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471 reviews by:
starrysteph
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was INTENSE. And I do mean that as a compliment. I was fully committed to the heart-pounding, violent, sometimes-nauseating ride.
The Blood Trials is not YA. I’m not sure why that category keeps popping up - IT IS NOT YOUNG ADULT. The content is often graphic in nature. The characters (while young) are not children.
We follow Ikenna, a young woman on the verge of giving up the fight. Her grandfather’s death shook her to her core (he was her caretaker and her biggest mentor), and she’s no longer sure of her future path as an elite warrior (Praetorian).
But when she discovers his death was no accident, she takes on the deadly trials in order to join their ranks and uncover the truth. Ikenna is smart and capable (and pretty hot-tempered), but she hides a secret about her identity - a secret so dangerous it could cause her execution.
Ikenna has to survive the trials & find out who deserves her loyalty, all as her nation creeps closer to war.
The subject matter is dark and the trials quickly become horrific. There are lighter moments of friendship and a bit of romance, but this is a harsh book and a harsh world.
Ikenna is the granddaughter of a leader & hero, but she suffers extreme & violent racism and sexism at every turn. It is baked into the characters and the world and it can be difficult to read. She is dealing with immense grief, hate from others, and a growing desire for vengeance.
The last segment of the book (post-trials) felt like a confusing end of this arc for me - it was vastly different in tone and pacing, with a whole lot of new characters and political structures to input. I didn’t dislike the content, but it felt like this book should have ended sooner and this final segment should have been the opening to the next book.
But overall … I was wowed by this journey! It got me excited and engaged in a fresh way. I’m looking forward to the second part of the duology.
CW: murder, death, cannibalism, sexism, misogyny, racism, torture, sexual content, war, blood, gore, gun violence, body horror, genocide, gaslighting, medical trauma, confinement, classism, xenophobia
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-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
Dark. Snarky. Unexpectedly clever. Fury pretends to be a surface-level story of spoiled, shallow, teenagers, but slowly reveals great depth.
It subverts YA expectations and takes you on a thrilling ride as you work to decipher truths from lies.
Teenage Eliza Boans is sitting in a police station, held on a murder charge. But who was killed - and why? On the outside, Eliza has a picture perfect life: a beautiful home in an exclusive community, a great education, and a popular friend group.
But not everything is as it seems.
You’re led to believe Eliza is a cruel, unfeeling, unflinching queen bee. And to an extent … she is. But beneath her cold exterior, she’s a broken girl with a fiery, protective rage. She’s standing up for others that are wronged and struggling to find her own independence and stay safe (while essentially raising herself).
She’s an unreliable narrator - both to readers and to herself - as her perception of events waxes and wanes, and everything is filtered through her cynical worldview. Eliza lives in a walled community, and she herself has giant walls. She’s unapologetic and never asks for your pity.
“Is it because we’re girls? I want to say. You think a bunch of girls are not capable of something like this?”
Eliza is unlikeable, yes. Even monstrous at times. But I found her to be a sympathetic character, warped by her circumstances and forced to view all vulnerability as a potential weakness that others might exploit. She’s intensely loyal to her friends. She’s a witty challenger to her distant mother. She’s even hesitantly sweet with a friend from childhood.
Fury is a story of vengeance (with plenty of winks to the Greek Furies, who inspired the title). It’s about wronged women taking fate into their own hands, trying to unravel the threads and the “hows” and not understanding that sometimes life is out of your control.
Pick up Fury for its venomous prose, for its unflinching teenage rage, and for what shimmers beneath the surface.
CW: murder, death, rape, sexual assault, bullying, eating disorders, fatphobia, suicide, gun violence, animal cruelty, animal death, infidelity
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was an enchanting story - a love letter to New York City - packed with witty prose and earnest characterization.
We’re following the avatars of NYC: essentially the souls of the city. They were once normal humans, but now have become superpowered protectors. They’ve got to find each other, figure out how their powers work, and defend New York against an ancient evil from another universe before it faces destruction.
