This is my 3rd Hendrix book I’ve read. While it wasn’t my favorite of his, I was entertained and it lived up to what I expect from him.

I was pleasantly surprised by the topics of racism and sexism that were tackled. I felt he handled the topics relatively well, especially being that it is a white man writing from women’s perspectives. However, based on reviews I have read from POC after the fact, not everyone agrees with me, and I see why. The criticisms of the “mystical Negro” and “white savior” tropes are valid. I think this criticism could have been avoided if Hendrix had either decided to (respectfully) lean more into the topics, or if he eliminated them altogether. I would have loved the former, because those topics, and Mrs. Greene, were my favorite parts.

I also enjoyed the unique take on vampires. It was creative and creepy in the best ways. And the gross scenes were GROSS, which I loved to cringe at.

The big downside for me that docked the score is that I was not given what I expected. The title makes it sound like this is going to be a fun slasher about a badass group of book club ladies and their friendship taking down evil. What I got was very little of the dynamic between the book club ladies, and a lot more trauma. I would suggest that everyone look up triggers for this book. I read/watch a lot of horror, so this stuff doesn’t bother me per se, but it wasn’t what I was expecting which made it more distasteful than it normally would be. I was blindsided by the sexual assault in particular.

What I was looking for didn’t happen until the very last chapters of the book. I wish the book club was featured more heavily, and that their growth as people happened sooner. 80% of the book is Patricia getting gaslit by all her friends and family. I wish I was exaggerating about that.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a page-turning gory read, as long as you go into it with the right expectations.

This is a difficult book to talk about for a variety of reasons. It will not suit everyone’s tastes. If you are picking this up after The Raven Cycle, you should throw all preconceived notions of what to expect from Maggie Stiefvater out the window.

That being said, I really enjoyed this book. However, I say that knowing that I can have kind of strange taste.

The worldbuilding was excellent. It is set in a desert town in Colorado in the 60s, and I felt that in my core. The innate magicality and mystery was very effective. It had the feeling of a fever dream, but much more relaxed. I’ve never done a psychedelic, but I imagine reading this is what a good trip would feel like.

I fell in love with Stiefvater’s writing as soon as I read her for the first time, and my love only grew with this book. She just has such a way with word choice that is so lyrical while still remaining simple.

That being said, this book is near plotless, which is something I enjoy, but is something that would turn off a lot of readers. I also couldn’t exactly grasp what the main takeaway from the story was supposed to be, if there was any. Once again, something I don’t mind, but to be cautious if you’re not a fan of ambiguity.

There is some controversy (mostly from before the book was published, from what I could see) about Stiefvater writing from the perspective of Latine characters. From my perspective, she handled their culture very respectfully, and you could tell she must have had done her research/had sensitivity readers. However, I am not Hispanic or Latino, so if you do have questions about the representation, I would encourage you to seek out Own Voices reviewers. What I can comment on is that the characters overall felt flat, and that I never grew attached to any of them. I think this is because of a combination of the short length, the large cast, and the fact that the focus was clearly meant to be on the mysticism of the setting.

I would recommend this for someone looking for an excellently formed magical atmosphere and doesn’t mind a slow, meandering pace.

I’ve never read a book with such beautiful prose that made me feel absolutely nothing while reading it. This book earned its 3 star rating solely on the prose alone.

Normally I don’t read reviews until after I have finished a book and formulated my own thoughts about it. I don’t want to color my own opinions with preconceived notions of a book. However, I was about 50% in when I started to think I might have been missing something, because not only was I absolutely BORED during a zombie apocalypse story, but it seemed like nothing of substance had happened at all. I was relieved to find that a lot of reviews felt the same way I did about it, and I hadn’t somehow skipped over some crucial plot point or something.

I do not consume a whole lot of zombie stories in my reading, but have enjoyed them in other media. I was expecting this book to be like other zombie stories I’ve encountered, either that it would be full of action, or full of personal stories that connected me to the characters. Zone One had neither of those aspects, and therefore left me without any investment.

Don’t ask me at all who my favorite character was, because they all felt like cardboard. I wouldn’t be able to recall a single interesting detail about any of them. They also did not change whatsoever throughout the story. I’m aware that Mark Spitz was meant to be an everyman type of character, but he was so much so that I did not care what happened to him, or anyone he knew, at all.

The writing, unlike the story, was gorgeous. The visceral and eloquent details of the world were enchanting, and when it wanted to, it accomplished at making me cringe. At times, it truly did feel like I was reading poetry.

