Take a photo of a barcode or cover
471 reviews by:
starrysteph
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Poster Girl is an uncomfortable portrait of guilt and identity.
We follow Sonya, the former teenage poster girl for an oppressive dystopian regime. She’s been living in a prison for the past 10 years alongside fellow members of the Delegation. But now, an old enemy visits her with an enticing offer: if she finds a missing child who was stolen by the old regime, she can earn her freedom.
Roth has great skill at building dystopian worlds; the society felt very adjacent to our current reality. The invasive tech & government surveillance aspect felt very believable.
The characterization was excellent. Sonya is a compelling morally gray protagonist - you’re angry with her and hopeful for her and yet a little hesitant to root for her. We don’t usually get dystopian lit from the point of view of a character with privilege & that benefited from the regime.
I also enjoyed that we’re dropping into this story 10 years after the revolution. The world has settled (although there are of course complications with the new leadership), and Sonya is an adult who has essentially been living in limbo - with space from her personal trauma and plenty of time to allow for reflection. She was fully indoctrinated and still lives in that bubble at the start of the story; it’s intriguing to watch her discover the ethical horrors of what she once accepted as truth.
One weakness for me was the romance aspect. It felt a bit tacked on & that thread didn’t seem to lead anywhere or add to the plot outside of a device for Sonya to yet again recognize her manipulation and recalibrate her sense of self.
Additionally, there was so much distance from the overthrowing incident that the mystery plot & tension didn’t feel as urgent or engaging as I wanted it to be.
Overall, Poster Girl was fascinating, but I wished for a little more depth and higher stakes.
CW: murder, death, child death, suicide, suicidal thoughts, violence, alcoholism, drug use, confinement, gun violence, addiction, grief, mental illness, panic attacks, police brutality, war, kidnapping, child abuse
(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
A disturbingly prescient twist on the story of Carrie. Tiffany D. Jackson uses her heart-pounding, nauseating storytelling prowess to give us a modern retelling with a racial theme.
Maddy Washington is a biracial teenager raised by an religiously obsessive & abusive father who forces her to hide her Black identity. When her natural hair is revealed one day at school … her conservative Georgia town violently turns against her. But Maddy is discovering she has some power after all, and all threads culminate in tragedy during the town’s first-ever integrated prom.
Like other Jackson books, The Weight of Blood is a tough read. Maddy’s isolation and abuse is heartbreaking - you feel for her and yearn for what could have been if only someone had intervened earlier & if she had true parental support and love.
Carrie is an epistolary novel & The Weight of Blood integrates media as well. I generally found the true-crime podcast transcripts to be the weakest part of the novel, but enjoyed many of the news clippings and interviews.
I also felt the multitude of POVs was incredibly effective. I wanted to hear a bit more from Maddy, but seeing the same events happen through the eyes of different characters with varying identities and ages was fascinating. Jackson explored microaggressions & identity struggles & & classism & colorism in a deep, impactful, and thoughtful way.
It is VERY much a retelling - plotted out nearly identically to the original Carrie. But while the overall plot was indeed the same, the characterization (Maddy’s father & his altar of white women! Kenny’s identity struggles! Performative white allyship!) and issues explored were brand new.
You know from the start how the story will end - in tragedy & with a massive body count. But Jackson keeps you almost hopeful … rooting for the arcs of these characters and hoping they’ll be safe.
I couldn’t put this one down - and I think the ending (a bit of a departure from the original) was crafted brilliantly.
CW: death, murder, racism, bullying, racial slurs, child abuse, police brutality, classism, colorism
(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Classism
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
A short but powerful, eye-opening read. The content is uncomfortable & enraging & absolutely crucial.
Harrison writes about these complicated topics in an elegant yet clear way. This book serves as an introduction to the intersection of anti-fatness and anti-Blackness – the chapters are brief but offer thoughtful outlines for many heavy subjects.
