readwithmeemz's reviews
1330 reviews

Dark and chilling, I read this anthology as an audiobook, and I highly recommend doing the same. The stories included varied a lot, in style, content, theme, and even how much I enjoyed them, but as a whole, this was a really good, really compelling read.

Some of the stories stuck with me deeply, still haunting me, even now, days after I finished them. 

My favourites included: 

In some cases, I’d read some of the authors’ precious works, but for the most part, they were new to me, so I’m excited to have stumbled onto new authors to explore!

Since this is horror and dark fiction, some pretty tough topics are covered, so I do recommend looking up trigger warnings before reading.

I loved this sweet and haunting story about friendship, love, responsibility, and the hidden parts of us. Our heroine Mags is a stoic and burdened character, holding herself together through the weight of her many, many responsibilities. I loved the careful exploration of her relationships with the people around her - in all their messy and complex glory. This is a coming-of-age story about love, and embracing the many parts of us (even the monstrous ones). I love the magic Ostertag imbues in the small towns and the relationships in her stories, and love the little bits of magic and mystery she’s woven into this compelling story. A must read, and one i can’t wait to reread. 

This was a quiet and brilliant accounting of a dystopian society, perfect for fans of 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and The Handmaid’s Tale. Set on an island where things are disappeared from existence and memory, this is a resonant ode to the power of words and memories. We witness our nameless heroine slowly start to lose her memories, and eventually her selfhood, under the watchful eyes of the oppressive “memory police”. This is a smart and thoughtful story that moves slowly, but is no less impactful for it. I loved the snippets of our heroine’s novel woven into our present story. Ogawa is an excellent writer, using few words to paint a compelling picture of this world & to draw the readers into it. I look forward to reading more translations of her work.

The Quiet Damage is a compassionate and thoughtful book that follows five families and their experiences when a member of each family becomes radicalized by Q-Anon. It’s compulsively readable - harrowing and moving as it highlights the slow and subtle descent into indoctrination for people across different walks of life, and with various lived experiences. It takes an empathetic and careful perspective as it dives deep into the rabbit hole behind these individuals and their family members. It explores the damage of Q-Anon, both from the point of view of the person who became indoctrinated, and the family members they “leave behind”. 

It’s a fast read, almost paced like a true crime book of thriller, but with the caveat that it comes from a place of no judgment and clear compassion for everyone involved. It highlights the descent down the rabbit hole for ordinary (often vulnerable) people, who - whether searching for community, or understanding, or even a clear source of blame for their circumstances - found what they needed through Q-Anon. 

I also really appreciated the author’s focus on the efforts made to deprogram or reconnect with these individuals - and the varying degrees of success these efforts were met with. While focusing predominantly on American individuals and families, there was a lot of relevance here for all readers in our current social, cultural, and political climate.

This was such a compelling and heart wrenching read, that feels more timely than ever, in this epidemic of fake news, indoctrination, anti-government viewpoints, and coming in after years of a deadly, mass-disabling pandemic that was poorly managed and handled by the “powers that be”. I really appreciated the care and tact with wishing Cook approached this book and the people profiled within it. It really highlighted the perspective that it could be any of us who at affected by these kinds of radicalizations, especially as it explored the insidious ways that Q-Anon brings in and radicalized people. This was a breathless and impactful book, and a must-read for anyone.

Cheryl Isaac’s <i>Unfinished</i> is an eerie and unsettling horror debut, that will leave you with goosebumps. It moves forward at a breakneck pace, throwing you immediately into a creepy horror story set in a small town, with a dark and mysterious legend around it. It’s a pretty fast read, and quite an immersive one - just creepy enough that I did not like to read it before bed lol. Our protagonist Avery is headstrong and uncertain - and in a teenager, that is quite a combination. This is partially a coming-of-age story, with the regular growing pains of teenage hood, and crushes, and challenging family dynamics, but woven in is a mysterious legend, and an evil presence, that’s hungry, and won’t stop until it’s eaten it’s fill. This book read a LOT like a horror movie - in that it was quite evocative and atmospheric (I could picture so many of the scenes so well), but also in the way that we didn’t get a lot of time to develop relationships, and just had to rely on limited interactions and Avery’s narrations to paint our picture for us. I enjoyed the weaving together of Indigenous cultures and storytelling, into a fresh and creepy horror story. This was a really promising debut, and a genuinely scary story, and I’m so excited for more from Isaacs.

