If vampires, biblical/mythological creatures, an aroace neurodivergent MC, queer found family, and a dark academia setting sound like something you miIf vampires, biblical/mythological creatures, an aroace neurodivergent MC, queer found family, and a dark academia setting sound like something you might love, you should read FALLEN THORNS.
Arlo struggles to fit in. He's tall and awkward and nervous and doesn't really understand how to connect with people. The only person in his life who he can be himself with is his best friend Rani. But one day, he finds himself being asked on a date. And though he doesn't really get the whole relationship thing, he decides to give it a go. But branching out doesn't seem to work too well for Arlo, especially when his dating life meets a fatal end. Quite literally. Who knew one kiss could change someone so fundamentally?
After finding himself rescued and taken in by a family of vampires, Arlo has to learn how to live all over again. His body has changed, his appetite has changed, his perspective has changed, but most of all, his physical ability to support himself has changed. He finds himself needing to open up and rely on those around him, forcing him out of his shell and forcing him to confront parts of himself that he's been too scared to look at directly. But along with his unexpected rapid coming-of-age, Arlo finds something else growing inside of him. Another voice that's been a part of him for longer than he's known.
This is a book that sneaks up on you in more ways than one. The characters just worm their way into your heart, nestling themselves inside crevices when you're not looking. They were so easy to love and relate to, and I felt like I was just as wrapped up in the arms of this precious and ferocious found family as Arlo. And the pacing follows this path as well, as it eases you into a steady and consistent pace, the motions of the story gliding comfortably along until you're deep into the thick of it before you know it. I would definitely call the majority of this book leisurely-paced or quiet, until suddenly it’s not. Without even realizing, the stakes become suddenly high and you're screaming and crying and clutching your chest with anticipation.
There's so many fascinating moving parts to this world and to these characters and I'm left with the perfect amount of questions and confusion and desperation. I cannot WAIT to see where Harv takes us for book 2.
CW: blood & gore, death, murder, self-inflicted wounds, dismemberment (off-page), torture, mutilation, eye horror, character death, grief, suicide (mention), panic attacks, death of parents (past), death of sibling (past), sexual harrassment, alcohol consumption, emesis...more
Thank you SO much to the author for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really am so grateful to have been senThank you SO much to the author for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really am so grateful to have been sent this ARC. This book sounded so up my alley: a dark academia with tragic sapphic romance! And certainly the vision for this book is still deeply appealing to me.
However, the story at hand was unfortunately so flooded with grammatical issues that it was impossible to discern, much less to appreciate the vision. I am much more lenient with indie and self-pub books in regards to elements that could be chalked up to editing mistakes (I’m well aware indie and self-pub books are not provided the same amount or quality of resources as tradpub books and refuse to judge them the same) but when the problems are at a level that inhibits the storytelling, I very much have to take issue. And in this case, most of the sentences had such extreme structural issues from both a technical and aesthetic standpoint that it severely affected the work. Not to mention the writing regularly contradicts itself. Whole paragraphs will be spent establishing a truth of the world just for that truth to be directly contradicted in the following sentence. I’ve seen a few reviews on here say “I was too dumb to understand the writing” or “I can’t figure out why the writing doesn’t sound good to me? Is it my fault?” and I’m here to say: No love, you weren’t. It isn’t. You’re not the problem here. The writing wasn’t too dense to comprehend, it was just incomprehensible.
I do absolutely love all of the themes and characters and magical elements that have been brought into these pages. If there is one success in this story, it is the bringing together of this unique collection of elements. Academic atmosphere, romantic queer obsession, murder, angels, ghosts, butterflies, etc., Quinton has captured an incredibly singular and fascinating realm of ideas.
But unfortunately, none of these elements worked together and instead all felt haphazardly dropped into this world. There was no command or control here in the crafting. Motivations were lacking, stakes were unearned, and themes and motifs floated in the atmosphere without any rhyme or reason. There was a clear attempt at referencing the dark academia genre, while missing its most pivotal thematic tether: commentary on academia. Without it, all those elements just drifted out to space in nonsensical orbit instead of offering grounded support to the story being told. It also very clearly tried to reference the high emotions and violent chaos of Shakespearean or even Greco-Roman tragedy, but again, without tying those elements down via earned and intentional moments or understanding how to utilize those elements as a narrative tool. Motifs and themes from well-known genres exist for a reason, and it’s important to make sure that if you’re using those motifs and themes, that you have an understanding of how they work together and what they accomplish. But sadly this was a book that certainly knew what it was in conversation with, but didn’t know how to have a conversation with it.
This is something that has also been brought up by some other reviewers, but this book seems to be set in a fantasy world that the author’s first book also takes place in. Which is fine, I love when authors do that! But there was little to no reason why this book should’ve been in the same world, and with the lack of world-building or explanation present in this story, the fantasy elements just felt like dead weight.
I do hate to have such a disappointing report from this book. The cover is absolutely stunning, the marketing has been INCREDIBLE, and the story really does seem like something worthy of a better execution. I do hope somewhere along their career, whether it be sooner or later, Li has the opportunity to rework this book. There’s something really promising here. But several rounds of scrutinous editing are definitely needed before this hidden gem can really shine.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
"...she understood Angharad on a level that was almost inarticulabThank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
"...she understood Angharad on a level that was almost inarticulable: it was as primal and unconscious as her lungs pumping and her heart beating."
Swollen with atmosphere, A Study in Drowning is sure to sweep its readers off their feet and into a fantastical world of fairytale.
