loquaciousleon's reviews
67 reviews

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A 'Labyrinth'ian x 'The Thing' sci-fi novel revolving around nature and scientific mystery. With some 'Umbrella Corp' vibes laced in. 

This is something you could binge in a single sitting/day because it's that good and the mystery keeps you going. As well as it being 195 pages. 

As someone who doesn't typically like series: I want to read the next book.

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The Street by Ann Petry

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The way Ann Petry weaves streams of consciousness between different characters, and depicted the details people's internal monologues for what was going on externally, internally, and speaking on things left unsaid, is incredible

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The Family That Carried Their House On Their Backs by Sammie Downing

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A short story about generational trauma, written in a lyrically beautiful way. 

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Moonbound by Robin Sloan

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adventurous funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

If Guardian's of the Galaxy narration meshed with Ann Leckie's rendition of Name of the Wind.
Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck

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challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I have read books that are close to my heart. I have read books that have rocked my world. 

THIS book???

This..book..Makes up the wall of my own heart.

Man, I was weeping. My heart felt like it was purging grief in the most romantic and healthy way. 

I'm going to cry writing this because I'm near thinking about the book.

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This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

if your soul yearns beyond your body, beyond time and space, you love sci-fi, and you are friends with despair...

this book will be the most painful treat.

(recovery from substances possibly gives you a bonus point for easier comprehension of some really abstract writing)
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

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adventurous dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller by Oliver Darkshire

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

This was a cute read.

Passively hilarious, wholesome and insightful, atmospheric and whimsical.

I thought I was reading a fictional book before I saw it was labeled a memoir; oddly mid-cryptid read.
Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See by Juliann Garey

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adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A really empathetic look at serious mental health, without glorification or a lack of accountability.

That being said, it wasn't an emotional based book I cried over.

All in all, an enjoyable read, more than I usually believe I will have for this genre. (As someone with mental health issues, though different from this character, who struggles to read items too close to life.)
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

2.25

The tense parts were incredible. and the only reason this has any stars.

The rest..¿
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throughout the book, it was so in-your-face the author is a white woman with some heavy internalized misogyny and racism, cause it was written in a way that was aware without having any awareness.

the beginning was littered with internalized misogyny that was very "I'm not like other PTA moms" or "criminals with ankle monitors" while the author desperately tried to paint the characters as both "holier" AND "more distraught" than thou. 

Which would be possible to empathize with given the story, had it not been written in such a distasteful AND poor way.

near the beginning, there was also a bit along the lines of (paraphrasing) "I was surprised to remember the robber was white, and not mexican or black. Was that racist?" 
The way it was written was more "oops" than it was "yes. that was racist. let's unpack, or at the very least acknowledge that."

And unfortunately these things were prevalent in many places throughout the book.

Final note: the fact that the author wrote the inner monologue of a character with the most absurd amount of questions that made me feel like we were running in panicked, tight circles, was almost insufferable.

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