sp1derfairy's reviews
141 reviews

Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 11 by Kamome Shirahama

4.0

oh my god i love agott and coco’s friendship so much they make me want to cry. i love that they are foils to each other and make each other better people. they’re literally in love. agott my beloved selfish and far too hardworking girl. 

Carmilla: A Vampyre Tale by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.0

for its simplicity, i really enjoyed this! i love queer vampires and i found carmilla’s character extremely tragic and i adore her complicated and unhealthy relationship with laura. i love the ways they loved each other or failed to. 

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

good god she has so much anxiety. this is how i felt before i went to therapy honestly. it made it very hard to listen to at some points as i was practically begging her NOT to do something and she did it anyway. overall, it was a bit too meandering for me, but it did make me think twice about the things in life i take for granted. i haven’t been very existential recently, for better or for worse. i can’t say i loved any of the characters, but i enjoyed this books 

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Did not finish book. Stopped at 16%.

it’s not compelling me. i only ever liked gideon really and i dislike the narrator for this audiobook. 

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

suuuper boring. characters weren’t compelling and they were so unlikeable that i was just sick of them. characters don’t have to likeae to be effective, but they just weren’t either of those things. i was expecting more thrill i’d say. 

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

Machado’s prose is absolutely beautiful and her storytelling is so
vivid and effective. There were so many painfully relatable aspects of this memoir and it leaves a deep emotional impact on me. I love all of her narrative decisions, especially the use of 2nd perspective. Beautiful story all around. 

I love the bridge between her personal story and the effects of this personal story on society and I think she interlinks the two well. But I am excited for a time when we don’t have to constantly justify our existences. 

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i’m not huge on short story compilations, but i really enjoyed quite a few in this one. the peach one, the physicist one, and the jael one stick out to me the most, especially in their prose. it was really beautiful stuff. i love how these stories follow desire and the life of women in churches and their relationships with god and the people around them. each character in every story is written so well and so human. 

janina edwards is an incredible narrator and brings each character to life in a unique way. she embodies each person and i love it. 

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

3.0

finally finished this oh my god. the story and worldbuilding wasn’t compelling me for most of this, but i enjoy the characters and the evolution of harrow & gideon’s relationship. i’ll probably finish the series with audiobooks cause i’m mildly interested. 

Living Memory by Christopher L. Bennett

medium-paced

3.0

i really enjoyed this star trek novel. i love that it dives into uhura’s history, her characterization, and the effects of nomad upon her life. the lack of continuity and consequences in TOS is always the thing that has bothered me the most, so it’s refreshing to see a story centered around both of those. 

i like how self-reflective this book is (i mean that’s the entire theme), and it is very fitting. i enjoy bennett’s exploration of star trek and i really enjoy his characterizations. he’s a very nice writer. 

the dialogue becomes a little hard to read sometimes because of the hanging quotation marks, which i thought was an odd choice. 

i really enjoyed the author’s notes at the end and how many sources bennett consulted to create this. i love how star trek novels are such dedicated forms of fan fiction, it’s very sweet.  

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

2.5

I liked the first book more than this one, but I enjoyed seeing Annabeth and Percy grow closer and I loved Clarisse’s character development. Tyson was super random, but I liked him and I liked how Percy was challenged by his embarrassment. I liked that this book delved more into Poseiden’s (and by extension the gods as a whole) treatment of him and his siblings. 

I like that I’m more familiar with Odysseus’ adventures, but I can’t say I really cared for a book revolving around them as much.