bladelikesbooks's reviews
201 reviews

5.0

This was really good. It’s a really quick and short piece that discusses how queer people should be responsible for each other and and protect each other as a community. I don’t really have a lot to say about this because it was so short but if you’re into nonfics and queer education, then I think you’ll enjoy this

Rep - Gay (A); Jewish (A)

TWs/CWs - Antisemitism; Body Shaming; Bullying; Death; Gun Violence; Hate Crime; Homophobia; Islamophobia; Mass Murder; Murder; Racism; Transphobia

The Cartography of Sudden Death by Charlie Jane Anders

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2.0

I actually really liked the concept of the plot but I don’t think the execution pays off. I feel like I was reading just a random, small piece of a bigger story and this focused on the most boring piece of the novel. Like this felt pointless. I guess it introduced the characters and had a bit of world building but other than the most basic intros, nothing else happened. Honestly, I was so disinterested in this that even if this was a preview for a longer novel, I don’t think I would be compelled to read the full novel. This one definitely wasn’t for me.

TWs/CWs - Blood; Bullying; Colonisation; Cussing; Death; Death Camps; Gun; Kidnapping; Murder; Physical Abuse

The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey

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2.0

Do you like sapphic historical romances, taxidermy museum animals, haunted manors and murder plots? You might like this! But I didn’t.

I thought this was going to be a spooky sapphic romance and I guess technically it was that, but this just didn’t do it for me. I listened to the audiobook which was immediately a mistake since this is dual POV and the narrator did not differentiate the voices of the two main characters, so I was very confused throughout the entire book about who’s perspective we were on.

The first SIX WHOLE HOURS was spent introducing the characters and their relationship dynamics and there wasn’t even a slither of gay until the 6 hour mark which, originally I thought “okay maybe this is just a slow burn”. But then within the span of about 5 minutes they thought homosexuality could be an option, decided they couldn’t live without each other, told each other they’ve been in love since they first saw each other, and then they had sex…. So like was this supposed to be a slow burn or an insta love?? I’m confused

I feel like the plot was just kind of all over the place. I mean the haunting part of the plot, was about Lucy’s nightmares and the manifestations of her childhood trauma. Which wasn’t terribly done but it definitely could have been a lot more interesting. I just feel like there was a lot of dull moments throughout. Also, at the end of the book, in the last hour, that was just so weirdly structured.

They just chucked in a plot line about a secret pedophile ring involving Lord Lockwood and the head maid?? Like that was never even hinted to previously but it was just randomly slotted in at the end, I’m guessing to lead to Lord Lockwood’s death but it was just so random and weird. I guess it had a happy ending since Lucy and Hetty end up living together and looking for queer community and being so in love and that but idk, the plot was just such a mess, I really did not care by the end of it.

Also I can’t remember the precise location of this but at one point the author included an ableist slur which was completely unnecessary and should have been taken out during the edits. This one was definitely not for me, maybe someone else will enjoy it but this will definitely not be a reread for me.

Rep - Anxiety (MC); Mental Illness (MC); OCD (MC); Queer (A); Sapphic (MCs)

TWs/CWs - Ableism; Animal Death; Blood; Car Crash; Child Abuse; Child Harm; Classism; Cussing; Death; Death Of A Loved One; Fatphobia; Fire/Fire Injury; Grief; Homophobia; Hunting; Internalised Homophobia; Manipulation; Miscarriage (mentioned); Murder; Misogyny; Neglect; Nightmares; Physical Abuse; Plantation House (mentioned); Paedophile; Sex (on page); Sexual Assault of a Child (past, detailed); War

Tidesong by Wendy Xu

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4.0

Sophie (MC) really struggles with self acceptance because of the expectations and pressures projected onto her by her family members. Children always attach their worth to their parents/caregivers’ opinions of them (or rather how they perceive that opinion). I really feel for Sophie and her situation, and I’m glad she was able to accept herself in the end.

The art in this was top tier, I really loved it, I’ve loved all of Xu’s works so far. I did enjoy the story and the characters, however I think the friendship between Sophia and Lir could have been fleshed out a little more and I think I’d like to know more about the sea dragons and their lore.

