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simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)
Hm. I loved most of this, but towards the end I wasn't sure. Still, I this was a good F/F retelling.
4.5 stars
Everything looked good on the cryo deck.
Are you looking for a quick read that just happens to be a sci-fi, F/F enemies-to-lovers retelling of Sleeping Beauty? Do I have a book for you! Also, it has a beautiful cover.
I just want to say that I absolutely LOVED the little ways the original story's images were translated into sci-fi - references to the ship's shape, the Reaches ship's name, the thorns in Mal's dream, etc.
I would have liked this story to be longer, but I think there was as much character and relationship development as you can fit into 50 pages - and the main characters did spend several months together, I just wished we had SEEN a little more of it.
The irony/table-turning of the ending was also great.
Also, one of the Popsugar prompts made me think, but - I do think this concept could make an awesome movie. Movies like retellings anyway, and this one is queer, sci-fi, and the images I mentioned above would be so good.
note: The main POV character, Mal walks with a cane and a limp.
Everything looked good on the cryo deck.
Are you looking for a quick read that just happens to be a sci-fi, F/F enemies-to-lovers retelling of Sleeping Beauty? Do I have a book for you! Also, it has a beautiful cover.
I just want to say that I absolutely LOVED the little ways the original story's images were translated into sci-fi - references to the ship's shape, the Reaches ship's name, the thorns in Mal's dream, etc.
I would have liked this story to be longer, but I think there was as much character and relationship development as you can fit into 50 pages - and the main characters did spend several months together, I just wished we had SEEN a little more of it.
The irony/table-turning of the ending was also great.
Also, one of the Popsugar prompts made me think, but - I do think this concept could make an awesome movie. Movies like retellings anyway, and this one is queer, sci-fi, and the images I mentioned above would be so good.
note: The main POV character, Mal walks with a cane and a limp.
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This was a quick, creepy story based on a Native American myth, mixing dream/magic with realism so that it's difficult to decide where the boundaries are. I don't have much else to say about it, but I liked it.
3.5
Gemma, tell your story again.
I told myself I'd stop reading Holocaust books but this one tricked me into reading it by saying it was a Sleeping Beauty retelling
I mean technically it was but a very brutal one
the good: I liked the way the puzzle/mystery was set up, and gradually finding out what happened, and how it was all related to Sleeping Beauty. (the people who keep sleeping and the kiss that wakes her up? like wow). I also liked the way the Gemma flashbacks were alternating with the present.
the bad: I didn't care about the present-time characters or the romance at all, but then again that wasn't the focus.
TWs: uh, everything? Holocaust, genocide, extermination camps, suicide, homophobia, anti-semitism. you name it.
Gemma, tell your story again.
I told myself I'd stop reading Holocaust books but this one tricked me into reading it by saying it was a Sleeping Beauty retelling
I mean technically it was but a very brutal one
the good: I liked the way the puzzle/mystery was set up, and gradually finding out what happened, and how it was all related to Sleeping Beauty. (the people who keep sleeping and the kiss that wakes her up? like wow). I also liked the way the Gemma flashbacks were alternating with the present.
the bad: I didn't care about the present-time characters or the romance at all, but then again that wasn't the focus.
TWs: uh, everything? Holocaust, genocide, extermination camps, suicide, homophobia, anti-semitism. you name it.
I have just taken an overly large bite of iced bun when Callum slices his finger off.
Can we talk about how this book just had everything?
* An aroace protagonist who sometimes wonders if she should just settle for a kind man, but eventually realises it's not worth forcing her heart somewhere it shouldn't be, and she's perfect on her own.
* Badass ladies who are very different from each other, and have different aspirations, but they all want MORE than men would allow them, so they work together to reach those goals.
* Monty and Percy being amazing and in love and having their own quiet life, with neither of their disabilities erased.
* Monty and Felicity's sibling relationship, which is complicated and not always good and yet they would go to the end of the earth for each other (with only mild complaining). I screamed when we are reunited with Monty.
* Felicity having flaws, but being called out on them and learning that she was wrong. This is something that was also VERY true with Monty in his own book, because he fucked up a lot.
* Felicity being a medical genius just from books and her own talent.
* A big dog.
(Yes, it still gets 4 stars, because I loved it, but it didn't quite live up to the first one for me. Still good, though.)
Can we talk about how this book just had everything?
* An aroace protagonist who sometimes wonders if she should just settle for a kind man, but eventually realises it's not worth forcing her heart somewhere it shouldn't be, and she's perfect on her own.
* Badass ladies who are very different from each other, and have different aspirations, but they all want MORE than men would allow them, so they work together to reach those goals.
* Monty and Percy being amazing and in love and having their own quiet life, with neither of their disabilities erased.
* Monty and Felicity's sibling relationship, which is complicated and not always good and yet they would go to the end of the earth for each other (with only mild complaining). I screamed when we are reunited with Monty.
* Felicity having flaws, but being called out on them and learning that she was wrong. This is something that was also VERY true with Monty in his own book, because he fucked up a lot.
* Felicity being a medical genius just from books and her own talent.
* A big dog.
(Yes, it still gets 4 stars, because I loved it, but it didn't quite live up to the first one for me. Still good, though.)
pros: ownvoices short story collection where every story has a trans woman main character. some are lesbian, some are bi, some are straight, so there's a variety. some stories also have trans side characters or other queer friends. one story had a mother-daughter pair where both of them were trans and that was nice. the stories also went into all kinds of trans experiences.
cons: this book was just... really exhausting to read for several reasons. it's full of triggers, heavy topics, swearing, berating each other - some of that is stuff that I don't have a problem with normally, but after a while it just felt too much and I got bitter and I barely wanted to finish the book. also it has this writing style where it doesn't clearly separate the dialogue and that was nice for a while but it also got exhausting.
tldr; this just wasn't really for me
cons: this book was just... really exhausting to read for several reasons. it's full of triggers, heavy topics, swearing, berating each other - some of that is stuff that I don't have a problem with normally, but after a while it just felt too much and I got bitter and I barely wanted to finish the book. also it has this writing style where it doesn't clearly separate the dialogue and that was nice for a while but it also got exhausting.
tldr; this just wasn't really for me
This book was 2019 January’s Sapphic Book Club read hosted by sapphicbookclub..
