booksthatburn's Reviews (1.46k)

Steel Crow Saga

Paul Krueger

DID NOT FINISH: 1%

Too visually detailed for me, doesn't mix well with aphantasia.

The Faerie Godmother's Apprentice Wore Green

Nicky Kyle

5.0

adventurous reflective 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

Content Warnings

The Genesis of Misery

Neon Yang

DID NOT FINISH: 12%

The amount of visual detail is too much for my aphantasia.

Content Warnings

The High King

Lloyd Alexander

5.0

adventurous reflective sad

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

The Terracotta Bride

Zen Cho

5.0

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

Midnight at the Houdini

Delilah S. Dawson

DID NOT FINISH: 28%

Content Warnings

Printed Guns & Sold Schematics

S.J. Klapecki

reflective tense medium-paced

For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.

Content Warnings

The Plastic People

Tobias S. Buckell

funny reflective medium-paced

For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.

Content Warnings

A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope

Patrice Caldwell

3.5

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

A PHOENIX FIRST MUST BURN celebrates Black Girl Magic in a literal and metaphorical sense. I like a few of the stories, but the overall collection was uneven. Several end abruptly in a way that feels like they needed more space to develop. There were a few standouts which make the collection worth perusing. “When Life Hands You A Lemon Fruitbomb” is the collection’s opener. I love it, if the whole anthology had been like it I’d be raving over it. “A Hagiography of Starlight” is one where it felt complete but I want there to be more, it’s a fantastic world which I want to explore. “Melie” inverts several "chosen one" tropes in some cool ways, with an irreverent feeling. “Letting The Right One In” is marred only by referencing books by an author who wasn’t widely known to suck when this collection was written (though it’s not the only one to do so). "Sequence" is a good choice for ending the anthology, it's excellently written and well-placed in the collection.

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Homophobia, Mental illness, Xenophobia

"When Life Hands You a Lemon Fruitbomb" - CW for confinement, torture, war, death. "Gilded" - CW for pregnancy, blood, injury detail, slavery, parental death, death. "Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death and, Subsequently, Her Best Life" - CW for racism, gun violence, injury detail, murder, death. "The Rules of the Land" - CW for vomit, alcohol, alcoholism, domestic abuse, pregnancy, parental death. Minor CW for xenophobia, sexual content, animal death, war. "A Hagiography of Starlight" - CW for adult/minor relationship. Minor CW for sexual content. "Melie" - CW for blood, violence, war, death. Minor CW for body shaming, self harm, murder. "The Goddess Provides" - CW for grief, sexism, religious bigotry, confinement, excrement, fire/fire injury, gore, blood, violence, injury detail, self harm, torture, murder, parental death, death. "Hearts Turned to Ash" - CW for grief, toxic relationship. "Letting the Right One In" - CW for abandonment. Minor CW for sexual content, mental illness, racism, homophobia. Brief Harry Potter reference. "Tender-Headed" - CW for toxic relationship, toxic friendship. "Kiss the Sun" - CW for colorism, racism, ableism, bullying, infidelity, fire, colonization "The Actress" - Minor CW for sexual content, racism. Brief Harry Potter reference. "The Curse of Love" - CW for parental death, death. "All the Time in the World" - CW for racism. Minor CW for sexual content, war, death. "The Witch's Skin" - CW for sexism, abandonment, sexual content, grief, pregnancy, blood, gore, murder, war, parental death, child death, death. "Sequence" - No major CWs.

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