“People who say change is impossible are usually pretty happy with things just as they are.”
It’s not a subtle book. While it has some moments of nuance, the writing and the characters are bold & in your face. The philosophy is crystal clear. It’s blunt and it sometimes dips into the stereotypical (especially in its portrayal of antagonists and its references to the city).
At times things feel a little gimmicky - I can see readers feeling like the tone is condescending or preachy. But I do think this is a story that contains both vibrancy and thoughtfulness, both tender moments and aggressive moments, and both passionate philosophies and more nuanced takes.
The chapters are quite long, but the story has a great rhythm to it that keeps the pace flowing. It feels very episodic.
It’s weird. It’s often funny. It’s haunting. It’s got extra-dimensional beings, harsh dissections and subversions of Lovecraft, and a sweet coming-of-age throughline. I truly enjoyed it.
CW: death, xenophobia, racism & slurs, homophobia, misogyny, sexual assault, violence, hate crime, abuse, antisemitism, sexual harassment, police brutality, colonization, body horror, transphobia, classism, panic attacks, islamophobia, genocide, war
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Book Eaters offered up a fascinating concept and - I believe - intended to weave in powerful commentary about disability. Unfortunately, I felt this work was so poorly executed that it actually became harmful & put forth unsettling rhetoric.
When I finished reading, I felt uncomfortable – something about the text simply felt “off”. After reflecting and journaling about it and talking to some fellow readers, I’ve found some clarity and I’ll try to break it apart into the components that felt harmful to me.
SPOILERS BELOW.
Disability Allegory
The author had a compelling commentary to make - I acknowledge her efforts at tackling something that is quite important and also so complicated. She is autistic and I don’t wish to invalidate her identity or experiences. But I believe this work (as it currently stands) does more harm than it offers thoughtful commentary.
The mind eaters are intended to be an allegory for disability. We are therefore viewing them as a marginalized group, and told that some are “good” and “useful” while others are “bad” and “harmful”. They can be “good” if handled by a drug called “Redemption”, given to them by their abusive handlers who institutionalize them. The book eater society is looking into ways to manage fertility - basically so that they can eliminate mind eaters entirely.
This is a snippet from a scene in which a mind eater consumes the mind of a child: “She’d destroyed that infant before giving it back. The child would have missed all its developmental milestones, by not showing emotion or personality or making attempts to communicate. All the things Devon had taken such joy in with her own children would never belong to that woman. Ten minutes to ruin a whole chain of lives.” (This is ableist language, and it is never addressed or resolved.)
Devon’s child (Cai) is a mind eater, and she is both afraid of him and treats him like an adult (he is a five year old child). She repeatedly wonders if there is any bit of soul left in him.
On Devon and Cai’s relationship: “Biologically she was his parent and always would be, but emotionally they had become something closer to partners in crime; mutual abusers locked in codependency.”
Now I believe all of the above is intended to be commentary - challenging us to consider how society treats disabled people, and how parents treat & view their disabled children. But intent does not equal impact, and the plot of the story makes it difficult for readers to comprehend that the eugenics rhetoric is, well, harmful.
Also, in the author’s FAQ she says that no characters are specifically meant to be autistic (alongside this concerning reason): “I do find it easier to write monster characters, though, because if I inadvertently give them autistic traits, neurotypical readers are less likely to complain, as they’re expecting something ur-human anyway.”
Nearly all of the mind eaters are condemned at the end of the novel & die unnecessarily. The survivors? Hester, a mind eater who has had her own long tongue docked so she can’t hurt anyone, and Cai, a child who is basically determined to be “soulless” because his insatiable desire to prey on the innocent has wiped away his own identity. It felt like the messaging became … eugenics is the way to go! These ~creatures~ SHOULD be neutralized because they are innately monstrous. I don’t think I need to explain why this messaging is harmful.
