sup3r_xn0va_maya's Reviews (387)

I'm not really sure what to rate this or how to even start this review so I'm just going to ramble a bit I guess. 

This story is about the medical horrors that Black folks have gone through at the hands of the United States government.

The pace was very slow compared to what I normally read so even though I was entertained I still felt the slowness of the book in the middle of it. I listened to the audiobook and I read along with a physical copy of the book so I could stay immersed there were times where we followed the main character but she wasn't really doing much of anything and the slowness of it all and the feeling that I was reading on and on and nothing was happening was driving me mad. 

I think the horror elements of this book were mainly based on body horror and psychological horror, and generational trauma and those worked well within the book. This was a beautifully told story, I love the way the author writes. This story was also really unique so I want to give the author props for that. 

Overall I enjoyed this read, though because of the slowness, I don't see myself reading this again.

I give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars

This was a really messy and raw romance. Despite that it turned out to be cute with some laugh out loud moments. The middle of the story was slow and a bit boring so I took points off because of that. Overall I enjoyed this even though the pacing was a little slow in the middle.

This is about Bree Mathews, the 16 year old high school student (in a college program), and how she embodies "Black Girl Magic," literally! 

This story is "Black Girl Magic," meets Arthurian legend. This was about 500 pages, I feel like the first half was a bit slow, and then the second half picked up and had all the action. 

The story was overall amazing! 

I'm giving this 5 out of 5 stars. 

The High Desert. Black. Punk. Nowhere, is the story of a young James Spooner (creator of Afro-Punk) and how he discovered punk rock at the age of 13 years old. I don't usually rate memoirs because rating someone's experience is a strange concept. However, I rated this 4.5 out of 5 stars from the entertainment I received from the story-telling as well as the art (because it's a graphic novel and then art is nice). 

The story was so relatable, being one of the few Black people around and having to deal with racism and then violence as a result is an experience many Black people end up going through. I love that the author became an activist at a young age.

The art in this was grizzly and absolutely beautiful all at the same time. The art is hands down my favorite parts of this comic! The story was okay, not one of my favorites, I did like all the action scenes though. 

I read this for comic book club. I didn't like this enough to continue the series but I really loved the art. 

I really enjoyed this! The art and storyline were really interesting and unique, I can't wait to dive into volume 2. 

I'm giving this a 5 out of 5 stars.

TW: Immigration detention centers, police brutality, and racism. 

Omni is the story of Dr. Cecelia Cobbina, an Ignited, a human being affected by a change in the earth thus giving them super powers. Dr. Cobbina can process her thoughts at the speed of light and she has near perfect intellect in the 9 different categories of intelligence. 

The main character, Dr. Cobbina, and her companion, Mae, travel across the U.S.A and help other Ignited. In some cases their intentions are to stop Ignited from "making bad situations worse". 

This was enjoyable but not my favorite super hero comic. For a comic about super heroes there wasn't much action. All in all this comic was okay, it was enjoyable. 

Giving this 3 out of 5 stars.

"Monster" is about 16 year old Steve Harmon who is on trial for murder. This story is told through a first person perspective via Steve Harmon's diary and through a third person screen play format. "Monster" was an interesting read, all the court room scenes (which is about 65% of this book) made me feel like I was watching an episode of Law & Order (I listened to the dramatized audio book.) 

I see why this book won the awards that it did when it came out in the year 1999 and then in 2000, some of the imagery was really powerful and the book format was unique, especially for the times. 

I wish the reader actually got to find out if the main character was really involved in the robbery or not. Either way, I don't think he should be on trial for murder if he were the "look out", he didn't pull the trigger and he wasn't in the store when the store owner died (according to his and everyone else's testimony.)

This book really reminded me of Elizabeth Acevedo's "The Poet X" but with less poetry but a lot of prose. Unfortunately it wasn't as riveting. This ending also reminds me of "Breathing Underwater" by Alex Flinn, which is another book about teenage domestic abuse that I liked more than this one. 

This is the story of a young high school girl who escapes an abusive relationship. After a terrible attack happens she's sent to live with her uncle in New York (the main character, Angel, is from California.) Angel joins a reading program at her school called H.E.R. where she reads classic Black literature from authors like; Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Jason Reynolds, and more. Angel finds comfort in these author's words. In this program Angel meets other young women who are going through various issues. 

This story seems like it's a letter to young Black people who are survivors. Even though we don't explicitly see Angel during the attack, we know that it happened and I think this is a good way to deal with trauma in fiction stories. Implied abuse is enough, all the terrible details don't need to be shared. The main character and some of the other characters were involved in dangerous situations like gun violence or domestic violence but those scenes or situations weren't described in too much detail.

I think with all the popular music references in this book means it could be very relatable to young adults, the target audience. The main character at one point looks to music to help her through her emotional issues.  

All in all it was an okay book, I'm giving it 3 stars out of 5.

I really liked the world building in this short story. Even though the twist in this was predicable, I still enjoyed this story.