jan_coco_day's reviews
132 reviews

Hampton Heights by Dan Kois

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

More of a dark fairy tale than true horror. The Changeling by way of Monster Squad. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Cursing

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede

2.0

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey

adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

My favorite part was when everyone discovered that Holden does not have a special chosen one immunity to the blindness epidemic, he is just full of anticancer medication which is killing off the harmful bacteria because it's literal job is to stop cellular growth.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: War

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

What does it mean to want to preserve a language/culture? What does it mean to revive a language/culture? What is the difference between an impression and an opinion? 

Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

challenging funny informative reflective sad

5.0

This is HOW THE WORD IS PASSED by way of THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS. Like Clint Smith, Hylton traces the history of a physical monument to America's legacy of slavery, this one a psychiatric hospital in Maryland, and traces the line from hospitalizations of Black men in psychiatric institutions to incarceration in criminal institutions of today. There are plenty of villains, but also heroes in this history. 

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is the perfect place to insert a spiritual element to this saga because humanity is literally at the edge of known space. Representatives from many of humanity's religions are headed towards the edge of space, but only one of them suspects that the person who needs spiritual/soul guidance the most is someone who started the journey with them. Anna and Melba/Clarissa's story is by far the most compelling in the book, particularly Melba's slow descent into insanity after her first murder.

I am disheartened to learn that in this near future, there is still no cure nor relief from migraine attacks. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail

The Sister: North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the Most Dangerous Woman in the World by Sung-Yoon Lee, Sung-Yoon Lee

informative tense

3.0

The Kim family do not govern a country. They own a country. The people there are their property. Their foreign policy is to make outrageous demands while threatening and insulting foreign leaders, only to walk it back once they get what they want. And, alarmingly, the Republic of Korea is bowing to all of their wishes. This is most visible, not in Kim Jung Un, but in his sister Kim Yo Jong, chief propagandist, internal administrator, and the first woman to ever issue a nuclear weapons strike threat. According to experts like Sung-Yoon Lee, Yo Jong is being groomed to take over as North Korean leader in the event of Jung Un's death. Girl boss? 

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

Juliet: The Life and Afterlives of Shakespeare's First Tragic Heroine by Sophie Duncan

informative

4.0

Duncan expertly tracks Juliet's innumerable incarnations from the (male) actors the role was written for, to society's obsession with dead girls, to how she is a symbol of almost anything throughout history from colonial powers to rebellion, from ancient values to current values (fun fact: fascist Italy used Juliet as a symbol of their values--even though she couldn't be more antifascist). Duncan even profiles real couples who have been named "Romeos" and "Juliets" in recent history. 

In searching for Juliet, Duncan searches for the soul of womanhood and sacrifice. 

One of my best reads of 2023.

The Orphanage of Gods by Helena Coggan

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Contains very cool world-building. The downside of cool world-building is that I want to know more backstory than what is available in the text. Genetics are usually more complex (messier) than what is presented here, but the author's timeline only encompasses one generation (sort of), so perhaps there hasn't been enough time allocated for more complex genetics.