Religious Aspects
“The book eaters did what they have always done best: encourage human technology to advance from the shadows, and then borrow from it. The basics of IVF they mastered long ago…”
The book eaters are scary, inhumans foreigners who have a shadow society and secretly control human progress from afar (these are often red flags for antisemitism). The book eaters are vampirically inspired, and Devon’s family specifically was a nod to Dracula, who has antisemitic origins. (Note: I don’t believe vampires are inherently antisemitic, but it is important to acknowledge their history - and if you are including them in your work of fiction, you should a. do your research on the history of these characterizations and b. employ a sensitivity reader to help catch potential pitfalls or unfortunate tropes.)
Within the text, the book eater society is framed in many ways as Christian. The mind eaters - by extension - read as “disgraced” Christians who feed on the bodies of the innocent (similar to blood libel tropes, and a sub-society of mind eaters even does a sacrificial ritual using an innocent body in the ending segment of the book). In a chapter introduction, mind eaters specifically are linked to Lilith.
Other Issues
Those were the two issues that stood out the most to me, but I didn’t feel as though the queer representation and the framing of women were handled particularly well. The writing conflates ace and aro identities. It wasn’t clear why it would be an issue for a male book eater to be asexual (in fact, you would think the opposite). Devon’s insta-love attraction to Hester and her thought patterns around her queerness were … strange. (It was very “straight woman writing a lesbian” if you know what I mean.) It felt very sloppy.
The women in this book are treated terribly. Now again, that isn’t inherently a problem with the text (and in fact I believe is also attempted commentary), but the issue I had here was that the way women were treated was frequently VALIDATED within the text. Devon and the other Book Eater women are infantilized, treated as cattle who cannot think for themselves or be trusted to make decisions. And Devon truly cannot! I’m also a little alarmed that the author did not include a warning for sexual assault or rape in her content warnings. Did she view Devon’s forced pregnancies as consensual???
Finally, I was just generally let down by the concept. Book eaters were such a cool idea - but ultimately the book-eating aspect didn’t play a significant role in the story at all. The plotting and limitations of the families just didn’t make sense. The attempted feminist critiques played to the individuals and not the systems.
In the author’s notes, she leaves a few comments about the bleakness of the material.
“That impenetrable sense of exhaustion and flat, dull, continuous lack of joy is a common experience for many. We do not all lead happy lives, and I suppose that makes it hard to write happy fiction.”
“The reality of our world is that most suffering is pointless, most stories [aren’t] happy, and sexual violence is the norm [rather] than the exception.”
Well. Message received.
This was not the review I had hoped to leave for The Book Eaters. But I wanted to warn other potential readers of its content. I truly wish the author the best for her future works, and perhaps with some more eyes on future projects she can nail down some powerful commentary.
CW: sexual assault, rape, forced pregnancy, domestic abuse, child abuse (physical & emotional), murder, drug use, alcoholism, body horror, gore, violence, sex trafficking, homophobia, extreme sexism, infertility. gaslighting, grief, starvation, gun violence, car accident
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
She and Her Cat: Stories shares 4 interwoven slices of life featuring struggling women and the cats that help them find their way. It’s about loneliness and companionship, the struggle to escape from modern isolation, and healing through the care of a pet. It’s about the magic of the mundane.
We follow a young woman with social anxiety struggling to end a failing relationship, a naive artist hoping her dream is worth it, a grieving friend who is afraid to break her isolation, and an older woman who has forgotten to care for herself.
It’s heartwarming and tear jerking, but most importantly, half of the book is told from cat POVs! They’re cheeky and whimsical and have a fully developed society of their own in the neighborhood. They help their people search for connection, grieve, create, strengthen, and find renewed energy.
All four of these women and their feline companions live entangled lives; they appear in each other’s stories and connect in big and small ways. Each POV has a very distinctive narrative voice.
It’s an incredibly sweet and cozy read; it’s touching without being too emotionally draining or profound.
My only gripe - that sometimes pulled me out of the story - was some of the cheesy wisdom dispensed from elderly dog Jon. It was heightened philosophical silliness that didn’t match the earnest, down-to-earth vibes from the rest of the novel. Most of the book was simplistic and charming, dispensing wisdom without trying too hard, and these segments felt detached from that tone.
