hflh's reviews
51 reviews

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen

informative

4.25

 This book is well-researched, empathetic, and intersectional. Chen teaches readers about the ace community and provides both ace and allo folks tools to understand their relationships with sex and reflect on sex-related societal pressures.

Chen brings in interviews throughout the book, but there is definitely less emphasis on asexual experiences and more emphasis on unpacking societal expectations around sex and romance, how sex is overvalued and how non-sexual and non-romantic relationships are devalued, and calls to action to change the ways we operate. 

You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy

informative reflective fast-paced

2.0

There is some interesting stuff here - about 7-12% for me. The rest was musings that felt redundant and drawn out. There is a lot of "the internet is ruining everything" and "we're so politically divided nowadays and should listen to other opinions more", which are fine points to make, but Murphy makes them repeatedly and with little nuance.

Murphy makes a lot of broad, bold claims without backing them up and uses research to support her arguments when the data isn't really there (see final comment for an example). I loved the use of interviews and other's experiences as evidence, but I question the credibility of someone that presents examples from a scripted radio show as if they are real, experiential evidence. I guess this is to be expected from a pop-psych book but, after hearing Murphy talk about how good a listener she is from her years of journalism, I was expecting better reporting on facts.

The introductory chapters present some ableist ideas on communication (that are also just ignorant of different communication styles across culture), but the remainder of the book had much less of this.

For example, Murphy cites research that found deaf schoolchildren struggled to identify emotions more than their hearing peers, implying that the children developed empathy slower because they couldn't hear and not because—maybe—they had less opportunities for social development or were not as attuned to hearing-culture norms because they were isolated from their hearing peers??

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism

Diamond Grill by Fred Wah

3.0

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

2.25

Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson

3.75

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust

fast-paced

5.0

This is a lovely book. The design is stunning with great attention to detail; the content is informative and compassionate. 

The book covers some basic DIY and repair how-tos, but also provides useful tips related to renting, including tips on covering your bases during move-in/move-out to get your deposit back. Throughout, QR codes link to videos that either provide demonstrations of written steps or give readers pep talks. 

Mercury Stardust takes care to present information with compassion and without judgement, including emotional resets at the ends of each chapter. This might not appeal to all readers but is easily skippable for those that just want the repair tips. 

Mercury Stardust provides an excellent base of knowledge for DIY home repair, and she provides readers with the tools to search for online sources to fill in any gaps the book might not cover. 

TW:

Brief mentions of houselessness and renter discrimination

Rice Boy by Evan Dahm

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

2.25

Evan Dahm is unquestionably a creative and talented artist and Rice Boy showcases that. This is a great read for anyone that wants to explore an absurd, diverse, and slightly moody-feeling fantasy world.

If you need grounded plot and characters to feel engaged in a story, this is not for you. The narrative follows Rice Boy, the saviour in a vague prophecy, as they travel from one character and place to the next, being ordered (and sometimes thrown) towards the next stop on their journey. Plot issues are to be expected with the serial webcomic format, but it reads like plot points were crafted soley for the sake of exploring the world rather than crafting an intentional narrative. To add to this, characters are generally simplistic and severely lack agency. 

Nevertheless, it's a quick read and will probably be worth it if Dahm's art interests you. 

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices by Swapna Krishna, Jenn Northington

adventurous hopeful mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This is a mixed bag. Broken into past, present, and future retellings, some stories are good, some are fine, and some are less than fine. All stories take varying levels of inspiration from the Arthurian canon; some are more loosely inspired than others, but there’s only one that I’d say doesn’t relate at all. You can definitely enjoy this without knowing anything about the Arthurian canon; you’ll just need to Google some things. 

Below are summaries of each story to help you decide if it’s worth the read. I’m also flagging which ones are explicitly queer because there was more straight romance than I was expecting (which was okay, just not expected). 

PAST: 

The Once and Future Qadi – Ausma Zehanat Khan:

A Qadi (an Islamic judge) is called to Arthur’s court to judge Guinevere’s innocence surrounding claims of infidelity with Lancelot.

3.5/5:

I would have liked this more if the story wasn’t so fixated on telling readers how hot the main character is. There was also a plot thing for me in the resolution that made the story contradict itself.

 

Passing Fair and Young – Roshani Choksi, straight romance:

A reimagining of Lancelot and the Lady of Shalott’s relationship with cool world-building and magic.

4/5:

Aside from being a bit bare in places, I really enjoyed this.

 

How, after Long Fighting Galehaut Was Overcome by Lancelot Yet Was Not Slain and Made Great Speed to Yield to Friendship; Or, Galehaut, the Knight of Forfeit – Daniel M. Lavery, mlm:

A brief, somewhat detached summary of how Sir Galehaut meets his match in Lancelot and becomes hopelessly devoted to him.

3/5:

I liked this as a concept, was just too short and distant-feeling for me to get into.

 

I Being Young and Foolish – Nisi Shawl, straight romance:

A reimagining of the Lady of the Lake as an albino Ugandan sorceress being mentored by Merlin, with earth and time based magic systems.

3.75/5:

The magic was really interesting, but it felt like the story was mostly just pining lovers that I wasn’t invested in.

 

The Bladesmith Queen – Sarah Maclean, straight romance:

A reimagining of the Lady of the Lake as a bladesmith who’s outcast as a witch, basically because the village is threatened by her. She finally meets her match in a mysterious knight who isn’t afraid of her.

3.75/5:

This was a well-written romance with a compelling premise.

