queer_bookwyrm's reviews
512 reviews

3.5 ⭐ CW: racism, racial slurs 

Lost Atusville: A Black Settlement from the American Revolution by Marcus A. LiBrizzi is a short local history book about a Black settlement in Machias, Maine (where I live!). Atusville was a place I had heard a little bit about since going to school at the University of Maine at Machias, where I met the author who was one of my English professors. 

It was really fascinating to learn more about the town's history in general, some of which I knew already. Machiasport is the site of the first naval battle of the American Revolution. Citizens of Machias captured and took over a British ship called the Margaretta. We even have a festival in June commemorating that moment, but little is said about Atusville and the Black men that participated in the battle. This book sets out to tell about London Atus, the former slave whom the settlement is named for. 

Understandably, there is little left over from that time about the individuals who lived in Atusville, much of that due to racism. Unfortunately, that has resulted in vague details about the very people this book claims to be about. It's almost as if they are side characters in their own stories. I also felt that the author's tone when discussing slavery was a bit too casual and lacked the sensitivity it should have had when discussing enslaved people. Instead, it inspired the tone of "yeah they were slaves, but it wasn't that bad." I've also witnessed this casual ignorance in American Lit classes with this professor as well, and called him out for when we read Uncle Tom's Cabin. 

I think this is an okay book if you are just looking to learn a little bit more about local Machias history, but it isn't quite deep enough to feel satisfactory to me. 

4 ⭐ CW: violence, death, slavery mention, racism 

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken is book one in the Passenger duology. This was a duology I picked up at my library's used book sale last summer, and went into it knowing nothing. It's a YA fantasy about time travel, and as you can imagine, it gets pretty wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey (iykyk). Although, it was slower paced than I would have liked, I did enjoy the story. 

We follow Etta, a violinist in NYC who finds herself suddenly thrust back in time to 1776, where she learns that her mother is more than she let on, and she has the ability to travel through "passages" to other times. She is thrust into a timey-wimey plot by the Ironwoods where she must decode her mother's clues to find an object the Ironwood patriarch wants within 8 days. Etta travels with sailor/pirate Nicholas Carter, another traveler who is trying to gain his freedom from the hold of the Ironwoods. His task is to keep Etta from absconding with the object and betray her, but falls for her instead. 

I did not love all the info dumping we get throughout the book. There is so much information given through dialogue that I felt didn't really need to be spelled out to the reader so much. I did like that we see Etta struggle with her own privilege when she is thrust back in time. She is a white woman from the modern era, and has to figure out the ways things work for women in past eras, and also has to be reminded that black people did not have the same rights and had to worry about different things. Nicholas deals with a lot of racism, and Etta is constantly feeling outraged on his behalf, but I felt like it was glossed over a bit. 

I love the idea of the passages to different eras and the scavenger hunt like clues they have to follow. I love a good time paradox. I think the main theme is self-determination, being able to make choices about your own future and the freedom to choose. I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to book two! 

4 ⭐ CW: bullying, death

"From the ground, we stand. From our ships, we live. By the stars, we hope." 

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers is book three in the Wayfarers series. I really enjoyed this cozy scifi story, although it didn't hit me as hard as the previous two books did. I'm really enjoying that there is very little plot to speak of. These are self-contained stories that build on the world-building established in book one. 

This story focuses on the human Exodan Fleet. We follow five characters: Kip, a teen who is struggling with what he wants in life and wants to leave the Fleet; Isobel, an older lesbian Archivist who is hosting a Harmagian guest researching the Exodans; Eyas, a Caretaker of the dead for the fleet who feels like something is missing; Sawyer, a young man from a Harmagian planet that has never set foot in the fleet before, but wants to try something new; and Tessa, Ashby's sister who is also looking for something better for her family. 

It was so great to finally explore Exodan culture! We get to see the way the homesteaders are run, the importance of cooperation, sharing, and letting nothing go to waste. We even get a little bit of their history in the form of articles from Isobel's guest. I love that we got to learn about the fleet's funereal rites of composting their dead. We even see how sex work has been an expected and respected profession. We see a slice of life from each of these five characters. 

The themes were about human identity, community, and change. Sawyer wanted to feel connected to his ancestors and accepted into the fleet despite his ignorance of the culture. Tessa wanted her daughter to feel safe while also struggling with the thought of leaving the fleet behind. Kip learned he needed perspective in order to appreciate what was right in front of him, and the importance of remembering and preserving your history. 

I'm curious and excited to see what the next story brings us!

5 ⭐ CW: (provided by the author) grief/loss, death, war, gore, cussing, sexual content

In the Midst of Omens by Nicole Bailey is book one in the Legend of Gilgamesh duology. Another mythology retelling banger from Nicole! As usual, her characters are wonderful and compelling, and you can't help but love them and root for them, even when you already know what will happen based on the original story. Nicole weaves a new story from the oldest written story in history and makes it as gay as it was meant to be! It was a trip seeing my name in the acknowledgements of this book. I have been a staunch Nicole Bailey hype person since connecting with her on Instagram. You won't regret reading her books. 