CW: death of loved one, death of animal, mental illness, sexual assault, pregnancy, grief
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Grief, Pregnancy
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
The Spite House is a gothic horror tale revolving around parental love & protection, ancestral hauntings, and complicated karmic seeds.
We follow the Ross family (dad Eric and daughters Dess and Stacy) as they run from their mysterious past, desperate to improve their circumstances and find some stability. When an eccentric billionaire offers them a small fortune to stay inside a mysterious house and record potential hauntings, it’s too good of an offer to pass up. But of course everything isn’t quite so simple, and vengeful ghosts and complicated family histories soon intertwine in a deadly way.
If you tend to get irritated by horror story protagonists making absurd choices for no reason, you won’t find that here. The Ross family aren’t foolish risk-takers. They’re not intentionally charging into danger. They’re thoughtful and do safety drills. They’re logical and calculated. And they’re forced into the house out of desperation – which makes this story all the more compelling.
I enjoyed the multiple POVs, but could have gone without the one-offs of side characters and antagonizers. I would have appreciated being kept to a more limited viewpoint - so that I as the reader could uncover truths alongside the three Ross’, instead of being given reveals from the secret-keepers surrounding them.
I thought the pacing + flow was very well done. However, I would have loved more scenes of action & atmospheric horror inside the house. We actually didn’t spend a whole lot of time between its walls. Additionally, the history of the house was well thought out, but became a bit convoluted. This was a 300 page book and a lot of info was squished in.
Overall, this was an engaging read and a chilling story – I only wish the plotting & POVs were little less complicated and more expansiveness was given to the central family and terrifying spite house;
CW: death (incl. child death), gore, murder, child abuse, psychosis, war, racism, gun violence, mental illness, kidnapping, confinement
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
“Disability exists in spaces in-between … where lived experience fills the gaps in our understanding. It is joy and relief, heartache and fatigue. It is self-acceptance and empowerment.” – Rebecca Burke (managing editor).
In Between Spaces is a powerful collection that shows just how varied and diverse our experiences with disability can be.
In some moments, I saw myself on the page and felt like I could have written the words myself. During other pieces, my eyes were opened to new pains and triumphs and lived experiences.
This anthology features 33 disabled writers with a huge range of identities and experiences. The writing styles are just as varied; we hear from poets, essayists, and short-story writers whose pieces range from vulnerable nonfiction to heightened & creative works.
The writing is inspiring & bold – joy and acceptance and triumph are celebrated, and pain and invisibility and barriers are acknowledged and investigated.
While I felt some pieces were much stronger than others, there’s an incredible amount of talent in this collection.
CW: suicide, self harm, drug use, emotional & physical abuse, psychosis, sexual assault, death, infant loss
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
You know those books that would become nearly monthly rereads as a kid? Because the world was so transformative & immersive that you wanted to lose yourself within it once again, following the different characters and feeling anxiety and delight at their pains and triumphs, even knowing how the story will end?
That’s how I felt reading 205Z: Time and Salvation.
It’s an empowering story, encouraging you to recognize your potential against all odds … and to embrace your identity even when everyone else in your life tells you to suppress it. It’s got thoughtful character arcs. And it’s got an ending that is really an invitation – there’s resolution, but it left me hungering for more even after a nearly 700 page read.
We’re dropped into 2052, with 215 days to go until the end of the world. Living is already deadly: natural disasters have destroyed countries, cities are now considered sanctuaries, and those with privilege are leaving those without in the dust. With time running out, the only people with the possibility to save the planet are genetically-advanced Evolutionaries with all sorts of unique potentials for power.
Teenage Allister Adams finds himself part of the war for salvation, torn between a government-sanctioned entity and a group of radicals. He’s got to master his own powers, have confidence in his identity, and unravel the mysteries surrounding the items that could be humanity’s last hope … all before it’s too late.
