simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)

I loved the twists in this. I figured out one quite early, but there were still several left that I didn't see coming.

note: one of the characters is disabled (she read as autistic to me, but I'm allistic so I might be wrong) and it's a double edged sword, because 1) there is ableism against her by her mother and outsiders, 2) by her sister, there is a kind of idealisation as this mystical, supernatural person. It made me a feel a little strange, but it's not really my place to judge if it's really bad rep (or it's never made clear what she is supposed to be, so).

Definitely my favourite Discworld book so far.

This book had some truly lovely descriptions.

There were a couple of scenes that weren't in the show, and thus new to me, that I loved (e.g. the Four Horsemen standing around the signpost, and I liked the trivia scene better in the book than in the show + the Them had some amazing dialogue and inner narration that wasn't all included), but there were also some racist or homophobic lines/slurs that I'm really glad were cut out, including a joke about burning gay people that REALLY took me out of the story and I still haven't really processed that it was like, actually there and I didn't dream it.

In short: 80% of this book was almost exactly the same as the show (= amazing), but for the remaining 20, I think I preferred the show.

This was a fun short story about dimension travellers. I don't have any emotional connection to the Flatiron Building, and I like Tor.com stories but I'm still not a hardcore fan or anything, so there are probably people who will enjoy this more than me, but - I love Seanan and her brain and this was pretty good.

up until around 80% this was 3 stars at best with a lot of heteronormative YA clichés, but after

the 13-year-old getting pregnant from an older teen, giving birth and dying

I was tempted to give it 1, so let's settle on 2

I have a lot of Thoughts but I'm so disappointed that I don't even feel like sharing them at this point

pairing: cis M/trans M

I read this book for the second time and it's just as good as the first time. It somehow hit me more personally the second time around, which I guess is due to my own changing identity, but I can't really put into words how wonderful this book is. To me, the message of it is that we can and should use stories to discover ourselves, but at the end of the day we must and we WILL find ways to survive and thrive and be ourselves in the real world.

edit: The funniest thing is that I highlighted the SAME two quotes both times I read it, and I didn't realise this until just now when I looked at the Goodreads progress.

content warnings: misgendering, deadnaming and family rejection in flashback scenes

this was chaotic, but I loved it, even if it gave me a headache sometimes. I'm sure it would be easier to understand if I had a folklore degree or something. also, Henry and Toby would make great friends.

Loved this sequel, especially learning more about Sloane's backstory - and that Snow White twist was one I wasn't expecting.

I would like to note that the transgender character is misgendered several times in the book, and while it is always called out by the POV character, it was still not that great to read.

There were certainly parts of this that I enjoyed, but overall it really wasn't my thing.

Content warning for antisemitism and a relationship between a 15-year-old and a 30-year-old being central to the book. Also, there is a very casual reference to a 12-year-old "having an affair" with a married man and like... that's not... that's not an "affair" that's rape and pedophilia, what the hell even. So yeah. it's... interesting.