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iellv's reviews
63 reviews
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Mama this is embarrassing. I am the target audience for this type of book (trans characters? monsterfucking? horror? historical setting?? hello??) but the writing style is grating. I’m gonna be honest… it’s kinda bad. Almost every sentence is structured strangely if not just passive. Mandelo overuses personification, which is especially noticeable because he is already a bit too descriptive—and that’s coming from someone who enjoys purple prose. I also caught at least 5 instances of questionable word choice before dropping this. 10 pages is a new low for me but I cannot be blamed for this. Each sentence felt circular bc of the poor rhythm too, if that makes sense. So many issues with clarity… and for what? For the chance to misuse big words? And despite all of these notes, the writing is still somehow dry? Fascinating.
I read abt the crazy age gap though. Bullet dodged ig! Jesus. Sorry to everyone who’s eating this up though I’m honestly kinda jealous. I’d fully intended to power through the writing but I am god’s weakest soldier.
I read abt the crazy age gap though. Bullet dodged ig! Jesus. Sorry to everyone who’s eating this up though I’m honestly kinda jealous. I’d fully intended to power through the writing but I am god’s weakest soldier.
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
When I tell you I screamed over a timestamp.
What do I even say? I want to rate this 5 stars, I really do. This was extremely well thought out and well-written. Personally, I thought the pacing was almost perfect (I didn’t think it was too slow. Honestly I kind of wished this book was a bit longer), and I loved how seemingly different Robbie’s and Gloria’s chapters were in tone, but they all showed the fear, frustration, sorrow, and rage that made up the siblings’ shared suffering. No matter that they were both so far apart from one another. I’m only rating this 4.75 because I would have loved a longer ending! There was so much to cover in this book; I desperately needed a breather at the end. There were also more details I’d hoped to encounter, but that might just be because I have a general preference for very reflective books.
I am also not 100% sold on the decision to make Haddock THE villain to the point where all others paled in comparison. Personally I would have liked to know more about the neighbors, but I also understand that there was no way Tananarive could have included that without ruining the pacing of this book. Though I am surprised that Loehmann just fell off. I don’t think he could have helped any other way besides securing that slot for Gloria and Miz Lottie, but I thought it was funny that he just fell off and readers would likely completely forget about him, as I did.
What do I even say? I want to rate this 5 stars, I really do. This was extremely well thought out and well-written. Personally, I thought the pacing was almost perfect (I didn’t think it was too slow. Honestly I kind of wished this book was a bit longer), and I loved how seemingly different Robbie’s and Gloria’s chapters were in tone, but they all showed the fear, frustration, sorrow, and rage that made up the siblings’ shared suffering. No matter that they were both so far apart from one another. I’m only rating this 4.75 because I would have loved a longer ending! There was so much to cover in this book; I desperately needed a breather at the end. There were also more details I’d hoped to encounter, but that might just be because I have a general preference for very reflective books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Vomit
King's Maker by Haga, Kang Ji Young
medium-paced
3.0
I got curious because of the art style. Thought it was pretty good but nothing to yell about. I’d actually read this before, forgot, and then re-read it. I felt weird about the author adding in the pedophilia then and I still felt weird about it the second time around. It was given the weight and urgency it deserved, for sure, but was it gratuitous? Not all the time, but sometimes it really felt that way. Good premise and decent execution though. Very good tension-building and there were a lot of interesting moments between the main characters. I think the author captured boyhood attraction/attachment and loyalty and devotion really well!
The sequel could have been SO GOOD, but it ultimately proved to be meandering and underwhelming, so I dropped it.
The sequel could have been SO GOOD, but it ultimately proved to be meandering and underwhelming, so I dropped it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, and Rape
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
medium-paced
3.75
I’m sorry that I happened to read this just as I watched Rahul Kohli in Midnight Mass. I’m sorry Rahul Kohli I promise it wasn’t on purpose but I am so so into you. Anyway. This had a much cleaner structure than Eve Brown despite having more plot and character elements to play with (maybe that’s why it ended up being more solid?). What was missing was the explosion of charm I got from Eve Brown. I still love them a lot though!!
