Perry

Absurdity

The synopsis I read of this book made it sound magical Aaaaaand interesting.

But it's actually just another bad thriller relying on nonsensical plot twists, the nonsense of false memories, and two women fighting over one possessive jerk. It's not that the prose itself was bad. It's that the characters were ridiculous, the plot was convolutedly and horrendously bad, and none of this would ever happen. I'm flummoxed that an editor didn't call out the complete nonsense of everything in this book.

Oh, well. At least I wasn't too bored?

Ah, Alana is still a disasterpants, but I missed her. Still dealing frankly with sexual situations. And...there was one bit that was almost too much for me. ;_; One panel. When you read it, you'll know. sobs

It's amusing enough, and the art works well enough. But after Chew and Outer Darkness, Saffron's tale is merely fine. After Rob Guillory and his lovely Easter eggs and Afu Chan's delightful style, this just isn't quite as good.

3.5 stars.

The final issue of Satya's (perhaps) first arc. She figures out all her mysteries in this one. The main thing is that there really wasn't a good red herring to distract from the ultimate villain after the last volume. It all happens incredibly fast. And we don't get much resolution for her relationship with the dumb cops who will actually back her up because they saw what really went down last volume. But, like, cops?

Most of my issue with this was some of the pacing. But on the whole, it was good fun. I want a bit more of the world, though.

Ahhhh, I need more!

I enjoyed this. The art is bright and busy and fun, although the full-spread splash illustrations are interrupted by the binding of the hardcover, which is unfortunate. The story is mostly narration and exposition, and therefore weakened. We need to be shown, so to speak, more than have the fourth wall broken on every page.

That being said.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and loved the found family. I'm a sucker for found family. The characters are precious babies, and I adored them. I loved the diversity and calling out white feminism. I loved the politics, even though it was handled in a heavy-handed way. I'll forgive that if it's positive and fun. Which this was.

I'm hoping to read more from Ms Clarke, whom I adore, and Ms Bennett.

Another bit of catnip for me. Judeo-Christian mythology, with a story centered on the Nephilim, as described in the Book of Enoch, and a war in Heaven. Noice.

Fun. Cute art. A delightful trifle for the holidays.

Great art. And isolated winter horror is my catnip, so, of course, I was into this. Spurrier is good, real good.

A bit choppy, but I think there's some real potential for good fun and lovely art. I'm a sucker for winter horror and anything with mythology from anywhere.

I enjoyed The Return quite a bit when I read it, but this is even better, more lighthearted. I mean, there is an adorable spider in this!

Annie is dumped by her boyfriend and moves to a small upstate NY town called Rowan. Rowan has a secret: It has a resident witch–Sophie. People fear her, hate her, honor her, and avoid her. She latches onto Annie. Their relationship is dysfunctional, but, as Annie figures her shit out more, things even out more.

Yes, I fully acknowledge that Sophie's relationship with the town is fraught. It's toxic. And Annie's relationship basically becomes that. But it's interesting that it's mostly the men who take the worst offense at their witchiness. I don't think this book necessarily glorifies that toxicity of these relationships. It's blatant for everyone to see. But Annie had to choose between someone she came to love and the town itself. And she chooses that for which she cares most. Women aren't perfect, but I still understand Sophie's bitterness. Everyone fears her, even when she isn't harming them. This book understands the fear certain women provoke in others, just for being themselves, and it doesn't shine it up to make it look pretty by making them kind.

Also, it's cathartic seeing a raging a-hole get scared.

In the end, it is about women helping each other. Because Annie helped Sophie just as much.

Also, Ralph. Just. Ugh, spiders! SO CUTE!

What a relief to have this back. I maybe liked this even more than the first arc? Though maybe it's because I could read it straight through. Some nice AI horror in there too, and delightful art.

I wanted a bit more from this. That being said, I realize it's a novella. It goes down very easy. It's a fun piece of weird fiction. The cover is gorgeous; like, my favorite cover of the year, basically. I want this artprint.

