booksthatburn's Reviews (1.46k)

The initial worldbuilding is immersive and dizzying, a firehose of terms as if to impress indelibly the near-future-ness of the setting. Unfortunately, it was too much for me to track, too quickly, and I stopped a couple of chapters in. If the goal was to communicate the stress the characters were under, it certainly did that, but not in a way I could keep up with.

Sal was in a car accident six years ago and no longer remembers her life before the tapeworm which saved her life. Now she has a boyfriend she loves, a family she mostly gets along with, and a lot of medical testing from the company whose engineered parasite made her current existence possible. 

I like Sal as a narrator. She's good at communicating things clearly when she's aware of them as factors, and that's very helpful in a story where a lot of the narrative tension at first is from the gaps between what she wants to do, what she can do, and what people expect of her.

Nathan is a great partner for Sal, they work very well together and I'm so glad that their relationship isn't fodder for tension in this already pretty stressful situation. Sal's family is doing their best to connect with her but they fundamentally view her as a replacement for the Sally they lost. Sometimes they view this as an upgrade, and sometimes they seem to resent the changes. Beverly is a very good dog and I like how she's used in the narrative.

Sal is much slower to figure out some things than how quickly it's possible for the reader to put things together from the available information. I happened to know the "twist" beforehand, but this is a book where knowing it ahead of time didn't matter because part of the point is that Sal refuses to connect certain dots. This lets it accompany any pace of reader awareness, since the reveal will make sense no matter when an observer figures it out. 

I've read a lot of this author's work, both as Seanan McGuire and as Mira Grant. I like this book's version of the abrasive, hermitic scientist in a secret lab doing experiments that a powerful group doesn't want her to, as well as the overly chipper girl who's extremely comfortable with gun and can murder with a smile. They're appropriate archetypes for this story, with enough to distinguish them in this setting that they're familiar without being copies of characters in her other work.

BATTLE ROYALE is the story of forty-two kids pitted against each other in a fight to the death as part of an authoritarian program to see what they do to each other. It's ostensibly data for data's sake, cruelty justified by requiring numbers to crunch. 

I generally have a lot of trouble with character names, but by the midpoint I was able to recognize the most important ones. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, I'll discussing my favorite characters based on general descriptions rather than names. There's "murder boy", which I know ought to be a meaningless moniker in this setting, but he's the one who is described as not having emotions, and decides to partake in the violence based on what might as well be a coin flip in his mind. I have some concerns with this as a portrayal of neurodivergence and/or mental illness, I lump those together when discussing this character because part of the problem is that aside from discussing him as an emotionless and then murderous person there isn't much to go off of. He's clever and methodical, with a savvy about the game which is mostly implied by the way other characters can tell he's succeeded in an encounter with someone who is now dead. My favorite character is guy with a best friend (whom he's not dating). I also like the main trio of characters, the narrative tends to flip between one of the guys in that trio and then moves to one of the other characters before coming back to him.

The web of relationships between forty-two teenagers on the government-run murder island is complicated, and tends to revolve around who likes whom, who the bullies are, which one of them has the bulletproof vest, or who is seeking catharsis in unleashing a hail of bullets. The misunderstandings, violence, assumptions, and last-ditch attempts to communicate a crush before impending the end of their lives are woven together expertly in a way that feels plausible given the setup. The fact that most of these kids have know each other for years in various classes before this means that every kill has personal context, no matter how much they might wish it didn't.

The worldbuilding is communicated in a mix of government propaganda, brief explanations of the current political situation and historical context, and off-hand things the characters say. There's a moment when one of the people running the scenario comments on how he's having his third kid to do his part to offset the declining birthrate. It's a small moment that tells so much about the setting. This one comment speaks to the insidiousness of the government's propaganda, the net effect of randomly killing off a set number of kids every year, and the gap between what the government may have wanted and the actual effect on the population. There are a lot of little moments like this, but that one has stuck with me. It tells so much about the mindset of this person helping hold up a horrific system, and it does so quickly, which is important since this is one of just a couple of times where an adult's perspective is shown. 

A theme which the basic premise of the novel didn't prepare me for is the toxic combination of misogyny and the threat of rape as a weapon. I think it's handled very deftly, with a surprising amount of nuance. This throughline begins with an early reference to someone being raped at the government's order as part the program. I appreciate the way the novel as a whole engages with the horrors of sexual violence, and how it (in at least one case) can warp a person if they are unable to get help to deal with it. There are no scenes of rape in the book itself, but the fact that it's a tool of violence which is available to the teens on the island shows up several times. 