We follow Gilgamesh, King of Uruk and blessed with god-blood. He is ruthless, selfish, and arrogant. He is known for taking many wives and pulling other kings off their thrones and shaming them in front of their people. Gilgamesh is constantly looking to the future, trying to craft a legacy that will outlive him, making him unable to live and enjoy the moment. When the gods create gods blessed wild man, Enkidu, Gilgamesh finds himself contending with something new and not so easy to defeat. 

I loved Enkidu right away! I loved an unconventional cinnamon roll. Enkidu is so innocent and pure, and exists to humble Gilgamesh and bring him down a peg. He's kind of like a muscular manic pixie dream girl lol. Gilgamesh is a little hard to stomach at first until Enkidu shows up and starts sanding away those edges. I do love the way Nicole has depicted Gilgamesh; he's both generous and selfish, loving and fierce. I also loved Shamhat as Gilgamesh 's Queen. She was so strong, and wasn't afraid to stand up to her husband. She had so much agency. 

Though this was based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, this was a love story through and through. It was beautiful seeing two very masculine figures learn to be vulnerable with each other and learn how to love. It was very sweet, and also quite spicy 🥵. Not only is this an MM romance, but we also see polyamory between Gilgamesh, Shamhat and her partners, including a FF relationship. Nicole has also found a way to include nonbinary characters as priests of Inanna. Of course, Nicole can't just let us be happy at the end, so I'm very much looking forward to book two to see how it all ends. 

4 ⭐ CW: violence, death, blood, child abuse mention 

Queens of Fennbirn by Kendare Blake is a companion prequel novella from the Three Dark Crowns series containing two short stories: The Young Queens and The Oracle Queen. Possible spoilers for the series ahead. 

The first story, The Young Queens follows Mirabella, Arsinoe, and Katherine before the time of Three Dark Crowns. We see them as children at the Black Cottage and with their foster families. We get to see why Queen Camille made the decision to hide Arsinoe and Katherine's true gifts. We also get to see more of Jules and how she grew and claimed Camden, her familiar. Although this was a nice little bit of extra, I don't think this prequel adds any value or anything new to the existing series. 

The second story, The Oracle Queen, was much more interesting, and makes me wish we got all the stories of the previous queens. We follow Queen Elsabet, the last Oracle Queen. In the series we hear about how she had visions of treachery and sentenced three whole houses to death without evidence, and was locked away in a tower for the rest of her reign because of it. We finally get to see what actually happened. This story was full of political machinations and treachery, but the kind the queen was accused of. It was a very sad story. We also see that the Poisoner Arrons have always been ruthless, political monsters. 

4 ⭐ CW: violence, death, animal death, blood, racism, racial slurs 

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland is a historical fantasy based on the Great Depression/Dust Bowl era. Just like her Dread Nation duology, Ireland has killed it (pun intended)! I'm loving the historical revisionism with a fantasy/horror element. Like her previous duology, this book tackles institutional racism, but also confronts the very real fact that some black folks also help to uphold these structures. 

We follow Laura, a lesbian mage who just wants her mage license so she can become a great baker, raveling wonderful and tasty treats for important people. In order to do this she has to apprentice under a licensed mage, and joins the Bureau of the Arcane's Conservation Corps, Black Auxiliary. This government group of mages are treated like an expendable clean up crew, since black folks practicing the mystic arts are considered to be less important than Mechomancy, the type of magic white people wield to power mechanical constructs. 

Joining the Auxiliary turns out to be more than Laura bargained for when she and a group of mages are sent to Ohio to fix the Ohio Deep Blight, an area the Great Rust has made difficult to live in and difficult to ravel in. What they find is that Ohio is no ordinary Blight, and that something they thought had disappeared in history is back and killing black mages for power. 

I loved Laura's character. She's snarky and smart, and hopelessly attracted to pretty ladies. She turns out to be way more powerful than she knew she could be. The magic system is very cool. It's based on African root working, and has different disciplines for working the Dynamism: Cerebromancy, Faunomancy, Floramancy, Illusion, Pavomancy, Petramancy, Sanamancy, Figuramancy, Necromancy, and Wytchcraft (the use of all the disciplines together). In this story, the Klan used Necromancy to control, kill, and exploit enslaved Africans. 

I love having more historical fiction following Black people that isn't about slavery. We also get a couple of gay male side characters, but romance is not really part of the plot. I kind of wish we had a second book to follow up with Laura after everything happened. I don't want to spoil things, so just go read this book! 

4 ⭐ CW: (provided by the author) sexual assault/child sexual abuse mention, (provided by me) animal abuse mention, PTSD 

Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore is the fifth and final book in the Graceling Realm series. I have loved spending time in this world with these characters. This one was a little slower than some of the previous books, but it still gives you so much. 

We follow Hava's point of view after the events of the previous book. She and a group with Queen Bitterblue are sailing back to Monsea from Winterkeep, but are caught in a winter storm and pushed off course to the far north. Things get dire when they are in a shipwreck and forced to survive on the Arctic ocean and on the ice, with only their feet and wits to carry them to civilization. 

