#5 star book review

[steviehamlington]

💜BOOK REVIEW💜

The Declaration By Gemma Malley

Finished Reading October 2023

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Favourite Quote: page 58 ‘make it think you love it before abusing its trust so completely that it could never trust another human being again’

Anna is a surplus, an illegal child in a dystopian future in which living forever is made possible with medication and surgery. She lives in Grange Hall, a prison/training camp where illegal children are held and trained to be slaves for the wealthy legals who have been living on decades past what they should have.

Anna is trying her best to become a ‘valuable asset’, someone worthy of a life outside the walls of the surplus halls, someone who can pay back the debt her parents made her owe to mother nature.

When a new surplus arrives, a child the same age as Anna, he comes telling stories of Anna’s parents and of life outside the grey walls she had known all her life. Peter, the new surplus, is doing everything in his power to try help Anna realise she has a chance in the real world, with her parents, a chance where she can get out from under the evil claws of Mrs Pincent, the house matron.

Review: Gemma Malley is a brilliant writer who has created a powerful young adult science fiction novel that can be enjoyed by teenagers and adults alike. This was one of the first books I read that I loved, back when I was around eleven years of age, and returning to it as an adult not only reminded me of how truly gripping the storyline is and the world that has been created, but also how well written this story is. I will return to it again and I cannot wait to read the other two stories in this series. I can’t wait to see what is next in store for Anna and Peter.

I can definitely say that to anyone who loves YA Dystopian novels, this is one for you.

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[winningthesweepstakes]

Tamales for Christmas/Tamales para Navidad by Stephen Briseño, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez

Tamales for Christmas by Stephen Briseño, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez. Random House Studio, 2024. 9780593647813 Tamales para Navidad by Stephen Briseño, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez. Random House Studio, 2024. 9780593897515 Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 5 Format: Hardcover picture book What did you like about the book?  Stephen Briseño invites readers into the true…

[imzadipublishing]

Dragon Rising a Triple Award Winner!

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/flemington-slash-raritan/articles/phillipsburg-author-s-latest-triller-a-triple-award-winner

[taylor-titmouse]

Coming in late on this one, but if you're saying you're not planning on your work being piblished... but isnt there a graphic novel coming out soon? There was a link to pre-order it at least via bookshop or barnes and noble (can't remember which off the top of my head). Were you able to get your blook distributed to them as a self-piblished creator? Or was the graphic novel trad-pub and you're just saying you can't see your prose writing/books getting published?

what a funny thing to gotcha me on

yes, i do have a traditionally published graphic novel coming out. under a different name. in a different genre. for a different audience. it's not relevant for me to bring it up every time somebody asks me here if my work will ever be physically printed because it's not the work they're asking about.

so yeah. the last thing you said.

[reedreadsbooks]

Book Review: Dreadnought by April Daniels ✨🏙️⚡️

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

(5/5)

After Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero, is killed in combat, closeted trans girl Danny Tozer inherits his powers and is transformed to have the body she’s always wanted to have. Now she has to deal with having superpowers and being an out trans woman, all the while hunting down the supervillain who murdered her predecessor.

This book was phenomenal, and I’m kind of at a loss for words to describe how much I liked it.

To start, I love the world of this book. This is such a classic superhero story. Daniels uses the conventions of the genre without making things feel like a parody and subverts tropes just enough to make the story distinct.

I also really love Dreadnought as a trans narrative. This book doesn’t shy away from transphobia. Between Danny’s parents, kids at her school, and other heroes she meets, we get a pretty broad and realistic representation of the types of abuse a young trans woman might face. There’s also so much trans joy in this book. It was really nice to see Danny come into herself, and it was cathartic to watch her realize that no one could take her transition away from her. This is the type of story that will give trans kids hope for the future.

I would recommend this book to literally everyone. In fact, I plan on recommending this book to literally everyone. But because that’s not helpful, I’ll be more specific and say I highly recommend this book to fans of Andrew Joseph White. Obviously, it’s very different from his work, genre-wise, but I think the themes are really similar. If you like Hell Followed with Us and The Spirit Bares It’s Teeth, I can definitely see you liking Dreadnought.

[samwisethewitch]

REVIEW: Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards

I feel like Jake Richards's books are pretty popular with folk witches. If you have any interest in Appalachian folk magic, or even American folk magic more generally, you've probably at least heard of this book. Part of why I put off reviewing it for so long is because I feel like there's already been plenty of attention given to it online, so I'll try to make this brief.

Pros:

Definitely authentic Appalachian folk magic. Jake Richards writes about a lot of things I've seen people do or heard people talk about but never seen written anywhere.

This book is really well researched! I'm very impressed by all the references and footnotes.

