reubenalbatross's reviews
442 reviews

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This was a great collection. All the stories have really distinct voices, which is refreshing. So often anthologies feel pretty one note in terms of voice, but Butler is great at creating individual vibes in each. I also loved seeing the progression of her talent as the anthology went on, the last two stories are absolute stunners.
 
 Bloodchild - 4.5 stars

Interesting ideas and freaky-deaky.
I was rather confused by Butler's afterword which stated this isn’t a story about slavery... They literally sell the humans to be unwilling hosts for impregnation, and in the past kept them drugged up in pens waiting for them to shag to breed the next generation of hosts. Sounds a lot like a form of slavery to me... even if it’s a kind of trade to keep them safe from the other aliens, it's still very much slavery.

  The Evening and the Morning and the Night - 4.5 stars

Really interesting ideas - but I wish it had gone further! I wanted more darkness and discussions around eugenics. This would actually make a great novel, I'm sad Butler didn't think so herself.

  Near of Kin - 3.5 stars

Well written as always, but seemed pretty pointless and tame. Especially with no sci-fi element to spruce it up.

  Speech Sounds - 5 stars
 
Really interesting and kinda spooky.
 
 Crossover - 4.25 stars

Good. Nothing special, but solid.

  Positive Obsession - 5 stars

A fab essay, which gave an amazing overview of Butler's writing career and made me like her even more than I already did.

  Furor Scribendi - 4 stars

Would definitely be more useful for a budding writer than me. But I completely agree with the 'persist' sentiment.
Interesting that she contributed to an L. Ron Hubbard project. I didn’t realise he was held in such high regard as a fantasy writer.
 
 Amnesty - 5 stars

Obviously a very rushed editing/proof reading job, but absolutely superb story.

  Book of Martha - 5 stars
 
Impeccable. Perfect for a short story. Truly made me question my own ethics in a way not much art can.

The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I’m actually fascinated by the fact I didn’t hate this book… I read the first in the series via audio a couple of years ago and absolutely despised it. Was the audiobook really so bad that it made me hate a good series? Is the first book just poor quality compared to the rest? Did I not pay proper attention to the first book? 

But holy shit am I glad I picked this up (thanks to BooksWithEmilyFox).

Actually being in the abandoned world?? Divine. I was a little disappointed when I figured out those sections were set in the past, rather than present, but it was still amazingly done.

 

Also loved that my predication while reading the first book about Fetch being

immortal

was proven right. 

There were a couple of things about this that mean I can’t give it a full 5-star rating, and I think both are to some extent products of the time these books were written (not that that’s an excuse). 

One is that Brenna was almost always referred to as ‘the albino’. The way it was written was very much othering just because of her albinism, whereas any number of other descriptions could have been used in place which would have been much more effective and less damaging to anyone reading the book with albinism. 

I also thought Kelsea’s physical changes often verged on fatphobia. Every time it was mentioned, Kelsea essentially equated being fat with not being beautiful. E.g. “yards of extra material in the small of Kelsea's back now, where the fabric had always stretched tight for her entire life. She had transformed, become something more than herself, become extraordinary”. This definitely all could have been written with a little more tact. 

But, overall, a very surprisingly enjoyable and original read. 

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

adventurous mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.0

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I tend to stay away from YA these days, but this one felt substantial enough for me to take it seriously and for it to be a solid read. 

There were some things that annoyed me though: 

- Stiefvater’s seemingly made-up lore about Owain Glyndwr’s body being brought to America just to be able to exploit the myth for the book. It’s actually wild how obsessed American authors are with Owain Glyndwr – just because you have none of your own legends, doesn’t mean to get to steal and bastardise ours. It’s kinda gross. 

- It also pissed me off that Stiefvater (once again, an AMERICAN) wrote that the NHS had 'failed' one of the character’s mothers by not curing her cancer?? Absolutely wild coming from an American, and so unnecessary. Take a look at your own pathetic state of healthcare affairs before attacking ours for no reason. 