Hava finds out that one of the crew has smuggled a pregnant blue fox aboard and drugged her. Have saves her and becomes the caregiver of a bunch of sentient blue foxes. I love that we got to see more blue foxes in this book. I desperately want one as a companion. A good chunk of this book is about survival. The last third of the book is mostly Hava trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs, and dealing with her anger, pain, and trauma. 

Cashore does an excellent job of depicting the complexities of trauma and grief throughout this series, while also showing the potential for healing. I'm so glad we got to learn more about Hava and her Grace of making a person see her as what she projects herself to be (a sculpture, a curtain, a bundle of rope, trees). I read Hava as being ace-spec and maybe neurodivergent. It's bittersweet seeing this story end. I could go on reading about this world, following different characters forever. 

5 ⭐ CW: swearing 

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers is book two in the Wayfarer series. I cannot express how much I am loving this series! This is the best cosy scifi I've ever read. Becky Chambers has a hold on my soul. 

We get two timelines in this book: one taking place after the events of book one following the sentient AI Sidra, and one that takes place twenty years before following Pepper's story. I was kind of sad at first that we wouldn't be continuing to follow the crew of the Wayfarer, but I absolutely love what Chambers did with this story. She is a genius at writing character centric stories. 

We get to see a lot more of Port Coriol and learn a bit more about Aeluons. I love that we get Pepper's backstory, and get her as a more well rounded character, as well as learning more about her partner Blue. We are also following Sidra, an AI that has been illegally downloaded into a body kit. In the GC, AI aren't considered people, so this has to be kept secret. Sidra finds being in a body a difficult transition with a lot of barriers. A lot of this story is about Sidra figuring out how to be a person which is also mirrored by Pepper's experiences as a sheltered Jane on a fringe planet. 

Sidra reminds me of a more emotional Data from Star Trek TNG. The way she learns and her curiosity and wanting to understand herself and become more. Pepper's story is also one of resilience. An overarching theme of the book is about who gets rights. Just because someone is made instead of born, doesn't mean they aren't a person. I loved learning about the AI that raised Pepper. It was such a good story with a sweet ending. 

So looking forward to book three! 

4 ⭐ CW: Violence, death, death of a parent, blood 

This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab is book one in the Monsters of Verity duology. Although I did enjoy this dark urban YA fantasy, I don't think it is my favorite of Schwab's work. Maybe because it's YA it lacked a certain resonance that her other stories have had, but it didn't make it a bad story. 

We follow August Flynn, a monster that wishes he were human. He's a Sunai, a monster born from a massacre that eats the souls of humans who have killed. But he hates that to keep control over who he is, he must kill. We also follow Kate Harker, the daughter of Callum Harker who rules over North City in Verity. She's full of anger, and wants to be ruthless to prove herself to her cruel father. 

When the Flynns send August to a school in North City to keep tabs on Kate to use her as leverage against Harker, they both become embroiled in a conspiracy to end the truce between North and South Cities, putting them in danger from the Malchai and Corsai monsters. Along the way, they forge a friendship, helping to keep each other alive. 

I really liked the way the world-building of the monsters was set up in this. Each type of monster has its own origin and abilities, and the way they are created tends to reflect their personalities as well. I also really liked how music was used in the story. Usually, music is peaceful or healing, but in this it's used to kill. To me it seemed the theme is that life is pain, the best you can do is live it one day at a time. I appreciated that this wasn't a love story between August and Kate. It was a platonic story about survival and what you can live with. 

Looking forward to book two! 

4 ⭐ CW: violence, death, suicide, incest, child sexual abuse mention, torture, enslavement, sexual content 

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin is book one in the Inheritance trilogy. This book is hard to describe. It's a secondary world adult fantasy that is very complicated. As with all Jemisin's works, I'm left feeling like I'm not smart enough to read it, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. 

We follow Yeine, who is telling the story by recalling it as if in a memory, but it doesn't become clear to whom until much later. She has been summoned to Sky (the palace) by her grandfather to become one of the heirs alongside her twin cousins Scimina and Relad. Sky is a dangerous place for someone unused to the ways of the Arameri, between treacherous relatives and the enslaved gods who live there. Yeine is pulled into a political and godly battle where she is a pawn for both. 

This book was so involved. Jemisin does an excellent job of building cultures. I loved the creation story she weaves with the Three: Itempas (day), Enefa (dawn and dusk), and Nahadoth (night). I don't know how else to describe what is happening in this story than to just say it is complex. Similar to her Broken Earth Trilogy, you don't really know what is going on until you're most of the way through the book, but I couldn't put it down. Her writing is so beautiful that you are transported 

This is a story about free will, freedom, forgiveness, and agency. It also sets up a redemption arc for one of the characters. I really liked Yeine as a character. I loved that she isn't just one thing (iykyk). She is angry and fearful, loving and ruthless. Her relationship with Nahadoth is also complex and compelling. Sieh definitely stole the show for me though. A god who embodies childhood, and he's just so sweet. Like Yeine, I couldn't help but love him. 

If this review confuses you, you'll just have to read the book and be even more confused 😂. I'm looking forward to book two l, since it will have a lot more world-building and focus on different characters.