paperback_cat's reviews
1443 reviews

Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic & Betrayal by Olivie Blake

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective

3.5

Some great stories and some ok stories, which is pretty good for my usual experience with short story anthologies. 
I enjoyed all the philosophy and existential thoughts. There were some really great lines. 
I didn't enjoy the amount of toxic relationships 😅

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense

4.5

Nona 💖💖💖💖💖
The most adorable of this series. But such a juxtaposition to the necromancy war / apocalypse situation going on in the background of Nona's daily life and school friend shenanigans.
I especially loved every single New Zealand reference 💚

This book doesn't take itself seriously at all and so it could almost be terrible but somehow pulls off being amazing.

A great introduction to Alecto, who I will now join everyone else in waiting eagerly for....

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

dark sad tense

3.0

I enjoyed this. It explored death, euthanasia, religion, and corruption in interesting ways. 

I do wish it had done a little more though. There was also some awkward romance/attraction that I thought the story would have been better without.

I am interested to see what the sequel will do though :) 

Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke

dark

2.5

hmmm, this was fine but forgettable. 
Mostly I will remember the throwaway half-line mentioning domestic abuse that came in right at the end that seemed completely unnecessary and unaddressed. Weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse

What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri

informative inspiring

4.5

Definitely worth reading! (and probably re-reading too)
This manages to find a good balance between debunking race as a bullshit concept while not dismissing the effects, and a solid analysis of possible ways towards a better future.

The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex by Tamsyn Muir

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

I enjoyed this for getting to know more about Camilla and Palamedes, but I admit to being very lost with a lot of the world-building around the Sixth House. It was a fun, necromancy locked room mystery though so worth a read for fans of the Locked Tomb series :)

The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier

3.0

The writing and the audiobook narration for these stories is amazing!
And I am so glad to have finally read the source material for The Birds. It does such a great job building the anxiety and horror of the situation.
But... the other stories weren't really to my taste. Monte Verita was ok, but the other stories were mostly awful, shallow people being awful and shallow until a plot twist at the end. And none of the plot twists were good enough for me to appreciate the story for what it was.

Malice by John Gwynne
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.

DNF at 50%
I tried but I don't think this series is for me.
The writing is so clunky, the characters are so boring, the world is so generic.
Every scene feels surface level and I can't bring myself to care  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

The Trials of Koli by M.R. Carey

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

4.0

This is such an enjoyable post-apocalyptic sci-fi :) Koli is a loveable idiot, but luckily the women around him are bad-ass. I do wish that this 2nd book in the series had a bit more tech, as those are always my favourite parts of these books. I love the way the characters misunderstand the tech and the world around them but are on a journey of slow discovery. And after that ending I am hyped for the final book in the trilogy!

Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin

funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I loved the framing of this as we only get the programmed voice inside the head of the main character as they go on a mission to what they are expecting to be the ruined remains of our planet. It's very satisfying going along on the journey with them and there's many cathartic lines.

I do think it's important to note that this story doesn't claim that the views of the voice in the head are common in our world. In fact, the whole point is that only a few are causing so many problems. The real trick of this story is to embrace the perspective of those 'left behind' rather than those doing the Great Leaving. I do think this story can be viewed as quite hopeful when looked at that way :)

I am also astounded by the number of people in the reviews for this book saying that they read sci-fi for escapism and not politics 👀👀👀 I'm pretty sure pure escapism is not why a lot of sci-fi writers are WRITING sci-fi...