- In the boy's chapters it could be pretty difficult to tell whose thoughts were who's - it jumps around all over the place without giving names. 

- Noah. I know his involvement was all part of the big reveal, but the wishy-washy way Stiefvater wrote him really got on my nerves until it made sense at the reveal. 

- The last line was also really weird. It didn't feel like a cool intrigue as author (I assume) intended, it just felt like I’d missed something. And I’d never clocked the raven was called Chainsaw lol. 

But in saying all of this, I do still stand by my 4-star rating – so it must be a pretty solid book! 

The Haar by David Sodergren

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

Holy crap this was amazing. Very probably my favourite horror of all time. 

I cried NON-STOP through the first 40 pages. I love Muriel. She might be the closest I've ever seen myself portrayed in a book. And she was basically living my nightmare in those first five chapters. 

Then I became entranced. 

Then completely fucking horrified. 

What an incredible book. Tender, traumatic, and terrifying. 

My first Sodergren, but definitely not my last. 

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.

Ooof, this book has issues. One of the most egregious being a privileged American with Indian heritage writing about some of the poorest and most problematic elements of rural Indian culture. When I first started noticing the lack of authenticity in Shroff’s voice, I did some research on her background. From the information I’ve been able to find, Shroff does have relatives in India and visits somewhat regularly, but her family seem pretty well off and live in a big city – meaning she has no lived, or really even any close to lived, experience of the rural villages she is writing about. 

It's also very telling that the 2 reviews in the top 20 on Goodreads that are from obviously own-voice readers are critical of this. From Srivalli Rekha’s review on Goodreads: 

“I cannot ignore the attempts at presenting a poor, pathetic, ugly, dirty India with Indians who can’t think beyond caste and religion. This has been an image the developed countries love and expect from third-world countries. I’m tired of authors catering to such needs and playing an earnest brown sepoy. 
I won’t deny the existence of ugly in my country. But we have so much good too. We have people working for equality, balance, and overall growth of the country. Presenting a more balanced view wouldn’t make one any less of an activist.” 

And the fact that Shroff was using this setting to talk about so many aspects of women’s rights/oppression just made this inauthenticity feel even more shallow. As an English person, if an American who had grown up wealthy in America, but had English parents, wrote a book about one of the poorest parts of England and essentially turned it into poverty porn, I’d be mightily pissed off. The same applies here. 

Aside from this, there were plenty of other issues, including: 

The opening chapter was INSANELY fatphobic for no reason. In the scene, the only one of the four women who is described physically in detail is the fat one, and it’s almost talked about like it's a moral failing. She “blotted her upper lip with the back of her wrist. Fresh sweat bloomed quickly.”?? There are multiple references to how she used to be 'slender', and the writing definitely equates this with her being a nicer person in the past. 

Every time she’s mentioned in the first 6 pages her weight is brought up, again, FOR NO REASON. In comparison, we barely get any physical description of the main character, let alone the other two women. She’s also the most villainised of the four, which really just adds salt to the wound. And 33% into the book there hasn’t been a lick of commentary about these thoughts being problematic, so clearly Shroff just thinks she used totally acceptable descriptions. Gross. 

I never figured out when the book was set. The first three chapters had information that implied it was set in the 80s, but then in chapter 4 it’s mentioned Geeta used a mobile phone almost 20 years in the past? So it must be modern day? But 138 pages in I’m still not 100% certain when it’s set. No modern technology has been mentioned apart from that one liner about mobiles. I've googled pretty much every 'real life' thing mentioned (from rupee exchange rates, to laws, to celebrities), and it’s definitely not any earlier than the 90s. But it shouldn't be this difficult to work out! I shouldn't have to do a deep dive to figure out when a book is set. 

