A friend recommended me this and I thought I should check it out! This is an objectively good book—I might raise my rating by .5 stars—but I didn’t like it enough to give it 4 stars. The concept was interesting, the therapy sessions felt like conversations that could actually happen(which I am never used to seeing in fiction), and I thought some of the characters were interesting (see: the ghost kid! I think her name was Lucy?). Some of the humor was a bit morbid, and I always find that fun in a historical fantasy setting, the inclusion of ghosts and horror made that all the better. But the romance didn’t capture my attention, the character arcs were fairly predictable (also, while it’s nice to have a fluffy cat sidekick, Muffins was… standard), and the message around burnout and trauma was heavy-handed in a way that felt akin to Steven Universe Future’s finale.

Also, the turnarounds of the side characters really bugged me?? The twist villain didn’t have an understandable motivation, one of the other side characters became a hero way too quickly, and the plague doctors who were the antagonists for most of the book had very little personality to them. 

The art was nice, though. (But not scary, even with the body horror elements.) And I specifically liked how showing grief through familial relationships with the ghosts was done in a slightly different manner than what I’m used to seeing.

Dorian you cannot be your own therapist for the love of god

I expected to become completely obsessed with this after reading the summary — queer novels centering fandom are some of my favorites— but this was just… okay? It wasn’t a bad book, but Gabby and Neesha were practically shipped together the moment they met (Neesha’s mom got on my nerves), meaning it took away from what could’ve been an organic friends-to-lovers romance.

The dialogue was awkward in several moments, the shifts from serious to fluffy felt haphazard. And while the coloring was pretty, the proportions in the art were off, and it made the characters look a little stiff. (That’s more of a me issue though, I get pickier with graphic novels when they’re not in art styles I particularly like.)

I liked Gabby’s cerebral palsy being a central part of her and her actions, though. Disability is pretty quick to be brushed off in books, but her fluctuating physical needs, and themes around inaccessibility or being in a relationship with a person who isn’t physically disabled, were important throughout. (I specify Gabby not being physically disabled, because she has PTSD. But she does also read as autistic-coded to me?)

I enjoyed the snippets of the manga Gabby and Neesha are obsessed with, too. And there were a couple moments I thought were cute, I just didn’t like the pacing, and it affected my opinion of the whole story. 

(Pronouns disclaimer!: Calla will be referred to with they/she pronouns, and Navin with he/him, although he is canonically agender—this is because those are the only pronouns used on-page for him, though I don’t know if that will change for book 3.) (I also wrote this review from 12-4am. It’s a mess.)

The Golden Court is a series I’ve never liked, nor expected to, and I still find myself crawling back to whichever audiobook app I’m using to listen to its nonsense. (Billy, I hope that made you giggle.) It’s consistently dramatic, clichéd as all get out but with a splash of queerness, and the characterizations are rarely consistent, with the sole silver lining being that I can always count on it to be fun. (If it manages to be actually hot at times, that’s a bonus.) Still, I thought from a few of the reviews that I’d give this a higher rating than its predecessor, but despite the story being arguably more cohesive and less fluffy, I’m giving it the exact same rating. It’s a decision that mostly has to do with our new protagonist, Sadie. 

If you saw my review for AROGB, you’ll know that I found Sadie oddly endearing, and she became a gradual favorite of mine. I didn’t count on my opinion staying the same for book two, as soon as the blurb and cover were revealed. I feel like her impulsivity and reluctance to vulnerability were shown a bit in that book, but when I was in her head, I didn’t realize how much of her cues I’d missed until I realized just how volatile of a protagonist she is. While I support women’s wrongs, her penchant for violence was repetitive and gimmicky—more of a Tumblr textpost than a personality trait, she was petulant and obnoxious, and she eventually started to read as a cis and slightly more unhinged version of AROGB Calla. (But somehow even MORE like a Y/N archetype, too?!) Dishonorable mention of that one time where Sadie was disappointed by the lack of resistance from the Olmdere humans that used to be Sawyn’s rooks because she wanted to beat them up, and internally lamented over not getting the opportunity to “teach them a lesson with public hangings” WHAT😭

(I should’ve counted the number of times Sadie dramatically called herself a soldier. Probably would’ve beaten AROGB’s 45 uses of “little fox” by a landslide.)