Anyway. Looking at the criticism of this book, I get it, but I'm fine with how things are. How many litfic books are about friends who all actually hate each other? I feel like it's a common trope. But this one, we get hints of the background, which makes me want to know more. We get just enough to know why things are strained. And we don't get any direct explanation of the Japanese terms in the book. Which I don't mind at all. I can look it up. And I did look up the term ohaguro-bettari; as I had inferred, it basically means, “Nothing but blackened teeth.” Anyone who watches subtitles can figure stuff out on their own.

Now, as for the writing. Wow. I mean, gods. There were some sentences that were so lovely that I could have cried.

I'm looking forward to the other novella of Khaw's I have now. Honestly, I want more from the Blackened Teeth world. I want to know what adventures they had.

So, toward the end, with less than 40 pages to go, I got stuck in one chapter for about a week and a half. Because every time I tried to read this chapter, I would fall asleep. Part of it was being tired. But part of it was sheer boredom.

This was my least favorite. I didn't buy any of the relationships. Simon is blandly nice and good. Supposedly. I thought he was milquetoast and stupid.

Sadly, the author is definitely a one-trick pony. She is obviously intelligent. But I don't understand the ruminations on religion. Maybe that's because I come from a religious background (though Protestant), and I find the things Alice and Eileen think about religion to be naive, if not completely incorrect. And I don't understand why Alice and Felix are together, because they have zero chemistry; he's also a butthead. That being said, he's also the first character whom I feel like isn't merely performing his bisexuality. I believe, a little, that he is bi; I've never believed it of the other characters in her novels. I still don't believe any of them are Marxist; they all just say they are.

The quarter-life crises of the characters doesn't feel quite fleshed-out enough. I remember my friends all having quarter-life crises. There were similar worries, but less pretention.

I'm also very over heteronormativity of the characters, even the ones who aren't heteronormative. I don't know anyone personally at this point who performs gender so normatively as Eileen, Marianne, or Frances. Once again, a female character wants to be abused by a man. And once again, the characters can't communicate. Like, at all. Ever. Simon can't just come out and tell Eileen how he feels? But he can have sex with her over and over again? He's an idiot.

It's the same story, just with different details. And the style was killing me. I...I just can't. And this is purely subjective. But the lack of quotation marks. The need for more paragraphs. The run-ons. It doesn't feel experimental; it feels lazy.

That being said, I feel like this is maybe the most honest of the three books. Mostly because of the emails between the supposed besties. Who also can't communicate very well in person. I get that; that part makes sense. But the lack of chemistry when they finally meet does not.

Reading this, I know everyone thinks Alice is Rooney's avatar. But so is Eileen.

I'm sorry for the negative reviews, but her novels elude me. I don't relate. I don't see myself or my friends, most of whom are actually smack-dab in the midst of the Millennial generation. Rooney is obviously intelligent, but I'm confused by the naivete of her supposedly worldly characters, the stupidity of her male characters, and how no one can communicate properly. Maybe it's all just too cis/white/thin/privileged/heteronormative for me–because the characters are, despite their proclamations otherwise.

Finished this a few days ago. Had to get out the ebook because I sat on the hardcopy too long and had to return it when I was literally maybe 100 pages or less from the end. GAH!

And it was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed Pounce and Co. But I'm in the camp who doesn't understand why robots and humans must ALWAYS be at odds in fiction of any sort.

Anyway, I enjoyed the start of this novel. I felt like the beginning took its time introducing us to the world. But pretty quickly the excrement hits the air conditioning, and robots are committing mass genocide.

I really wanted to have more time with Isaactown history and the interrelations between robots themselves before we jumped into the fracas. But jumping in is what we got, the minute the conflict was introduced.

And there it all goes a bit too quickly and reads like a script. I didn't like all the choices–certain characters biting the dust, and when that happened, they ALL bit the dust–Cargill made sometimes, and the end needed some better pacing. I really wanted to have more time with the Mama Bears.