I love that Richards uses the correct Tsalagi (Cherokee), Gaelige (Irish), and Gaelic (Scottish) words when talking about the cultures that influence Southern folk magic. I also love that he includes pronunciation guides.

Cons:

I didn't finish this book on my first read. It wasn't until I revisited it recently that I actually read to the end. Something about the writing style and the way the book is organized made it a little hard to follow at times, at least for me.

The research is generally good, but there's definitely more detail given for European and Cherokee cultural influences than for African. When talking about European influences, Richards will usually specify the specific country or culture something comes from, but for African influences he just says "African." While this research is harder to do because the slave trade intentionally cut people off from their cultural traditions, other authors like Luisah Teish and Stephanie Rose Bird have shown that we can often trace these African influences back to a specific culture, or at least a region. I would have liked to see the same level of effort put into researching African practices that went into the European ones.

Other Observations:

Christianity is a big part of the author's practice. This is faithful to traditional Appalachian conjure, but just know that it may be triggering if you've experienced religious trauma in a Christian setting. I found this book harder to read than other books on conjure that incorporate Christian elements, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it sounded too similar to the Appalachian church where my abuse happened? Just something to be aware of if this is a tricky topic for you.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

[sixstarries]

book so good i want to download it into my subconscious

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Review: Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White Rating: 5/5

I said to someone recently that I never think I'm going to like Andrew Joseph White's books based on their synopsis but once I'm actually reading them, I can't turn away. Well, we're 3 for 3 on his books being favourites of mine so I think I can throw that doubt out the window next time. 

This was fantastic. It's about class warfare and growing up trans and disabled in a rural town. It's about how family history can follow you around but also how it can liberate you and give you something to connect with. It's about the absurdities of capitalism and "democracy". It's about the wonders of community and activism. I loved every page.

If you are despairing about Trump right now, read this. It will make you feel better.

[genericpuff]

yeah i don't think this is the kind of advertising rachel needs right now-

[lifesarchive]

OUT THERE SCREAMING edited by JORDAN PEELE (REVIEW)

quickly: the ‘horrors’ of blackness have its natural and supernatural roots revealed (bad cop with a third eye / grandma’s love is deadly / wandering man running from nothing / in vivo alien invasion / unstable ex’s / sea siren with your sister’s face / dead man’s swamp revenge / serial killer targeting black robots / white men ruining the atmosphere / daddy’s secret / chaos in the dark / part woman part fish-devil / black magic as an HOA / grief and its blindness / games that ghosts play / negro folk tales as an american requiem / prison industrial complex goes A.I. / black magic as an addiction / whiteness as psyche and psychosis)

A fantastically original collection of short horror stories that span quite a range of horror sub-genres (sci-fi, thriller, romance, and even americana). All unapologetically Black. A superb addition to the limited number of Black horror anthologies (Tales from the Hood, anyone?).

My favorites were Wandering Devil (loverboy with wandering feet can outrun everyone but himself), The Rider (a dead man intervenes on behalf of two black women traveling alone), Flicker (an intermittent darkness unleashes chaos from the shadows), The Norwood Trouble (a group of black ‘practitioners’ will be damned if white rioters try to destroy their town), A Grief of The Dead (grief separates and reunites a pair of twin brothers), Your Happy Place (an incarcerated man must decide his reality after having it stolen from him), Hide & Seek (brothers learn to protect themselves with the same magic that wants to harm them).

★★★★★ Superb.

[literatureaesthetic]

took me two weeks, but i finished my reread of 'a little life' by hanya yanagihara. very happy to report that it remains the best book i've ever read in my life🥲

[nerd-goes-blogging]

Book review: Tintin in the new world -_-

(Though i would rather call it 'in a parallel universe which never existed'!!)

If you want a proof that parodies are really bad, (don't) read this. It's sick. So weird, that hard-core Tintin fans'd throw up. Literally.

Look at the cover. It's a sign of what's inside. (Just think, why would there be 2 naked people dancing on the cover of a book about Tintin??!!)

The start is okay. Mysterious, vague, but okay. One would think it would improve further into the story. On the contrary... IT GETS WORSE!!!

I was traumatized, just because I wasn't aware that it's a parody when I first read it, few years back. Left it after few chapters itself, for mental peace and sanity.

Now I know.

Parodies are evil.

On the other hand, fanfics are from fans who understand the character so well that in their stories the character is never.. well, out of character.(You get the picture.) Still fanfics are defamed. What an irony! 😂

Other example of such a book is tintin in thailand. (Please don't google it. You'll regret doing that. I know because I have.) It's a good thing it's banned. I wonder why they didn't ban this as well.