I was also very confused by the loan situation. For such a pillar of the book, Shroff really didn’t explain it enough. We’re literally told Saloni is rich, and Geeta has a pretty sizeable amount of savings (10x the weekly loan amount), so why do either of them need the loan?? If they only need this relatively small amount of money for their businesses, why can’t they just use their own money? Especially Geeta, with no-one to hold her back. 

And finally, the characters are really nasty people who dart between emotions at the drop of a hat for no reason. It made conversations extremely hard to follow, and I never got invested as they’re all so vile. 
 
Not for me, thanks. 

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

 

11% in and I can’t continue with this, it’s enraging me. Most of it was as a British person being annoyed by an American’s poor attempt at writing Welsh characters. The writing is also SO bloated, it definitely needed more editing. 

This is the list of things that annoyed me most in the 29 pages I read: 

Rhys (Welsh character) talking about it raining –- 

"that it started pissing down" 

This is NOT how we use ‘pissing’ – it is always ‘pissing it down’, the rain doesn’t start ‘pissing down’.  

Pubs in the UK don’t have open bowls of snacks these days, and never in my 27 years of life living in the UK have I seen one, especially in a country pub. 

In one sentence describing Rhys' father's study –- 

"There was black wood, more velvet..." 

The very next paragraph –- 

"Not one velvet item... in the whole place." 

Which one is it?? 

Rhys’ father chiding Rhys for how long he’s been away – 

"Half a year," his father replied because why say a normal thing like "six months"?" 

There's truly no fucking difference??? What is there for Rhys to be annoyed about in that? Half a year is just as normal as six months, maybe even more so! 

"A hundred years ago, his ancestor" 

Really, calling someone who’s probably only your great-grandparent an 'ancestor'? That’s not normal. 

"Rhys lifted his hand to give his brother a double-fingered salute" 

1. A British person would never call it that, especially using 'salute' 

2. This is a middle finger moment, none of that bullshit two finger nonsense. 

It's definitely not worth me pushing through this for what, as far as I can see, is an extremely mediocre book. Farewell. 

The Will of the Many by James Islington
Did not finish book. Stopped at 58%.

I really thought this book would be good. Yes, it’s popular with the ‘masses’, which is usually a sure sign I’ll hate a book, but I’ve also seen many people who align with my tastes give it 5 stars, so I had pretty high hopes. Oh boy, was I disappointed. 

This book is not what it’s sold as, not what I think Islington thought he was writing. It isn’t any sort of complex, grand fantasy like Tad Williams or John Gwynne. It’s a (pretty poorly written) YA 2010s dystopian story with underdeveloped fantasy elements thrown into the mix. It’s just recycled tropes repackaged in flimsy Roman inspired packaging. 

The beginning was one of the clunkiest openings I’ve ever read. Loads of worldbuilding was shoved pretty unceremoniously into the first two chapters, but I still didn't understand what was going on. However, the structure of the world did seem pretty complex, so I was willing to give all of this some grace if it improved as the book went on. It didn’t. The magic was never properly explained, even though it was an essential part of the plot, and the info dumps only got slightly less obtrusive. 

The info dumps were certainly not helped by the book being written in first person. Sharing information in first person can be done, but takes a lot more skill than Islington apparently has. The story would be trucking along nicely, then for literally no other reason than to tell the reader something, Vis goes on a detailed inner monologue ramble about the basic concepts of a world he would NEVER have to actually think about. When he was around other people, talking to them, and actually learning new things the problem decreased, but it was pretty horrendous at the beginning. 

The main character being called Vis really fucked me off. Three letter names that are clearly rip-offs of Vin from Mistborn are so prevalent in modern fantasy writing, and for what reason??? It is really so hard to have an ounce of originality??? The nail in the coffin, as is often the case, being that Mistborn is literally mentioned on the dustjacket as one of Islington’s inspirations… There’s inspiration, then there’s blatant copying. 

