A pretty solid sci-fi novel, but wow I felt absolutely NOTHING for any character or events going on. 

i am convinced the modern dark academia girlies have never read this, or they don’t understand it or they choose to ignore the themes and message in order to stick with the ✨aesthetic*✨ 

a modern masterpiece tbh. every character needs so much therapy it’s almost painful to think of. yet the writing and story itself is so rich and well constructed, i was always absolutely enthralled when reading this. 


*(well, if your aesthetic is sad lonely inebriated smelly** pretentious fucks then by all means you do you)

**(come on you know they were all nasty by the end there. everyone was drunk and high and sick and ate terribly and smoked and sweat their days away) 

Camp Spirit was an absolutely random pick for me on Kindle Unlimited, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it!

The main outline of the story isn't all that unique; an angsty teen is forced to be a camp counseler by her parents, and she makes friends and has a romance along the way. What made this stand out for me was the paranormal twist on it, and even though that could have gone pretty trope-y, it worked for me. Elodie can't shake the feeling that something weird is going on, especially regarding the quirky and weird camp chief, but she's also dealing with very teenage issues. The balance between the teen angst and spooky storyline was great.

There's a silly humor to this that I really enjoyed, and it's backed by the art and character design. While super clean and easy to follow, there's a humor and heart in every panel that really does a lot of heavy lifting to tell us what each character is like. I could practically hear some of the panels as if I was watching a cartoon instead of just reading a graphic novel. It was great fun.

Camp Spirit is a really solid and fun story with quirky campers, a bit of spookiness, and a grunge-loving teen just trying to figure out what she wants. Very much recommended for older teens, and anyone who thinks it sounds interesting. 

Can I explain exactly what about Nathan Pyle's humor gets me? No, no I can't. I can only say that every single comic in this tickled my funny bone good, and I'm now a fan. 

I grabbed this from my library because of the title - and who wouldn't, with a title like that?! This ended up being a very bittersweet story about connecting with the world and in the end, about grief. Sakura is dying from a pancreatic disease, and our main character is an introverted boy who never speaks to his classmates until a chance encounter forces Sakura into his orbit. 

I think this story work as well as it does because it's not entirely about Sakura's illness; it's also about the main character being drawn out of his shell and learning to connect with the world and care about people. It was easy to get drawn into the story and eventually to find myself caring for both of these characters, and though you know from the first few pages that you're in for a sad ending, it still hit me hard.

My only real gripe with this story would be how Sakura can come across as very Manic Pixie Dream Anime Girl, to the point where it's irritating and starts to slip into the trope that only that type of girl can "fix" the grumpy, alienated boy.

But, as I said, I came to care for the characters in the end, and enjoyed this as a whole. It's a sweet story about growing up and making connections and dealing with the hand life deals you.

(And yes, the title makes sense after you read it.)

I met Chuck Tingle at Comic Con and honestly that probably gave me some bias here but he was lovely and asked me if I wanted to take a photo with him I guess because I couldn't stop gushing about the first 70 pages of this I'd read before I got there and his energy was great. He's great! I'm officially a buckaroo now! 

Oh, the book.

Camp Damascus is a story about an autistic teen in an evangelical cult that starts to have some absolutely weird shit happen to her. I was surprised at just how fast paced this was; I read it in 2 sittings because the horror started almost immediately, and as things progressed and got creepier, the story kept building and building and I needed answers, dammit. I guessed at some things at the start, but those guesses were revealed half way through the book and from there it was a wild joyride of horror, grief, catharsis, friendship, love, and some PRETTY FUCKING ABSOLUTELY GNARLY BODY HORROR LIKE WTF CHUCK??

This is a pretty straightforward book in terms of the plot and narrative, but I don't think the point is to shock you with twists and turns. I think Chuck had a very specific thing he wanted to say about religious trauma being wrapped up with queer identity, and he was very successful. 

LOVE IS REAL

I grabbed pomegranates because it's shortlisted in the 2023 World Fantasy Awards for Best Novella, and I'm glad I did. While the story didn't quite hit for me, it was still incredibly interesting and well written.  Plus, it's a version of the Persephone myth that hasn't annoyed me.

It's hard to summarize this novella more than the official synopsis does, because doing anything more than that would give too much away. Essentially, massive climate change and the near end of the human race are a backdrop for the stories of Persephone, Demeter, and their fucked up Greek gods family. This novella plays around with interesting versions of the goddesses and their history, making for a pretty unique spin on the Greek gods. It's visceral in how it portrays female rage and how each character deals with it in their own way. 

Priya Sharma is a very talented writer and that shines through. However, some of the choices made in the way the character narratives are told didn't quite work for me. I loved the interspersed Chorus sections, but I disliked how confusing it was jumping from Bear to Persephone (at times I couldn't tell who was narrating as we got back into it), and Demeter's storyline was alright.

There are some absolutely lovely, lyrical passages in this. The emotional heft and theming absolutely shines through despite my issues. I think this is worth a read, if sounds at all interesting. It may work for someone else much better than it did for me. 

I've become a big T. Kingfisher fan over the last year or two, and I've enjoyed every genre I've read her in so far. Unfortunately I think Thornhedge is, for me, the weakest of her fantasy works. It's so hard NOT to compare this to the fantastic Nettle & Bone, because they're operating under the same sort of low stakes, close character fantasy feeling. Where the story is about the main character(s) and their journey, and not some big explosive kingdom-engulfing plot.

That's not to say this is a bad book. Hell no. This is good! If I hadn't already read a bunch of T. Kingfisher, I think I would rate it higher. But I have read her, and I think there's some small spark of something missing here for me as the reader and T. Kingfisher fan that I am.

Essentially, this is a take on Sleeping Beauty where the story is about a fae guarding the tower and the knight who seeks to enter it. The story twists the Sleeping Beauty fairytale, creating a very compelling alternate version of it that I actually really enjoyed. I think where this faltered for me was in the two main characters, Toadling and the Knight.

Toadling to me felt like she didn't have any agency whatsoever. As we learn about her backstory and the history of the tower, she does literally nothing of her own volition (other than one thing that I will not talk about here because it would be a spoiler). Even when the Knight shows up and is very bumbling and sweet, she still allows him to absolutely tread all over her. [The rest of this under a spoiler tag, just to be safe.]

She does nothing to stop him from getting to the tower. Nothing! Why, because he's a nice person? That was another thing - I got so irritated by the Knight. He just steamrolled right past her, and ohhh we're supposed to like him because he always feels guilty and always says sorry and feels bad about killing people as knight? NO. Go home, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. It was so FRUSTRATING being with these two.

This story could have been so good if the characters just had a liiiittle more agency and conscientiousness for each other, I think. I loved the gradual reveal of Toadling's history and the story of the tower. Really enjoyed that! I just wish I enjoyed Toadling and the Knight more than I did.

Giving this a full 5 stars despite some pacing issues in the middle because Bujold is a master at characterization. Literally tried not to cry through the last few chapters because I've become so attached to all these characters and seeing them get their happy endings was cathartic. 

Trying to figure out how to approach the rest of the series now!