To add, a couple of her story beats with Navin felt recycled from Calla and Grae’s dynamic: the “reluctant allies to lovers” dynamic where the MC repeatedly denies their feelings for the LI despite their evident pull to him (this was EXCRUCIATING by the way, literally the most clichéd “there’s no way I’d like a liar like him, with his beautiful eyes and perfect face!” energy good lord), forced proximity on a road trip (which, while not directly tied to the rescue mission, happens at the same time and isn’t totally unrelated), and, not as important but still funny to mention, banging before trying to bargain with a sketchy monarch. One key difference, though, was that around the halfway mark, the story gave a fuck about putting the “enemies” in “enemies to lovers” with the sanctuary plot, and while Navin’s writing still definitely had its issues, he didn’t feel as annoyingly perfect as Grae did. I guess it was also nice to see a more tender(?) love interest.

(HOWEVER. I HAVE TO MENTION, that one “I am not your captor” scene in the jail was stupid as fuck YOU WERE LITERALLY BEING THE TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF A CAPTOR😭🙏GIRL…)

But I hated how the story tried to present Navin as a mysterious character in the first quarter. It’s done in the sloppiest way possible: Sadie’s thoughts, and even Navin himself, describe him as “having a lot of secrets”, but it’s barely elaborated on. Navin’s not even the only character this is done with, it’s an issue across both Sadie and Calla’s POVs, with multiple people! It didn’t create atmosphere at all, it just gave the impression that everyone was really shitty at being nonchalant.

(Oh my goodness, I don’t know where else to put it, but one last recycled story beat I noticed was the “when I started to question the wolf king once, I started questioning everything!! Is my entire life and purpose a lie?” internal dialogue! It didn’t last as long, but it was identical wording to Calla’s dilemma in AROGB and it pissed me off☠️)

Anyone who actually practices kink (I’m tragically bitchless) please feel free to reply with your thoughts on the BDSM, because while I didn’t hate how it was presented, I wasn’t super impressed with it either? I appreciated this being an example of mainstream romance with more realistic (if tame) kink rep, and it being ACTUALLY consensual, but it still felt a little under-negotiated in a fanfiction-y, “the characters can decipher what the other wants without talking much about it” way. And, while I know that Navin’s human-ness and Sadie’s wolfishness give their power dynamic a different context within the world of The Golden Court, it was very frustrating to read about how “revolutionary” it was for a woman to be submissive to a masculine-presenting person. It’s singlehandedly the most overrepresented dynamic in kinky fiction. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be written about, because I’m not shaming what people are into, and I was still pleasantly surprised to see it be relatively healthy, but I feel like the author should’ve at least considered how stereotypical the roles were.

(I also would’ve liked to see more acknowledgment of Navin being agender/genderqueer, I felt like that was barely talked about😞💔 I don’t think Sadie referred to him as a man again after the coming-out scene though, so that’s pretty cool)

TIME TO TALK ABOUT TWO CHARACTERS THAT WERE DONE EXTREMELY DIRTY, THOUGH: Calla and Ora. While Calla is listed on the summary alongside Sadie, they only have a fifth of the number of chapters she does. And their plot is super interesting, too! Navigating the gender politics of the wolf monarchies and being closeted for the sake of diplomacy, Briar being back in their life and Calla knowing they have the role she was raised to anticipate but never took on(also, she gets to know their found family!!), and a rescue mission gone awry! Why couldn’t we have focused on that more instead of Sadie’s contrived drama with Navin?! And whenever we did, we got clunky exposition on the shitshow the humans were experiencing, by bringing both the plot and Calla’s carriage to a screeching halt to have a tense conversation. Ugh. And ORA. LORD. There’s not a single moment in this book where they get to just be a character instead of a plot device, their kidnapping ISN’T EVEN ON PAGE. Most of their characterization is done through other characters!! I hated how little page time they got, especially with how pivotal they’re supposed to be to Calla in this point of her journey. It was absolutely diabolical. 