Coming on to the writing style – it’s pretty goddamn bad. Some of it is insanely repetitive for no reason. For example, the following are the last sentences from three consecutive chapters: 

“one morning I'm dressing for my journey to the naumachia” 

“We've arrived at the naumachia” 

“Below, the naumachia begins.” 

Would it kill to have just a teeny bit of variation?? 

It was also just incredibly clunky. Sometimes I can find adjusting to a new writing style takes a bit of time, but 360 pages in I still felt it, so it clearly wasn’t a me problem. For example: 

"Dawn is bright and clear the morning of the day I leave for the Academy." 

It’s sentences like this that are a lot of the problem. So many extra words that are completely unnecessary and ruin the flow. 

Then coming to the plot, in which everything was WAY too easy for Vis. He just breezes through everything, and every idea he has works out well for him, which should definitely not be the case in a world that is totally against him on all sides. Even when something does go wrong, it still ends up working to his advantage, and by the half-way point of the book I knew everything was going to turn out fine, so the stakes were non-existent. The one quote from Vis that tipped me over the edge was:

 "I've been unimaginably lucky" 

Yeah, LIKE YOU ARE ALL THE TIME, yet he says it completely sincerely, and like nothing ever goes right for him. This all compounded into a lot of depth being missing from the book, as I never felt any tension, even during events Islington was trying to make the reader believe were life or death. 

The plot as a whole was also pretty unbelievable. It was absolutely wild that we were meant to believe that all of this secret ruin stuff had never been leaked. Big fuck off massive buildings on a relatively empty island, full of some of the brightest kids in the country, and no-one apart from Ulciscor has thought to investigate them?? And the only person to successfully get past these crazily heighted security measures was our special, perfect, not like the other boys 17-year-old with two months of training?? Insane. 

As soon as I got to the part about the injured puppy, my eyes audibly rolled into the back of my brain. Without a SHADOW of a doubt, I know it’s going to end up being Vis’ bestest friend in the whole wide world. SUCH an overdone trope at this point. This, combined with the reveal of the labyrinth being training for whatever is in that cavern, was the last straw for me. I’ve got too many good books to read to waste on this poorly written rehashing of every fantasy book ever written. 
 
I’d say I’m baffled by the wall of 5-star reviews this book has received, but unfortunately, in reality I’m not all that surprised. From reviews, as is quite common for popular books, this was a lot of peoples 'first proper fantasy', which explains the worryingly rave reviews. It’s like baby's first fantasy. Even so, reading these 5-star reviews is actually quite concerning - one of the best books you’ve ever read??? Most of them are about the 'amazing ending', and I know from past experience that shock endings can really affect how someone initially rates a book. 

Talking of the ending, I did spoil myself, and my god am I happy I DNF’d. If nothing else makes it obvious that this book belongs in the depths of the 2010s, that sure did. 

Overall, this book has a truly great premise, and one that I was really hoping to love, but a completely lacklustre everything else. I didn’t completely hate what I did read of it. Some of the plot points were really interesting, the twists shocking at times, and if the magic system had actually been fleshed out properly, I think I’d really like it. Unfortunately, it really needed more time to cook, and honestly probably another round of editing. I can excuse one or more of the criticisms I’ve highlighted above if the rest of the book is strong, but this one gave me absolutely nothing. 

Into the Narrowdark by Tad Williams

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

Fuck ME this was AMAZING. I’m constantly in awe of Williams’ writing, and how he manages to elevate his craft with each instalment of this series. In my opinion, this was a flawless book. 

**SPOILERS INCOMING** 

The only issue I had with the story was almost completely of my own making, and I don’t think Williams can really be blamed for it. And that was the developing relationship between Nezeru and Morgan. As I progressed through these three books, and put together who Nezeru is, I was expecting more of a family reunion vibe when the two of them met – I’d read so much about their families and how they were interlinked, it seemed inevitable. How wrong I was… This meant that when they first shagged I was completely horrified, until I figured out how distantly related they actually are and realised its not that big of a deal. I think in my head I had been so set on the family reunion idea that it obscured the reality of the situation. 