Overall, this was a pretty quick read with beautiful art and I had a good time!

Rep - Chinese American (A); POC (SC); She/They (A)

TWs/CWs - Bullying; Child Abuse; Drowning; Emotional Abuse; Grief; Injury/Injury Detail; Mental Illness; Panic Attacks/Disorders

St. Valentine, St. Abigail, St. Brigid by C.L. Polk

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4.0

I really enjoyed this, I just wish it was longer. I’d love to read a full novel version of this short story. I think it was a bit too short for the romance to develop and I’d love to know more about the bees and the MC’s mother’s background.

Rep - Black (MC); POC (SC); Sapphic (MC/LI)

TWs/CWs - Alcohol; Blood; Misogyny; Physical Assault; Sexual Assault (forced kissing)

My Culture, My Gender, Me by Cassandra Jules Corrigan

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fast-paced

5.0

Children’s NonFiction that introduces the reader to a variety of different gender identities specific to countries/cultures/religions.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review:

A great introduction to learning some of the many different gender identities that exist. I loved the art style and I loved the diversity of genders. There were a lot of gender identities in here that I had never heard of so it’d be nice to do my own further research on each.

The author is genderqueer herself and has put a lot of research into the book and I do appreciate him being very transparent about their being a White American. I think the only way to make this book better would have been to include interviews by real-life people who identify with the genders mentioned in this book.

Overall, I think they did a good a job and I look forward to checking out some of his other works.

Rep - Aboriginal; African; Baklâ; Bissu; Black; Brotherboy; Bugis; ‘dan daudu; Disabled (A); Femminello; Filipino; Hausa; Hijra; Igbo Nigerian; Indigenous (Nêhiyaw - Moosomin First Nation Canada; Māhū - Hawai’i); Japanese; Jewish; Muxe; Myanma; Plus Size; POC; Polynesian; She/He/They (A); Sistergirl; South East Asian; Trans; Transfem; Two Spirit; X-gender

Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 1 by Takeshi Obata, Tetsuichiro Miyaki, Tsugumi Ohba

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A straight A student finds a notebook droppen by a Shinigami death god and uses it to become an anti-hero.

This was really fun, I love Ryuk’s character design and I love how chaotic he is. I think this is a pretty cool introduction to the series and I can’t wait to read more

Rep - Japanese (A/MC); Japanese American (SC)

TWs/CWs - Blood; Child Harm; Death; Gun Violence; Misogyny; Murder; Sexual Harassment; Suicide (mentioned); Traffic Accident

Content Warnings

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

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challenging emotional medium-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

5.0

In this novel, we see Darius struggle socially, internally and also within his family unit. Darius is bullied at school by racist peers and just general assholes and when he reaches out to his father for help, he portrays textbook toxic masculinity and blames Darius for the bullying. He’s the perfect example of being your child’s first bully.

Due to the illness of a loved one, Darius’ family goes to Iran for a trip. During this, we see many culture differences and Darius’ struggle with not feeling “Iranian enough”. He forms a friendship while there that is just wonderful for him and really helps him build confidence and connection and who helps him feel like he belongs. I really think this friendship with Sohrab truly healed some parts of Darius that he was really struggling with. It was truly a beautiful depiction of friendship. I was so sad when Darius had to go back home.

I really felt for Darius when he was struggling with wanting to be more involved in his family on his Iranian side but not knowing how to communicate. I have family struggles myself so it’s safe to say I cried throughout the majority of this book. Darius and his dad have a really great conversation where his dad apologises and explains why he acts the way he does and that one conversation was so healing in their relationship.

I think this book does a great job of portraying familial relationships in such a real and honest way and it really resonated with me. This is definitely one of my favourite books of all time and I can’t wait to read the sequel. Also, I loved the afterword and I really appreciated the inclusion of helplines at the end of the book.