Jason Michael Primrose has an incredible gift for world-building. I haven’t read anything quite this unique in a long time – my best attempt to describe it would be a dystopian cyberpunk futuristic fantasy world. It’s intricate and detailed; an explosion of creativity, but with clear purpose.
The cast of characters, tech, and world are brought to life by gorgeous illustrations. The pictures are often full-page renderings of characters in action, and they added so much depth to the reading experience. There’s also jaw-dropping music and animation teasers online - I highly recommend checking those out!
There’s a huge amount of diversity within the characters here - between identities and backgrounds, you’ll see yourself represented on the page in some way. It’s so intimate & empowering to see a broad, intentionally inclusive world. We get POVs from kids and adults, from heroes and villains, from past and present and everything in between. There’s also a fabulous animal companion if that tickles your fancy. :)
Primrose NAILS action scenes - wow. The nail-biting fights came to life before my eyes. And the plotting is just as tense, with quick chapters that hold your attention and stakes that are frighteningly high.
The messaging was powerful and earnest. Everyone has potential. The possibilities are endless… you just have to start somewhere.
CW: blood, bullying, car accident, classism, confinement, death, grief, gun violence, injury, kidnapping, medical trauma, murder, panic attacks, police brutality, torture, violence, war, mass death
(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
More cat POVs in horror! MORE CAT POVS IN HORROR!
The Endless and Other Stories is a 5-story collection that will keep you up at night. Each story is so unique (in both plot and writing style) and will make your heart pound while still yearning for more.
It’s sometimes gory & violent, sometimes otherworldly, and sometimes serves up dark humor. There’s a mix of thriller and horror elements – nothing veers too far into “extremely disturbing”, but they are all unsettling in their own way. And many were open-ended and left you with a lot to chew on; I think they could easily be expanded.
Brandon is a wonderful book reviewer & recommender and it’s clear he’s learned from his reading! This collection was so compelling, and I can’t wait until he releases something in a longer form.
CW: death, graphic violence, injury, self harm, stalking, animal cruelty (very light), suicidal thoughts, infidelity
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fledgling deconstructed everything we tend to accept in vampire literature. It’s uncomfortable - but why don’t these stories always make us uncomfortable? This is what a vampire novel ought to be: dark, distressing, and squeamish. Butler offers a haunting challenge to this lore.
We follow Shori, a 53-year-old vampire (or Ina, as they refer to themselves) who appears to be a 10ish-year-old Black girl. She woke up in a cave with brutal injuries and complete amnesia. Shori has to relearn her identity and customs, all while struggling to stay safe and figure out who is hunting her down.
Butler offers a huge array of thoughts on racism, intimacy, power, consent, mental health, and more. Many scenes within Fledgling involve Shori (a vampire who is 53 but looks 10 and has amnesia) in sexual situations with human adults. This is obviously deeply distressing to read. But Butler challenges readers and asks why they typically aren’t uncomfortable with other age gap vampiric romances (often involving minors - teenage girls!) and their 100+ year old counterparts?
Compared to the other Butler novels I’ve read, the narration is a bit drier and duller. It’s very “and then this happened, and then I thought about this, and then here’s some background info”. It’s not particularly emotive outside of a few specific moments. It’s a lot of detail and exposition leveled at you in great bursts. Nonetheless, I raced through Fledgling and was left wondering what would have happened in the next book (Butler was writing a sequel but never got the chance to finish and publish it).
It is a thought-provoking read and the concepts are fascinating. I was enthralled by the culture of the Ina, the relationship between vampire and symbiont, the power balance (and imbalance) between human and Ina, the racism and prejudice seeped into these communities, and so on. Shori’s dark skin gives her power & advantage (she can stay awake during the day) - but her Blackness also puts her in constant grave danger due to the prejudice of her fellow vampires.
This one will stick with me for a very long time.
CW: pedophilia, adult/minor relationship, racism, death, murder, racial slurs, sexual content, hate crime, gun violence, fire, animal death, animal violence, body horror, genocide, cannibalism, mass shootings, slavery, classism, ableism, gaslighting, dementia, gore, xenophobia, misogyny