I feel that’s a fuckton of time to talk about my issues with the book, I should probably get into things I liked, since I have a few. Firstly, I thought the songkeepers magic was defined a lot better than fairy magic, which was neat! I feel like the songkeepers and their societies had probably the most thought-out world building in the whole series. While it can still be outrageously powerful, it didn’t feel like it was bending any rules or providing a convenient last-minute tool for the characters. I feel like in a series like this one that’s kind of huge LOL. 

I also thought the new dynamic of Calla and Grae’s relationship was cute! Maybe it’s from the lack of repetitive back-and-forth now that they’re an established relationship, or from them not being the centerpiece? (The one pro about the abysmal POV ratio is that you get a quarter of the wolf Wattpad shenanigans.) Regardless of how much shit I’ve talked about them both, how tropey their relationship is has made it saccharine sweet throughout the series, and seeing it be a part of their life as newlyweds makes it kind of satisfying in a way? Like aw! They’re growing up so fast! And, they kind of made me realize that I think AK Mulford’s smut quality has gotten slightly better since the first book? (That can be said abt Sadie’s POV too. Probably moreso, since there’s a bit more variety from her not being vanilla.)

I’m very curious about the scene where Ingrid asks if Calla asks “if they’re a wolf, or a sheep”. The question is transphobic as fuck within its context (which Calla was quick to notice), and I’m sure the purpose of the sheep metaphor was to be a basic way of showing how Calla was “disowning their wolf heritage” and aligning themself with weakness by taking on a human term. (And sheep are opposite to wolves, yada yada.) But I thought too much into it. There’s a quote from a negative Goodreads review for the first book that reads something like this(the punctuation is terrible, warning you in advance):

That is probably a coincidence, but I immediately saw a parallel. Hearing Calla say a fuck you to the sheep metaphor/comparison was very satisfying!

And, some minor but still nice things: 1) I saw AK Mulford’s cover reveal for book 3, so I knew there’d be a sorcery resurgence, but I didn’t call who the sorceress would be! The choice in character was definitely more interesting. 2) I made a bingo for this book and one of the squares was an “I can’t lose you again!” moment, I fully expected it to be between one of the romances, but it was actually in a key moment of familial love?! Lovely surprise. 3) I thought Calla’s pronouns were only they/them based on a couple moments from AROGB, but I found out they were actually they/she, like the author! I rarely see nonbinary rep that uses multiple pronouns. 

I’m still excited to read the third book. I feel like the slight cliffhanger, and the more dense plot, left me a lot less drained finishing the audiobook for book 2 than book 1. NOT looking forward to forced arranged marriages being a plot point once again though, seriously, can we give Briar a break?! 

(P.S., I kept a “little fox” counter like last book, and my final total was 13.) 

Overall, really cool! Especially visually: the character designs are brimming with personality and a bit strange, the collage style of the panels only adds to the feel. The hyper-realistic backgrounds and oversaturated colors make the story feel more uncanny and existential. (Sort of reminds me of a kookier version of toynbeck’s art on Instagram?) Some of it definitely makes the art seem visually confusing at first glance, but this is short enough that you can easily read through it a second time and see the details better, instead of being caught off-guard by how much is happening.

While I liked the visuals of the horror, the story itself was lacking a bit. I feel like the shortness meant that the fucked-up power dynamics between Peter and Derryl only got to be addressed at their surface level. I also wanted to see more of Derryl’s friends, since they gave Peter a bit more insight into his situation, and contrasted with the claustrophobic monotony of being stuck inside Derryl’s house. A lot of how they handled the plot towards the end was mostly revealed through Peter’s dialogue, too, and I’d hoped to see more conflict. (Also, because Derryl doesn’t have to face many consequences, lol?) 

