elliel_nook's Reviews (601)

I requested and received this book from NetGalley. My opinions are my own. 

"In Your Nature" by Estlin McPhee is a beautifully written poetry collection. It did not pack the same punch as other queer poetry books I've read recently. However it is thought provoking and meditative. It's also more religious than I expected.

I found "In Your Nature" a meditative experience. I would get lost in the words of a poem and float off through memories. I believe it's a special kind of writing that can pull you into yourself like that. Something that allows you to experience memories without the hurt they carry. Kind of like intense solidarity. It was an overall good experience. 

I greatly enjoyed all of the poems in this collection. However, there are a few that pulled me in. One such group of poems were "Martha and Mary Witness Jesus's Death Across Time and space:August", "Wolf", "Snow", & "Bridge". Some of my other favorites were "Prayer For Whats to Come", "Gay Messiah", and "Glossolalia". But, again all of the poems are wonderful.

I requested and received this book from NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

"Gaea-Tima The Gigantis" has the potential to be an amazing series. This was such an good opening for the series. I'm left with so many questions and I worry for the future of the characters.

This series could pack a truly heart wrenching puch. That is not to say that it doesn't/won't have lighter moments as there were a few in this volume. It just also touches on a few darker subjects communities bouncing back after tragedy, bodily autonomy, and the fear of new threats.

Something that hit me almost immediately was the way people became grateful for the cause of the tragedy. Rather than being grateful for the power of their community they were grateful for Gaea-Tima. 

Anither moment that hit me like a truck happens in "Episode 4: Welcome to Fune". It's in regard to bodily autonomy and Miyako. I won't go into details but you will know when you read it. 

I'm want to continue this series. I need to know what's going to happen. This volume ends on a cliffhanger (like most manga). And I have so many questions. Like: What is going to happen with that crazy fisherman? Why is everything happening now? Will they make real life Gaea-Tima merch? Regardless. I'm excited for the next volume 2! Even if this series is going to give me nightmares. (Because big monsters in the ocean is my nightmare fuel). 



 

I requested and received this book from NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

"A Vampire in the Bathhouse" by Niko Izuki is a (mostly) wholesome and silly story set in a bathhouse. There's so many things I enjoyed about this manga: the characters are lovable, the setting is interesting, and the art is beautiful. (The little details and facial expressions are spot on.) But it also left me wanting.

The story follows Luka and Sakura. Luka is quirky in the grandiose way only a vampire could be (I love his pointy ears). Sakura is a hard working human and a beloved member of the community surrounding the bathhouse. (There are many side characters but these 2 are the main characters.) They get into so many hijinks together (mostly caused by Luka) and really explore the shopping district around the bathhouse.

Which bring me to my favorite thing about this manga. The story really showcases the importance of family, community, and love. It's the main theme throughout the manga. Its always there but you might miss it (until a certain point) if you're distracted by the sillys, the pretty/cute art, and/or the attractive characters. Or if you're caught up in the the hijinks of the characters.

Overall I enjoyed "A Vampire in the Bathhouse", but I wanted more. In certain moments it felt like j had completely missed something only to realize that it didn't happen on page. Despite this I still greatly enjoyed the manga. I love a funny manga. And I am still excited for whatever Niko Izuki does next.  

I am not in the headspace to read about stuff that happened in 2016

I requested and received this book from NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

This is a graphic novel about a catholic boy learning to love and accept himself  & God at the same time. It hit me sight in the religious trauma, though I was raised Baptist and not Cattolic. 

This book captures the identity crisis many religious queer people experience at some point in their lives. That terror of loosing the community youve spent a lifetime building. The Faith rattling, earth shattering moment you come out. How the reactions of those people you tell could change the course of you life forever. The fear of hell. The question of "If God is Love", then why can't he lous queer peaple, love me? 

Although I did not take the same path as Mark (the Mc) I have been in similar shoes. I enjoyed the way the story is told by Mark and through the stories of saints. (I just realized how profound I find this book.) I loved the ending. The art is beautiful and I love how the biblical character's appearance change with Mark's understanding of them. The story itself is a bit sad but that saddness is broken up by some silly and funny moments. I enjoyed this book. However, I do wish it had some form of bibliography.

I requested and received this book from BookSirens. My opinions are my own.

Every single poem is a banger. This poetry collection is the culmination of years of illness, rage, and learning to love oneself again. I knew when the author's note started with "Thank you for choosing to wander along my scars and gaze at the constellations they create", that this would be a beautifully written and an emotionally moving/challenging body of work. And it was. 

Each of the three parts this book is made up of has a different emotional weight. But, I feel the overarching theme across all 3 is resilence. I heavily related to this book. I too have lived in these parts, "Part I surviving You; Part 11: Surviving Me, and Part 111: Surviving as an Act of Rebellion."

 I look my time reading this because I felt the punch of every poem and I needed to take it slow. If you are (like I am) an angry, ill, poetry loving, queer persen read this book. And if you're not one or more of those read it anyway. 

I requested and received this book from BookSirens. My opinions are my own.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's one of the first ARCs I've ever received that I regretted requesting but actually finished.

(Mostly because I needed it to fill a prompt in my local library's annual reading challenge. But also because I didn't read the dedication page until after I finished the book.) 

The author dedicated the book to famous media robots, which makes sense and is kind of cute. But she also didicated this book to specifically generative AI. The dedication quote menti ned generative AI :"But also for MegaHAL, DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Suno, ChatGPT, Claude, and all the other little seeds just beginning to grow." As a creative person I don't know how to feel about that. The aut or could have just been inspired to write this book about robots and AI because of these AIs. But... What if? I don't know I'm conflicted. 

This book was thought provoking and had many examples of bigotry, micro-aggressions, gender & self expression as told through robots & AI characters. But I also hated Maradia after reading the story Xeno-Nativity". 

I put down the book for over a week and nearly DNFed it because of this story. There was one quote from "Xen -Nativity" in particular that made him rage boiled up from the very depths of my childhood trauma. The quote: "By growing a child’s body with her own, she was giving it a gift. Once the child was born, it would feel indebted—no, grateful—to her. It would be hers. It would belong to her". This entire story made me feel uneasy for more reason than can be inferred by this quote alone. this story put me in a reading slump. I did not want to pick up any book after reading this story. 

However, I did finish the book. And while I loved characters like Gerangelo and Rariel 77 I didn't like the book as a whole. There were multiple instances where it was very repetitive. I know that this is a collection of mostly previously published stories. But, I hated hearing Gerangelo's backstory every time he was in a story. Which was often. Something else that bugged me was several of the stories featured/are told by characters whose ending you don't get to see. For example, the AIs from the first few stories, Nancy, the egg, and the horse-like dancers.

It was overall a little disappointing. I don't think I'll be reading more of this author's work.