gossamer_lens's reviews
1383 reviews

Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

I have no notes. I find a lot of time in trilogies that the 2nd book is an awkward hold over or dress setting practice for the 3rd book. That was not the case here. There were arches, things were moving, new questions arose and some were answered from the 1st book. I desperately need to get to the 3rd book ASAP!
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VAMPIRE Girlfriends by potchimew

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Just an ooey gooey wonderful slice of life of two vampire girlfriends. If that sounds like something you would like... then you definitely will like this! There isn't much more too it. 

My rating is only brought down by it not handling "vampires live for a long time" in any complex ways and some of the latter moments being more spinning off/selling a new series the creator made. But overall it is just fun and exactly what the cover would make you think it is. 
Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I find it hard to describe what I dislike about this book. Which is a rarity. I find the themes handled compelling, I find it being the birth place of science fiction amazing and wonderful. The characters have a sense of depth that is quite good and moves one to emotion while reading. Overall, I guess my issue is that while it tackles such interesting things, being the first of its kind means there are so many who have handled the same things since and done it in more interesting, compelling, and poignant ways. But with that being said, this book cannot be discredited for being a start to something amazing and for how well it handles itself considering. 
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In a Grove by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

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emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A very interesting short story utilizing multiple point of view in a very unreliable and interesting way. It leaves one wholly unsatisfied with the conclusion, but in the best way possible and clearly highlights how complicated the telling of certain events can be.  
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Blood Is Another Word for Hunger by Rivers Solomon

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The way Rivers Solomon captures emotion and so darkly and interestingly portrays human pain and writes gore/horror is so good. I think I will never get tired of reading their work. I'm glad I went out of my way to find this. 
A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison by Paul Jennings

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informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

The narrative of Jennings was informative and full of emotion. The ending where a short few paragraphs of historical context was provided was gut punching. The way slavery worked is just so twisted, brutal, and such a twisting of the natural spirit of man and truth. The book is short enough, it can speak for yourself. Everyone should read narratives from actual peoples lives like this. I would recommend this particular edition so you get that punch of historical context as well. 
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Gourmet's Journey by Time Princess

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted 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? No

4.0

Very cute, fun, and emotional. I loved the emotional ties between characters and it helped carry the book during some weaker parts of the plot. One of the plot twists was super obvious to me which maybe detracted from the plot a little bit. But it was a fun read with some great emotional throughlines. 
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Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renée Watson

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emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.75

A solid and emotional piece of work. Reading this as an audiobook, I feel like I lost a little bit of my ability to sit with the words. So I probably would like this better as a physical read. But the author's performance of her own writing was beautiful to hear and I wouldn't have  found this if my library hadn't had an audiobook available immediately to borrow of this. 

Definitely recommend to anyone dipping their toes into poetry. It is par sable and emotional and has a nice narrative flow to it. 
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I really really enjoyed this book. I would give it a 5 star if there weren't some very reductive views/ideas taken as fact in this book about women's bodies. There is a sort of bio essentialism and fear of women's love that is odd and frustrating at times. 

That said, the world and vibes were perfect for me. I found it distinctly unsettling and intriguing in a most perfect way. I wanted to know at every point where things were going and I found a lot of the reflection on things to be starkly interesting, strange, and thoughtful. 

Basically if this author hadn't been scared of embracing the gay and not perpetuating hymen myths... I would have loved it with complete abandon. Even with that, I will probably wish to revisit this at some point. Or I'll wish to revisit Piranesi... we shall see. 
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really wanted to like this more then I did. The plot was there, the characters were there... but the way Jemisin writes just doesn't quite work for me. Her writing style is very dry, almost textbookish. But I absolutely love the creativity that her work has. It just is funny how so many moments feel like they should be emotional to me... but it just reads like "and then this happened" instead of jumping off the page for me. 

I wonder if in part the issue is the narrator's delivery combined with her writing style, as I have read a short story of hers previously and found it a little more digestible and enjoyable. So I am going to try to read the 2nd book as an ebook instead of an audiobook. 

But overall once I hit 50% of the way through, I had to know what was going on with this world and put the 2nd book on my TBR. So I'm excited to keep going and would definitely say I enjoyed this even if something about the whole things felt a little off vibe wise. 
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