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simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)
This was a well-written, tragic, short but brilliant story of a family of women doing what they can to keep their kingdom alive. It's a prequel story, and while the first book doesn't seem to have the same main characters, it definitely convinced me to put When Rains Fall on my TBR.
This was a sweet post-apocalyptic short story about a boy and his robots and the girl who finds them, with a very cheesy ending line. Oh, and an alien river monster too.
No.
Main reason for my rating: There was a big storyline about how Alex started taking antidepressants after her Dad died and they made her completely numb to the point that she can't feel emotions or sexual desire, and once she leaves the meds she "feels like her old self again" and now she can finally have sex with Megan, and it was just pissing me off. That is not how antidepressants are supposed to work. They are supposed to make you feel better, and if they're making you numb, that is likely a sign that the specific medicine isn't good for you and you should try another one.
I am one of those people who could really use meds for my depression, but my mother is against it because she's afraid it would just make me numb, so this stereotype and depiction and anti-medicine stance is just harmful.
Otherwise, I just really wasn't feeling the characters, and towards the end the author threw in the old miscommunication/forced kiss trope where one character catches the other kissing someone else even though it was a forced kiss and then Drama Happens. It just wasn't fun to read at all.
Main reason for my rating: There was a big storyline about how Alex started taking antidepressants after her Dad died and they made her completely numb to the point that she can't feel emotions or sexual desire, and once she leaves the meds she "feels like her old self again" and now she can finally have sex with Megan, and it was just pissing me off. That is not how antidepressants are supposed to work. They are supposed to make you feel better, and if they're making you numb, that is likely a sign that the specific medicine isn't good for you and you should try another one.
I am one of those people who could really use meds for my depression, but my mother is against it because she's afraid it would just make me numb, so this stereotype and depiction and anti-medicine stance is just harmful.
Otherwise, I just really wasn't feeling the characters, and towards the end the author threw in the old miscommunication/forced kiss trope where one character catches the other kissing someone else even though it was a forced kiss and then Drama Happens. It just wasn't fun to read at all.
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This book was June 2018's Sapphic Book Club read hosted by @sapphicliterature.
“It’s not a good thing, Skyler, being fearless. Fear’s there for a reason. The only way someone could turn out the way Angel is, I reckon, is if they really believed they didn’t have anything left to lose.”
My rating: 3.5 stars
Okay, so. This book. First of all, it was great to see a dystopia that wasn't set in the US - Blackout is set in the UK, and not even in London, which was another plus point. The original premise was interesting: the UK is somehow divided into two with a wall, the North and the South. Sort of like the Berlin Wall, I guess, only here the Southerners really hate the Northerners for some reason, and it's illegal for any Northerner to even be in the South? The anti-immigrant rhetoric was definitely very familiar from real life, but it was strange because it wasn't based on race or anything, they just... arbitrarily drew a line somewhere I guess? (Unless the whole point was supposed to be that hate against immigrants is always based on stupid arbitrary reasons? Not sure.)
Another thing I very rarely see in dystopias is that Blackout actually acknowledges the rest of the world exists, they just haven't sent help for whatever reason. But they are there, and they are a valid possibility if you want to reach out and get help.
Otherwise... at first, I felt like the plot was progressing really slowly. Don't get me wrong, there was always something happening - action scenes, backstory, flashbacks, etc. And yet I felt like we weren't really getting anywhere. This got better once the characters finally cracked the big secret and were staring at a time limit.
As for the characters: I actually sort of liked all three of the mains, especially Angel. I guess I just have a thing for angel-related characters with mysterious pasts? I also liked the main F/F relationship - there was some stupid drama at one point, but thankfully they sorted it out pretty fast.
One weird thing was that there were sometimes flashback chapters... with the exact same formatting as the present happenings. At one point, there was even a flashback within a flashback. Of course, you could figure out it was a flashback, but it was still sometimes confusing at first.
The book dragged on sometimes, but overall, I liked it enough to rate it 4 stars... although I'm not really satisfied with the ending. I'm not sure if there's going to be a sequel, but personally I found it too open, which I don't necessarily like - but that's a personal preference I guess.