The cadence of the plot provided periods of rest and some really touching scenes amidst the violence. These opportunities to learn more about the characters in turn made the death scenes more tense and emotionally resonant. Sometimes a character's perspective was shown for the first time right as they were about to die, and some characters appeared several times before someone took them out. I appreciated this mix because it kept up the pacing as a thriller and enhanced the dystopian themes all at once. I highly recommend this, and I'm very glad I read it.

A quick note since BATTLE ROYALE was written before THE HUNGER GAMES, but some comparison is warranted: there are a few tropes in common between the books, however the central dynamic in Battle Royale is that of a group of people who have known each for a long time before they are forced to kill each other. That difference alone means that these books feel and play out very differently. It also matters that the only audience in Battle Royale are administrators who have trackers but no cameras. It's not voyeuristic, they're not performing for a crowd, and they know everyone they kill. It's a commentary on authoritarianism instead of a critique of entertainment culture.

At the end of VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN, Darren was told he'd be in a series of trials which would determine whether he'd live or die. The trials are here and they're a torturous gauntlet which test him to the utmost.

This puts a strain on Darren's relationships with the vampires he knows and cares for. Some of them are helping him in the trials, some are judging his efforts, and all of them are complicit in a deeply ableist system which demands he fight for his life just because he was turned into a vampire too young. I'm surprised it doesn't strain his relationship with Mr. Crepsley more than it does, but I guess he needs him right now and is grateful for the help. Harkat Mulds continues to be an excellent character, even though he doesn't get a lot of time in this one, when he does show up it's as spectacular as it is ill-advised.

All the relevant plot backstory is tidily conveyed in the prologue, which was short and sweet. Additional info for specific characters is briefly put the first time each character appears, making it easy to remember who everyone is in case it’s been a while since reading the other books. The vampire society has some pretty ingrained ableism and sexism which Darren notices and comments negatively on. VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN stated an excuse for why there are almost no female vampires, so I’m hoping something happens with that as the series continues.

This is an pretty immediate  continuation of events in VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN, and it tell the story of Darren in the trials which were set up previously. It doesn’t really have a new storyline that didn’t exist before and it’s not trying to. It also ends on its own cliffhanger to be picked up in the next book, so it functions more like the middle section of a larger volume than as its own story. As the middle section of a larger story set at one location, it wouldn’t make sense to start here in terms of the emotional arc. Technically the backstory is explained well enough for it to be easy to follow the plot, but some of the emotional impact and tension would be lost. If you want to jump in mid-series, VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN is a much better entry point. I’m not sure if anything major is both introduced and resolved unless the individual trials count. Darren’s narrative voice sounds basically the same as in the last book, which makes sense since it’s been maybe a day between books, if even that long. 

The plot revolves around the actual trials, with a break in the middle for the council meeting which was the whole purpose of their journey to the mountain in the first place. I like the narrative and the pacing, it's well-placed to be immediately after VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN. By fitting all the trials in one volume it leaves the next book open for the immediate aftermath of this book's ending. I'm excited for the next one, this ending was very tense!

Princess Thanh is trying to reconcile what she wants as the youngest royal child in a small country being pressured by a larger one. She has a strained relationship with her mother, a past romance with one of the royal foreigners, and a strange connection with a girl made of fire. Short and good, this blends interpersonal and political drama as Thanh figures out what she wants and whom she loves.

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book. 

MY LORD follows Meya, a slave, drawn to her master, the Lord, but her every interaction with him pushes her to find new edges to her boundaries… and her kinks.

The characters (specifically but not only Meya and The Lord) are keenly aware of the massively skewed power dynamics in any interaction with The Lord, their master and owner. Consent around sex is emphasized, but it’s in a general framework of the impossibility of consent by a slave towards their master. I think it’s handled well overall, and the tension is used to heighten some scenes, but the characters keep making sure that there is explicit consent for sex acts. As far as anything non-sexual goes, however, the power imbalance comes back in full force in a way that fits the Lord as a character. Meya is also involved with another servant. I like their relationship and Nina is a good complement to her, as a partner and an accomplice in the castle.