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
fast-paced
3.5
I rmr reading this in 2022? It was rlly good fun until the third act, which wasn’t a disaster, really. Just so unnecessary I was tempted to put the book down and pretend I’d finished it an otherwise perfectly cute and sexy novel. Still very good though! I’d recommend skipping to the last pages when you get to the third act though
The Dry Heart by Natalia Ginzburg
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Good! Didn’t expect to like it so much. I even added two of her other works to my library.
This one is simple and bleak. Bleak from start to finish.
I would send this to a tradwife and the “good for her” crowd to chew on. Only because I think it would be kinda funny.
This one is simple and bleak. Bleak from start to finish.
I would send this to a tradwife and the “good for her” crowd to chew on. Only because I think it would be kinda funny.
Cry to Heaven by Anne Rice
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.25
Slow as hell but for good reason (even though this took me 2 months to finish). I disagree that Tonio's side adventures held little value if they all contributed to illustrating the richness of his life and his identity outside of revenge. Anyway. This book is well worth the effort of getting through it for what it says about gender, sexuality, identity, and family--all in relation to patriarchy. I went into this expecting to gain a lot of insight into the first three, and I did! But I did not expect the latter two to stand out so much. More than once I found myself wishing that I'd read Engels's "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" before getting into this. I really should read it soon.
I know this book is kind of divisive, but I'm glad to be one of the people who really enjoyed it! I don't know if I'll ever read another Anne Racist novel, though... no matter how much I like her writing style. Maybe IWTV but that's it.
But dear god please heed the warnings. You can check the spoiler tag below for an even more specific warning that can't be captured by the content warning tags.
There's a lot of pedophilia here. Guido was a victim of it but so is Tonio. I'm not gonna undersell it just because the story takes place in 18th century Italy, but since that's the norm for this book I'm gonna put that aside for the moment to mention that there's also lot of r*pe fantasy in here. There's also just the egregious and baffling usage of the word to describe rough sex.
I know this book is kind of divisive, but I'm glad to be one of the people who really enjoyed it! I don't know if I'll ever read another Anne Racist novel, though... no matter how much I like her writing style. Maybe IWTV but that's it.
But dear god please heed the warnings. You can check the spoiler tag below for an even more specific warning that can't be captured by the content warning tags.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Medical trauma, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia and Xenophobia
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Ack. I’m devastated. There are so many things to process. But let me just say that this book achieved what Babel couldn’t. It's a thematically dense book, but it was handled expertly when it could easily be bungled by a less skilled writer. ML Wang's craft is precise, and most of the time her writing style is practical and straight to the point, considering we spend most of the time in Sciona's head, but when the time is right (and in every single Thomil chapter), she goes for the neck. The magic system is great, btw. I'll add a spoiler tag to my notes because I can't be bothered to edit the word vomit below.
There are so many things to love about this book, but I have to applaud ML Wang for portraying rebellion with enough nuance and lingering in that discomfort. Blood Over Bright Haven shows you the fallout and the loss of Kwen lives. And forces you to look at the damage. Yes, what Sciona did was necessary, but her actions caused so much destruction. And that is the terrifying truth. It takes great violence to shake the foundations of a nation that was built on violence and continued to thrive through violence. It takes an even greater devastation to destroy those foundations. And even then the aftermath might not yield the desired effect. It might be worse. But you can trust that at the very, very least, the destruction will usher in light and if I think about Thomil and the Caldonnae for too long I might actually lose it.
I do have one question though: did the Kwen not organize? Were there not underground groups or something? If not resistance groups then support groups? I find that hard to believe, but I'll give this the benefit of the doubt because Sciona didn't get to see much during the fallout. And unfortunately, we didn't get a Thomil chapter during that time. I can see why so I'm not docking points for that
Lastly, I wanna say that I do have some notes? Thomil was too much of a background character for my taste. Although, to be honest, I did have low expectations of his involvement (I'm still annoyed about Griffin, aka RF Kuang's mouthpiece, just... dying after he said his piece), but ML Wang edged toward making Thomil the marginalized character who serves to educate main character. I'm glad we got to see his anger and his grief but that also ultimately served to further Sciona's character development.
