sarah984's reviews
486 reviews

Cinder Ella, by Tami Veldura, S.T. Lynn

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.0

This was fine - I thought some parts of it were really sweet (for example the scene where Lilly helps Ella do her makeup in the bathroom) but other parts were a bit weird (for example a really long scene about eating sushi at the ball). The romance was kind of boring but I did like the tie in with the roses. I don't really get why the stepmother wanted Ella to wear a dress to the ball in the first place (like she says it's to humiliate her but if she wants to wear dresses and used to do so regularly why would it bother her?) and it probably would have worked better having her sneak out. There were also a few irritating typos. Overall though simple sweet story with a positive message.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Excrement, and Racism

A Million to One, by Adiba Jaigirdar

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

This was a very weird book experience for me. I thought the concept of a group of teenage girls working together on a high seas heist sounded fun and exciting, but unfortunately somehow not much happens. The characters are all kind of bland and same-y (except that one had this constant low key racist mental monologue going on, which was kind of weird for a character who was clearly meant to be sympathetic) and a lot of things are glossed over. The characters made inexplicable decisions

Spoiler

(why would seeing a scary guy heading your way make you decide to get out of the life boat?????)

and the use of real people felt borderline disrespectful, particularly matron Wallis

Spoiler

(who steals something from one of the girls for no reason)

and Phillips.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Death, and Confinement

Minor: Body shaming, Classism, Misogyny, Racism, and Abandonment

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson

adventurous dark sad 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

4.0

I was a little skeptical about this book because I keep seeing it recommended alongside other books I didn't like very much, and the 'take an empire down from the inside' storyline can often be kind of cheesy. I'm glad I gave the book a chance (even though it hurt me severely) - this was a tragic story with fascinating characters that never lets you forget for a second the cost of empire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, Death, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Torture, Xenophobia, Animal death, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Child death, Pedophilia, Ableism, Addiction, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

A Scatter of Light, by Malinda Lo

hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I started out really liking this book and I loved the ending, but there are so many inexplicable writing decisions made in the middle that it wound up disappointing me. The parts about Aria learning to appreciate the perspectives of the adults in her life, going to the dyke march and the music festival, and trying to make art were really compelling but the romance was just... it was bad. The LI is older and already has a girlfriend and it's impossible to see what she could possibly see in this bland 18 year old that would make her act out like that.

Spoiler

Aria is also like... there is a scene where she finds out a relative might be dying and all she can think about is cheating with this woman again.

Also imo the sex scenes were way too graphic - yeah I'm an adult and I read adult books but also I do not want to know what is going where in YA.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death

Minor: Dementia, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Cancer, Drug use, Transphobia, Bullying, and Classism

Tell Me an Ending, by Jo Harkin

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I was so excited for this book because the memory removal concept holds so much potential, but almost nothing in this book worked for me. The most interesting chapters were Noor's because they explored what working in the clinic was actually like. Most of the characters were disagreeable in uninteresting ways and every time there was suspense it was resolved in the most boring way possible. The ending dragged on way longer than it needed to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Death, Injury/injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Confinement, Incest, Islamophobia, Sexism, Vomit, Child death, and Homophobia

Dead Silence, by S.A. Barnes

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The idea of this book was good - sort of a Titanic meets Event Horizon thing where the main characters find a ghost ship that messes with their perceptions - but the execution did not work for me. The MC's specific non ghost ship related mental health problems were all over the place, but not in a way that was interesting or compelling. The dual timeline thing that only happens for like half the book did not work. The pacing was so slow until about the 70% mark. Most of the actually interesting things happen off screen. The thing that is causing the problem is immediately obvious but no one figures it out. The characters are very vague stereotypes and the romance is deeply stupid. For some reason the same things that were just shown are reiterated over and over like you might not notice (like the character will see a gold faucet and be like "wow! Ostentatious displays of wealth bad!" every single time). I did like the way they solved the problem at the end though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Vomit

Sufferance: A Novel, by Thomas King

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Fascinating little novel - kind of a combination of contemporary character study and satire, with a little bit of thriller in the background. Some people won't like the ambiguous ending but I don't think there was really a way to end it more definitively that wouldn't have come off a bit silly. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Child death, Colonisation, Medical content, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Murder, Racism, Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide

Mary: An Awakening of Terror, by Nat Cassidy

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This was just okay for me. It was way too long and unfocused in places but it had a few good scares and some of the stuff with the ghosts was great. I get what the author was trying to say with the ending but I'm not 100% sure it worked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Medical content, Injury/injury detail, Police brutality, Stalking, Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Child death

Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville

adventurous dark 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

3.5

This book definitely shows its age in some areas (at one point the author uses the word "autistic" in such a strange way that I still have no idea what he was trying to indicate, the plotline that pops up near the end and then immediately peters out also feels very dated) but overall I enjoyed this. The world felt original and the stakes always felt high. The characters were kind of awful but in a way that felt like it was on purpose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Addiction, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Injury/injury detail, Police brutality, Slavery, Xenophobia, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Child abuse, Confinement, Dementia, Drug use, Rape, Classism, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Pedophilia, Vomit, War, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science, by Dr. Jessica Hernandez

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

There is a lot of good, valuable information in this book, but the lack of editing makes it a difficult read, both on the basic prose level (words and sentences repeated) and on the level of the information provided (misattributed quotation, mixing up fair and free trade, describing England as an Eastern European nation).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Genocide, War, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Slavery and Child death