Ava has crafted THE YA gothic fantasy, complete with dark academic elements, fae realms, sharp commentary, and a heart-melting romance at its center.
We follow Effy Sayre, an architecture student at the University of Llyr. But despite being an architecture major, Effy is a literature fiend. Or at least a fiend about one piece of literature in particular: Angharad by Emrys Myrddin, a beloved fairytale of a young woman abducted who falls in love with–and ultimately destroys–the fairy king. And Effy WOULD be dedicating her studies to literature if she could, but unfortunately women are not allowed in the literature college.
So when the opportunity arises for Effy to redesign Myrddin’s estate, she jumps at the job. But upon her arrival, all is not as expected: Hiraeth Manor is literally crumbling into the sea, and it's filled with some mysterious and unsettling inhabitants. Effy finds herself living amongst Ianto Myrddin, Myrddin’s son and the head of the estate, Myrddin’s wife who is mysteriously absent and unavailable, and Preston, a fellow student at Effy’s university.
This book–like all Ava Reid books–is overflowing with metaphor, symbolism, and historical and literary references. It is a story inspired by and about Welsh folklore, history, and language. It is about sexism in academia and sexual harassment and exploitation. It is about ableism and classism and xenophobia in society and the fantastical lengths people will go to in order to justify those isms. It, like all of Ava’s works thus far, thematically explores the relationship between self and narrative. It’s about decay. It’s about nationalism. It’s about authorship, and the connection between writer and reader. But it’s mostly about holding a mirror to ancient falsehoods that uphold oppressive institutions.
Now, I’ve been dreading writing this review, as I am certain I need a reread to fully extract my thoughts on this book, because it has SO much to say and it feels hard to reflect upon the dazzling mosaic of its imagery after just one read. And... I won't lie, I’ve also kind of been dreading writing this review as this isn’t my favorite of Ava’s works, and though I LOVED it, I found this one a little bit harder to gush about. There’s a few narrative threads I felt weren’t incredibly strong, and I wish it had been a little longer, as some bits felt skimmed over or underutilized. I think perhaps this story would’ve worked better as a duology or an adult book. But on the other hand, this was some of Ava’s best writing. The quotes at the start of each chapter were especially enchanting, as I found myself poring over those words in an attempt to absorb them into my very being. At the end of the day, it is an Ava Reid book, and so it left me with some ineffable fullness and magic that cannot be pinned down or named in words. And that is something priceless and rare and more important to me than any small shortcomings.
I absolutely without a doubt, recommend this book. Effy's story is so emotional and meaningful and will touch the hearts of so many readers, and the text is adorned with such evocative atmosphere and prose. Ava Reid has been a force to be reckoned with since their first release, and I am oh so certain we’re going to be witnessing a glorious career.
CW: sexual harassment/assault, sexism, ableism, mental illness, abusive parent, death , parental death (past), bullying, classism, xenophobia, violence, gun violence, war, child abandonment, drowning, alcohol consumption, colonialism, animal death, grooming, blood/injury, trauma, PTSD, dismemberment, child sacrifice, hallucinations...more
THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE is a story brimming with potential. Its marketing is bold, with comparisons to era-defining love stories such as SOTHE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE is a story brimming with potential. Its marketing is bold, with comparisons to era-defining love stories such as SONG OF ACHILLES. This pitch has been ambitious, and set my expectations for this book high.
Across various lifetimes, THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE tells the tale of reincarnated lovers stuck in an endless loop, their romance forever star-crossed as fate tangles them together time and again.
My favorite types of stories are the kind that transcend their singular telling, which is why I’m so drawn to reincarnation-based plots. I’m nothing if not a sucker for stories that say “love (not always romantic!!!) conquers all” or that celebrate the interconnectedness of culture and humanity. They always make me feel a part of something larger than myself and/or bring me some comforting sense of hope. And this book sets itself up to be one of these stories: one that discusses love, romance, and human relationships across distant lands and time.
Which is why it was so disappointing.
The story starts out promising, its scope wide but its strokes confident, painting a canvas full of folkloric imagery and setting up the bones of something stuffed with yearning, queerness, and transformation. While reading the first chapter, I vividly remember thinking: “oh. I’m going to love this.” But this command begins and ends with that first chapter, the rest of the book featuring only glimpses into this level of storytelling.
The majority of this book’s journey is oddly timid and disjointed. Its folkloric and fantastical elements are scattered, isolated to mere moments without any profound impact on the world-building or the story as a whole. The prose feels the same, as the story sometimes halts to insert moments of lovely meaningful writing sandwiched between tentative plot points.
Despite the book’s claim to tell some grand story that transcends time and space, it struggles to hold an overarching narrative, functioning through individual moments. This book isn’t one story told across separate timelines or even three stories told simultaneously, but rather is three fractions of a story on rotation, with minimal narrative distance covered by any of the individual timelines. It reminds me of those children’s stereoscopes I played with growing up, clicking through reels of scenes only connected by their shared concept.
This book tells us that these characters are trapped in a cycle of reincarnation spanning thousands of years and hundreds of lifetimes, so the fact that this book only provides some inconsequential sliver of insight into three (THREE!) of them was baffling to me. I desperately wanted even the slightest peek into another lifetime to help understand the magnitude of this supposed epic, transcendent romance. The story would have been served so much better with interludes between chapters that share even vague glimpses into other lifetimes. Or it needed to express why these three lifetimes are significant turning points at the absolute least. It desperately needed some tangible portrayal of the weight of these thousands of years.
There isn’t even that much interconnectivity between the three portrayed timelines, and the connections that are present feel more like wink wink nudge nudges rather than actual links. It reads as though nothing really changes in this relationship over lifetimes and, well, nothing IS actually changing in this relationship over lifetimes! Which makes me ask, why reincarnation then?
Because you’re telling me that you have lived hundreds of lifetimes, thousands of years, and you… what? have sex and then reincarnate again? There is just literally nothing greater going on between these characters. Not a singular piece of ground, over thousands of years, is covered in progressing… what, exactly?
Which, let’s get into that, shall we? As we find out later on in the story, there’s supposedly some curse that’s tied to a specific object that one of the main characters is trying to track down in the modern timeline. And we don’t even really know what this curse is, who placed it or why, or how to break it. There’s just… a “curse”and it’s supposedly causing their reincarnation in some way. It’s all very noncommittal. This explanation feels literally just dropped in there as an attempt to justify their reincarnation, but actually has no real impression on the nonexistent plot.
As you can probably surmise from my description so far, the rules of the world are just vague. Not in any kind of an interesting way, but in a way that feels like the author is just hesitant to touch world-building or logic, which resulted in fragmented, confusing connections between elements and uncertain stakes. Because there is no part of the plot here we can really root for! There is no real end goal!
Without any understanding behind this “curse” or the circumstances these characters are in, we have absolutely nowhere to go. There is no wrong to be righted, because the provided information about this supposed “wrong” is minimal at best, and there is no known way to “right” it. (There’s one that’s implied, but it's really confusing and the characters never actually take major strides to fulfilling it.) And it’s not even clear what the punishment or consequence for the “wrong” is, because it just seemed like it’s reincarnation, which doesn’t seem all that bad, since there was nothing wrong happening to them due to reincarnation.
(Sidebar! It’s officially now time for me to bring in THE quote. The quote that this book is being marketed around. Because this quote makes absolutely no sense with this story, and it is a great example as to how this book confuses itself with its logic.
“What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?”
So let’s begin counting the things that make no sense with this quote! Problem 1: If these characters’ reincarnation loop is something they’re doomed into, why is the feeling of reincarnation being equated to love, which is something we’re supposed to view as a positive? Problem 2: If the characters are in love and therefore want to be together, why would we stop the reincarnation, which is supposedly what is giving them the feeling of love?)
Now let’s talk about this book’s only real obstacle: a third character who gets between our main characters.
I absolutely hate this third character. He essentially rapes one of the main characters over multiple timelines, and yet his relationship to the two main characters seems to be narratively framed as a love V, his role being to keep a character torn between loyalty and lust. So he never quite works as a villain because he’s also set up as a love interest, but never works as a love interest because he is a controlling rapist. I didn’t know what to make of him and his presence in the story really put me off. There are also like two or three chapters in which the characters spend nearly the whole scene scheming about killing this guy off and then there's never any actual follow through on that, ever? There's never any attempt made on his life and there's never a moment where they decide not to kill him off. Fully just forgotten.
(Quickly back to the quote! Problem 3: If love is the feeling of metaphysical recognition, and this other character is reincarnating with the main two, shouldn’t the main two characters both be in love with this character? Wouldn’t they all three be amorously in love after living hundreds of lifetimes in orbit?)
In general, I’m not a fan of the erotica in this book. I really don’t mind explicit sexual content, and I had been warned ahead of time about the amount of sexual content in this book, but I found myself SO uncomfortable. I think this is primarily because there are good sex scenes, neutral sex scenes, and bad sex scenes, and then there are consensual sex scenes, dubious sex scenes, and nonconsensual sex scenes, with little to no correlation between those different factors. The story seems to have no invested interest in consent when it comes to sexual content. Until there is one attempted rape scene in one of the timelines, when it is clear the audience is meant to be thinking: “oh no, he’s going to rape him, that’s bad!” But this doesn’t hold any actual weight because so many of the other sexual scenes are nonconsensual or dubious and are treated as normal or even kind of sexy by the narrative.
The language of these scenes is also just… so cringey? I was confused by the combination of explicit descriptions of sexual acts and the coy substitution of certain sexual words and body parts. I just could not take “influence” and “pink plum” seriously. If you’re going to be that explicit with the sexual actions of your characters, and you’re not trying create some profound metaphorical imagery, then stop using code words! It was cute the first time and then it got annoying!
Anyways, back to the reincarnation issues because AGAIN, the world-building in regards to the rules of this don’t make any sense. To recap: we’re initially told that only the two characters are doomed in a loop because of the “curse.” (And also because they’re in love? Unclear.) And then, of course, we find out that this third character is also reincarnating with them.
But actually, the story also suggests that there are more people reincarnating along with these other characters. At some points in the novel, a character in one timeline is clearly hinted at in another, but these connections are never expanded upon beyond that.
(Problem 4: How can their romance be epic because they keep reincarnating and therefore creating this growing feeling of true love, when potentially everyone around them is someone they know from previous lives?)
And you know what? I’m actually VERY down for an ensemble cast. I think this book would have flourished so much more if this was fleshed out. It would have created a clearer arc between the three POVs and maybe even would have helped craft a better and more constant rhetoric about love and community.
(If it weren’t for that dastardly curse that literally contradicts everything, what the fuck is that?)
