Disclaimer: I received an ARC in a giveaway by the author.
In this really good and interesting sequel to the first book in the series Prince Hal returns to his father knowing he'll have to reveal facing the Serpent and what happened to it. Thankfully his supportive guards are there to keep him company.
My favorite thing was seeing Hal become more confident and trust himself a bit more. Even though the perils he is facing are just growing in number, the fact that he knows he can rely on his guards was lovely to read.
I liked the way their relationship deepened in this one. Due to some time passing and circumstances forcing them to rely even more on each other, I also found the fact that their feelings for each other grow to be realistic and sweet.
I also enjoyed getting to know Hal's guards better, especially Kaiser's backstory and the fact that we can see how much they care for Hal in ways that exceed their guardly duties and their sexual attraction to him (the way Elwood took care of Hal when he was ill it was soooo adorable and sweet!!!).
Another thing I found really cool was how Hal describes his genitals during sex. Every trans person has different things they like to call their genitals but seeing a pre-T person refer to his genitals as both a cock and a pussy/cunt was refreshing to read. And even though dysphoria does still play a role it seems to be (for now) a bit less of a struggle for Hal, since he's loved and accepted as a man the way he is and that's beautiful!
And finally I really quite enjoyed seeing the way the magic system was explored in some more detail, hinting at really interesting future possibilities.
All in all I really enjoyed this book. The writing felt a lot more intruiging to me than in the first book (which I still liked, don't misunderstand, but this was just even better!), especially because we got more answers to the world/character building questions raised, while still leaving me intruiged for even more answers by raising other even more compelling mysteries. I also felt that the pacing improved, allowing time for both caring and sexy times, while keeping the suspense alive. This was a truly worthy sequel to the first book and I can't wait for the next book in this series because the only thing I "disliked" about this book it is that it's rather short in length and thus leaves many questions unanswered. Know that you will be left wanting for answers to quite a few questions, but I am hoping they will all be answered in future books :)

I've been wanting to read this book for a while now and finally got around to it and it was a really interesting experience! It's a debut short story & poetry collection featuring sci-fi, fantasy, weird and capitalism critical stories, often with a trans or queer protagonist, nearly always with a poor one, often a mentally ill or neurodivergent or disabled one as well. I quite enjoyed that!
I also enjoyed that most short stories more than the poetry, but I also listened to the audiobook and poetry in an audio medium that it was not created for can be tough. While I did not enjoy every story, this piece is certainly elevated by the variety of stories in it. There's just so many interesting stories it never gets boring even if I didn't enjoy one specific story! The next one was there to offer a change of pace and scenery. Unfortunately some of the short stories suffered from being too short/not developed enough and so it is unfortunately not a 5 star book to me, but I still enjoyed it a lot.
I've included trigger warnings with my thoughts about each piece in my review.

The marks of aegis - (tw self harm, unhealthy consent) A fucked up body horror short about birthing a new world. I liked the metaphors in it, but it was quite short.

Here you are near me - (tw online discourse, cyber harassment, potential cyber stalking) Set in a modern setting but twists it into something kinda eerie online panopticon style, i found the story intruiging and unsettling.

Self care - (tw homelessness, capitalism, exploitation of poor people, catholic prejudice, homophobia, transphobia) In this one I found my new favorite angry trans guy raging against capitalism and the church during an ecological apocalypse, I also liked the discussion of capitalism and technology + the voice acting here was amazing! My favorite piece of the anthology.

The nothing spots where noone wants to stay - (tw bullying, physical and emotional parental abuse, unsupportive parents, dysphoria, misgendering, homophobia) a short story about being a gay trans high school student, nothing really interesting happens unfortunately.

The heavy things - (tw body horror, menstruation, eating disorder, dysphoria, parents ignoring health concerns of their children) short menstruation body horror story, very short but kinda cool.

The seed and the stone - story about what if people reproduced as trees, interesting but not explored enough.

We did not know we were giants - (tw animal harm, sacrifice), a story about meeting a God with a twist, i liked it.

The android that designed itself - an interesting poem that embraces trans/mad/disabled rage and radical self love, i wish it was longer and I relistened to it a few times because I do really like it.

As tender feet of cretan girls danced once around the altar of love - (tw body horror), a story about a greek immortal immigrant, i liked the reincarnation and greek mythology, it was interesting, but not my favorite in this anthology.

Estranged children of storybook houses - (tw child abuse done by other children, bullying, parental neglect, ableism, anti vaccism) A story of an autistic kid being faced with abuse due to changeling beliefs in a world where Fae actually exist, i quite enjoyed it.

My noise will keep the record - a story about living in a world of constant surveilance and existing there as a disabled person, unfortunately too short to explore the fuckedupness in more detail which I would have liked.

Wake world - (tw grief) a short poem venting about capitalism, it was written really well, but not particularly intruiging.

Everyone on the moon is essential personnel - (tw emotionally and physically abusive parent, bullying, sexual harassment, homophobia, fatphobia, ableism) a novelette following a young adult with tourettes when he encounters a job recruiter for a new job on the moon, theres a bunch of nods towards current online discourse culture, which was fun, i also enjoyed the job application apptitutude test as part of the story, all in all however it felt somewhat flat for how much I liked the title and some other stories in this collection.