Representation - Bahá’í (SC); Depression (MC); Fat (MC); Iranian/Persian-American (MC); Muslim (BGC); POC (MC)

TWs/CWs - Blood; Bullying; Death; Death of a Parent; Fatphobia; Homophobia; Institutionalised Racism; Islamophobia; Medical Detail; Racism; Stool; Suicide; Suicide Attempt; Suicide Ideation; Terminal Illness; Toxic Masculinity

Content Warnings

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

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medium-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

4.0

Like the first book Darius is still going through a lot. Darius has to deal with a lot of complicated teenager feelings while also worrying about his family’s financial position, grieving his grandfather, maintining a long distance friendship, still dealing with bullies, and dealing with a boyfriend who wants more from him.

I love Darius as a character so much and i could easily read 10 more books about him. Khorram gives such a real presentation of teenage depression and regular teenage life. I really enjoyed the narration too! I literally don’t have a single bad thing to say about either of these books. I also really appreciated the inclusion of crisis lines at the end of the book.

Representation - Asthma (MC); Bahá’í (SC); Bisexual (LI); Black (BGCs); Depression (MC/A); Fat (MC); Gay (MC); Iranian (SC); Iranian American (BGC); Iranian/Persian American (MC); Korean American (BGC); Muslim (BGC); POC (SC); Queer (SC); They/Them (BGC); Trans MTF (SC); Sapphic (SCs)

TWs/CWs - Bullying; Death of a Loved One; Discrimination; Fatphobia; Homophobia; Islamophobia; Mental Illness; Racism; Weight Talk

Content Warnings

Babylove by I.S. Belle

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

BabyLove is a dark sapphic horror novella set in the same universe as Zombabe.

Introduced as a prequel to Zombabe but can be read as a separate series imo. I read this before reading Zombabe and it is the first novella in, I believe, a 3 novella series that is set in the same universe as Zombabe.

*SPOILER REVIEW*

Firstly, I appreciate the author including content warnings at the start, I did add a few more of my own so pls check those out at the end of my review. I loved the inclusion of the Christina Rossetti Goblin Market quote - that’s my fave poem (yes it’s because of doctor who).

Spooky sapphics raising the dead? Yes please! I loved this so much and even though I read it without knowing it was connected to Zombabe, I didn’t feel like I was missing out on any context. I related massively with the main character, and I sympathised with her a lot. She’s an awkwardly shy goth kid who’s an outcast and a closeted lesbian. Her relationship with her sister really upset me because it’s the exact same relationship I had with my sister when I was Frankie’s age.

I know most people aren’t going to understand their relationship and will just label April a horrible person and will be confused when her personality does a 180 at the end but I completely get it. They’re both struggling with their home life and they take it out on each other cos they’re too terrified of their parents but at the end of the day they will be the most comforting person for each other. (I genuinely cried at the end when Frankie crawled into April’s bed bc I used to do that too)

I’m usually not a fan of the grumpy x sunshine trope but I quite liked Ivy and Frankie’s duality. What I mean is that to everyone else Ivy is very much the sunshine character but to Frankie, she feels safe enough to show her sadness and her struggles. And the same with Frankie, to everyone else she seems like a moody aggressive teenager but when she’s with Ivy she feels safe enough to show her warmer side.

I think the author did a good job of world building and giving a short history of the town even though this was a novella and I thought the plot was done pretty well since they had a clear plot point, like a clear goal to achieve.

While I did really enjoy most aspects of this, I did hate how complacent Ivy was in her boyfriend ruthlessly bullying Frankie. I don’t care that she was afraid of losing her status, she should have made more of an effort to protect Frankie.

You can definitely tell this is part of a series, and I am glad there will be more novellas because there’s so much more I’d like to see the author explore. Like I want to know more about who or what that creepy figure is, I’d like to see Frankie and April healing their relationship, and I’d like to see an actual apology from Ivy for allowing the bullying to continue.

Tropes - Grumpy x Sunshine; Small town

Representation - Bisexual (LI); Fat (BGC); Lesbian (MC)

TWs/CWs - Animal Death; Blood; Bullying; Child Death; Child Harm; Cussing; Death; Death of a loved one (past); Drug Use (weed); Fatphobia (reference to); Gore; Gun Violence; Smoking; Swearing; Vomit

Content Warnings

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bladelikesbooks's reviews 201 reviews

bladelikesbooks's reviews
201 reviews