There’s a recurring theme where characters are horrified at the possibility of being a “harlot” if their fortunes had gone a bit differently. It’s implied that, due to the ongoing war, anyone in such a position would have been forced into it and so it’s not a choice between sex work and other work, but rather between constant rape and employment by a lord who has hired them for other things (but could demand sex from them at any time). The setting isn’t modern and so it would feel out of place for the characters to even use terms like “sex work”, but it was a bit frustrating to read. Eventually they generally stop thinking of sex work as a negative thing, but not until that’s undeniably what they’re doing themselves.

The plot is focused on the day to day as Meya works for the Lord and grows closer to one of her fellow servants. It’s increasingly erotic as more and more of Meya’s duties revolve around the Lord, and she gets more comfortable with intimacy, then with sex. I like how it solves the “are vampires cannibals” question by having them need to ingest both human flesh and blood. Unless I missed an extremely brief mention, the word vampire doesn’t actually appear, but that’s clearly what’s being evoked. 

I enjoyed this and I’m definitely interested in more stories with these characters. 

Stopping because I’m bored. Since it starts off with one of the two main characters having a vision about how she’ll fall in love with the other one, I immediately felt like any potential romance is pointless, since she wasn’t attracted before having the vision. There’s too little drama for it to be an exciting read, and too much trauma for it to be a soothing read, which hits an uncomfortable middle zone for me. 

I adjusted to the mixed dual-POV style, so this isn’t part of why O stopped, but it definitely threw me at first to have the focus of the third-person omniscient view switch between the two main characters repeatedly within each chapter.

There’s lot of great worldbuilding happening, with some cool details about items, clothing, and architecture, but that ultimately wasn’t enough to hold my interest.

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
 
 "...but there's no right or wrong way to forgive ourselves." 

I like the Odd Fiction series because I never know what I'll get but I know it'll be deeply weird. I've discussed the individual stories below, but as for the collection as whole I'm impressed. The meta-commentary between sections serves as an emotional counterpoint to each section, with objections oscillating between absurdity and emotional veracity. The commentaries after each story sometimes are sometimes completely reasonable objections to the contents, sometimes ad hominem rants against the story by way of the author's character, and in each case the commentaries are part of the broader meta-narrative of the book's existence. My favorite stories are "Lucky Girl Noir", "The Spirit Realm", and "An American Weekend". I love that last one particularly because of the synergy between the story and the reason to burn. Many of the other reasons to burn feel like the person writing them missed the point of the story in some crucial way. This makes them entertaining and thought-provoking, and they usually work for me. In "An American Weekend" there's an emotional cohesion between the story and the reason-to-burn which make them feel like the objection wraps back around to emotionally supporting the reason the story is cathartic in the first place. 

Lucky Girl Noir: This is a good start to the collection. The premise is intriguing, the story is well-executed, and my quibbles are few. I’m pleased that the main character is confidently fat but I wish there weren’t quite so many narrative pauses for fatphobia from other people. Some of the discussions around transness were a bit awkward but made sense in the context of cis characters suddenly grappling with what trans people would mean for a collision of magic with a gender binary. CW for fatphobia, transphobia, alcohol, blood, gun violence, murder, death.

Three Days West: I like this as a kind of parallel worlds story but with no need for portals or magic. CW for alcohol, drug use, fire, blood, violence, gun violence, murder, death.

Zantar: Narratively I appreciate the escalating series of “rescues” for Zantar, where each group attempts to mold him in their image, disdaining and discounting whatever was before. It’s an interesting story but rather bleak. This has a funny but very macabre epilogue as the reason for burning this book. CW for ableism, kidnapping, medical content, medical trauma, vomit, violence, gun violence, parental death, animal death, death.

Sea Creatures: The premise is great and it’s well-told. I’m impressed and amused by the trouble when the siren travels, that was a nice touch. A lot of what I liked best involves little moments with kinds of communication which I don’t want to spoil but I appreciate nonetheless. The romance is genuinely sweet. The style of writing felt a bit sparse, the prose isn’t as smooth as some of the other stories but it’s a well-done story overall. CW for sexual content (brief), slavery (brief), blood, gore, violence (brief), death.