The Nerdy Olive

[winningthesweepstakes]

Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan

Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan. Tundra, 2024. 9781774880449 Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 5 Format: Hardcover graphic novel Genre: Memoir, realistic fiction What did you like about the book?  It’s 1975, the summer of Jaws. Ten-year-old Paul and his two best friends, David Chu and the slightly younger Bernie, are still young enough to enjoy messing around with an old…

[aneternalglower]

just finished reading: american psycho by bret easton ellis (399 pages)

-

every chapter in this book is titled something innocuous like “Laundromat” or something like “Eating a corpse out of a dumpster on 42nd street” and every paragraph in this book goes like: “Jim Johnson walked over the table, he was wearing a navy blue wool double breasted coat with brass buttons from Armani with some hardbody, blonde, big tits, next to him. Something, something, Donald Trump, Fisher account, Ralph Lauren, Les Miserables, Dorsia, Videotapes, something, I killed a Laotian man yesterday, something, something.”

it’s good though.

-

favorite quotes:

“edwin? edwin who?”

“if the midgets wanna sing, let ‘em sing”

“It’s called Dorsia.” “Yes, My brain explodes.”

“He is unusually short, Evelyn. Are you sure he wasn’t at your christmas party?”

“My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape“

-

Rating: 5/5 ★★★★★

[professionalintrovert]

It’s a library, Daphne. If you can’t be a human here, where can you? 📚

[hannahwatcheshorror]

GERALD'S GAME (2017)

I won’t lie, this movie is a heavy one, the subject matter is tough, but if you are able to handle it this is a phenomenal film. I don’t know how Stephen King can write so well for women, but he slips into the role like Buffalo Bill into a suit made of women's skin. This movie is very true to the book, not making the mistakes of other King movies that deviate greatly from his writing and try for a new way of thinking. Gorgeous scenes of the eclipse that flood your senses as they would have Jessie’s. Really an excellent film.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

(Trigger Warning Sexual Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse)

To try and fix their marriage Jessie is handcuffed to the bed in their remote vacation home but the thing is, ladies, gentlemen, and otherwise, you gotta talk to your partners before employing crazy sex stuff because Gerald’s Game freaked Jessie right the fuck out and it wasn’t safe at all!  “We might die here today because of Gerald’s five inches!” Very quickly into Gerald's untimely death and Jessie’s subsequent imprisonment Prince the dog smells the blood and stops by for a bite. This drives Jessie into a madness where she envisions versions of Gerald and herself talking to her (and it is very well done).

Our first night is coming quickly and our best girl uses some quick thinking to get a drink of water before the lights go out. She wakes up to a spooky visitor and we cannot tell if he is real or in her imagination though and her imaginary husband posits that if the spooky visitor is imaginary then why did the real dog leave? This was very chilling. We also got to see what inspired Talk to Me’s foot sucking action, who knew demons loved toes? (We all did, that's why we never dangled our feet out of the covers)

We are brought back to Jessie’s past, the day of the total solar eclipse, the day her father sexually abused her. Then her horrible father tricks her into thinking that telling anyone would make her look bad so she promises him she won’t ever tell anyone. At this point she is convinced that the man she saw in her room last night is Death (or the Moon Man) and that he is coming back tonight to kill her so she has to act NOW. She remembers something else from the day of the eclipse, cutting her hand, which gives her an idea…

THE DEGLOVING SCENE IS SO BRUTAL. I have not been made physically ill by a horror movie in such a long time but here we are. My LANTA was that AWFUL. I had to pause it to take a break because I was thrown off by this scene, it was very well done but excruciating. (I don’t want to go back until the scary lady with the half hand is gone) I was trembling by the time she got the key to the cuffs and was getting a well earned drink from the tap.

She sees the Moon Man on her way out and gives him her wedding ring as a sort of payment, sort of like paying a coin to cross the River Styx only she gets to live. She drives her car, crashes it, but that leads people to find her. She recovers well but it is only months later that she discovers the spooky visitor she saw was a real man after all who was caught for robbing graves. She goes to his hearing and confronts him, telling him he looks small. She goes on to start a foundation to help anyone who has gone through sexual trauma like she did and tells her story everyday.

Um, this was incredibly true to the book and I loved that about it, they only did a few little things here or there to make the story flow a bit better but holy moly if they didn’t stick to the book! I am very pleased! The only thing that I would have LOVED is if she would have taken Prince the dog on as a pet but that wasn’t in the book and in fact they usually have to destroy dogs that have a taste for human flesh so… yeah… but I like to imagine it would be a very powerful move for Jessie to take the dog that terrorized her and have it become a companion cause the dog was just doing what it needed to to survive but maybe that is just me. Brilliant book, brilliant movie. Great job all around to everyone involved!