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its_kievan's reviews
179 reviews
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A real struggle, one of those books where even halfway through I wasn’t entirely sure if I liked it. Turns out I do, despite the fifty billion names I had to memorise, and I’ve already borrowed the next book. A classic of the “kicks ass but I totally get it if you bounced off” genre.
Stasiland by Anna Funder
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5
A deeply strange, beautiful, and melancholy book about a period in history that still defies understanding. Absolutely not what I was expecting from this book, but I’m so glad I read it. In my mind Stasiland deserves a place alongside Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried as something so much less and so much more than a history book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Murder
Minor: Cancer
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
We did it, we’ve created romantasy books for those guys who are really into Ancient Rome
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
Pines by Blake Crouch
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Not sure how I feel about the ending, but nobody's doing "adulterous husband trapped in an insane world" like Blake Crouch
Cause for Alarm by Eric Ambler
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
“That's the danger of Fascism, of state-worship. It supposes an absolute, an egocentric unit. The idea of the state is not rooted in the masses, it is not of the people. It is an abstract, a God-idea, a psychic dung-hill raised to shore up an economic system that is no longer safe. When you're on the top of that sort of dung-hill, it doesn't matter whether the ends are in reality good or bad. The fact that they are your ends makes them good—for you." (215)
Based as fuck. I miss when all the good spy novels were written by socialists.
Based as fuck. I miss when all the good spy novels were written by socialists.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Suicide
The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
A fascinating historical document that would have be a lot more enjoyable if I knew anything about boats.
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder and War
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A fun little horror novella, but unfortunately having already seen The Fall of the House of Usher and The Last of Us I’d figured the whole plot out about fifty pages in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Transphobia
Hell House by Richard Matheson
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Very complicated feelings about this one. Spoilers ahead.
Obviously, reviewers are right to point out that a fair chunk of the horror lies in the sexual abuse of two women, not to mention the implication that the "reason" someone is a lesbian is either they are being possessed by a pervert ghost or they were molested as a kid. No matter when the book was written, that's still deeply uncomfortable in a way that goes far beyond the limits of a horror author trying to freak you out. If someone put down Hell House for that reason, that is completely fair enough.
However, I still though the book was a great example of haunted house horror, and I really enjoyed it. Is that hypocritical, or insensitive? Maybe. But the fact is that part of when makes horror so fascinating is its ability to evoke visceral reactions from people even when they know it's all made up. The horror in Hell House feels real. It's not upside-down crosses and some dopey Satan lookalike. It's a house utterly besmirched by debauchery, by elites with no desires beyond their own hedonism. It's the hateful, vile echoes of those elites reaching down through the years to torture others for no reason beyond the simple fact they can. It's unpleasant. And, more impressively, it's a good read. You'd be amazed how hard it is to find an author who can manage both.
Is it problematic, in a way that can't be excused just by pointing out that a pervert murder ghost from the 1920s probably isn't very PC? Absolutely. And again, I firmly believe that if these topics are something you don't want to read about, then you shouldn't have to apologise for that. But, if you are comfortable looking past that, you will find an excellent haunted house novel that rivals even Haunting of Hill House - if not in writing quality, than at least in sheer skin-crawling unease.
Obviously, reviewers are right to point out that a fair chunk of the horror lies in the sexual abuse of two women, not to mention the implication that the "reason" someone is a lesbian is either they are being possessed by a pervert ghost or they were molested as a kid. No matter when the book was written, that's still deeply uncomfortable in a way that goes far beyond the limits of a horror author trying to freak you out. If someone put down Hell House for that reason, that is completely fair enough.
However, I still though the book was a great example of haunted house horror, and I really enjoyed it. Is that hypocritical, or insensitive? Maybe. But the fact is that part of when makes horror so fascinating is its ability to evoke visceral reactions from people even when they know it's all made up. The horror in Hell House feels real. It's not upside-down crosses and some dopey Satan lookalike. It's a house utterly besmirched by debauchery, by elites with no desires beyond their own hedonism. It's the hateful, vile echoes of those elites reaching down through the years to torture others for no reason beyond the simple fact they can. It's unpleasant. And, more impressively, it's a good read. You'd be amazed how hard it is to find an author who can manage both.
Is it problematic, in a way that can't be excused just by pointing out that a pervert murder ghost from the 1920s probably isn't very PC? Absolutely. And again, I firmly believe that if these topics are something you don't want to read about, then you shouldn't have to apologise for that. But, if you are comfortable looking past that, you will find an excellent haunted house novel that rivals even Haunting of Hill House - if not in writing quality, than at least in sheer skin-crawling unease.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Homophobia, and Rape
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use
Agents of Dreamland by Caitlín R. Kiernan
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Hm. Not really sure where I landed with this one. A fun little read before bedtime. I will say, Kiernan did definitely commit to being really fucking weird, and that's always fun to see.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use
Minor: Vomit
Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Disappointing, because I really wanted to like this one. There's a lot of potential here - from the postwar New England gothic-ish setting to the idea of recasting Lovecraft's (famously racist) mythos as a condemnation of human intolerance - but Emrys never really does anything with it. The writing was often confusing, and characters seemed to lack, well, character. The setting felt very vague, trapped in a weird in-between space where magic was widely known to be real but also completely hidden and ignored. Even the portrayals of discriminiation, the Big Message of the book as far as I could tell, felt perfunctory. I was just really hoping for something more than I got.