Belly of the Beast helped me confront some of my own internalized fatphobia and gave new insight to some of the trauma I’ve carried since childhood. I look forward to diving deeper into the subject matter and various abolitionist topics discussed here.
CW: racism, fatphobia, ableism, body shaming, police brutality, sexual assault, child abuse, transphobia, diet culture, medical trauma, eugenics/scientific racism
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Binti was a fresh & engaging read - aimed towards younger readers - that expressed a deep desire for tolerance. My feelings were a little complicated here.
We follow Binti, a 16 year old who has just received a life-changing offer: to study at Oomza University, the most revered school in the galaxy. But accepting the offer means leaving her people & culture & family behind to be part of a community that doesn’t respect her customs. And on top of all that, she’s journeying to a planet at war.
The world was certainly imaginative, but it felt like an outline that was ultimately underdeveloped. I love novellas, so this wasn’t a problem of length for me. But the story rushed towards its “neat” ending and message in a way that detracted from the storytelling.
It felt a bit too naive - too young for even a teenage audience. This was a tale of pure optimism. I can appreciate a message of openness and hope, but this felt like simplistic problem-solving without acknowledgment of pain or consequence. I think the issues sparked in this novella could have been set up to continue as a thread for the rest of the series instead of a cute little conclusion.
Additionally, some of the writing felt disjointed and clumsy. Since this was so short (around 90 pages) every word needed to count - and I was often removed from the flow.
But the ideas were beautiful! I’m certainly open to reading more from this author and more pieces set in this world.
CW: death (incl. child death), murder, violence, blood, gore, war, suicide, genocide, racism, xenophobia, confinement, grief, body horror, panic attacks, colonization, medical trauma, cultural appropriation
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Oh, yes - this is the continuation that I craved after finishing My Heart is a Chainsaw.
We pick up back in Proofrock four years later, where kids have grown up and loss has reshaped the community … but some things never change, do they? There will always be a killer lurking around the corner, ready to hunt down unsuspecting locals.
Jade Daniels - who goes by Jennifer now, thank you - is returning to town for the first time since the events of the first book. With this new distance from her home & trauma, Jennifer has reframed her point of view a bit and no longer sees the world exclusively through the lens of slashers (as she once had to for her own protection) - but that doesn’t mean she’s left her great depth of knowledge behind.
And when the power & phone line goes down and a serial killer escapes his convoy … Jennifer & Letha have to team up once more to save their town.
We have a massing scattering of perspectives here, and things aren’t always told in a linear fashion. It’s fascinating but can also feel disjointing - I struggled a bit at times to recall which characters and pieces of information were a continuation from the first and which were brand new.
Jones has such a unique bite and style of writing. It’s gory and horrifying and then unexpectedly emotional - and each narrator’s way of storytelling is distinctive, even those who only get a few paragraphs to shine.
However, I did miss Jade. She’s here, and she shines, but the focus is split so much that I was left wanting more from her arc. We’ll see where the third book goes.
The pace is much faster than the first, and I found myself catching breaths alongside the characters’ brief reprieves. There’s more guts and more gore. There’s identical twin mindbenders and chilling scenes with elk and monsters that were painfully human.
There’s a great blend of slasher nods and winks and references alongside horrifyingly creative all-new kills. I’ve seen my fair share of slashers but I’m sure there were also clever & specific references that went right over my head - Jones does a nice job of explaining just enough.
I personally preferred Chainsaw for its deeper emotional story and focus on Jade - but Don’t Fear the Reaper was still a wonderful sequel. And if you found Chainsaw to be too slow … you won’t be disappointed here.
CW: murder, death, gore, blood, child death, animal death, animal cruelty, body horror, pedophilia, adult/minor relationship, drug use, abuse, gun violence, self harm, chronic illness, mental illness, medical trauma, cultural appropriation, racism, classism, vomit
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
Black mermaids defend their home by taking on environment-destroying politicians.
Flesh-eating ants … may just consume a billionaire.