 

Do, By All Due Means – Sive Doyle, wlm:

A queer reimagining of Britomart and Amoret.

4.75/5:

A solid adventure from start to finish that didn’t feel rushed; loved it.

 

PRESENT: 

Mayday – Maria Dahvana Headley:

A non-magical reimagining of Arthur as a wealthy American businessman in the 1800s, slowly pieced together through a listicle of historical items found in an abandoned lighthouse.

4/5:

Really interesting premise that manages to stay true to the Arthurian canon while doing something completely different, but it was hard to follow at times (which I think was the point).

 

Heartbeat – Waubgeshig Rice:

A First Nations boy being bullied finds solace in connecting with his culture and rediscovers Excalibur as ceremonial drums that were lost to his community.

5/5:

Short, but wonderful.

 

Jack and Brad and the Magician – Anthony Rapp, mlm:

During the AIDS crisis, Jack and Brad meet the real Merlin while he’s giving a magic show in the AIDS wing of the hospital Jack, Brad’s boyfriend, is staying at.

2.5/5:

Tender, sad, and hopeful, and I liked the ending, but it felt tonally off to me from the rest of the collection, and the quirky, over-the-top Merlin wasn’t my thing.

 

The Quay Stone – S. Zainab Williams:

Horror-esque retelling of the Lady of the Lake in Singapore where a lonely girl makes a new friend while visiting family.

4.5/5:

Great. I really felt the setting and the dynamic between the two girls.

 

Black Diamond – Alex Segura:

Aturo, the mediocre son of a baseball star that died young, is given Excalibur, his dad’s bat, and rises to fame.

4/5:

Slow start for me, but it introduced a compelling mystery that kept me engaged.

 

Flat White – Jessica Plummer, straight romance primary, mlm secondary:

The Lady of Shalott is reimagined as a barista who finds herself trapped in the tragic re-enactment of the Arthurian tales with reincarnations of Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere.

3.75/5:

I enjoyed this one. Interesting take and I liked the ending.

 

Once (Them) & Future (Us) – Preeti Chhibber, mlm:

Merlin wakes up in the modern-day after sleeping for hundreds of years and seeks out the reincarnation of his once and future king.

3.75/5:

This was tender, but progressed too quickly for me.

 

FUTURE: 

A Shadow in Amber – Silvia Moreno-Garcia, straight attraction:

A reimagining of the Lady of Shalott as a rich recluse who pays for illegal memories as entertainment.

3.75/5:

Really interesting take. I liked the plot but didn’t love the prose.

 

White Hempen Sleeves – Ken Liu:

A Black Mirror-esque future where people use extreme body modification technology.

2.5/5:

Really interesting science fiction concept exploring self, tech, and experience, but a little vague for me and I can’t see any tie to the Arthurian canon beyond a theatre performance and maybe a loose theme which I can’t say without spoiling.

 

Little Green Men – Alexander Che, mlm:

Reimagines Gawain, Arthur, and other characters as humans settled on a Mars colony. Gawain (Gavin) is the best friend of Arthur (Aturo) who is a reality star. For the sake of his friend, Gavin agrees to partake in a re-enactment of Gawain and the Green Knight for livestreamed entertainment.

1.5/5:

This one was just odd. Some cool ideas here but the world and character backgrounds were not fleshed out enough, and the plot and character motivations just seemed weird and didn’t make sense. Would have worked better in longer form.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Minor: Sexism

Sharks Forever: The Mystery and History of the Planet's Perfect Predator by Mark Leiren-Young

hopeful informative medium-paced

This is a good book for kids interested in sharks and conservation. Leiren-Young covers cool shark facts from around the world (including new discoveries as recent as 2021), challenges sharks face, and various shark activists and the work they do to protect sharks. While the facts are there, there's a stronger emphasis on the challenges sharks face (which can get sad, though Leiren-Young balances it well), activism (particularly around the Sharkwater films), and humanizing sharks. 

The end of the book has a list of actions to empower everyday readers to support sharks, but it’s very brief and isn’t given the same attention as sections on global activism (both adult and youth activism), though I don't think this was intentional. While the activism portions will be inspiring and cool for young readers, parents should be prepared to have a bigger conversation with their kids about the concrete and everyday ways they can help sharks without becoming world-famous child activists. If they want to go big, that's amazing and I'm so glad Leiren-Young shows that it's possible, but I wish there was equal emphasis on how noteworthy it is for kids to be everyday heroes too.   

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

This is a really solid collection. 8 stories that reimagine the past, present, and future from Chelsea Vowel’s Métis worldview that will encourage readers to look at the world and speculative fiction in different ways. 

These stories are meant to exist outside conventional SF but to give some perspective on what to expect – The first half (Buffalo Bird to Maggie Sue) swing more to the side of magical realism/supernatural while the last half (A Lodge Within Her Mind to Unsettled) explore technology in a near-future setting (if you liked Black Mirror, you might like these). Unsettled feels more like post climate disaster sci-fi dystopian. 

I would say the first story – Buffalo Bird – is one of the weaker entries and would encourage readers to continue if they are thinking of stopping. I would recommend reading all the stories in order as they build on each other thematically and later stories reference earlier ones. 

Vowel uses footnotes throughout, and each story is followed by a discussion. Some may find this distracting or frustrating, but it helps you catch anything from Vowel’s perspective you might have missed and often times add necessary cultural context. These are important to ensure readers are understanding the stories through Vowel’s worldview vs. interpreting them from a white dominant, colonial lens. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Fatphobia, Suicide, Blood, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic