Reviews by zsabella | The StoryGraph

148 reviews by:

zsabella

3 Did Not Finish

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Asunder

Kerstin Hall

2.5

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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: Yes

if this is the start of a series, I don’t feel compelled to continue and will have forgotten most of the plot/lore by the time a sequel comes. I didn’t know going into this that kerstin hall didn’t believe in ANY kind of hand-holding with her style of world building—there’s no glossary of terms or even a map, when it’s so obvious that this complex world needed at least one of those things to help orient readers. I struggled pretty much the entire time trying to figure out if “herald”, “favoured”, “apostate”, “vassal”, “adherent”, all terms used over and over again meant “worshipper” or completely different concepts. the only explanations of the magic system aren’t made any plainer because the only character who can explain it is too much of a brainiac type to even dumb it down for the rest of the characters.

throwing a new reader into a world like this without an appendix is like sending someone off on a solo rafting trip without a life jacket, and this decision seriously gutted my enjoyment. all that focus and energy spent wanting to understand the magic and lore, only for its ending to bottom out and focus on a romantic direction I wasn’t interested in seeing to begin with. I simply didn’t buy into karys and ferain turning their forced situationship into anything more than a friendship forged in eldritch-level trauma 🥴

Content Warnings

Uzumaki

Junji Ito

4.0

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

A Short Stay in Hell

Steven L. Peck

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

this is an impressive horror novella with a great sense of magical realism and existential terror that earns every bit of its ~100 page count. steven peck’s interpretation of jorge luis borges’ the ‘library of babel’ is unlike any version of “Hell” I’ve ever read or seen and left my head spinning. it proposes that Hell is one of infinite sameness in a seemingly infinite space, and that thought alone has ever so slightly pushed me towards dabbling in Zoroastrianism.

Content Warnings

Soul Music

Terry Pratchett

3.5

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-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

Content Warnings

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller

4.0

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

Royal Assassin

Robin Hobb

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

Content Warnings

Assassin's Apprentice

Robin Hobb

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

Content Warnings

Khosrow and Shirin

Nezami Ganjavi

4.0

emotional reflective medium-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: Yes

this is for the yearners who’d like to read about one of the most famous couples in persian literature. I didn’t expect to like shirin and khosrow’s story so much (crude/deceitful prince + self-assured princess), but dick davis’ translation was a smooth intro to a tricky medieval romance.

I loved the imagery and there are many natural motifs (sun/moon, fruits, flowers, jewels) I’ve rarely liked in romantic poems that are done well here. I thought the prose was lovely and sensual and worked well as courtship between khosrow and shirin, but a modern reader today might side-eye at the racially tinged metaphors (though there aren’t many). this is also how I found out I don’t mind ABAB poems 😅 even if the rhymes look simple on page, there’s PLENTY turns of phrase that can be enjoyed on their own.

some favorite passages:

“Two hunters met together in one place
Hunting each other, and now face to face…
Two archers slim as cypress trees, whose darts
Were aimed by love at one another's hearts.”

“When you embrace, another spring appears
With violet petals you adorn her ears
And whisper secrets there, as heart to heart
You list your sorrows when you were apart…”

First Khosrow asked, "What country gave you birth?"
Farhad said, "Love, the noblest place on earth.”

“By God who made the body and the soul
Combine in us to form a single whole,
My hope is that your face’s comely light
Will turn to dawn the darkness of my night.”