greatdistractions's reviews
56 reviews

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Suicide, and War

Minor: Child abuse

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites by Joy Demorra

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my go-to comfort book right now! The romance is charming and healthy, the disability representation makes me feel seen, and the worldbuilding is intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I gasped out loud while reading the ending!

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

adventurous emotional slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Minor: Child abuse, Misogyny, and Slavery

Poison Kiss by Ana Mardoll

5.0

This was a great book! The characters were complex and lovable (especially the main trio) as well as being good representation of diverse races, genders, and orientations. I love the fact that the version of faeries used hearkened back to their original mythology of being evil kidnappers. I also liked that in times of conflict, everyone's strengths were used to help. No one felt superfluous. This book had some great world building. It did a good job of being a complete story while still setting up for the rest of the series.

Survival Rout by Ana Mardoll

5.0

This was a really strong sequel to Poison Kiss. It surrounded new characters that were just as interesting as the protagonists of the first book. Survival Rout focused more on what living in the faery world is like, which I think helped to give good insight into what the others had escaped. I would say the stakes were raised for these protagonists, as well. Mardoll continued her trend of great, diverse characters. She placed disability and trans issues at the forefront of this book, to immense pay-off.

This is one of the best series I've read in a long time. Anyone who loves fantasy should give it a look. Survival Rout has a content warning at the back, which I recommend a read through before reading the book, if you have prominent triggers. But know that none of the content listed is used for shock value, but rather to explore the reality of it through a fantasy lens.

Crazy Love You by Lisa Unger

1.0

I didn't really like this book, and didn't make it all the way through. It felt like the author didn't do much research. For one, the sections of the book that are meant to be excerpts from the protagonist's comics weren't actually in any kind of comic format. It may have been because he wrote and drew his own comics, so he didn't need as much direction, but I can't see him writing a comic script as if it were a book. They're two completely different mediums. I also kind of felt like Unger didn't understand her protagonist very well, even on a very basic level. He was a really stereotypical guy, to an unrealistic degree. He even said "ladies, this is what all men are like" at one point. I'm not a man, but I've always had a lot of male friends, and can tell you that that isn't, actually, what all men are like. It may seem like a strange thing to complain about, but it made him seem really unnatural. He didn't feel like a person, so much as an idea of a person.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

2.0

I didn't really like this book, and felt pretty mislead by the reviews they picked to put on the cover. It was sold as a horror, but it wasn't. Nothing scary happened in it. It was a mystery, definitely, but it didn't make me feel afraid at any point in time. Also, a grown woman who's still comparing everyone she dates with a man she was with when she was 16 was kind of uncomfortable. Yes, we're all effected by our pasts. Yes, to a certain extent, we don't get over our first loves the way we get over others. But the extent to which she was obsessed seemed to go against the fact that later she seemed to say that the reason it hit her so hard was that she had been wrong about him. Yet, she mentions that she called for him in her sleep when in bed with another man. You don't do that if you're just upset that you were wrong about someone, or carrying a scar from a first love.

Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote

5.0

Ivan Coyote is my favourite writer, and books like this prove why. They're an amazing story teller, and can turn small moments in their life into colourful tapestries. They've been an inspiration to me ever since I was figuring out my own identity.

Tomboy Survival Guide was funny, charming, and moving. It explored Coyote's gender in a very human way. Not every story focused on gender, of course. There were stories about their childhood, family, and work life; death, life, and laundry. There's even a section on how to make a unicorn trap.

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

5.0

This book was really important to me, as someone struggling with my own art. I related a little too closely with David. Which is uh. Not a good thing. But. The ending surprised me in its bleak beauty. This isn't a happy story, but it is a great one.

I liked the depiction of Death not as some grim monster who steals souls, but as a kindly old man who who has a job to do.

This book sucks you in from the beginning and keeps you reading. You count down David's life, with him.