The storytelling for Derryl’s spiral was fantastic, though. I loved seeing it unfold the more independent Peter becomes. I think the fight towards the end is where the art starts to get a little overwhelming again, but ooo it was so visceral (both his and Peter’s unraveling). 

I thought this was eerily charming, and unabashedly creative in a way I don’t see comics brave enough to be. Sorta niche indies like this one take a while to find their audience, but I have more hope that the right people will find it. Cheers to maybe having nightmares tonight! Thank you Queer Liberation Library for adding this to your digital catalog! :) 

I knew this would fuck me up a bit when I saw both Cory McCarthy and Mark Oshiro blurbed it😅 (emphasis on Cory. Dear god I can’t go through what I went through reading “Man O’ War” again. Very glad I didn’t come close to that LMAOOO)

Literally could not put this book down, I think it says a lot about Jas Hammonds as a writer that this could deal with a topic as heavy as alcohol addiction, and I still didn’t want to stop reading it. Blake’s experience differs a lot from my other friends who struggled with alcoholism, but I could still uncomfortably feel her spiral. (I dunno. I have other unhealthy coping mechanisms that aren’t drinking, and am going through a kinda pretty terrible depressive episode right now, so her thought process was unfortunately something I could resonate with in some capacity.) A lot of the characters were realistic, too, and I loved seeing their depth when it could’ve been easy to generalize them as heroes or villains in Blake’s narrative. (Though, there are clear-cut antagonists, like Roxanne and Ella.) In general, a lot of the difficult conversations had between family or friends felt super realistic?!

And I know other reviewers have talked about it, but I thought how Blake dealt with her mom, and her shortcomings as a white parent trying to avoid talking about race with her biracial kid, was handled really well imo. Especially in the South where this book takes place, many white women who try to be anti-racist end up dancing around racism instead, in a super condescending way. (I have aunts who definitely talk exactly like how Blake’s mom does.) I’m glad more biracial or transracial adoptee writers can call it out in their books. 

My only gripes are that I found elements of the story to be predictable, and I don’t know how to feel about the outing scenes being resolved so quickly (even though I know that, yeah, Blake loses control of herself when she drinks). But I definitely want to check out Jas Hammond’s debut now, this was amazing! 

Thank you so much to the author, Matteo L. Cerrilli, for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Matteo L. Cerrilli has only published 2 books thus far, but he’s already looking up to be another influential voice in the landscape of trans and queer-led horror for youth. I read his debut, “Lockjaw”, at the beginning of this year and was absolutely blown away by it. While “Something’s Up With Arlo” has to keep its deaths at a minimum, and maintains a snark and adventure for its younger audience that “Lockjaw” never had to, I found this nearly just as tense, and it barely downplayed its horror. I hope this finds its way into the hands of kids who read Goosebumps but want something with a little more emotional oomph. 

(But ugh, I hate how Arlo was introduced as this very lovable character and then we barely got any time with that version of him! I know just getting the reader used to him before he corrupts is the point, and it’s there to make the haunting even sadder, but. Oof that definitely sucked some of the fun out of the story, there were times I had to put this down because it was so emotionally draining LOL. Grief overtones, not my beloved or beloathed but a secret third thing…)

I especially appreciated Nero’s quiet gender exploration. I’m used to reading books that  pivot their focus to a character’s queerness, even in the middle of a heart-pounding mystery or a gradually escalating horror. The lack of focus on it is definitely due to

it being left unresolved,

but I wouldn’t argue it’s something that can be easily relegated to the background, either. It’s a not frequently mentioned, but important part of their character. (And, I’m going to use they/them pronouns because of Nero’s reaction to Flick’s parents referring to them with those.) And, this is sorta ramble-y, but between that, and a startlingly on-point portrayal of mental illness, I wonder the kind of person I would’ve been if I was Nero’s age and could see myself reflected in the pages of a book like this. I was privileged enough to have a great education that meant I learned about depression and anxiety symptoms in my middle school health class, and I had the home environment to come out at a young age, but having less clinically-worded models could’ve helped me verbalize some parts of myself a little earlier. 

