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loischanel's reviews
312 reviews
Chaos & Flame by Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
3.0
The world-building is very rushed at the beginning as it sets the foundation for the rest of the main story and then the pacing slows dramatically, making some parts feel overly drawn out and other parts laborious to read. However, I liked the mythical, folkloric and magical feel of the fantasy and the development of the enemies to lovers romance, and it has this cryptic sense of appeal that, while frustrating in its vagueness, intrigued me enough to want to keep reading and engages my curiosity enough to make me want to read the next book in the series, given that things with a tense and puzzling cliffhanger.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Child abuse and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Orbital is a short, plotless read about the beautiful fragility of our planet Earth in the unfathomable grandeur of space. Covering the period of just a day, it is deeply ruminative of human thought and perception, as it paints the lives of the four astronauts and two cosmonauts, endlessly orbiting earth in their space module, and the ceaseless desire of man, of exploration and conquest, that made such ventures possible.
This book is written with a wistful and melancholy romanticism. The wordplay sometimes felt unhinged in its attempt at capturing the Earth's magnificence and the emotions of the crew, but I altogether loved the slow and considered feel of the writing.
This book is written with a wistful and melancholy romanticism. The wordplay sometimes felt unhinged in its attempt at capturing the Earth's magnificence and the emotions of the crew, but I altogether loved the slow and considered feel of the writing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This rustic fantasy horror is both creepy and cozy. It combines cottagecore elements with ghostly mystery and depictions of gore. The horror was graphic and unsettling but not enough to scare me. I loved the diversity of the characterisation, though the LoW reveal was anti-climatic, as I was hoping for something a bit more fearsome. Also noteworthy is the book's exploration of abuse of power, especially in a religious context, and the ways in which this denies people choice. The biggest letdown for me was all the anti-blackness of the writing. It conflicted with the progressiveness of the narrative and the book's diversity where it is hinted at that a couple of the characters could be black.
That aside, this sinister yet hopeful story felt like a fitting autumnal read.
That aside, this sinister yet hopeful story felt like a fitting autumnal read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit
The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
Gritty and full of suspense, The Girls I've Been is a punchy, fast-paced thriller, written in an urgent, sometimes non-linear, way that continually draws you in. The open ending made the book's core theme of survival really resonate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Cute, fun, doesn't take itself too seriously. Good book for getting you out of a reading slump if you like grumpy-meets-happy romances with an academia twist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual harassment
The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A morbidly dark young adult fantasy about the mysterious world of alchemy, set during an acient Chinese empire. Fan Zilan is a merchant girl from the poor South, who performs illegal resurrection alchemy, with the help of her cousins, so her family can afford to live. She has an unwavering desire to climb the ranks and become a royal alchemist, despite the bigoted hostility she faces because of her mixed heritage. But the more she pursues her dream, the more she discovers bone-chilling secrets about the royal court and herself.
Lee Baker's writing is graphically vivid and full of suspense as we read about Zilan constantly having to surmount the next obstacle that comes her way and deal with the many twists and turns that are thrown at her.
I believed in the close sibling-like yet fraught relationship between Zilan and her cousins, Wenshu and Yufei, who were both endearing characters to read about. And the shy romance that started to surface was an embracing relief from the relentless depictions of death and decay and rotting corpses, which became very stale the more I read.
I thought the ending was both strange in a way that didn't sit well with me, but also clever in it's unexpectedness. However, it did diminish the feeling of high stakes that the novel would've otherwise had. Overall, I liked the intensity of the story and how well it sets up the next book in the duology.
Lee Baker's writing is graphically vivid and full of suspense as we read about Zilan constantly having to surmount the next obstacle that comes her way and deal with the many twists and turns that are thrown at her.
I believed in the close sibling-like yet fraught relationship between Zilan and her cousins, Wenshu and Yufei, who were both endearing characters to read about. And the shy romance that started to surface was an embracing relief from the relentless depictions of death and decay and rotting corpses, which became very stale the more I read.
I thought the ending was both strange in a way that didn't sit well with me, but also clever in it's unexpectedness. However, it did diminish the feeling of high stakes that the novel would've otherwise had. Overall, I liked the intensity of the story and how well it sets up the next book in the duology.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death and Child abuse
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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? N/A
4.0
The Deep is an imaginative, haunting and captivating piece of speculative fiction that imagines an aquatic life, deep beneath the ocean for the progeny of drowned Black women slaves, during the transatlantic slave trade.
Diamond Hill by Kit Fan
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Set during the 80s, a disgraced man flees British-occupied Hong Kong for the streets of Bangkok, where he falls into a life of addiction, until he is taken in by a monk called Daishi in the temple of Wat Arun. Several years later, the man known as Buddha returns to Hong Kong, sent back by Daishi to make peace with his past. Residing in a nunnery in Diamond Hill, a shanty town that was once 'the Hollywood of the Orient', Buddha's life becomes entangled with that of four troubled women.
Written with both beautiful and uncomfortable prose, Diamond Hill is a stark depiction of loss and hope in a slowly dying world.
Written with both beautiful and uncomfortable prose, Diamond Hill is a stark depiction of loss and hope in a slowly dying world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Sexism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Body shaming and Racism
uses some politically insensitive language at times like 'f*g'.
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
challenging
dark
sad
medium-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
3.5
I am sufficiently shocked and horrified from reading this book and I don't think I'll ever recover from that ending. A deeply disturbing, dystopian horror.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Rape, and Death of parent
Warning: this book also contains themes of human experimentation
I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I Feed Her to The Beast is a sinister, villainous story about a girl who is willing to sacrifice anything to succeed in the punishing world of ballet. I liked how the flawed, dark energy of Laure, the protagonist, was applied against the book's cutthroat yet opulent environment. The more unforgiving and discriminatory the ballet institution treats her, the more Laure thirsts for the dark power of some enchanted blood-lake to make them all accept her as the best. I wasn't satisfied with the culmination of some story arcs, where it felt like the mystery was left unresolved, but overall this was a subversively alluring read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Gore, Racism, and Abandonment