We absolutely could have had two Thomil chapters before they executed the plan, because who really is he outside of his work? Outside of his relationship with Carra? How does he interact with other Kwen? What's the Kwen community at the Kwen Quarter like? And again, did the Kwen not organize? lmao. A broken person can still have a life... The man is pretty friendly, charming, honest, and kind. I'm sure those qualities would have shone if he had been given the chance to interact with people from other tribes before the last crossing. Can you tell that Thomil is everything to me? Man, even his hunting skills were mentioned to supplement Sciona's work. Tell me more about his relationship to his gods!!! To nature!!!
I also have some notes about the middle and how Sciona reacted to the truth. I wish we could have sat with her emotions a bit more before the suicide attempt because that felt kinda drastic for someone who didn't really care much about the people in her own neighborhood let alone Kwen lives. Better yet, just do away with the suicide attempt, because I think that detracted from the weight and truth of the assessments leveled at her in the final arc.
Actually, I'm not done. I think the sexual assault scene was handled a little bit weirdly. ML Wang could have written in Renthorn's true nature in a more convincing way than sexual assault, just as the misogyny could have had more layers to it. I agree with the critiques about the misogyny being mostly limited to underestimating Sciona's abilities and staring. It was infuriating, yeah, but it was so flat as to be relatively benign that I forgot that 1.) They only let women take the test every 10 years and 2.) Sciona is the first woman highmage, full stop. It's funny that it didn't even break the immersion too much because I genuinely forgot about those two facts for much of the book.
I do have one question though: did the Kwen not organize? Were there not underground groups or something? If not resistance groups then support groups? I find that hard to believe, but I'll give this the benefit of the doubt because Sciona didn't get to see much during the fallout. And unfortunately, we didn't get a Thomil chapter during that time. I can see why so I'm not docking points for that
Lastly, I wanna say that I do have some notes? Thomil was too much of a background character for my taste. Although, to be honest, I did have low expectations of his involvement (I'm still annoyed about Griffin, aka RF Kuang's mouthpiece, just... dying after he said his piece), but ML Wang edged toward making Thomil the marginalized character who serves to educate main character. I'm glad we got to see his anger and his grief but that also ultimately served to further Sciona's character development.
We absolutely could have had two Thomil chapters before they executed the plan, because who really is he outside of his work? Outside of his relationship with Carra? How does he interact with other Kwen? What's the Kwen community at the Kwen Quarter like? And again, did the Kwen not organize? lmao. A broken person can still have a life... The man is pretty friendly, charming, honest, and kind. I'm sure those qualities would have shone if he had been given the chance to interact with people from other tribes before the last crossing. Can you tell that Thomil is everything to me? Man, even his hunting skills were mentioned to supplement Sciona's work. Tell me more about his relationship to his gods!!! To nature!!!
I also have some notes about the middle and how Sciona reacted to the truth. I wish we could have sat with her emotions a bit more before the suicide attempt because that felt kinda drastic for someone who didn't really care much about the people in her own neighborhood let alone Kwen lives. Better yet, just do away with the suicide attempt, because I think that detracted from the weight and truth of the assessments leveled at her in the final arc.
Actually, I'm not done. I think the sexual assault scene was handled a little bit weirdly. ML Wang could have written in Renthorn's true nature in a more convincing way than sexual assault, just as the misogyny could have had more layers to it. I agree with the critiques about the misogyny being mostly limited to underestimating Sciona's abilities and staring. It was infuriating, yeah, but it was so flat as to be relatively benign that I forgot that 1.) They only let women take the test every 10 years and 2.) Sciona is the first woman highmage, full stop. It's funny that it didn't even break the immersion too much because I genuinely forgot about those two facts for much of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Genocide and Vomit
Minor: Cannibalism
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
I took my sweet time with this because I couldn’t get past the first chapter without crying and wanting to wail. Not to show me ass but I, unfortunately, resonated with David’s character to such an uncomfortable degree that I had to take several breaks reading this. Ahem. Anyway.
It feels so good to finally find a writer's voice that resonates with the core of your being. James Baldwin makes me feel so grateful for the privilege of being able to read, and for the education I received that has allowed me to appreciate his works.
It feels so good to finally find a writer's voice that resonates with the core of your being. James Baldwin makes me feel so grateful for the privilege of being able to read, and for the education I received that has allowed me to appreciate his works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Misogyny