But truly, the most frustrating thing about this book is that it doesn’t seem that these characters are actually… in love. I’m concerned that Huang doesn’t know the difference between romantic attraction, sexual attraction, and love. We’re told A LOT that these two men have some “special feeling” between them that transcends lifetimes, and that that feeling is “true love,” but the only thing we’re really shown between them is some really great sex.
In fact, the greatest examples of love I can point to in the book are shown by side characters in the modern timeline–characters, who don’t as far as I’m aware, have any parallels between timelines.
(Problem 5: If love is metaphysical recognition, does this only count for romantic and/or sexual love? Problem 6: If the answer to problem 5 even is yes, one of the side characters has romantic AND sexual AND platonic love for one of the main characters, but doesn’t seem to appear in other timelines, so is he not actually feeling love? Problem 7: Is no one able to feel love for someone they aren’t reincarnated with? Problem 8: If this side character is feeling unrequited love, does that mean he was reincarnated with the main character, but the main character was not reincarnated with him? How does that make sense? Problem 9: By the time it rolls around to the modern timeline, we never see these characters in love, just very sexually attracted to each other, while other characters show their love through genuine compassion and support and patience, but their love is not as valued by the main character, so is love just the feeling of finding someone really hot? Problem 10: If they’re trapped by this curse of reincarnation, and metaphysical recognition is love, how could they have fallen in love in their first lifetime? Check. mate.)
Now, it’s possible there is some sort of commentary here about the way we define love, and how we should be looking to the people who support us rather than staying caught up in the cycles of the past, but… I’m not sure that the book really supports this. It seems, above all, to value undying loyalty.
By the final chapters (without spoiling it, I promise), the book practically falls apart, all its final choices undermining every message this story initially sets out to portray without any shift of perspective. It constantly contradicts itself, leaving a muddied, frustrating, and inconclusive messaging. We lose the plot line of the curse entirely, there’s still barely any narrative distance covered across any of the three timelines, and the romance is just…??? It lacks closure, and I really love an open ending but there isn’t even a final beat or question for us to ponder on that carries us off and away from this book.
At the end of it all, I think this book just has no clue what it is trying to say. There is no guiding hand, leaving the audience to saunter aimlessly through this garden of ideas.
I don’t know where the blame for these issues lie, with the author or the editor or both or neither, but wow was this one a disappointment. When you have a narrative brimming with this much potential, you need to make sure you have a strong grip on it. A shaky hand only causes spillage, making a mess of the story and your reader.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
CW: sexual content (including dubious and nonconsensual content), drug use, drugging, alcohol, animal death, homophobia, death, mind control, gun violence, blood, death of father (past), death by cancer (past), infidelity (mention), alcoholism (mention), suicide (mention), fatphobic comment...more
Thank you to the author for sending me a copy of this book!
"Imagine that these paper birds were me and you—I’d have folded us together"
Returning to thThank you to the author for sending me a copy of this book!
"Imagine that these paper birds were me and you—I’d have folded us together"
Returning to the world of Modern Divination from a new angle, Agajanian once again takes their readers on a journey of hope, love, and loss. In book two we have: less tea, less academia, and less banter, but more swords, more Catholic guilt, and lots more bird content.
CW: grief, emesis, suicide (past), alcohol consumption, death of mother, dead body, blood & gore, blood magic, violence, abusive parents, religious trauma, character death...more
“My tables—meet it is I set it down That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain— At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.” -Hamlet
SMILE AND BE A V“My tables—meet it is I set it down That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain— At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.” -Hamlet
SMILE AND BE A VILLAIN is a self-published historical fantasy that reimagines the story of Hamlet, starting with the young prince’s departure to Wittenberg prior to the plot of Shakespeare’s play and following both Hamlet and Ophelia. Featuring rich fantastical lore and a diverse cast, and informed by a historical landscape of violence, religion, and politics, SABAV serves as a stunning debut from Yves Donlon.
Especially for an indie title, the prose is fairly tight and has a beautiful flow. The imagery is vivid, the characterization is clear, and it has an original style and rhythm without taking away from legibility. The world building is really well-informed. The political climate of Hamlet isn’t often heavily emphasized in adaptations or retellings, especially when it comes to complex religious dynamics, the treatment of marginalized communities, and (surprisingly) the trauma of war. So for Donlon to bring these factors–and their impressions on the world and the characters–to the forefront is wonderfully refreshing and adds a fascinating lens to a story I thought I already knew so well.
But the thing I really want to gush about here is the representation. Bisexual Hamlet, aspec Ophelia, trans Rosencrantz, Black Guildenstern, and even queer Jewish Horatio! (I absolutely did cry about queer Jewish Horatio.) I really appreciated not only the presence of these identities, but the way they shape the characters’ choices and alliances. I especially appreciate the queer-platonic relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. The way this story utilizes the constraints and expectations of their genders in this society as a complication on their dynamic (for better or for worse) is so clever.
One of my favorite elements of the original story of Hamlet is its ambiguous perspective, and I felt like this is well represented in the use of magic in this world. Throughout the story, we–as the audience–witness characters’ different opinions on and relationships to magic and are left unsure what to believe in a way that is really intriguing. I’m really curious whether this intentional ambiguity will continue in book two or solidify into a clearer message.
I do think that the second half of this book is better than the first half, but mostly because that second half’s structure is INCREDIBLE. Donlon’s crafting genius really shines in their ability to end this book and prepare us for the next. SMILE AND BE A VILLAIN starts with the beginnings of Hamlet’s threads, and slowly but surely, they are pulled and strung this way and that, seemingly at random, until all of a sudden they snap into place. Suddenly, the stage is set, the actors are in the wings, and the curtain is rising.
I can’t wait to see how all of these pieces fit together in the next installment. Based on the way they handled this first book, I have no doubt Donlon will provide a masterful narrative payoff of the themes and discussions they’ve set up for the sequel.
So if you’re wanting to read a Hamlet retelling centering a queer and diverse cast, political intrigue, a mysterious magic system, and lovely writing, I highly recommend SMILE AND BE A VILLAIN.
Thank you to the author for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
CW: war, violence, illness, death by illness, blood & gore, alcohol, homophobia, misogyny, emesis infidelity, antisemitism (mention), death of mother (past), death of sibling (past), slavery (mention)...more
R.M. Romero is an absolute wizard with words and this book is no exception.
There are so many beautiful and hopeful messages in here that I think will R.M. Romero is an absolute wizard with words and this book is no exception.
There are so many beautiful and hopeful messages in here that I think will really make a major impact on so many young people who think the path to being loved involves sacrificing and hiding away the scary parts of yourself.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
CW: death, grief, drowning, car accident, hospitalization, suicide, eating disorder, violence, war (past), sibling loss (past), gun violence (mention), infidelity...more
To attempt to summarize my thoughts on this story is not unlike attempting to bottle a storm, leaving me no choice butO, full of scorpions is my mind.
To attempt to summarize my thoughts on this story is not unlike attempting to bottle a storm, leaving me no choice but to let the tempest rage on. Which is to say, I've wrote out my thoughts in a word document and they're 8 pages, single-spaced.
When I first read this book, I immediately foresaw it being unbelievably polarizing, and with the responses emerging since ARCs have gone out, I’m not surprised to see that prophecy fulfilled.
I'm a long time super fan of Ava Reid's work, as many of you know. But as many of you don't, I'm also a rising Shakespeare scholar with a specific interest in Macbeth and its depicted relationship between magic and the marginalized. So suffice to say: I was greatly anticipating this story, and I have a LOT of opinions on it.
Unfortunately, they do NOT fit in the Goodreads character limit, so I've made my review publicly available on my Patreon ! (I promise I would just put my review here if it would fit, but it won't.) If you want to read my thoughts on Lady Macbeth, including but not limited to: its relationship to Shakespearean scholarship and how it compares to Shrek, now you can! Enjoy!
Thank you to the publisher and GetUnderlined for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I absolutely adored the concept of this book. I Thank you to the publisher and GetUnderlined for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I absolutely adored the concept of this book. I think there is an untapped well of potential for collaborative literature that makes me want to become an editor myself just to make it happen, and this book felt like a glimpse into that world.
But unfortunately, I think the execution fell a bit flat for me. The writing of each individual author and of the story itself wasn't bad at all, and I found some new (to me) authors I want to read more of, particularly Hafsah Faizal and Darcie Little Badger. But this format just held the story back. It was almost Sisyphean in the way we hit a narrative refresh at every hour of the story. With each new chapter, the boulder rolled back down the hill, as each author had to start from scratch with character introduction and explaining a corner of this world and a magic system. It was exhausting.
I think this could've worked MUCH better if there were maybe... a third of the amount of authors, each writing a few chapters from their characters' POVs. With 18 perspectives being introduced until the very tail end of the story, I was spending more of my mental energy trying to keep track of the characters and the world-building than figuring out the actual mystery at hand. Every 20 pages or so, we were given a new POV that had to establish a new character, a unique magic system, a backstory, their relationship to the dead professor, relationships with other students, and tell a concise story with a beginning, middle, and end. It was just too convoluted and kept my head swimming and overwhelmed with unnecessary information.
Besides melting my brain a bit, this continued introductory format also hurt the storytelling itself. With the way information was handed to us, it wasn’t woven together enough for a mystery, which caused the first half of the story to feel entirely obsolete, with many of the early plot threads either turning out to be red herrings or remaining entirely unresolved. I honestly had more questions than answers at the end.
Finally, this structure hurt the climax, making it still feel out of nowhere, despite the attempt at building a through-line, just because we were being still introduced to entirely new characters and plots in literally the last pages. And with that, it lacked an ability to give the audience a final button to weave together the thematic conversations of the story. What are we supposed to take away from this world? I’m still not quite sure.
If we had less authors and a few chapters from each character, I think the pay-off would have been much more satisfying, and the world-building would've shone much more. This school and its characters were really drew me in, but it was just sand slipping through my fingers with this many POVs and storylines. It was just too much to keep track of and so much fell through the cracks.
CW: (I'm just listing them all together because the stories are so intertwined) murder, death, dead body, injury detail, fire, violence (brief), panic attacks, mental illness, hallucinations, blood, poison, kidnapping, grief, mentions of: loss of loved one, ableism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, bullying, colonization, war, generational trauma, spiders...more
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Okay, so I know this review got attention with my anticipatory commeThank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Okay, so I know this review got attention with my anticipatory comment stating: "The Night Circus but make it sapphic, Jewish, and with time travel?????" but before I begin my actual review, I'd like to sort of ret-con that statement and say I actually disagree with the way this book is pitched. I've seen it described as "cozy" and compared to The Night Circus. I don't think that either of those things are accurate beyond the surface layer of this book. Rather, I would call this a dark, yet hopeful magical realism story for fans of Jessica Jones and Thistlefoot. (Though, yes, it is still a sapphic, Jewish story with a magical circus and time travel.)
Centering a ringmaster caught between a haunted past and the terrifying uncertainty of the future, The First Bright Thing is a story set between WWI and WWII about what a small light in a sea of darkness can accomplish. Featuring a bisexual Jewish protagonist, a queer found family, and a magical traveling circus, this story is one full of whimsy and profound commentary.
It's rare to find a true magical realism book these days. People often throw "magical realism" around as a synonym of low fantasy, but it truly is its own category, and one that has a history of roots in Latin American literature and Jewish literature. Books of this genre require loose magic systems that function primarily as metaphor, and mostly contain discussion–metaphorical or direct–about resistance to systemic oppression. In the words of Anna Marie-McLemore, a current author who is famous for writing in this genre: "Magical realism isn’t just about seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. In a culture of oppression, seeing the magical in the midst of the tragic, the unjust, the heartbreaking is a way of survival, for people, for communities, for cultures. We must find our magic where it lives, or we will lose it. Our spirits depend on not overlooking that which might be dismissed or ignored." I've only read a few books in the past few years that truly embody the language of magical realism (Thistlefoot being one of them, hence my comparison), so it's always truly exciting when I come across a book that does fit into that category. And the magical realism in this story was handled profoundly and beautifully, with a magic system meant to emphasize survival mechanisms, and many conversations around what the control of that magic can be used for.
I'm always a sucker for stories that display art as a tool of power, an agent of change, and I loved the way that Dawson dealt with both sides of that double-edged sword throughout the different perspectives in this book. Art is something that we often view as pure and hopeful and uplifting, but those of us who have been in the art world know that there are people that use their art to spread hurt, to control people for their own benefit, and to uphold harmful systems of oppression. This book emphasizes the weight of storytelling, and how those who weave narratives have the ability to cause serious harm through the perspectives they carry and impose upon others. Anything that can be used for good can be used for bad, and vice versa.
And this conversation expands further into a larger picture, about what we do with the life we've been given and the tools we've been to navigate it. Whether we allow the bad things that happened to us to become all-consuming, or if we find light in spite of them. The First Bright Things shows us that being good is a choice that we have to make every day. That everything in this world is just... potential. Like ℵ: a sound waiting to be molded by its vowels, we are just a shape waiting to be molded by our choices and our actions. We all have the potential to use our lives and our strengths to cause chaos and lash out. But we also have the potential to love and to heal. It is not what has happened to us, or what we are capable of doing, but what we actually choose to be, that defines who we are.
And my favorite part of this story, and in my opinion, the most successful, was its depiction of an abusive relationship. Aided by its magic systems, this book flawlessly navigates the experience of being manipulated and gaslit and physically and mentally abused, at times through metaphor, at times directly, but often both simultaneously. It's so perfectly messy and morally warping and confusing, and I definitely think the execution of this element will be the thing from this book that sticks with me the longest.
Most importantly, this is a book built upon Jewish values. Mainly, and more specifically: mitzvah. “A mitzvah is the work we are responsible for, as long as we are part of the living world… We are here to bring light to the dark. And it’s not a charity, it’s not a special congratulations. It’s just the right thing to do.” The First Bright Thing centers community. It centers family. What we owe to ourselves and what we owe to each other in order to make the world a better place. I think right now, at times we feel as these characters feel, like sitting ducks waiting for the other shoe to drop. And mitzvah is something that reminds us all that the little actions that we take can make a world of difference. We can make the world better not by trying to fix the past or trying to solve the problems of the future, but by being our best selves in every present moment.
This book is also very much a Yom Kippur book, and I would love to reread this during the high holidays one year, because of how much it talks about teshuvah and holds so many themes that we reflect upon during Yom Kippur. The idea of staying true to oneself and atoning by returning home to our hearts is one of the largest elements of this story, and I feel that this would really hit hard during the high holidays.
Now, I did struggle with the book's pacing a bit. Like I mentioned earlier, this book is a lot darker than the "cozy fantasy" it was pitched as, and I don't think that the pacing of this book was built to carry the heaviness of the story. I often struggled to find breathing room between the highs and lows, or to find places to pause in the story. The intensity of the content made me need to consume the book in smaller bites, but it moved so seamlessly between chapters–which is usually a compliment lol–that it was difficult to find a place to set it down. I just felt with a book that had this many hard hitting topics and moments, that it should’ve been built in a way that offered more room for its readers to take breaks. Especially by the end of this book, I felt like I had been weighed down by so much, and without the breathing room, I was losing stamina and was struggling to feel the catharsis of the climax. I do think that part of this could be due to how unprepared I was for the content by the pitch. It definitely made it more difficult for me to process the material at my highest capacity, and I honestly hope to reread it with a different mindset, because I think I could enjoy this more than I did.
And one last little nitpick, because I think its important to mention: this story did use the word "bohemian" a few times, and as a word that has a harmful etymology and background, it didn't feel necessary. I wish I had read this ARC earlier so I could've messaged the publisher to take it out.
Overall: I do recommend this book. It has a gorgeous (loose, because its magical realism) magic system based on trauma responses, a lovely found family element, incredible character growth, and gorgeous imagery and writing. I also definitely caution its readers that though it is about hope, it's also about the pain you have to fight through to find it.
CW: war (graphic), mind control/manipulation, abusive relationship, parental death, grief, character death, ptsd, holocaust, alcoholism, violence, gun violence, body horror, blood & gore, antisemitism, homophobia, homophobic slur, suicidal thoughts, emesis...more
If the mechanicals from A Midsummer Night's Dream were a theatre troupe of chaotic and useless lesbians. And they had a rival troupe also of chaotic aIf the mechanicals from A Midsummer Night's Dream were a theatre troupe of chaotic and useless lesbians. And they had a rival troupe also of chaotic and useless lesbians. But maybe the real enemy was the capitalist patriarchy we smashed along the way.
Written with a charming mixture of Elizabethan wit and modern colloquialisms, and filled with banter so vulgar it would make Shakespeare proud.
It reminded me of the rowdy, goofy, unhinged Shakespeare camps I used to participate in. All my former peers would love this.
(But of course, as a director myself, I do have several notes, the biggest one being that we desperately needed a Dramatis Personae, because I was so lost between characters sometimes.)
Through the perspective of a nonbinary siren, this book takes us through the mental and physical journey of gaining a disability and learning to live with it.
Our main character, Perle, travels the path of mourning a life once loved in order to adjust to a completely new way of living. They find themself relying on those they would once consider enemies and having to redefine their understanding of freedom, independence, and strength. Over the course of this book, they learn to not only accept, but thrive, in their new reality, and through this are able to pave the way to a future that is better than one they could’ve ever imagined before their disability.
The characters were enjoyable, I thought the pacing was fairly well done, and I think the length was just perfect for the story that needed to be told. I will say, the high intensity moments were quite a bit repetitive, and after the third time the LI got knocked unconscious, the "is he alive??" moment we were meant to have as an audience lost its power. It just needed a bit of variety. I also felt that the romance element could've been a bit more cathartic towards the end, as I felt there was quite a bit of build and then just a brief little discussion about it in the final moments. But I did love the clarification of the quality of their relationship.
It's a really sweet story of healing, second chances, and creating support systems one can call family.
This is my first introduction to the SU graphic novels, and oh boy, this is just gonna be the beginning!
Containing 4 short stories about nonbinary babThis is my first introduction to the SU graphic novels, and oh boy, this is just gonna be the beginning!
Containing 4 short stories about nonbinary baby birds, sapphic prom dates, food trucks, and ren faires (respectively), this lovely little volume delivers perfect little pockets of this lovable world and its characters. Melanie Gillman effortlessly adds more content to the core heart of Steven Universe, with each chapter feeling like little filler episodes of the beloved series.
Each story, just like each episode of Steven Universe, left me feeling a little more mindful upon completion. I've always said that I love Steven Universe because watching it makes me a better person, and I'm happy to say this book is no different.
I will most definitely be picking up more of these....more
Reading Roz Alexander has become a little bit of a holiday tradition for me, and I'm not mad about it.
Though this is the first one Roz wrote, it's actReading Roz Alexander has become a little bit of a holiday tradition for me, and I'm not mad about it.
Though this is the first one Roz wrote, it's actually the third one I've read, and I think this one might be my favorite. It was so properly rom-com in its style and I found myself laughing out loud or having to pick my jaw up off the floor after gasping in surprise.
An adorable romance and a delightfully quick read - you could easily read the whole thing during the time it takes for your family to say goodbye after seder.
Thank you Random House Childrens Books and Team Underlined for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review!
Akwaeke Emezi writes modern day bThank you Random House Childrens Books and Team Underlined for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review!
Akwaeke Emezi writes modern day bible stories. Simultaneously a mirror of our own society and a warning sign of a future that could be, this book is the voice of a revolution.
Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I don't think I can give this book a star raThank you so much to Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I don't think I can give this book a star rating. Because is this book good or well-written? No. But did I absolutely LOVE it? HELL YES.
Set post-adventure, this book follows Arek and his friends as they learn to rule a kingdom after fulfilling a prophecy. But when he finds out he has to soul-bond (forever!) with someone in order to stay alive, things get very complicated. Especially since he has major feelings for his best friend, who definitely doesn't feel the same way... right?
This book has absolutely no atmosphere, terrible world-building, and its general vibe is horny, which is not an ideal word to describe a book. (Seriously, there were like 5 or 6 boner mentions.) However, I am an absolute sucker for a slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance featuring dense idiots with terrible communication skills, and if this book delivered anything, it delivered that! And it delivered it SO WELL!!
If you're expecting a book with strong writing, complex and adventurous plot, or high fantasy worlds, I would pass on this. But if you're looking for a jaw-achingly cute romance with laugh-along dialogue and the general vibe of playing a D&D side quest with your friends, this book might be for you.
CW: violence, gore, death, murder, decapitation, blood, vomit, parental death (past, offscreen), alcohol, SA (brief mention, past), drugging (truth potion)
Thank you so much to Random House and GetUnderlined for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Important note: I don't know wThank you so much to Random House and GetUnderlined for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Important note: I don't know who wrote the blurb... but I'm not sure they read the book, because this is DEFINITIVELY not a romance. Very confused. Very concerned.
For fans of Steven Universe, this wholesome yet insightful graphic novel tells the story of two nonbinary teens who live incredibly different lives across a giant space war.
The characters were so lovable and wonderfully diverse; there wasn't a cishet person in sight, and most of the characters were POC as well. The more cartoon-ish style of the graphic novel (again, reminiscent of SU), especially within the figures, kept the content feeling accessible amid some of the darker or more difficult-to-understand moments.