First contact communion - a very short poem about distance, space travel and religion, unfortunately not really my style.

I am a beautiful bug - (tw for police brutality, abuse of power, mention of extensive surgery) a short story about getting surgery to turn into a big bug, it was interesting and I enjoyed the weirdness of it.

The things in us we fear just wants our love - a very short poem, unfortunately not very interesting.

As someone who normally enjoys brutal gorey horror I was unfortunately disappointed with this one.
The beginning is rather slow, stretching on and on as we learn that our protagonist loves Disney and Halloween and hates most people. Her descent into more and more depraved violence is somewhat fun to follow, but unfortunately it did not grip me the way I had hoped. Instead it felt gimmicky and too detached for me to actually be drawn in.
The protagonist's grandmother is the only person I would have liked to know more about and especially the twist in the end is predictable and boring.
+1 star because I did enjoy the beginning a lot and it was fun to read about our detached evil girl protagonist jerking off while preparing to destroy a racist woman's life because she looooves causing drama.
A lot of the novel however is boring and not even the gruesome torture and cool cover could save it.

Tw for (repeated) sexual assault & rape, gore, animal abuse, graphic murder and violence, domestic abuse, drugging, terminal illness, death and grief.

Green Fuse Burning is a novella that's swamped with grief. A young artist's girlfriend fakes her way into getting the artist an art grant for a piece that's non existent yet. However since the death of her father, she has been unable to create and so when faced with this opportunity to work in a small isolated cabin near a swamp she knows she needs to take it. However once there the swamp calls to her and her grief and guilt and isolation threaten to overwhelm her.
I really enjoyed this novella. The writing is lush and the swamp aesthetic with moss and fungi was incredibly detailed and I loved picturing the landscape. I also adored the art described here (I found I really enjoy stories about fictional art a lot last year, so I'm glad to continue this trend here :)). The grief and guilt are overwhelming in every chapter and the story builds dread masterfully. I also really enjoyed the way this book dealt with climate change, showing the harrowing side effects, without becoming solely about an apocalyptic crisis event. The horror is also really well done, paranoia settling in quickly and culminating in a haunting manner.
All in all this is a really good indigenous horror story about grief and I can recommend it especially if you enjoy your horror of the gothic and emotional variety.

TW for parental death, grief, paranoia, suicide (considered & aborted attempt), illness & hospitals.

If you've already read and enjoyed some of Chuck Tingles work this book is for you. If you like interesting and diverse horror you should also check it out.
Now with that out of the way lets get to my review of the book! This book follows a young autistic woman through her life in a small town until things take a turn to the worse when she starts coughing up flies on the dinner table. Soon she's caught up in a fast paced mystery wondering who that girl is she keeps dreaming about, where the flies came from, why she only feels repulsed by boys attention toward her and why her parents are acting so weird.
This is not a book that in any way attempts to show nuance in cases of conversion therapy and religious bigotry and I enjoyed that. While multifaceted villains can be fun in some horror novels sometimes a campy (ha!) exaggerated ya villain is also fun and if that's something you enjoy you'll find it here.
I absolutely adored the way the autistic character was described and especially the way her neurodivergence influenced her view on religion. Since it is an autistic ownvoices book, I was hoping for that, but I still found myself pleasantly surprised in a world where autistic characters often still are written one dimensional and stereotypical.
The story also depicted the dread of being different and the small town evangelical prejudice very well. All in all this is a really good new book by Chuck Tingle and I quite enjoyed reading it.

This is a lovely ownvoices story about a nonbinary teen with anxiety navigating life after they are kicked out by their unsupportive parents after coming out.
Ben is a really interesting character and I enjoyed following them on their journey from an anxiety-ridden mess, traumatized and (understandably) feeling like they have to hide their true self to a person that's a lot more confident, especially due to supportive friends and their sister.
This is not a book that's easy to read and the depiction of anxiety, depression, trauma and nonbinary identity are incredibly well written and realistic, but also something that is not easy to sit with and something I struggled with a bit while reading. It just hits very close to home and this depiction is heartbreaking. I did enjoy that despite delving quite deeply into negative experiences, this book managed to still stay hopeful and all in all I very much enjoyed it.
It is a slow and melancholic story, but all in all also very uplifting. Definitely a great YA debut and something I could see being very important to younger nonbinary readers.

TW for anxiety, panic attacks, depression, child abuse (emotional), parental abandonment, misgendering, homophobia.

This horror slow-burn follows a young Cree woman as her past catches up with her. Having run away from grief a few years ago, it now catches up to her in a flurry of bad dreams that soon blur the line between dream and reality.
This is an incredibly interesting novel about grief and the way it can fracture a family. The story starts out slow, which to me only intensified the feeling of grief and loss that permeated the story, but once it gets going it Really gets going. The horrors are in these woods and they are scary.
The writing was immersive, without becoming too flowery and often times I felt like I was running through the woods alongside Mackenzie.
Besides the horror I adored the familial relationship, strained but healing, and how Mackenzie was only able to heal once she stopped running away from her trauma. It is also a novel steeped in Cree culture and I really enjoyed seeing how that influenced the story and characters.
If you're looking for an indigenious horror story haunted by grief and crows, I absolutely recommend checking this out.