So it was fun, had potential, but it wasn't amazing. That being said, I'll read Sea of Rust here at some point soon.

So this was a quick read. I enjoyed the camping horror aspects. That being said, I was a bit perplexed how three people weren't trying to take this man down together. I suppose the moral of the story precludes what some people would actually do. I get Imogen being compliant. And I get that Gale was apparently strong, and he also had weapons. I don't necessarily believe he managed to kill a cop with just a knife. I think the cop would have killed him first. I mean, they aren't known for their subtlety.

No one really knows what they'd do in that situation. But most of it could have been avoided with better choices. Bad choices were consistently made. Choices I can't imagine anyone would actually make. Okay, yeah, you need your iodine tabs back. But don't walk into an unknown situation with a known thief who is obviously hiding from everyone. Mindboggling choices, especially from Beck, the supposed smart, knowledgeable one. Sometimes incredibly selfish choices, which I get. But part of me is just like, ‘I thought you loved each other?' Were it me and my wife (HAHA! camping is terrifying, and this novel is proof to this absolute fop), I would be ready to rip someone's throat out if they threatened her. And that's not me being macho, that's just me being a protective wife with a tendency toward berserker rage in a given situation.

The hero of the story, Imogen, is not quite gaslighted by her friend and sister; but neither woman really ever wants to consider that she's right about a situation. To their extreme detriment.

So, yeah, choices made, made no sense.

THAT being said. Because I do not liking camping, this was horror for me. Even before they ran into the villain, I was disturbed and horrified. Even though I grew up in the country on a mountain in a skiing town. I enjoy the details about camping, because I don't know them, since I don't like camping. This was a fun read, just not a great read.

Seriously, though, Beck is a dolt.

edit

After having my wife read this and discussing it last night when we should have been sleeping, I have dropped the rating down. Absolutely, there seems to be some toxic positivity going on here. And some mental health shaming, which perhaps the author didn't intend. But clearly, they all need therapy, and Imogen shouldn't throw away something that helps her cope, like her CBD. But the fact that she WASN'T already in therapy and on medication is ridiculous. She didn't seem to be broke; but even if she were, surely Pittsburgh has options that are either free or have a sliding scale for payment. And that ending. Woo, that ending. Lying to their significant others after a traumatic experience; not bothering to seek therapy afterwards; hoping that somehow, randomly, the poor dead hiker gets found (they're lucky he DID); being happy and healthy and besties again? No, nope, no way. Tilda is a trashfire; Beck is a self-righteous, know-it-all; Imogen, the smartest, honestly, feels empowered by killing a person–an asshole, to be sure–but really, she'd probably just be traumatized even more. I don't buy that ending. If they never spoke again, and the sisters had very strained relations–I'd believe that. If Jamal broke up with Tilda, and Afiya divorced Beck because neither dealt with the trauma, I'd believe that. But I don't buy that ending.

What struck me most about this was the prose. You can absolutely tell it's written by a poet. There are some absolutely gorgeous sentences here. A very good, beautifully written first novel. I will be keeping a lookout for more.

I enjoyed this book. I could have used more creepy Ghostdaddy scenes, but what I got was quite fun. I was surprised by the twist at the end, actually. Depressingly, no matter how much one tries to fix things, sometimes, one is just hosed.

I also liked all the bootlegging descriptions. But I'm the person who had a lady hardon for all the descriptions of ship stuff in The Terror, so don't mind me.

So, yes, Southern Gothic fun. Yes, I would classify this as horror. But Gothic isn't always terrifying. It's a mood, an aesthetic, a subgenre. And I really liked our hero.

This isn't a very informative review, but it's been a busy day.

Welp, that was #2 down; on to #3.

I liked this better than the first one. I didn't loathe everyone this time. I actually liked Lorraine quite a lot. But I feel like Marianne's family was more of an afterthought.

