Full review on my blog 25th March 2022: https://inkandplasma.com/2022/03/25/queer-a-graphic-history/

I think it’s fair to say that this isn’t really a graphic novel of Queer History which, rightly or wrongly, is the assumption I made. Instead I’d call this an illustrated introduction to Queer Theory. That’s not necessarily a criticism, just not what I personally was expecting when I picked up this book. Putting that aside, though, I found several aspects of this book interesting and useful.

Personally I had some, but not extensive, experience with queer theory already. This meant that some of the concepts in this book were already very familiar to me, and those I didn’t particularly learn anything new from. On the other hand, other concepts that were unfamiliar to me were laid out in a very accessible way. To me this very much felt like a primer on queer theory. The cartoons and illustrations made it very accessible but, by their nature, created a more surface-level exploration of each topic. I think that this book will be an excellent read for anyone interested in learning about queer theory who isn’t quite sure where to start.

It begins by outlaying historical viewpoints and how they developed through time, and explains terminology clearly and succinctly. It’s a shame that there’s not a table of contents or a glossary, as I think I would be more likely to come back to this book as a jumping off point for further research, finding pages that interest me and using them to find other, more in-depth, texts on those particular subjects. Because each topic is restricted to a paragraph on each page, there isn’t a lot of depth to look at criticisms and support for each, and I think that for someone interested in queer theory they would have to research further to develop a real understanding. However, it does make it incredibly accessible for those who don’t know where to start without jumping straight into an overwhelming academic text.

I do think there were moments where the lack of depth did the book a disservice in the later sections of the book, particularly in the very complicated issues of queer theory criticisms. The surface level analysis of different texts, limited by the word count of the format, meant that there were moments where I felt like I was only being presented half of an analysis, and as someone which experience with queer theory, these moments could be frustrating. Some of these debates need that extra focus time and didn’t receive it.

Original rating: 5 stars

Cawpile rating (10/03/2022): Okay I would still rate this 5 stars, so I'm leaving the original star rating up, but CAWPILE says that I am thinking on vibes only.

Character - 9
Atmosphere - 9
Writing - 7
Plot - 8
Intrigue - 8
Logic - 7
Enjoyment - 10

Rating: 8.29 / 4 stars

Character - 6
Atmosphere - 5
Writing - 7
Plot - 5
Intrigue - 5
Logic - 5
Enjoyment - 5

Rating: 5.43 / 3 stars

Character - 10
Atmosphere - 8
Writing - 8
Plot - 8
Intrigue - 8
Logic - 7
Enjoyment - 10

Rating: 8.43 / 4 stars

Character - 9
Atmosphere - 7
Writing - 9
Plot - 7
Intrigue - 8
Logic - 5
Enjoyment - 7

Rating: 7.43 / 4 stars

Reread as of 13/03/2022; cawpile rated. Original review upheld below! I love Nate McCauley so gd much.

Character - 8
Atmosphere - 6
Writing - 7
Plot - 9
Intrigue - 10
Logic - 8
Enjoyment - 10

Rating: 8.29 / 4 stars
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Full review, a spoilery rambling post about how much I love these characters: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/review-one-of-us-is-lying-by-karen-mcmanus/

I first read this book in 2017, and then I read Two Can Keep A Secret earlier this year. Considering I don't read a lot of adult crime/mystery, I've got a huge soft spot for it in YA novels. To me, Karen McManus is definitely one of the best writers in the genre. So when One of Us is Next was announced, I knew I had to reread the book and refresh myself on the characters. Coming into my reread, the ONLY thing I could remember was the Big Twist. The reading experience was still just as good for knowing what was eventually coming, particularly as I could barely remember each characters individual secrets.

I don't remember discovering the big twist for the first time, so I can't comment on how easy it was to guess, though I did enjoy finding all the clues the second time around. For me, the best part of this book is the characters. They feel so fleshed out and real. Often when books have multiple POVs I worry that I'm going to be reading about a couple of shallow, underdeveloped characters, but in One of Us is Lying, we've actually got four well-written main characters. I think it's fair to say that Cooper and Bronwyn are the most focal and most developed, but I liked all four of the characters arcs.

Character - 9
Atmosphere - 8
Writing - 9
Plot - 8
Intrigue - 7
Logic - 8
Enjoyment - 8

Rating: 8.14 / 4 stars

Character - 3
Atmosphere - 2
Writing - 2
Plot - 3
Intrigue - 3
Logic - 4
Enjoyment - 2

Rating: 2.71 / 2 stars

This was... not it. I cannot believe it took like 98% of the book for anyone to actually die. I don't care about any of the characters, their voices weren't distinct enough for me to separate them easily so I didn't really get attached to anyone. There was a plot twist near the end, I guess, but it didn't feel particularly well seeded so I didn't get the 'oh shit' feeling of lots of plot threads coming together. Additionally, I found the writing kind of confusing and inelegant, which meant that the final dramatic scene needed rereading several times because the way it was written was confusing. Not exactly a great dramatic ending.

Credibility - 8
Authenticity - 8
Writing - 9
Personal Impact - 10
Intrigue - 6
Logic - 7
Enjoyment - 9

Rating: 8.14 / 4 stars

My blog tour review will be live on my blog on 22/03/2022: https://inkandplasma.com/2022/03/22/the-kaiju-preservation-society/

Character - 10
Atmosphere - 9
Writing - 10
Plot - 9
Intrigue - 7
Logic - 8
Enjoyment - 10

Rating: 9.00 / 5 stars

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I don’t know what I was expecting from this book, but it wasn’t what I got. What I got was an amazing, light-hearted and fun read that was like reading a bubblegum pop song. I loved every second of it. Even during the tense moments of this book, it stayed hilarious and the tone has me absolutely obsessed with this book. I can’t wait to clear some more of my TBR so I have an excuse to buy more of Scalzi’s work after reading this one.

Thanks to Tor for the ARC of this book. It has not affected my honest review.

For me, the characters were the highlight of this book. Jamie was both funny and relatable, and I loved following him as he discovered the complexities of Kaiju-Earth. As he worked, he met a lot of KPS’s Gold Team members and I loved the way that they grew into truly authentic feeling friendships over the length of their mission. It was a believable group of coworkers spending all their time together; with the friendships, conflicts and teasing I’d expect from that dynamic. I particularly loved Satie. He’s a badass, and I respect him in every way. Most of the people who had done more than one ‘tour’ on Kaiju Earth were absolutely badass.

I was genuinely impressed with the world-building in this book. I don’t generally set very high expectations for a light-hearted sci-fi in terms of logic and world-building, but this was surprisingly sound. This book balanced realistic explanations and science with classic hand-wavey sci-fi bullshit (and I mean that as a compliment) in a way that I could understand everything it was explaining and find it convincing enough to suspend my disbelief. And when we’re talking about mountain-sized nuclear monsters, that’s very impressive. I loved the way that scientific differences between our Earth and Kaiju Earth had a reaching impact, for example in them using airships. It made Kaiju Earth feel very different from our world.

I raced through this book, completely immersed from the first page. It felt very cinematic, and I would love to see a movie of this book. The ending was super uplifting, and it left me thinking about the future of the characters and the world in a really positive way.