I wasn’t surprised by the integration of multiple religious practices because I was familiar with some of Cerrilli’s Instagram posts about the characters in this book, but I was surprised at how all of them were given the same amount of importance and effectiveness! It’s an angle I don’t see many ghost hunting stories take, there’s usually an emphasis on vanquishing spirits solely with Christian practices (at least, I can speak on Western media). 

My main issue with this book, though, is that I would’ve liked to have more time with Flick and Emily. While this isn’t what I’d describe as a “slow-paced” story (there’s something creepy happening at least every other chapter), it does take a while for Nero to branch out, become involved with those two characters, and actually make some progress in the mystery. (I found Flick especially endearing. They were quite dorky and I would’ve liked to see more of them outside of the ghost stuff.) Emily, in particular, took a while to get to know the mindset of, and all of her issues kinda got dumped in two sentences and barely acknowledged because there weren’t enough pages left to do so. I think the bulk of my annoyance comes from the Instagram character bios being more spoiler-y than I realized, though. 

I also would’ve liked to see some kind of resolution for Nero’s relationships with their parents. So much was left without a resolution, which I suppose was for the sake of realism, but… I feel like in a fictional story with a set beginning and end, there’s only a set number of things I can excuse being left open-ended before I start pointing it out. (And! What the heck did their dad mean by him “having a friend over from work” that Nero shouldn’t tell their mom about?! I thought that would pop up again in the story but it was one line that was never addressed again??! Unless I’m missing something??) 

But overall, this is definitely another grief-heavy ghost story I enjoyed. I haven’t loved an ARC before, but I can proudly say this is the first time I have! For a middle grade, this was surprisingly mature, even if it kept itself entertaining. I’m a little sad about having to let go of Nero and their crew. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who was a fan of “Jasmine Is Haunted” by Mark Oshiro. (Which, Book Fae actually did, and that’s how this even got to be on my radar! Fae, if you’re reading this, you’re a genius.) 

Might raise (or lower??? idk) my rating, who knows. Somewhere between a 4 and a 5 stars. I see some people confused about the differences of the plural self POV and Yetu’s singular POV, but I think by the second or third plural self chapter the timeline should click into place. I also think that based on me reading this and “Sorrowland”, I can gather that Rivers Solomon always writes very creative premises that duelly capture the complexity of generational trauma, especially racial trauma. The worldbuilding done with Solomon’s interpretation of “The Deep”s lyrics was also fascinating, it’s easy to pinpoint from Yetu’s personal journey which section of the song is being written about, but it’s still very much their writing.

Honestly, I predicted Oori’s significance as soon as that one human in the Rememberings was introduced (I feel like a lot of the book’s messaging hinges on the events from those memories being repeated in a way), but I liked seeing her kinship with Yetu, since she spent so much of the novel feeling like her struggle was unique and couldn’t be shared by anybody. And this is a very minor thing, but I appreciate that the thing that finalized Oori and Yetu’s relationship was a more personal (and grand) gesture of love, rather than a kiss or something else of the sort. 

Yetu was kind of a difficult character for me to get invested in, though. Not only is the beginning a little slow, but the Rememberings hollowed her out. uhhh I’ll continue writing this later i got some ice cream and an audiobook i wanna listen to as I eat it

Despite the short length of this novella, there is so much to process. Maybe there could’ve been a few more pages because of the quickness of the ending, but that should still be a testament to the author’s talent, in my opinion. 

(Please let me know if I misspelled any characters’ names! I only read this via audio.)

