elementarymydear's Reviews (967)

If I Were A Weapon is the first in a new sci-fi series, set in the near future where aliens have left behind nanites, which have given some humans superpowers. Since the aliens crash landed, Deneve has had visions of the future, a power which she is determined to use for good. After another vision she tracks down shopkeeper Jolie, who has secrets of her own. Deneve soon realises her feelings for Jolie might extend beyond friendship, but after a long time on the road she can’t face up to the idea of staying in one place for too long. Meanwhile, there is a looming threat for those like Deneve and Jolie who have powers… 

This was a really fun read. It’s always great to read some sapphic sci-fi, and I liked that the sci-fi elements were woven into a contemporary setting really nicely. Skye Kilaen’s writing is very absorbing and readable, making this a nice relaxing, escapist read. It’s quite a short book, and although it does read as more of a prologue to the series than as a standalone story, it does set up this new series nicely. This is definitely a romance first, sci-fi second, which I really liked as the two main characters had a great strangers-to-friends-to-lovers storyline. 

Thank you to the author for providing me with a free copy for review; all opinions are my own. 

 This book drew me in with it’s premise, it’s setting, and kept me hooked for hours at a time. The start of the book delivers on the promise of the blurb: at a small town’s primary school, battle is waged between an out-and-proud mother of three and the homophobic head of the PTA. Before long though, the story takes a much darker turn, as secrets are revealed and loyalties tested.

First of all, the things that worked for me: I really liked the multiple perspectives. Sometimes too many perspectives can feel crowded, but I thought it was done really well and helped us to understand all the characters’ points of view. There was very little communication between the characters or development of one particular character, so having those multiple perspectives really helped us as readers understand where all of the different characters were coming from.

📚Find this and other reviews on my blog!📚

This is the sort of book that you cannot put down. I read the whole thing in one day, picking it up every spare minute to find out what happened next. Every time I said to myself “okay, last chapter”, there was a big reveal and I had to know what happened next.

The problem I had though, is that the pacing and the plot relied too much on the big reveals and not enough on the actual development of the characters or storyline. The first half of the book, with the initial premise, never felt resolved or completed, as the story became something else entirely that bore little to no relation to the beginning. If I had known what the plot actually was, I don’t know if I would have picked this book up (and I recommend to anyone wanting to read this book that you check the content warnings first).

With all the big twists and reveals, I found myself being pulled out of the story as it became less believable. Some storylines, shocking when first revealed, turned out to be nothing much. Some things were extreme but didn’t feel as important as they should have. Some things felt too unrealistic; surely a headteacher would know more laws regarding minors than she seemed to in this book? Some things were just little bug bears: I have never met a homophobe who hasn’t made a point of getting the letters “LGBTQ” wrong, or similar moments where frankly the politically incorrect words would have made more sense coming from the characters thinking or saying them. All of these things are little things, but they added up as the book progressed and ultimately undermined it for me.

Overall, while I was gripped while reading this book, it was the plot that let it down for me as it progressed.

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a free copy for review. All opinions are my own. 

 What a wonderful read this was! Dahlia and London were great characters, with chemistry from the get go. It was so easy to get lost in their friendship-turned-romance, and you couldn’t help but root for them. Who doesn’t love grumpy-character-reluctantly-finds-joy-in-little-things-thanks-to-ray-of-sunshine-love-interest? It’s a great trope that I will always have time for.

📚Find this and other reviews on my blog📚

The setting of the cooking competition was a stroke of genius. With the artificial framing of a reality show, complete with meddling producers, the high emotions and obligatory third-act drama felt very true to the characters and the setting. Some of the main conflicts seemed slightly pushed to one side, but I didn’t mind that too much as it didn’t distract from the main relationship.

All in all, this was a really fun read with a great romance at its heart!

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a free copy for review. All opinions are my own. 

 One Verse Multi is my favourite kind of sci-fi. It was clever, it was witty, it was insightful… just a glorious time all round!

Martin King works for MVP (Multi-Verse Protection Corporation), a company that researches the multi-verse and makes sure that things don’t go wrong. After he discovers that the guy he likes may be the key to saving the multi-verse from destruction caused by money-hungry corporations, he and his colleagues are thrown into a cross-universe adventure.

📚Read this and more reviews on my blog!📚

I LOVED this book from the absolute get-go. I was instantly drawn into the story, and every time I put the book down I was counting down until I could next pick it up again. It was genuinely funny without shying away from big topics and themes, and despite being fantastical felt down-to-earth and grounded.

I do want to give a special shout-out to the world-building (or, multi-world-building?) because it was so thorough and well-thought-out that it felt real. There were some really nice touches, such as the idea of Mandela effects being transferences from other universes. It was all so cohesive that you never doubted the science for a second without being bombarded with background information.

The true heroes of this book though were the characters. There was a real found-family going on in this, with a great ensemble cast, and great leads in Martin and his two love interests, Luca and Tidus. It was a really nice balance of the sci-fi plot and these three trying to figure out their relationships alongside the multi-verse nearly ending. This book is unapologetically queer and diverse, with a Black, trans and gay main character, a polyamorous relationship, a non-binary side character and a racially diverse ensemble.

This book is a hidden gem, showcasing science fiction at its best.

I received a free copy from the publisher for review. All opinions are my own. 

 This book is a triumph. The first couple of chapters took me a while to get into, but from chapter three onwards I was completely hooked, desperate to know what happens next. Ruth is a wonderful main character. In some ways there is nothing extraordinary about her character, someone who is just dealing with each problem as it comes, but the fact that she does so with such strength and without sacrificing who she is makes her remarkable. You can’t help but feel for her; the things she is put through could happen to anyone in that era, but she is sharp, creative, and scientifically- minded, always one step ahead of the game.

📚Find this and more reviews on my blog!

All of the characters and the setting are painted so vividly, you are transported into the story. It’s gruesome at times – the author never shies away from the harsh realities of warfare and early colonial life – but it never feels gratuitous, just a part of life and the violence these characters experience.

I thought the author did a fantastic job of depicting the different relationships and tensions between the English, the French, the indigenous Pequot people, and the highwaymen and sailors who exist outside of these communities. She has also done a huge amount of research into the Pequot language which is to huge benefit. When the characters are speaking to each other in a mixture of English, French and Pequot, it reads completely naturally, but that is thanks to a huge amount of research.

This is a wonderful work of historical fiction, shining light on an often romanticised period of history while centring the very human stories that were lived by everyday people.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free copy for review. All opinions are my own. 

 There are some books that just don’t work as an audiobook. There were passages and ideas and themes in this book that I really enjoyed, but it was so clearly written to be read, to be digested and understood at your own pace, to be able to reread passages, to see where one section ends and another begins. 

Vanishing Monuments follows Alani, a photographer who returns to their childhood home to visit their dying mother. They confront their past, reflect on the importance of memory and identity, and try to find closure. 

The writing is undeniable beautiful, but all I wanted to do was go back over certain passages, highlight a section, flick back and forth. The narrative switches between first and second person, which is a fantastic way of distinguishing between the real and the imagined, but doesn’t translate quite as well on an audiobook. 

This was a very moving reflection on gender, identity, family, art, and the importance of memory. Hopefully one day soon I’ll get the chance to read it in written form; I feel like I would be able to follow the story much more, and get more out of the experience, if that was the case. 

I received a free audiobook for review. All opinions are my own.