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1.84k reviews by:
caseythereader
- Whew, this book! SOME DESPERATE GLORY has fantastic world building, morally gray characters, "are we the baddies?," a dash of queerness, and a freaking fantastic couple of twists that I will try not to give away here. You need to go in fresh on this one, just trust me.
- Kyr is going to be a hard character for a lot of people (as will several others in this book), and I loved that Tesh just did it. Yeah, she's mean and self-centered and has a limited worldview. Deal with it, alongside Kyr herself dealing with it.
- SOME DESPERATE GLORY is truly the best of what sci-fi can do. It pushes on big questions of morality while also delivering edge of your seat action. I absolutely cannot wait to see what Tesh does next.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual violence
- How does one even begin to review a book like CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS? I knew Adjei-Brenyah's debut novel would be something to behold, and even then all my expectations were blown away.
- This is a sci-fi novel, but it's also an abolitionist text. The way something awful will happen to a character and then there's a footnote with the U.S. law that makes the action legal...whew.
- Adjei-Brenyah makes the reader stay in uncomfortable places, both of physical brutality and of mental work. The lines we like to draw between "good" and "bad" people are smashed here, with the aim to bring the whole system down.
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
- I loved how this book was clear that even though Hayley wasn’t exactly living the straight and narrow life, she still didn’t deserve a conservatorship.
- Obviously I wasn’t a celebrity in that era, but having been a young woman then, there was a bit of catharsis here in being reminded that it was a tough time to live through as a girl, and it wasn’t all the shiny fun that TikTok likes to imagine it was. Do take note of the content warnings, since just about everything possible happens to Hayley.
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Car accident, Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide
- CAMP ZERO is a near future dystopia, terrifying in that it's not all that different from the path we are currently on.
- I flew through this novel, fully immersed in its world and invested in the characters, all of whom have come north for different reasons, all of whom have done good things and bad things and are simply trying to survive.
- CAMP ZERO mainly explores how gender effects each character's path in this melting world, but it also gets into class, race, education and more. I already want to read more by Sterling.
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault
- GOOD DIFFERENT is a middle grade novel in verse from the point of view of Selah, an autistic middle schooler. Only she doesn't know that yet, and is struggling trying to follow all the rules it takes to be "normal."
- Selah is a bright and bubbly protagonist, and you will be right there fighting for her as she discovers the words to describe herself and works to be allowed to use her tools and accommodations in school.
- I love that this book gets into how autism is often overlooked in young girls. I also loved that it showed multiple adults in different places on the spectrum as well, further underlining that there's no one way of being autistic. I think a lot of kids will love this book and maybe even see themselves in it.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood
Minor: Alcohol
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Minor: Dementia
Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Alcohol
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Blood, Death of parent