“It’s not a good thing, Skyler, being fearless. Fear’s there for a reason. The only way someone could turn out the way Angel is, I reckon, is if they really believed they didn’t have anything left to lose.”
My rating: 3.5 stars
Okay, so. This book. First of all, it was great to see a dystopia that wasn't set in the US - Blackout is set in the UK, and not even in London, which was another plus point. The original premise was interesting: the UK is somehow divided into two with a wall, the North and the South. Sort of like the Berlin Wall, I guess, only here the Southerners really hate the Northerners for some reason, and it's illegal for any Northerner to even be in the South? The anti-immigrant rhetoric was definitely very familiar from real life, but it was strange because it wasn't based on race or anything, they just... arbitrarily drew a line somewhere I guess? (Unless the whole point was supposed to be that hate against immigrants is always based on stupid arbitrary reasons? Not sure.)
Another thing I very rarely see in dystopias is that Blackout actually acknowledges the rest of the world exists, they just haven't sent help for whatever reason. But they are there, and they are a valid possibility if you want to reach out and get help.
Otherwise... at first, I felt like the plot was progressing really slowly. Don't get me wrong, there was always something happening - action scenes, backstory, flashbacks, etc. And yet I felt like we weren't really getting anywhere. This got better once the characters finally cracked the big secret and were staring at a time limit.
As for the characters: I actually sort of liked all three of the mains, especially Angel. I guess I just have a thing for angel-related characters with mysterious pasts? I also liked the main F/F relationship - there was some stupid drama at one point, but thankfully they sorted it out pretty fast.
One weird thing was that there were sometimes flashback chapters... with the exact same formatting as the present happenings. At one point, there was even a flashback within a flashback. Of course, you could figure out it was a flashback, but it was still sometimes confusing at first.
The book dragged on sometimes, but overall, I liked it enough to rate it 4 stars... although I'm not really satisfied with the ending. I'm not sure if there's going to be a sequel, but personally I found it too open, which I don't necessarily like - but that's a personal preference I guess.
This... somehow wasn't really what I'm expected, and I'm not sure I'm really into it yet? But maybe it will grow on me later. I own three more volumes and a bunch of specials, so it will have to.
Eh. I enjoyed this less than Hotshot and the Freeze-Frame Revolution, but it was nice to see where the story went, I guess?
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I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
According to the introduction, in all of these stories, the pivotal moments revolve around what the characters know. And nothing is more frightening to the world than a woman who knows things. We all know that knowledge is power, but knowledge is also a very versatile and broad concept, which means that the stories in this anthology were also very versatile.
Overall, I have to say that most of the stories were a solid 3-4 stars for me: there were many creative ideas, but only a few stories really shone for me. However, I also didn’t find any stories that I hated, which is always a good thing, and a pretty good achievement with more than 30 stories.
There really is a variety in the stories – some of them involve mythology or legends, some are sci-fi with robots, and some are realistic/contemporary with a strong woman protagonist. All of the stories go to dark places, although the degree to which they do can also vary a lot.
Note: Out of 35 stories, 5 of them had queer women protagonists.
Read my full review, including my favourite stories on my blog.
According to the introduction, in all of these stories, the pivotal moments revolve around what the characters know. And nothing is more frightening to the world than a woman who knows things. We all know that knowledge is power, but knowledge is also a very versatile and broad concept, which means that the stories in this anthology were also very versatile.
Overall, I have to say that most of the stories were a solid 3-4 stars for me: there were many creative ideas, but only a few stories really shone for me. However, I also didn’t find any stories that I hated, which is always a good thing, and a pretty good achievement with more than 30 stories.
There really is a variety in the stories – some of them involve mythology or legends, some are sci-fi with robots, and some are realistic/contemporary with a strong woman protagonist. All of the stories go to dark places, although the degree to which they do can also vary a lot.
Note: Out of 35 stories, 5 of them had queer women protagonists.
Read my full review, including my favourite stories on my blog.
I can't remember the last time I had this much trouble getting through 40 pages. Unfortunately, I found this f/f story unimpressive and frustrating, with no romantic chemistry between the two leads.