I would be willing to try another one of Colson Whitehead’s works in hopes that they would have more substance to them. I would not recommend this one.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this book. In fact, it is a book that I'm grateful exists. However, the subject matter was hitting to close to home and was actively harming me. It has very honest scenes of the painful parts of the transmasc experience.

Do you ever run into those books that make you think “I didn’t know what a 5 star read was until I read this”? That is The Swimmers for me.⁠
⁠
First off, this is beautifully written. When you hear someone say that, you normally think of flowery prose that is meant to impress you. That is not the case with Otsuka’s writing. Her prose is understated, but uses the perfect word choice to make you feel exactly how the characters feel. The beginning of the book follows the daily motions of the swimmers that go to the pool, and the repetition and seemingly useless information included makes you feel the mediocrity. When I put it that way, it sounds like a bad thing, but it is the opposite. I didn’t want to stop reading, because I knew there had to be “more to life” than this.⁠
⁠
And then, about halfway through, we follow Alice’s perspective, an elderly woman with dementia. This is when the waterworks started, and they never stopped until some time after I finished. I felt so frustrated and depressed alongside her when I imagined myself in her shoes. And you are forced to imagine it, because the second is written in 2nd person. YOU are Alice. A trick that is not easy to pull off, and Otsuka did it perfectly.⁠
⁠
For such a short book, Otsuka packed so much into it with her writing. It is actually impressive.⁠
⁠
I’m still trying to gather my thoughts about this book, because it impacted me so much. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to put it into words exactly. What I can say is that this is easily my favorite book I’ve read so far this year, and I’m still trying to decide if it’s my favorite of all time.⁠
⁠
I would recommend this for everyone who wouldn’t be triggered by the subject matter. I know that dementia and Alzheimers affects a lot of people, so if that is something that would harm you, I would stay away.⁠

I have been hyping this book up for myself for at least a year now, convinced that it was going to be a 5 star read for me. But for one reason or another, other things kept me from reading it. I’m happy to say after finally getting to it that it did not disappoint.⁠
⁠
This book is delightful and strange, though it wasn’t strange in the way I was expecting. I was going into it expecting it to be a bit more surreal, like Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi. Don’t get me wrong, it still had surreal elements. I mean, “The Claw” is its own character, who is a set of bleached, over-hairsprayed bangs on the top of another character’s head. But it was less esoteric and more accessible, which I feel was to its benefit.⁠
⁠
At the very beginning, there is a big cast list of all the characters in the field hockey team, which worried me that I was going to mix them up. I didn’t at all. Each character was so unique and had such lovable quirks that it was easy to tell them apart, even when they were talked about as a unit. I loved every single one of them, too. Don’t ask me which one was my favorite, because I wouldn’t be able to tell you.⁠
⁠
Another thing I loved about this book was the representation that was given. It was appropriate to the 80s time period, informative, and fun all at once. The homophobia and racism was taken seriously and was valuable, but it wasn’t depressive to read about. It fit the mood of the rest of the book perfectly.⁠
⁠
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting into “weird” books, but isn’t sure where to start.⁠

Iron Widow was such a strangely refreshing read, in the fact that Zetian is unlike any other YA protagonist I’ve read so far. She, just like the prose and plot, is so brash and knows exactly what she wants. She tips the typical YA formula on its head. Instead of her being thrown into an unknown world and having to figure out where she fits, she dives into the unknown headfirst with a simple goal that she will go to the ends of the earth to achieve. I respect that so much about her character. By eliminating any passivity in her, the book benefits from having brutal, nonstop action.⁠
⁠
The supporting cast was a good foil to her as well, the other characters taking a more gentle approach to the world than she. Even so, their characterizations were not sacrificed. Every character had clear motivation. I loved that. And of course, one of the big selling points of this book was the polyamorous triad, which I did love, even though I do think we could have spent more time building up to it to make me truly believe in it.⁠
⁠
However, I just could not grasp how the magic/sci-fi elements worked in this book, and the worldbuilding felt rushed at times, especially at the very end of the book. I have a layman’s familiarity with the concept of qi, which could have been the problem. I am more familiar with Chinese history, and I think the fictionalization of true events was well done and very interesting, but that also wasn’t fleshed out enough for me. The final climax of the book involved a lot of world history that was only mentioned in passing earlier on, and was not elaborated on further after. I hope the worldbuilding is more of a focus in the second book, because I will be reading on in the series and would love to understand more.⁠
⁠
I would recommend this to anyone who may be getting bored of the YA genre. I guarantee Iron Widow will bring something new to the table for you.⁠