leahrosereads's Reviews (1.04k)

Spectacular addition to this series. This may have been my favorite yet. Cleric Chih is home, reunited with Almost Brilliant, and gets to meet Almost Brilliant's daughter, while saying goodbye to their mentor.

Mammoths at the Gate reminds readers the importance of storytelling.  If stories get told, they get remembered,  and through that, they outlive us all.

I've missed these characters and worlds and McGuire's storytelling. This was phenomenal and heart-achingly beautiful. I love seeing the character arcs between each book, and how they're all interwoven with each other.

The Yagas could be my neighbors, my ancestors, my friends. Too often we forget the history that led us to our present and brings us into what's next.

This story was everything. And it was important.  We cannot forget our history and we cannot allow it to become someone's present.

All eyes on Gaza. Never again means never again for all of us. To Palestine,  this Jewish person will always bear witness.

I thought the first book was horrifying but this one took the meat of Wild Seed and expanded it to such brutal lengths. I'm very interested in what's next.

This felt more disjointed than book one but I think with Mary's character, not only did it make sense, but it felt intentional.

Butler's continued conversations around eugenics, slavery, and power were just as impactful as Wild Seed, and I think again, about how timely this story still is almost 50 years later. 

What an incredible,  thought-provoking,  and horrific novel. The writing and narrator had me completely sucked in. For this to be a debut novel!? I can't wait to see what this author writes next.

She's immediately an auto-buy for me now.

This won't be everyone's cup of tea, but the commentary around identity,  beauty standards, and the lengths we go to be seen will stick with me for a long time.

When stories span centuries, much like this one did, there's going to be some disjointed parts, and some areas that just can't be as fleshed out as others.

That said, Wild Seed, was so good. It must have been totally revolutionary for its time. The plot,  topics around privilege, slavery, and eugenics, and the dichotomy of Anyanwu and Doro were stellar. It was tough seeing the gentle and kind be killed, but I think that was also a part of the topic that Ms. Butler wanted to explore. I think I'll see more of that in the future stories.

While Anyanwu is the healer to Doro's killing nature, both have a sense of immortal entitlement that I think Anyanwu doesn't believe she has. She's young in her immortality compared to Doro, and I'm not sure if that means she'll overcome her immortal nature or become more like Doro than she ever could imagine.

Only time and continuing the series will give me the answers. I'm on this journey now to the end.

Queer joy in a queer horror? Yes please! I couldn't stop  reading. I loved the characters,  the writing, the ending all of it!

I read a lot of horror without happy endings so when one with is such a delight. It was cheapened though. I throughly enjoyed every moment of this ride!

Did I think I'd be here writing a review about a slasher with tears in my eyes. Nope, but here I am all the same.

Damn SGJ is a master storyteller. This was everything I could have hoped for and then so, so much more.

I kept changing my rating from 3.75 to 4.25 so I'm landing on a 4. The premises was super intriguing and unlike some other reviews, I dug  the ending and thought it seemed realistic, especially for the the time.

This is the type of book that I read probably at the perfect time for my mood but wouldn't reread it.

Things I didn't end up enjoyng:
This is a long book with a lot of redundancy. I don't think it would have held my attention had I not been listening to the audio book copy. 

Characters - I really wanted more and less. More development and back story and possibly less characters overall. There were just too many, and I kept getting confused.

Queerness - there's on page queer interactions or near interactions but I'd have loved more openness around it.

found out that there would be an animal death that seemingly had no point on top of the MC missing all the red flags and her pretentious personality, I'm passing on this one.