Some incredibly nuanced and deep topics were brought to light amid the war themes, mostly in regards to the way that civilians and indigenous people are treated as props or disposable casualties. One of the characters also struggled with PTSD and was constantly having to live within survival mode, as the product of a war. Epic sci-fi like this, especially in YA, doesn't tend to bring up these more grounded and realistic conversations about war, and I felt this really set this work apart. However, these topics were introduced and set up in such a way that opened a lot of doors for messages and calls-to-action for the audience, yet seemed to fizzle out, and they weren't utilized to their full potential, especially in the more climactic moments of the book. Certain bits of dialogue actually seemed like it was going to bring these themes to a close, but went unacknowledged, which seemed... odd. A wonderful start, but left me hanging.
I also found this graphic novel to struggle within its own format. The author didn't seem to have a great grasp on the idea of using the panel as a camera lens, and the transitions of scenes or moments of dialogue were often clunky at best. Also, there were major inconsistencies with the speech bubbles and the formatting of their tails, which made it confusing as to who was speaking at times or how we were meant to interpret their speech. It seemed like it just needed a final editing round by someone other than the author.
CW/TW: war & war themes, parental death (offscreen), violence, gun violence, colonization, trauma/PTSD, vehicle accident, medical content (minor), blood, dysphoria (mention), emesis, bullying (brief)...more
Someone else might really love this book, but I could already tell I was going to have to drag myself through this, and I have too much goinDNF p. 35
Someone else might really love this book, but I could already tell I was going to have to drag myself through this, and I have too much going on to have the time or energy for that.
If you know anything about my taste, you’ll know I love a strong narrative voice. And this book not only has that, but it has really creative world building, a riveting premise, and a gorgeous cover to boot. Unfortunately, regardless of all of those elements working in its favor, this book did not work for me. Maybe I would feel different at another time, but in this reading attempt, I struggled to find any narrative footing. I don’t mind a book that thinks faster than its readers, or that leaps right into world building and doesn’t wait for the readers to catch up. In fact, I consider that a hallmark of adult epic sci-fi & fantasy. But in this case, even the descriptors and the camera lens of audience focus was so vague and flimsy that I was never really quite sure what information I was supposed to be able to glean onto or not. I couldn’t picture anything, which was really tough for me as somebody who visualizes everything that I read. I don’t think I’ve ever struggled for a firm 30 pages without being able to picture almost anything.
I did really enjoy Yang’s writing style and the casual humor built into both the rhythm of the prose and of the world-building language, and will probably try something else by them, but yeah, I just don’t have time to keep trying with this one. Really sad that the queer Joan of Arc meets Neon Genesis Evangelion didn’t work for me :(
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a finished copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!...more
A wholly unique and diverse fantasy world unlike any I’ve visited before.
The Four Profound Weaves is a novella-size bite out of R.B. Lemberg’s BirdverA wholly unique and diverse fantasy world unlike any I’ve visited before.
The Four Profound Weaves is a novella-size bite out of R.B. Lemberg’s Birdverse, that physically and thematically navigates the concepts of change, wanderlust, hope, and death.
It features a rich tapestry of ancient gods, greedy tyrants, magic, and assassins, all through the eyes of two nomads, looking for something they have to discover they’ve had in themselves all along.
The religions and cultures of this world are so well-realized and satisfying. They’re far removed from the Christian allegories often found in modern fantasy, and as much as I appreciate a story that analyzes the Church, it was a breath of fresh air to have a world that feels untainted by that of Christian imperialism. In fact, I’d say there’s a very loose inspiration of the author’s Jewish roots (especially in the way the worship varies between traditions and the way song is used, as well as the divide between the different cultures, which felt very reminiscent of Orthodox and Reform Judaism). But even despite those influences, the religious practices and beliefs were brilliantly inventive and completely their own.
The book is also cleverly structured, mirroring its thematic explorations with the physical journeys of the characters. The parallels were clear and distinct and well-formulated.
But I have to say, my favorite part of this book was its diversity. The author’s world-view, being Jewish, bigender, queer, neurodivergent, and an immigrant really brought a lot of nuance to this world, imbued in even the smallest of facets. But the diversity was also direct and upfront. Both of the main characters were trans, queer, and in their sixties (how often do we get older queer people as MC's in fantasy stories?). One of them was fat, and a person of color, and both of them experience disabilities throughout the book. One of them comes from a society in which people are just people and all identities are accepted, while another comes from a background with far more rigid gender roles and bioessentialist ideals, and their conversations about identity, change, and family take the center of this story.
The only qualm I found with this book was that I felt a little too tossed into this world, causing me to flounder for the first 1/3 or so. Though this novella is one of many works set in the Birdverse, it is meant to be a standalone. Yet, I felt like Dante without a Virgil, struggling to navigate a new space, attempting to piece together the meanings of words without being offered any definitions or context to hold onto. Though I understood the fundamentals eventually, I definitely still struggled to visualize the magic, even through the end. And it made the narrative stakes impossible to understand for the beginning of their journey. Maybe having read some other Birdverse works first would have helped, but as this is the first full-length published work in the Birdverse (and again, is a standalone), it definitely needed to put in more of an effort to guide its readers with a clearer introduction to this world and its magic.
But I was undoubtedly enchanted by this work and its world, and now that I’ve dipped my toes into the Birdverse I most definitely am interested in diving in.
CW: transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering, dead bodies, death, blood & gore, torture, confinement, murder, loss of loved one, abusive relationship, misogyny, emesis...more
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