skudiklier's Reviews (647)

The Satapur Moonstone

Sujata Massey

4.75

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I liked this book just as much as the first one! I'd definitely recommend this series.

Content Warnings

Heavy is the Head

Sumaya Enyegue

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

This book is absolutely incredible. After finishing it I'm genuinely speechless, I don't know what to say to describe how much I loved it. Most of my notes on it are just the name of a poem followed by "!!!" or "holy shit" or "..........." There's so much I related to about girlhood and monstrosity. Sumaya's writing is a gut punch in the best way, and I'd highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Content Warnings

The Widows of Malabar Hill

Sujata Massey

4.75

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I enjoyed this! I was very caught up in both timelines, and at every stage I wanted to know what would happen. The mystery wasn't too easy to figure out (for me at least), and i read the second half of the book in one day because I just needed to finish it. I'd definitely read more if this became a series!

Content Warnings

Lore Olympus: Volume One

Rachel Smythe

4.75

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I'm not sure how to review this when I read the whole webcomic all at once, rather than reading just this first volume, and on top of that the story isn't finished yet.

Overall for Lore Olympus as a whole, I like it. I'm definitely engaged and I couldn't stop reading it over the course of a couple days, until I was fully caught up. I think some of the criticisms are valid, but in general I think this is a nice enjoyable read. I'm definitely invested in where it goes from here!

And thinking about it being split into volumes like this, tbh if I'd only read the first 25 comics I feel like maybe I would think it was really slow and nothing really happened. So, idk. That's not really anyone's fault though, as the pacing for a book and a webcomic are naturally different.

Content Warnings

Always Human, Season 2

Ari North

4.75

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is such a light lovely comic! There's drama without it being too angsty--for the most part this is just a nice, realistic (in terms of the relationship) look at a sweet new relationship. And the world and its technology is fascinating! Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a soft nice wlw romance with no risk of heartbreak <3 I especially like how this second season focuses on other relationships too, like her friendship with Rae.

Always Human

Ari North

4.75

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Bury the Lede

Gabe Dunn

4.75

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really like Gabe Dunn and I've wanted to read this for so long--if I'd known how quick of a read it was I would have read it years ago!

Content Warnings

Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead

Emily Austin

5.0

dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Okay I'm actually obsessed with this book. Wow.

I have anxiety and I related to Gilda a lot while reading it (though she struggles with it way more than I do, and I have a much easier time asking for help). I loved the way this was written, in genuinely every way that could be interpreted. I'm amazed by how relatable and funny this was while also being so dark and existential. I was so drawn in and cared so much about what was going to happen to everyone involved.

Honestly I have absolutely zero complaints about this book. I mean...I wish maybe we'd gotten a glimpse of Eli at the end to see what happened there? But I understand why the author may have wanted to leave some things open-ended, and I'm satisfied with what we did get to see at the end. I can't recommend this book enough.

Content Warnings

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

Amy Krouse Rosenthal

4.5

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

While overall I did enjoy this book, I have to say that there was a decent amount of it that didn't age well. It's almost twenty years old at this point, and I was definitely keeping that in mind while reading it, but there were a couple of parts that really made me cringe. (Not to mention the whole concept of the book--"ordinary" is clearly positioned as a middle class white American's experience, which isn't great for obvious reasons.)

That said, I did like this book. It felt very nice and lovely and reminded me of Jenny Slate's Little Weirds. I appreciated this look into her life, and I'm glad I finally read it.

Content Warnings

Old Babes in the Wood

Margaret Atwood

4.0

emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

So I know semi recently Atwood was sharing and defending a transphobic article, which was really disappointing to see. I decided to read this anyway, while knowing I was probably going to be more critical of her work in light of that, rather than being inclined to read her more generously. And I do think I would have liked this more if she hadn't done that, because I've liked other works I've read of hers in the past, and used to probably be biased towards thinking whatever she wrote was good.

That said, overall I did like this collection. Some of the stories were more engaging than others, and the one that's just an interview between her and Orwell was by far my least favorite. But I liked both the ones about the "main character" of sorts, though her grief hit a little too close to home at times (for one of them I wrote "fuck. This one is good but I hate it. It would be good to read if. If. I don't want to ever want to read this"), and the ones that were entirely standalone (my favorite was the alien one). I'm not the biggest fan of short story collections in general, if only because it takes me longer to get through them when I'm constantly having to readjust to an entirely new story/world/premise. But overall I did like this book, all things considered.

Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Content Warnings

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