Corrupt gods are stuck within capitalist power structures.
And that’s just the smallest peek into this PHENOMENAL collection.
Ndlovu writes fables, nuanced pieces that vary in style but craft powerful messages. The stories are very short: we’re looking through windows & witnessing bursts of life. The work is often surreal and takes inspiration from southern African mythology.
It’s frequently fantastical & magical, sometimes deeply intimate, and often veers into what feels like social horror.
Black women are the focus here. Drinking from Graveyard Wells honors and celebrates the magic of these women, but doesn’t shy away from their pain. The writing is gripping, empathetic, and intimate.
I was afraid and enamored and very moved.
Pre-order this collection ASAP. Or you’ll miss out on freedom-fighting shapeshifters and time traveling students and (rightfully) furious spirits … and just a whole lot of incredible content.
CW: death (including child death), murder, racism, colorism, genocide, war, colonization, sexual assault, body horror, pedophilia, abuse (emotional and physical), sexism, gun violence/mass shooting, war, classism
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
11/16/2024 - Reread with my book club, and how is it even possible to fall DEEPER in love with this story? It is part of my internal patchwork I fear.
--
Thistlefoot is a story about generational trauma. But - perhaps more importantly - it’s also about the power of storytelling as memory, disruption, and defiance. It’s about the duty of the audience to bear witness. And it’s about the optimism of seeing the world … as it could be.
--
Thistlefoot is a story about generational trauma. But - perhaps more importantly - it’s also about the power of storytelling as memory, disruption, and defiance. It’s about the duty of the audience to bear witness. And it’s about the optimism of seeing the world … as it could be.
We follow the estranged Yaga siblings, Bellatine and Isaac. Bellatine is a woodworker struggling to distance herself from a strange power which allows her to bring objects to life. Isaac is a street performer & con artist with a fantastical mimicry skill: he can shift and adapt and truly become another person.
The two are brought together after receiving a mysterious call to pick up an inheritance from a Yaga ancestor: Thistlefoot, a sentient house that walks on chicken legs (and was once inhabited by THE Baba Yaga). But as the siblings use the home to take their family puppet show on the road, they soon discover they’re being chased by the Longshadow Man, an entity with powerful magic and a connection to Thistlefoot’s curious, dark history.
Each POV in Thistlefoot has its own charm. Isaac is cynical, distrustful of bonds and living through manipulation. Bellatine is level-headed and cautious, but lives in constant fear of giving objects life (ironically, her terror around imbuing objects with power … gives them power all the same). And finally, we have Thistlefoot, the cheeky, arrogant, very-Yiddish-sounding voice of the home who stores great depths of knowledge and tells us readers stories as it pleases.
Nethercott has a delightful way of writing for & to the readers. We are chastised and led astray and punched in the gut – but her lyricality and ease of storytelling is absolutely captivating. This was a hard book to put down.
“Trust. It is a meaningless word, precious only to kibitzers who think all business is their business. I reserve the right to lie to you outright and often – and we must always make use of our rights, lest they vanish from neglect.”
A running narrative throughout the book is the constantly shifting tale of the “real” Baba Yaga. Thistlefoot shares story after story before - in one of the final chapters - landing on what is perhaps the “un-storied” truth. But we learn that lying can be the most powerful form of truth-telling, and folktales can shift to adapt to the audience, the moment, and the lesson. If you’ve heard anything about Baba Yaga, it likely contradicts what another person would say. Baba Yaga is the character she needs to be within the story that she has dropped into. And this is how folktales and retellings work: they are transformative and unpredictable.
In Thistlefoot, the characters are resilient. They reclaim their voice through storytelling in response to their ancestral trauma and the hauntings that follow them in modern day. By weaving truth with lies and fantasy, they cement their stories in modern memory. They are honored. They are not forgotten.
