simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)

Read this book in one sitting because it wouldn't let me go. I think River Song could be jealous of the timey-wimey family dynamics going on here.

Fast-paced and interesting thriller about family secrets, blind parental love, and more. But wow, Mom really left that confession to the last second. Imagine if she was just a few minutes earlier.

I received an ARC through NetGalley, and this is my honest and voluntary review.

It's difficult to write about this book in full sentences as opposed to incoherent screaming. Andrew Joseph White is the master of trans, queer, autistic rage at the world and at systems of oppression. This book isn't set in an obvious dystopia like Hell Follows With Us, and that makes it all the more jarring. This is supposed to be our reality, but I'd like to believe it doesn't quite get THIS dark, at least in the present time. (Then again, I know it does.)

Compound Fracture takes place in the post-Trump American South, in a small community that is kept in control and fear by the Sheriff, who can literally get away with murder. The main character, Miles is a sixteen-year-old, autistic trans boy, who is a self-described socialist, and based on how he talks, probably spends 80% of his time reading radical leftist theory. Miles's family, the Abernathys, are sort of social outcasts and also at war with the Sheriff's family for the last hundred years, with a bloody history that involves murders on both sides.  Despite all the horrors his family experienced, Miles loves his home and doesn't want to leave it, even as he knows that people like him are either ignored or pitied and thought stupid by Democrats in blue states.

Everyone in this book does horrible things, including the good guys, although to be fair they are desperate and traumatized for the most part. Still, some bad decisions are made, and sometimes this book is like watching a trainwreck play out in real time. There's also lots of body horror and gore, as is expected from this author.

My favorite character was Miles's anarchist nonbinary friend, who is fat and disfigured and just radically and loudly queer. But also, honestly, it sounded really exhausting. These people are all in major survival mode and basically fighting a war for their homes, and it's awful. There is some joy to be found in this book, but it really isn't much.

Miles coming out to his family and it being treated supportively but sort of awkwardly hit a bit close to home, especially since I came out to my parents while reading this, so yeah. But it was great to see a supportive family, and adults who backed up the teens, which is rare in YA.

I loved the concept but the execution was a bit weird. Revolutionary librarians is a great idea though.

Pure monsterfucking filth with breeding, stalking, some cheating, knotting and so so much fluid.

Just kind of very... plain. The characters either act like immature five-year-olds or speak like they're in therapy about their feelings, and there's no inbetween. It's a sweet romance story but a bit too wholesome for me.

This felt like reading a whole trilogy at once. Phew. The character arcs are glorious, and the way the myth/history is pieced together at the end is very satisfying. A bit too many loved ones dying for me, though.

I received an ARC through NetGalley, and this is my voluntary and honest review. 

Pick Your Potion has a very accurate title, and a corresponding introduction - you feel like you're standing in a magic shop and picking from all the different, weird-colored potions. 26 stories focusing on women, many of them queer women, ranging from fantasy to sci-fi and sometimes just... weird. You're probably not going to like every story, but you'll almost definitely have at least a few that you do.

For me, I admit there were a couple that just went past my weirdness meter, and I still wonder what they were even about (and the introduction did not give enough context). But most of them were enjoyable, and just genuinely really fun and colorful ideas. I would read full-length novels based on some of them. There is also a list of content warnings for all the stories at the end.

Some of my favorite story ideas were:
- A magical/cursed board game that can make your wishes come true, but it might have a price you're not prepared to pay.
- The "little kid being the Chosen One" trope in a new coat.
- A new technological marvel that lets you experience somebody's memories and live vicariously through them.
- Virtual pets that feel like real ones and only you can see them and wow it's kind of messed up.
- Three girls save the world with the power of AUTISM.

A cozy, relaxing M/M romance in an imaginary ancient world based on the ancient Mediterranean. Hylas is in his forties, but grew up sheltered and repressed, and he's inexperienced with love and affection. Zo is twenty years younger, a courtesan at a failing companion house, and he also lives with chronic pain. I liked the characters and the setting, the everyday conflicts, and just generally the cozy feeling.

 I received a free ARC through NetGalley, and this is my honest and voluntary review.

I was drawn to this book by the charming cover, with the dog, the music notes drifting upwards, and the masc-looking love interest. Cait is a freelance editor working from home, sharing her flat with her Great Dane, Pancho. Allie is a musician and a music teacher, and after the unexpected closing of her rehearse space, she's forced to give lessons and practice at home instead.

And by "unexpected", I mean that she got several warnings probably months in advance and it only caught her off guard because she ignores her mail. On some level I relate to that, as someone who has ADHD and certainly forgets my share of things, but it was still tough to feel sympathy for her at first, especially when she blamed her friends for her own mistake. I was very much feeling Cait's frustration at her work schedule and life being disrupted without warning, and Allie's solution of earplugs doesn't work if she needs to make calls or anything.

Of course, that is the initial conflict described in the blurb, and I expected it to get better, but instead it got bad in a different way. This book ended up being much darker than I expected, with a rather explicit domestic abuse situation between Allie and her brother, and that's on top of Cait's editor blaming her for a male writer being an absolute unprofessional prick.

Overall, the tone was darker than expected despite the happy ending, I wasn't satisfied with how Cait's work conflict was resolved, and most of all, I didn't really feel the chemistry between the two main leads. I liked them as individual people, but I think they spent more time arguing or having misunderstanding than actually talking, and I just really wasn't feeling the relationship.

Would I recommend this? I'm not sure. It definitely had some bright points, like the dog, or Cait's background in Appalachia and the conflicted feelings around that, but unfortunately it didn't win me over.