Charming and funny, this book was so darn cute! I loved the illustrations (Batcat!!! i would die for u!!!) and the narration was sassy, with just enough fourth-wall breaking that I think kids will have a GREAT time. I loved the subtle and unsubtle ways that this book enforced and reinforced its message that you don’t have to be only one thing - it’s ok to be in between, both, or neither. This was such a delightful and easy read, I’m charmed by this world (i wanna meet this witch, i am convinced she is a Lesbian ™️), and i can’t wait to share this with the kiddos in my life!

I enjoyed the basis of this poetry collection - channelling prayer and scripture into a queer rhapsody. The poems were largely short and simple, but nonetheless beautiful. Tonally, the poems veered from powerful & resonant laments, to snarky and pithy “zingers”. While both were enjoyable, there was a bit of whiplash swinging between poetic moods. Ultimately, this is a strong collection, featuring some really memorable poems. 

Reading every book in this series is like coming home to an old friend. Tense & atmospheric, the latest installment in The Singing Hills Cycle was a gothic horror story with sharp teeth & soft edges. Hazy and immaterial, while also being bold and immersive, Vo’s world building is immaculate, and this series is a masterclass in fantasy writing. Full of magic and myth, and mystery, & murder, this was a delicious entry to the series, and one I won’t soon forget. In this installment, memories fail, and our cleric develops a crush, as we’re immersed in a world where nothing is as it seems. We’re thrown headlong into the story, & we settle in immediately before we remember to ask a single question or point of clarification. Lush, brilliant, and beautiful, every book in this series is a gift.

This book was bold, exciting, and such an immersive read. I had a hard time putting it down, and couldn’t stop thinking about it while I was doing other things. 

The concept was compelling, the prose was engaging, and the romance was butterfly-inducing. I enjoyed the lack of specificity - we didn’t name our heroine, and I don’t believe we knew exactly what year it was either (unless I missed it!). That left the novel seeming unspecific (in a good way).  

This book was sad, curious, romantic, tense, funny, messy, and honestly brilliant. We would spend pages and pages in the delicious mundane, followed by racing through action and plot. The pacing was inconsistent, which both worked, and didn’t (more on this below).

I liked so much about this book, and I think the author has so much promise, but there were a few things that didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

Positives:
- The characters were fascinating. Even the ones that weren’t given the opportunity to develop much, or for us to get to know them much, they were all quite compelling, and I would read all of their files in depth! 

- The romance was sweet and tender and achingly lovely, the slow burn was slow, but the reward was great

- The concept itself was so great, I was hooked by this premise, and I honestly feel like this would make a great TV series, or book series, following bridges and their expats. It would be delightful 

- The mix of genres (science fiction, romance, literary, suspense) was great! 

- Overall the writing was strong - engaging, full of prose and melody, and very evocative

- I loved that this colourful story was told in so many shades of grey. Everything was messy and complicated, and morally ambiguous, it was DELICIOUS


Room for improvement:
- The pacing was great for so long, but the story kind of fell apart near the end. Not completely, but it did not stand strong on its own, a lot felt rushed, some stuff wasn’t clearly reasoned out, and there were so many twists and turns that panned out via the exposition of conversations that were as finessed as a brick to the head. The conclusion was clunky, and could use some work. 

- Our narrator at times would be brilliant and snarky and smart, and delightful, and at other times, she would shakily almost arbitrarily make her way through some sort of self discovery or memory, and it felt like her reflections were almost half-hearted. I especially noticed this whenever we touched on moral and social issues like race and some of the ethics to do with her work. Often it worked - life is confusing and we don’t always have fully formed thoughts, but other times it felt underdeveloped. Our protagonist would at length list microaggressions, and be so painfully self-aware at her own faults and mistakes, but then would make decisions that felt extremely out of character. While I’m all for a complicated and multifaceted main character, didn’t feel intentional, and It just felt a bit inconsistent. 

Ultimately, I really, really enjoyed this book. It was electrifying, and smart, and unforgettable. I hope to read more from Bradley soon!