Lizard People Take Orlando: A good effort but not my favorite. It is however a sign of the collection beginning to get really weird, as all best Evan Witmer collections do. CW for transphobia (not depicted), ableist language (brief), racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, excrement (not depicted). TW for reference to J.K. Rowling’s transphobia, Harry Potter references, brief reference to the Pulse nightclub shooting.

The Spirit Realm: Now this is the weird shit. It got a little hard to follow but that’s partly because the protagonist becomes an unreliable narrator due to a combination of previous blackouts and present intoxication. Deadly good fun, I like this one. CW for sexual content, racism, racial slurs, vomit (graphic), alcohol (graphic), drug use, violence, death (graphic).

The Pimp Who Slapped The Ripper: As one more entry in a long line of stories taking advantage of a general lack of knowledge and/or consensus on the identity of Jack the Ripper, this story is fine but not excellent. I enjoyed the scathing critique of it after the official story more than the actual tale, but in this particular collection that’s not actually a bad thing. The story itself is about a pimp in emotional crisis who has a personal realization after tangling with the Ripper. The critique features someone whose main complaint is that the story isn’t gory and fetishistic enough. If that’s your complaint too, then DIGEST is right there, but the misguided complaints (themselves part of the meta-narrative of the collection) made me like the story more through disagreeing with them. CW for sexual content (not depicted), cursing, misogyny, ableism (brief), emotional abuse (brief), alcohol, violence (brief), murder (not depicted), death (not depicted).

Washed: This is a very cool premise, well-told. CW for ableist language (brief), fatphobia (brief), drug use (backstory), blood (brief), vomit (brief), excrement (brief), violence (brief). 

An American Weekend: The contrast between the story and the reason to burn for this one is good. I like how the days are portrayed, and the way the story meanders as it follows the MC through his attempts to process a pretty bad week. CW for cursing, sexism, alcohol, medical content (brief), excrement (brief).

Roadwork: This works well for ending the collection. It’s about loss and moving on when the relevant bureaucracies pointlessly make that process more difficult by denying support. CW for grief (graphic), drug abuse (backstory), car accident, child death, death.

Framing Device CW for fire, animal death. TW for brief Harry Potter mention.

In VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN, Darren and Mr. Crepsley travel to the Vampire Council meeting, along with one of Mr. Tiny's Little People, discovering interesting dangers and meeting even more interesting people in the process.

Visiting the Vampire Mountain provides a wonderful opportunity for a bunch of infodumps of vampire lore as Darren gets tours and history lessons as he waits for the official council meetings to occur. Various characters give him information, often with their own opinions and commentary on the official histories. This means that what might easily have turned into a bunch of lectures instead serves both as very important worldbuilding for the series and demonstrations of various characters’ mindsets about different aspects of Vampire society and their history with the Vampaneze. It’s wonderfully done, which is good since is a substantial portion of the book.

Harkat is one of my favorite characters and I'm so happy he shows up here!

Technically this wrapped up something left hanging from the last book… by finally having Darren change our of the pirate costume got six in-story years ago into another outfit. It has an all-new storyline which relied on some prior information but also introduces a bunch of worldbuilding. The book ends in a cliffhanger, so several major things are introduced and purposefully not resolved this time around. As the book ends Darren is implied to be heading immediately to deal with something made clear in the very last chapter. It’s a bit of a mood whiplash, but it’s actually a consequence of events in the very first book, so it’s simultaneously addressing something left open and setting up something new. It works well and I’m excited to move on to the next book. Darren is still the narrator, but he’s starting to sound older than in the earlier books. It would work okay to start here since it’s setting up a new phase of the series and is good about succinctly explaining any necessary backstory. 

The plot is mostly Darren and Mr. Crepsley travelling to the Vampire Mountain, meeting up with some people on the way, and then Darren getting tours of the mountain. It’s laying a lot of worldbuilding detail in an interesting way, with a couple of pretty interesting fights in the process. It works well in the series but is definitely the kind of book that feel much more significant since I’ve read the series before. It’s not as viscerally horrific as the last couple, and while I find it utterly fascinating that’s partly because this is a re-read for me and this time around I know why a bunch of little things are significant.

I'm very excited to have picked up on some fantastic series-long planning that shows up this early, but it's very spoiler-y so I'll just say that if this one feels unremarkable but good on a first read, it's filled with some very cool stuff for later. At minimum this is when Darren gets to meet a lot of the major players whose alliances and allegiances will shape the rest of the series.