So my copy of this is 405 pages (although some of those are empty because of a formatting issue in the ARC). I read up until about 300, then decided I'm just not motivated enough to read the rest.
1) I felt like the characterisations were all over the place, so I couldn't really connect to the characters, and I was bored a lot of the time. I guess the point of the book is to show that the stories and rumours we see about Rya paint her as evil, and then we get the truth from her perspective, but like... the truth is still awful? Like, she's still an evil person for doing that stuff? And it's just not consistent with her behaviour to the Ashen and I have no idea why Cam is attracted to her or how she can overlook that stuff.
2) Listen. I know this is supposed to be YA and YA is all about teens doing incredible stuff, so okay, I can buy the two main characters being 19 and 17. I imagined them at least mid-20s before I found out their ages, but fine, I can roll with that. But the other stuff? The apparently-13-year-old kid who doesn't sound 13 at all and talks about killing someone casually? The big bad scary assassin turning out to be 15? The bad guy drafting literal 11-year-olds into his army? It's just too much for me tbh.
So my copy of this is 405 pages (although some of those are empty because of a formatting issue in the ARC). I read up until about 300, then decided I'm just not motivated enough to read the rest.
1) I felt like the characterisations were all over the place, so I couldn't really connect to the characters, and I was bored a lot of the time. I guess the point of the book is to show that the stories and rumours we see about Rya paint her as evil, and then we get the truth from her perspective, but like... the truth is still awful? Like, she's still an evil person for doing that stuff? And it's just not consistent with her behaviour to the Ashen and I have no idea why Cam is attracted to her or how she can overlook that stuff.
2) Listen. I know this is supposed to be YA and YA is all about teens doing incredible stuff, so okay, I can buy the two main characters being 19 and 17. I imagined them at least mid-20s before I found out their ages, but fine, I can roll with that. But the other stuff? The apparently-13-year-old kid who doesn't sound 13 at all and talks about killing someone casually? The big bad scary assassin turning out to be 15? The bad guy drafting literal 11-year-olds into his army? It's just too much for me tbh.
I received a copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
4.5
This poetry collection has so much emotion for less than 60 pages. Gods, goddesses, Icarus, Cinderella, witches, heartbreak, millenial bitterness, and more. One thing I didn't expect but welcomed was the parts about the poet's disability and how the attitude of others makes her feel.
4.5
This poetry collection has so much emotion for less than 60 pages. Gods, goddesses, Icarus, Cinderella, witches, heartbreak, millenial bitterness, and more. One thing I didn't expect but welcomed was the parts about the poet's disability and how the attitude of others makes her feel.
After I finally read the original Pride and Prejudice this month, it was only fitting to read a queer retelling. The idea of Darcy and Lizzy both being gay and marrying as friends for convenience was attractive, and that cover is beautiful. Unfortunately, that's about all the good things I can say about this book.
Here's the thing: this book read as if the author took the original Pride and Prejudice and occasionally scribbled in some new sentences, maybe a couple of scenes, and exchanged some names. More than half of the book is word-for-word the exact same as the original. The love interest is changed from Mr Darcy to Miss Caroline Bingley, which is mostly shown by the fact that many of Darcy's original lines are said by Miss Bingley. Literally, the dialogue is almost the same with the names changed, and occasionally with a few sentences to hint at the characters being gay.
This is not quite what I expected from a retelling. Treating Darcy and Miss Bingley as basically interchangable was annoying, and while we did learn a little more about Miss Bingley's background, it was strange that this book kept all the same plotlines about Wickham and the others. In the end, this kind of felt like reading the same book twice.
Here's the thing: this book read as if the author took the original Pride and Prejudice and occasionally scribbled in some new sentences, maybe a couple of scenes, and exchanged some names. More than half of the book is word-for-word the exact same as the original. The love interest is changed from Mr Darcy to Miss Caroline Bingley, which is mostly shown by the fact that many of Darcy's original lines are said by Miss Bingley. Literally, the dialogue is almost the same with the names changed, and occasionally with a few sentences to hint at the characters being gay.
This is not quite what I expected from a retelling. Treating Darcy and Miss Bingley as basically interchangable was annoying, and while we did learn a little more about Miss Bingley's background, it was strange that this book kept all the same plotlines about Wickham and the others. In the end, this kind of felt like reading the same book twice.
4.5 stars
RTC
representation: nonbinary main, Muslim lesbian main, several LGBTQAI+ and POC side characters
content notes: misgendering and deadnaming (mostly due to character being closeted, not intentional), death of family members, body horror (because zombies), police brutality, racist rallies, bullying
--
nonbinary protagonist ✓
nonbinary author ✓
zombies ✓
witches ✓
werewolves ✓
in Salem?! ✓
yeah this is going on my TBR
RTC
representation: nonbinary main, Muslim lesbian main, several LGBTQAI+ and POC side characters
content notes: misgendering and deadnaming (mostly due to character being closeted, not intentional), death of family members, body horror (because zombies), police brutality, racist rallies, bullying
--
nonbinary protagonist ✓
nonbinary author ✓
zombies ✓
witches ✓
werewolves ✓
in Salem?! ✓
yeah this is going on my TBR