writes men. Although... in this instance I don’t mind so much.

Spoiler

Hwi is a plot device rather than a character, and the story is pretty upfront about that (again, in a slightly meta way); she literally exists to be Leto’s love interest.

I’m less forgiving when it comes to Siona’s inconsistent characterisation and disjointed arc. Like Irulan in Dune Messiah, the story revolves around her but she’s only actually present for maybe half a dozen scenes. She has the makings of a protagonist – rebellious attitude, charisma, nerve – and for a while I thought

Spoiler

Leto was setting himself up as the villain to be defeated to make way for the new protagonist, similar to Paul walking out into the desert and ending his role in the narrative. I guess that’s kind of accurate? But Siona only gets to topple Leto right at the end, and even then she’s largely overshadowed by Duncan Idaho. I’ll get back to Duncan in a moment.

Leto and Siona’s dynamic is an interesting one. Sometimes they’re clearly a tyrant and a revolutionary, but at other times it feels like they’re supposed to be interpreted as something more akin to a parent and a child, or, more generally, an elder and a youth. Leto is firmly authoritarian (I mean, he calls himself God Emperor for a start) and he rationalises his violence as an act of love; it’s for humanity’s own good. Siona resists his authority and values freedom; is she a principled anarchist or an unruly teen? The way she’s depicted as both stubbornly resolute and also quite fickle

Spoiler

(plotting to kill Leto → sympathising and having intimate moments with Leto in the desert → suddenly back to revolution)

makes me think of her as immature. But then again Leto is a tyrant.

Spoiler

Anyway, she falls for Duncan in the end. Not sure what happened to her crush on Nayla. Nayla also has a thing for Duncan because of course she does. Hwi loves Duncan. Moneo and Duncan are exes. I do not like Duncan.

The homophobia in this book is... a lot. There are multiple scenes in which Duncan is screaming crying throwing up because he saw a butch. “Perverts don’t perpetuate!” “It should be stamped out!” It sucks. He does have a man out of time thing going on, so maybe his bigotry is supposed to demonstrate that? There is a tepid defence of homosexuality from Moneo: “It’s perfectly natural for adolescent females as well as males to have feelings of physical attraction towards members of their own sex. Most of them will grow out of it.” Again this idea that young people can be disruptive but will ultimately see reason.

God Emperor of Dune is preoccupied with sexuality in general, not only homosexuality. It’s an obscenely horny book. There’s frequent talk of genitalia and orgasms and yet there’s a fade to black in place of an actual sex scene. Honestly, Herbert should have gone all in, not only with the “disgusting sexual habits” but in all aspects. It’s like the writer shies away from the story he chose to write.

I dunno. There’s a strong setup, then stagnation, then it ends explosively but not in a satisfying way.

CONTENT WARNINGS: homophobia, sexism, rape (mentioned on multiple occasions but not shown), violence, massacre, death, dictatorship, eugenics (human breeding programme), body horror, horny shit