papercraftalex's Reviews (368)

This was a stunning collection. It's such a unique perspective to look at queerness, womanhood, and the Asian diaspora through the lens of robotics, and it worked so well. The author has a beautiful way with words; the poems were all full of vibrant imagery and a great rhythm. I can't wait to read more of her work.

Knees in the Garden is a very personal poetry collection about feminine rage, trauma, and oppression. She plays with form and language very well. There is such beautiful imagery and vulnerability. The best poem, in my opinion, was "Prize: Fat Girl." It had great use of language and wonderful rhythm. I definitely recommend this collection and can't wait for the author's future collections!

Thank you to Querencia Press for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hospital Issued Writing Notebook is a very creative poetry collection about hospitalization and disability. Flore does a good job with analogy and with fully immersing the reader into his experience. My favorite poem of the collection was "HALLUCINATING WHILE MY FRIEND SMOKES POT AND LOOKS AT ME LIKE I'M JESUS." It really encapsulated Flore's storytelling ability. I don't think I was always fully onboard with the language used ("The juicy fart of paranoia" is not a line I ever thought I would read), but overall it's a good collection.

Thank you to Querencia Publishing for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Finna was a very enjoyable, short, queer, anticapitalist sci-fi story. The author did a good job encapsulating how dead end jobs make people stuck and did a great job dropping the reading into the story without over-explaining. It felt reminiscent of "This is How You Lose the Time War" in that they both don't have high amounts of world-building, but still manage to convey a beautiful story.

I've never read a graphic novel with no words at all, but the lack of words added so much to this story about immigration. It was absolutely touching and a very creative interpretation of how it feels to flee from your home. I saw this on a list of must read graphic novel and I definitely agree!

Children's books have a good way of being absolutely terrifying and adorable at the same time. Snow & Rose encapsulates family, friendship, community, and nature in an amazing way. I've never read the original fairytale, but this book certainly has fairytale charm. The illustrations were gorgeous and I'd love to have them framed. The characters all have charms and quirks, but I found Snow to be very annoying. It's realistic representation to little siblings! The story did feel disjointed for most of it, but I loved how it came together in the end.

The Black Queen was definitely an entertaining and fast read, but it lacked a lot of depth. A lot of Black reviewers are pointing out that the narrative is mostly the white girl and the titular Black queen is just a plot device. I fully agree. The characters aren't fully fleshed out and often act stereotypical. The mystery itself is somewhat predictable; I didn't know everything, but I got most of it right in the beginning. It's also blatant copaganda. Duchess spends so much of the book saying her dad works so hard and is so good as if he's not upholding a disgusting institution. The ending was really cliche and

Tinsley was never actually held accountable for the terrible things she said

. This was one of my most anticipated reads and I'm pretty disappointed. 

Middle grade books always have this beautiful tingle of magic in it that heals my inner child. Song For a whale was stunning; the characters were all so real and I felt Iris's pain and loneliness so deeply. The way loneliness and community are represented in this novel are so deep and nuanced. I particularly love the small chapters where we follow Blue 55. I was crying so hard by the end. This book made me feel the most hope I've felt since before the pandemic. Please read it.

When I first started reading this book, I was terrified. There was palatable suspense and the characters and plot were set up perfectly. Then it went downhill. The villain

s were</> was kind of ridiculous and really unexpected

and borderline antisemitic, like a group that sacrifices children to gain worldly power? That's just spicy blood libel

and the ending was laughably bad. I'm rating it 3 stars because it had a 5 star beginning and a 1 star end.

This is very instagram style and does run into a problem with too many cliches and not enough poetics, but I really enjoyed it. It's warm and it's so wonderful to see something so unapologetic lesbian. Read this if you're looking less for flowery language and more about authentic queerness.