nortsapa's reviews
60 reviews

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

i’m just gonna give you the reaction to finishing this book i sent to my friends 

AAAAAAAAUAGHHH
I JUST FINISHED IT
holy shit
holy shit
life changing book
books for the doomed romantic in you
books for the dead lover in you
books for the widow and for the corpse in you

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, and War

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing 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

oh my god i loved every second of this book

The Land of Crimson Clouds by Arkady Strugatsky

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I read a translation done by my friend, so content may vary depending on the version you’re reading

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg

hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Fucking Trans Women: A Zine About the Sex Lives of Trans Women by Mira Bellwether

emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Pockets by Amal El-Mohtar

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

AAAAA I LOVE THIS STORY

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

kira my beloved 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

this book really hasn’t aged well? the writing around poverty & music makes me feel like the author isn’t very familiar with the lived experiences of poor folk & musicians (“if you’ve never been xyz you wouldn’t understand” is said a lot) and it has a very j.j. abrams “mystery box” plot style. it prefers being totally unpredictable to having a flowing plot with foreshadowing and the like. many offhand phrases are repeated over and over again (take a shot every time “times being what they are” is said)

i don’t like school settings and i wasn’t really prepared for us to spend 75% of this book in a school, or to encounter quite so much patriarchy. another review says the protagonist is a mary sue and i very much agree.

there’s lots of different fictional races, which i presume is why people say this cast is diverse, but it’s more like there’s russians & jews, the french & italians, the british, and romani people. as a jew, i always feel off-put by kinds of oppression/microaggressions faced by some groups in here, and by the fact that there’s a ‘money race’ for lack of a better term.

at many points the book was a chore to get through, and i was disappointed by the lack of a clean ending. also, lots of grammar/spelling/math errors in my edition?

overall i won’t be recommending it to anyone myself, but it’s a genre staple and fun to talk about with friends. definitely check the content warnings area before embarking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

graphic depictions of whipping a child, pickup artistry, anti-sex work, timeskips

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

this was the first tolkien i ever read and i’m frankly insufferable about it, love this book so much

Soft Science by Franny Choi

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective

5.0

oh my god everything franny choi touches turns to gold