But my God does this book (and series) smash almost all other fantasy out of the water. It’s so beautifully written, has incredible amounts of depth, and is overall such an amazing and unique read. 

Everything about Utuk’ku dying was fascinating. The Norns will only survive if they change their ways, but their entire existence is based on being fiercely loyal to their ways and never straying. The cognitive dissonance this creates, leading Nezeru and other Norns to essentially deprogramme from their cult was SO interesting. 

Simon’s death was traumatic. I felt like I’d lost a friend. Definitely spiralled a little at that point and almost went into mourning. And his and Miriamele’s Romeo and Juliet death storylines were so beautifully tragic. 

I was also (and still am after reading) utterly fucking terrified over the prospect of Pryrates returning. It’s the most freaked out a character has ever made me, and I read loads of horror. It was truly making me feel sick at points, and every time there was the chance that something was him my heart stopped still. The tunnels, aghhhhh. If Williams ever switches to pure horror novels, I think it might be game over for me. Either Williams is a genius, or I’m putting way too much ‘hope’ into the prospect of a Pryrates return… 

And that God damn ‘battle’ at Asu’a. Holy Christ. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that could come close to how it made me feel. I was literally there with the characters, close to hyperventilating, tears streaming. I felt the desperations, pain, and abject terror so acutely. I almost never react emotionally during battle scenes, usually only when they’re over, but Williams really got to me, and destroyed me. 

This quote before the Sithi joined the fight really got to me: 

“What can we do?” 

“What can true hearts ever do?" Jiriki asked. "Whatever good they can manage before the end of things." 😭😭😭

So, there we have it. Another masterpiece from Williams. Would give it 100 stars if I could. An amazing series, and one I’m pretty scared to end – the name of it leaves a constant haze of dread over the story, especially when I think ahead to how it may end… 

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book had SO much potential, and unfortunately didn’t quite live up to it. 

Throughout, I really appreciated the discussions on gender identity. I’d never appreciated that eunuch = gender nonconformity. This book made me realise this link within a few lines, and how gender nonconformity really has been around as long as humanity has been in existence. 

There’s also so much subtext, with so many ideas/meanings/comments on humanity in every paragraph - and they're all implied, not said straight out. Almost all of the writing, especially at the beginning, was all show, no tell, which I LOVED. There really is such depth in Parker-Chan’s writing, and her writing style is truly beautiful. 

The beginning section was absolutely amazing, and I had really high hopes. However, as the story progressed, the repetitive fighting and wresting cities from one another got really stagnant and tires towards the end. I lost a lot of interest in where the story was going. 

This also wasn’t helped that as the story progressed, things just kept getting skipped over. I feel like the time jump after the monastery made sense, but other times we were just told important plot developments, rather than experiencing them ourselves. It took a lot of the emotion and impact out of the story. 

I also wasn't completely convinced by Zhu's motivations towards the end. I get that she’s on an evil arc, but we're never told WHY she wants power so much. After it helped her get out of abject poverty, the reasons we were given in the beginning of the book became moot. And then we're never told why she wants to keep going, only that she wants to. Even if it were for nefarious reasons I wouldn't have an issue, but it’s hard to understand why she’s willing to do all this shitty stuff, just to be emperor. No other reason. We're never told what she thinks is so great about power after it’s helped her initially. 
 
So yeah, overall, a promising book that unfortunately fizzled out. I will most likely read the next instalment though. Hopefully it has fewer military shenanigans… 

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I thought the Noise would be good via audio, and I was right. It added a great element to the experience. 

My overall experience was slightly ruined because I remember most of the big twists, which is one of the bigger reasons for this not being a full 5-stars. 

But its absolutely awesome to know that a book I first read and loved so long ago still holds up. And what a banger of an ending – I’m so glad I hadn’t remembered it. Not enough books end in disaster these days.