foiblesandfiction's reviews
462 reviews

loved it. love them. give me more.

the premise is great. the delivery is stilted and awkward and boring.

made up words with no explanation. then the pedo appeared and my fun levels plummeted to unrecoverable low.

that was beautiful 

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy.

I enjoyed the writing but I did not like the story.  Third person pov in the present tense is one of my favorites to read, yet- 
the pacing was annoyingly slow.
the plot and conflict had poorly developed stakes.
some plot choices (ex. the characters' attractions and romances) were unnecessary and overly dramatic.

It would be remiss for me not to mention the author's disappointing choices in the portrayal of their fat characters.  The villain is fat and his physical description is used to create disgust in readers and to add to his villainy.  Other minor characters' fatness is offensively described as well.

On the plus side, I did finish the book.  So there's that, I guess.

The synopsis of The Last Astronaut had me sold that this was the book of my dreams.  Horror in space is my jam.  Alas, either my expectations were unreasonably high or the story was reasonably boring, but something was missing here.

I will preface by saying that the research included in the crafting of this story is impeccable.  The author did confess in the author's note to interviewing two astronauts to research his story which is (a) really freakin' cool and (b) obvious in how believable the science and technology are.
Also, the overall format of the book is creative and tickles my brain with its cleverness.  The Last Astronaut is the name of the fictional book within the story that we are supposedly reading, therefore including us as readers in the story itself.  So cool.

However, I wasn't sold on a few elements.

Namely, the horror.  This is a sci-fi horror book and, even as a baby horror reader, I never once felt fear or anxiety.  The descriptions were too intellectual and lacking the visceral connection of both the characters to their environment as well as the reader to the characters.

Which leads me to the characters, because there were simultaneously too many and yet not enough.  The book is written with multiple POVs which randomly switch throughout the individual chapters.  I found this confusing and also quite odd considering the book's title - why the focus on so many characters?  And yet there weren't enough characters to make the storyline as epic as it attempted to be.

My final note is a spoiler. 

The astronauts came through 2I's butthole.  This is never directly addressed which is hilarious and frustrating.  It also leads to other questions, such as does 2I's butt randomly rotate?  Or only when it's irritated by an outside breach?  Because let's be real, that would make anyone twitch.

Follows the same formula of humor and horror as The Hollow Places.  I'm a big ol' fan and liked them both.  

Also, T Kingfisher is one of the only authors that finds me really enjoying the author's notes.  I'm a baby horror reader so learning about the author's inspiration for her stories is fascinating.

I agree with other readers that it is difficult, almost impossible, to rate memoirs.

But I will say that this memoir is really damn beautiful.  I read the audiobook narrated by the author, which is one of my absolutely favorite ways to consume non-fiction literature.  It was haunting and informative and tense.  Highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher for a review copy.

Welp, she did it again.  T. Kingfisher wrote another horror story that is incredibly loveable and so funny.  And also approachable.  Like usual.

This is an eerie yet hilarious haunted house story that uses family secrets, generational trauma, and a rose garden to craft a very entertaining read.  Scary in the way that I avoided reading it at night yet funny enough to startle my kid with my random guffaws of laughter.

And would you imagine that my favorite character was a vulture?

I recommend reading this under an intimidating family portrait with a glass of boxed wine.

I've seen this book described as The 100 meets Becky Chambers and yes, that rings true.  It's slice of life with philosophical discussions in space.  The characters are so flawed and so loveable.  I missed them when it was over and I still miss them now.

Also, this book is really, really long and has very little plot.

So, if you're ready to journey through space with some highly intelligent (almost to their detriment) young adults who are working through their own moral dilemmas while also working to solve humanity's greatest downfall, buckle up and hop on board.  

Reading recommendations: time, a cozy seat, and a warm blanket with a cuppa.