Fast-paced, gorey, and engaging in a way that often juxtaposes the inherent bleakness of the narrative by placing you in the shoes of the Chain-Gang viewers. Those factors, and fantastic narration done by Shayna Small, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio, and Aaron Goodson (but mostly Shayna, to be honest) made chapters easy to listen to in one sitting, but also left me with a lingering sick feeling, and a dread palpable enough to make me hesitant to pick up my Playaway again, despite how invested I was. This isn’t subtle and never tries to be. Yes, this led to it being very easy to see when inner or external monologues were mouthpieces for the points the story was making, but it also put so much emphasis on the theatrical, outrageous nature of the premise that I think it worked in a way. That’s, of course, subjective, but I didn’t dock many points.

There’s another major reason Chain-Gang All-Stars kept my interest from start to end, though: The cast is extensive, with tens of POVs of different roles. From the Links mentioned in the summary (and part of the titular show within a book), to viewers keeping themselves watching a real-life battle Royale with the power of cognitive dissonance, callous TV executives, and even a scientist I won’t reveal the plot importance of, every possible moral question and political aspect of this horrifically realistic dystopia is proposed and answered in the form of these characters’ thoughts. It was so incredibly easy to be immersed in this book’s futuristic America, and not just because it’s only a fictionalized continuation of current systemic racism. This was a mixed bag, though. Not only are some POVs less bigoted than others, and it gets nearly impossible to count how many there are after a certain point, but I sometimes felt detached from a character’s emotions. Particularly (I’ll be placing emphasis on them since they’re who I care about and is meant to be rooted for), some of the Links, and the resistance fighters. While I found Mari, Kai and Nyle’s POV’s compelling, and a realistic depiction of a grassroots movement, I didn’t feel a strong emotional pull towards them, despite how well-rounded their characters were. I think it was just the writing style? Only a few of the POVs are written in first-person. (But also, there were some moments in the first-person chapters where different emotions still felt spelled out?)

I feel like Hendrix and Simon were the two characters where it was easiest to feel their spirals, likely because of the first-person writing, but also how they were read: Hendrix’s narrator, Aaron Goodson, actually sang in the audiobook, and characterized him with a vulnerability and dry-sounding misery that was absolutely haunting. I’m still unsure how to feel about Simon, but his instability was also narrated very well by Michael Crouch and it was honestly disturbing to listen to. Of course, though, a bulk of the book’s heart is in Loretta Thurwar and Henrietta Stacks’ relationship. There are several points in the story where, in the hands of a less mature author, they could have easily turned on each other, or broken up over a misunderstanding. Instead, their security, and their precarious balance between being a tether for the other’s humanity and being a commodity of the public eye, offered a softness (and occasional reprieve) between the violence. (I also liked the poly aspect with Mac, and Thurwar’s thoughts around what both of her relationships offered her.) They were sweet, even until the heartbreaking end.

If I had to list my second favorite dynamic within the Angola-Hammond chain (and eventual found family), it would be Staxxx and Rico’s mentor-mentee dynamic. Staxxx’s motivations could definitely be a little dubious sometimes, but Rico was such a noticeably young, not-jaded Link within the group that it was both sweet and heartbreaking to see his earnestness, and his excitement at kinda being taken under her wing. And plus, Staxxx keeps her humanity intact throughout and genuinely cares about so many of her other Links. Ugh.

Unsure how to feel about the anecdotes? They grounded Chain-Gang All-Stars, at least in part, in reality. But I also felt they would sometimes break the flow of the story, especially narrated. (Worth noting that Shayna Small narrates every anecdote, so sometimes, her voice would pop-in during another narrator’s chapter.) And despite the heaviness of their subject matter, I thought that they sometimes made a characters’ experiences feel tied more to their statistics, instead of given weight. 

But overall, I’d definitely recommend this. Though. I’d be a little pissed if it gets an adaptation, given… y’know.