Violence and war is cyclical and pervasive. As he chases the siblings and Thistlefoot, Longshadow Man manipulates seemingly ordinary people. Everyone is suggestible; everyone is naive. You can be charmed into optimism or tricked into cruelty (with the knife of fear at your back, pointing to anyone who you perceive as an Other).
As Nethercott writes (through the reflections of Isaac), only some people are remembered in America. Others are turned to dust. These stories are a way to mourn them, to bring them back to life, and to defy erasure.
I think Bellatine’s power of Embering (a fiery warmth she feels as she animates) is also an act of defiance. Trauma lives on in the body; it doesn’t feel safe. Her body has a desperate need for life to continue, to pass on her bloodline, though she doesn’t always consciously understand that.
There is so much more to unpack here, but I’m not going to write an essay - I’d rather you read and experience Thistlefoot for yourself. By saving the stories, we save the people and we save the culture. Bear witness to these stories. Pick up the book yourself.
CW: death & child death, genocide, antisemitism, eugenics, racism, animal death, violence & gun violence, xenophobia, self harm, adult/minor relationship, suicidal thoughts, vomit, drugging
(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism
adventurous
challenging
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
Haunting, vivid, and often charming.
Bone Weaver is a dark, queer, YA fantasy that blends Jewish & Slavic mythology and folklore in a delightful way.
We follow Toma, a teenager who has been raised by upyri (the undead) after being orphaned in the wilderness. She doesn’t remember much about her past life, but is jolted out of the safety of her blissful bubble when her little sister Galina is kidnapped by Koschei, the leader of the revolution.
Toma makes her way across the civil war-torn Kosa empire, desperate to protect her family and cautiously curious about her own history, especially when she discovers she might have some magic of her own. Along the way, she meets charming Vanya (whose magic has been branded as unclean witchcraft), and the dethroned Tsar Mikhail. The trio has to try to save the empire and Toma’s family before all is lost.
Most of the writing was breathtakingly beautiful – and thematically, Bone Weaver packed a punch. There was a lot of talk & imagery around monstrosity. In this world, some people come back to life after death (in various forms) and others do not. So we as readers are questioning: who comes back? The oppressed? Is it a reclamation of power that sometimes accompanies a loss of humanity?
“Against my better judgment, I looked into the forest once more, unable to resist taking another glance at the strange and fascinating creature … As she retreated into the dappled shadows, she revealed a flayed back like a broken vase. Her spine and ribs were exposed, as pale as the birch branches surrounding us. There was nothing left inside of her.”
I will say that the dialogue was not always at the same level of lyricality as the rest of the writing. It fell flat to me at times, especially moments that were very clear ~exposition chats~.
And while (as I mentioned) the writing was often gloriously cinematic & haunting, certain elements of the world felt under-explained. How exactly does the magic system work?
The ending also felt a bit jolty (so much so that I questioned if this was the first in a series – I don’t believe it is). For storytelling that delighted in moral murkiness and “no perfect side” and that dove into trauma and history and deep, deep problems … the ending felt naively optimistic and incomplete.
I don’t need things tied up in a bow, but some clarity around the themes and also an honest outlook for the future of the empire would have been appreciated. It just seemed like there were missing beats - and that the revolutionary aspect was simplified while the metaphors were a little too convoluted.
But overall, I felt altered by this book and know I’ll reflect on it and keep certain moments in my memory.
It had a lovely found family. It asked thoughtful questions about humanity vs. monstrosity and reclamation of power and trauma passed through generations. And of course I want to highlight the Jewish themes and representation (though fantastical/metaphorical) and the queer representation as well.
Please keep writing, Aden Polydoros. I can’t wait to see what you do next. :)
CW: murder, death (including child death), body horror, gore (including dismemberment), grief, war, gun violence, religious bigotry, antisemitism, homophobia, medical content, prejudice, eugenics, confinement, sexual harassment & mention of rape, drowning, fire
(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Haunting. Uncomfortable. Engrossing.