Lots of the same tricks as the first novel. Still no quotation marks, which is a thing, but it's not a thing I like at all. Aesthetically displeasing and needlessly confusing. Still the same sort of detached, passive sentences. But this time, at least we get a little more understanding of characters' beliefs, not just a character claiming to be such-and-such without providing proof, or by being the opposite. But most of the side characters, except Lorraine, seem merely functional, not really characters in their own right.

There's still the same dysfunction. Marianne and Connell don't communicate very well. I'm not sure I fully believed he loved her. Which just makes him a bit of a fool, but it's fine for the purposes of the novel. It should be more complicated than that, even though, realistically, they should just properly communicate.

And there is more women wanting to be abused. I'm not sure where the line is for Marianne, because she puts up with so much, and then decides she doesn't feel like it. She's abused by one boyfriend for ages, but in Sweden she abruptly (wisely) walks out on an artist who abuses her.

WHY is she in Sweden? It's literally like one chapter. She's just suddenly there, and then back in Dublin. But the locations are sometimes too fluid. Maybe it's just me, but a few times, I completely got lost and didn't realize where the characters were.

So this was fine. It was definitely more mature than the first novel. I wasn't as bored. But the appeal still eludes me. And I cannot help but be annoyed at the, perhaps unintentional, conflation of abuse and kink. That's two main characters in two novels who want men to beat them. It's a bit off-putting for me to read something smacking of kink, but it's not safe, sane, or truly consensual. It's never called kink, but one can't help but think...

And both Frances and Marianne completely give themselves over to a man. Yes, I'm a lesbian, so that isn't something I'm into. I get that. But...they're willing to trade their agency, especially Marianne. At the end of the novel, Connell has the opportunity to go to NYC for creative writing. And the last lines of the novel are basically Marianne telling him she'll always be there waiting for him.

And maybe because I've been reading a lot of LGBTQIA books and genre fiction (although, thrillers piss me off), and I've been spoiled by the representation of the books I pursue. But both of these are so...painfully...heteronormative. Like Frances is bi, but she seems so het it's painful. Anyway.

But as far as his relationship with Marianne, Connell is naive. This isn't love; it's codependency.

Well, on to book #3.

I really appreciated what this was going for. It didn't quite work, and it wasn't quite as smoothly written as I'd have liked. But it was the writer's first graphic novel, so they definitely have promise. It starts an important discussion. The art is largely charming. Especially the character of Holly, who has impeccable fashion, and Abayomi, who is stuffy and adorable.

Important, anger-inducing, heartbreaking. I want to read more about all of this.

My first Julie Murphy. Adorable good fun. I maybe needed a bit more from Henry, but I loved all the other characters and the friendships.

So, I'd forgotten I'd wanted to read this book, until I found it at the library (KCMO and KCK public libraries FTW). I was intrigued and excited, because I am five and still love talking animals. And this book fit the bill for fable nicely. But it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. I feel like the narrative was a bit uneven. A good chunk of the book is the council itself, and then we're thrown into a rushed quest tale to save humans. There are some strange, awkward choices made with animals that become analogues for real-life cultural appropriation/racism. I don't think the author meant to minimize problems, but he did just that (re: ‘pooch' being a slur for dogs). And the animals personalities made very little sense. If you're going to have sinister, human-like primates, obvs they should be CHIMPS, not baboons. Horses aren't as stupid as the horse in the book. Crows shouldn't be religious fanatics. They're actually incredibly intelligent, with the intelligence of, like, a child of five (I maintain they're smarter than that). The delusional lizard is bizarre. The animals just didn't quite work. Though I liked the bear and the cat. It all just doesn't quite work. Though I like the solution for the humans.

If I see either of the Sejic's names on anything, I'll read it. It's always charming art, lovely backgrounds, and a fun story with endearing characters.

Amusing enough, but not as good and fun, or funny, as ‘Bunny.' It's fine that the main character isn't very likeable. But the prose gets repetitive, a little too repetitive. A character has burnished hair one too many times. It's beyond fixation. I just feel like the story got away from Ms Awad a little bit this time. But I still enjoyed it.