This book is dull and insufferable and I can't take it anymore

The illustrations in this book are gorgeous and I would very much put them on my wall if I could get them as a posters, but unfortunately I did not enjoy the story. It was interesting at first and then it turned into a boring, repetitive, and underwhelming experience. After reading this and Krampus, I never want to read another book by Brom.

Every single one of these stories is so weird and unique. Many of them are queer, and all of them have anti-capitalist and anti-fascist themes. Some of these I've already read from previous anthologies but it was nice to revisit them. Eric Raglin's writing never fails to capture my attention. If I see his name on a book whether he edited or wrote a story then I'm reading it. I hope I get to one day read a novel by him. :)

This is a coming of age about middle schoolers who see the ghosts of animals who were buried a long time ago. One of the teens is Marnie, whose parents moved to the small town of Pryeville. Her father is terminally ill. At night she sees the ghost of a horse. Edgar lives with his cruel, abusive, and homophobic father. He is interested in technology and wants to build a computer. He is the one who sees the ghost of a dog at night. Soon Marnie and Edgar become friends and with the help of their friends Sophia and Donald, they come up with a plan to attempt reuniting the horse and dog.

This is told in first person narration, and at first it was difficult to tell when it was Marnie or Edgar narrating, but it then quickly became easier when Marnie brings up Sophia and Edgar thinks about Donald, as well as when they discuss their home life. Also it's never stated what year it is in the book but it seems like it takes place during the early 2000s since some teens are shown to be listening to CDs. The writing is simplistic but this is a young adult coming of age so that's not really a problem for me. I liked this novella and I'm happy I found it through the Queer Liberation Library.

This is a difficult book to read and I kind of wish I had dnfed it but at the same time I'm glad I kept reading till the end. The writing is definitely engaging and the themes of travel and anatomy were interesting. I feel so drained after reading this though and I doubt I'll ever want to read this again.

There were times I struggled to read this because it's written in an academic manner but it is so worth it. The author does an excellent job at explaining the harm of capitalism, patriarchy, hierarchies in society and relationships, couple privilege (a term I didn't know about but makes so much sense), the relationship escalator, amatonormativity and heteronormativity. The case for a society of mutual aid and where one type of relationship is not considered superior over another was explained really well. I would totally recommend this book to anyone who's interested in a different way of relating to people.

This is poetry mixed with prose and even though I did not relate to most of Zoe Whittall's experiences I still appreciated reading these poems. She writes about grief, relationships, mental illness, her pregnancy and miscarriage, being queer and aging. I will be checking out more of her writing after finishing this book.

The illustrations in this comic are gorgeous but the writing made me so bored and irritated, and I did not care about any of the characters. I will likely not read anything else from Jeff Lemire after this.

This is a short but powerful novella about Kazu, who's dead and haunting the park in which he spent his final days as a homeless person. His life is one of struggle and hardship while having some things in common with the imperial family. Through Kazu's narration the reader sees the effects of wealth inequality and poverty, as well as aging and being a "burden" on family members. I didn't exactly enjoy this but the translation is exquisite and it is written with a lot of empathy.

This picks up about a year after the events of the first book. Evelyn, Daniel and Finn take turns working in the watchtower. Terrifying and horrifying things continue to happen, a purple light lures people into the woods, a deep hole is in the ground, and several abominations invade the town of Pinehaven chaos and bloodshed. Despite all this there are still funny and wholesome between the three protagonists which I really enjoyed reading. The petty feud between Evelyn and the bird Bartholomew is also hilarious. The found family is something I really appreciate about this book. I hope there will be a third book in this series.