We follow two timelines and two points of view. Emily Vaughn - 18 years old, bright, and pregnant - was brutally murdered the night of her high school prom. 40 years later, brand-new Marshal Andrea Oliver is trying to solve her cold case. She’s in town on assignment to protect Emily’s mother, a no-nonsense judge receiving very personal death threats.
While you could argue MOST of the content of this story is pretty upsetting, Emily’s chapters in the months leading up to her death were heart-wrenching. She faced cruelty from all sides, and the people who should have protected her turned their backs. There were so many moments (“if only this person had listened” or done this and so on) that could have changed the trajectory of her tragedy.
It’s fast-paced, but not super action-y. The tension builds over time and we have the rug pulled out from under us as readers at quite a few moments.
The characters were so distinct! Slaughter is such a skilled & descriptive writer. I especially loved Andrea’s Marshal partner Bible and his playful relationship with his boss-slash-wife.
(I will say, though - while Slaughter is generally an excellent writer, there were a few phrases that were painfully overused. “Caught out” was one of them.)
There were several distinct threads which came together brilliantly. This is a dynamic story with many layers of subplots. If you like the vibes of a sinister small town where everyone knows each other a bit too well, you’ll enjoy this. Past secrets intricately play a role in modern day dynamics, and things are slowly revealed.
I had a little bit of confusion at the end as there was some open-endedness around the circumstances of the crimes in the past & present.
There was a very clear opening for a third book in the series at the ending! (Oh, and I should add that I have not read Pieces of Her. I didn’t feel lost at all - Slaughter offers some recaps of things that presumably happened in the first book - and this felt like a full standalone story.)
CW: murder, rape, suicide, pedophilia, eating disorder, domestic abuse (physical & emotional & child), pregnancy, homophobia, bullying, self harm, slavery, drug abuse, fatphobia, gun violence, misogyny, racial slurs, terminal illness, vomit, medical trauma, dementia
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Horror Hotel is a short YA tale with a spooky punch. It is very bingeable – you may just devour this in an afternoon.
We follow a group of teenage Youtube-famous ghost hunters (clearly inspired by the Scooby Doo gang). They’re trying to make it big and reach one million followers, so they decide to sneak away and spend a night in the most haunted hotel in LA, capturing footage that is bound to make them go viral. But while they’re searching for the already-dead … they stumble into an active serial killer’s territory.
Here’s what I enjoyed:
→ The exploration of a teenage medium was pretty unique.
→ The hotel was vivid and immersive; I could picture every inch of the distressing environment.
→ The pacing was an absolute whirlwind, which was fun!
→ The storytelling felt film-inspired: with jump scares and paranormal eeriness and peculiar side characters.
→ We alternate between four POVs and they do split up to solve the mystery, so if you have a short attention span you get really quick chapters (usually ending on cliffhangers) that slowly combine.
→ It’s light & breezy enough for young audiences while still incorporating darker themes.
→ There are two (very light & cheesy) romances, one of which is sapphic.
Here are the parts that feel flat for me:
→ The killer was painfully obvious (I think partially because the book was too short – there simply weren’t enough characters introduced to have red herrings).
→ The narrative voices blended together; they had different traits and different crushes, but sounded quite similar.
→ Some of their decisions made me really uncomfortable – why on earth are they trampling over crime scenes and hiding bodies? There was a character who quipped about putting the film (of the person’s body) on YOUTUBE. What?!?
→ Along the same lines, the book begins with their code. They immediately break it. Why bother to have a code at all?
→ Because this was inspired by the Hotel Cecil and a real case, it felt like it flickered into the realm of disrespect a few times.
Overall though, Horror Hotel is over the top and certainly entertaining. You simply can’t look away.
CW: murder, death, blood, violence, injury, panic attacks, vomit, stalking, animal cruelty, mental illness, physical abuse, sexual assault, suicide, torture, toxic relationship, car accident, death of parent
(I received a free review copy of this book; this is my honest review.)