An Vo

Decenter men from your lives, ladies. This book could have been about 150 pages shorter btw 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

One word I can use to describe this book would be “FUN”, but unfortunately, it kinda ends there. The premise is super intriguing: a ship and her companion medical bay learn to reach beyond their usual programming to save the group of ragtag passengers full of monsters that they grew to love. However, the main part of the plot only happens more than halfway through the book's length. The pacing was really doing this plot an even worse disservice, as it makes the storylines feel disjointed and fragmented. 

More importantly, the blurb was trying to sell me Dracula's murderous rampage in space—but the book only delivered about 50 pages of it, leaving me wanting so much more. I also wish there were more world-building for this future, where intergalactic travel is as accessible as economy class, or more to the actual relationship between Demeter-Steward and Agnes-Wilhelmina, instead of the underdeveloped romance plot we got.

I feel like this book is written (subconsciously) to be a TV show, as the storytelling just doesn't fit the book format very well. Though, still pick this up if you want to give cozy sci-fi a try! Maybe you'll love it better than I did.

This was decent, but a very simple and unchallenged take on feminism, or shall I say white feminism. I didn't hate but I didn't find it that engaging either. The random JFK  assassination being the turning point for Margaret is weird to say the least.

This one hurts. I wanted to love this book so much because the premise is great, the dynamics between some characters are quite fun to read, and the French gothic setting was done very well. However, I cannot stand the way this book treats EVERY single female character. Not a single female character was portrayed in a positive light. I also draw the line at Joan of Arc, in this setting, being actually possessed (which is what she was accused of in real life, which led to her demise). Also, I didn't like how the rebellion that led to the French Revolution was concluded to be due to demonic contaminated water in Gévaudan that turned the locals violent...  
Though I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of the audiobook narrators, they did an amazing job, and it was a delight to listen to them. Considering this is a debut, I hope Sullivan's later works take into account the issues with this one.

The audiobook edition of Ring Shout is absolutely amazing. The story follows a group of black women, championed by Maryse, hunting down the KKK in the 1920s, only to discover that some of them aren't even human. It turns out their immense hatred has created a gateway to transform them into something otherworldly and insidious. 

This book discusses racism, oppression, but also hate, and the cycle of hate. I had moments when I caught myself thinking, “Is this somehow an excuse for one of the worst crimes against humanity?” I don't think it is after all. At the end of the day, the worst monster is hate, which the KKK was filled with, to an unfathomable degree that led to them committing the crimes they did. The ending with Maryse's choices and growth really brings that idea home.