You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

sashahc's reviews
189 reviews

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

Go to review page

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

5.0

#Book rec!  I’m working my way through Natasha Pulley’s books and just read “The Kingdoms.”  Intense, tragic, beautiful, and mysterious.  It’s got time travel from an alternate past to an other more distant alternate past.  And the horrors of war and identity and trauma and family (blood and chosen).  And queerness.  I’ll be chewing on it for a while.
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-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

5.0

P Djèlí Clark is just a gem of a writer.  Everything he’s published is stellar.  I just finished reading “A Master of Djinn.”  It’s a noir, steampunk, fantastical story of a queer supernatural investigator in Cairo in 1912 who just wants to wear dapper suits, dance with her girlfriend, and stop the end of the world. 
Illuminations by T. Kingfisher

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Ursula Vernon / T Kingfisher has a new middle grade #book out!  “Illuminations” is a fast and delightful read reminiscent of Diana Wynne Jones.  It’s about a 10yo in a family of magical painters who finds a box holding a dangerous secret.  Chaos ensues.  Spunky heroine, talking crow, great magical system, and chaotic but supportive multi-generational family.  Read it yourself and then get it for the kids in your life.
The Scapegracers by August Clarke

Go to review page

adventurous funny mysterious fast-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? Yes

5.0

It’s SPOOPY #BOOK TIME.  I just read ”The Scapegracers” by H.A. Clarke.  Think “The Craft,” but if they’d stayed friends and were GAAAAAAAAAY.  (ETA: Okay, MOAR gay)  Also, there are witch hunters.  It’s full of high school drama and action and sass.  It’s busy and messy and ridiculous and very fun.  You definitely need to be in that kind of mood to read it, but if you are, it’s quality Halloween candy.
A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I just finished “A Half-Built Garden,” a self-described “diaper-punk” near future first contact #book by Ruthanna Emrys.  It owes a very deep debt to Octavia Butler’s “Lilith’s Brood.”  It also has the poly queer collective utopian feel of Starhawk’s “Fifth Sacred Thing.”  And the micro-democracy and information sharing of Malka Older’s “Infomocracy.”  And the cross-cultural gender identity politics of Melissa Scott’s “Shadow Man.”  It’s deeply anti-capitalist, full of parents balancing child care and nursing with alien diplomacy, and very Jewish.   

An excellent holiday weekend read.
A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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? No

5.0

MAGICAL LESBIAN MURDER MYSTERY ON A BOAT!

Yeah, I thought that would get your attention.  Freya Marske’s newest #book, ”A Restless Truth,” is a very fun and diverting romp. There are improper Edwardian women, a fake seance and a real ghost, a magical conspiracy, multiple instances of kidnapping, an escaped menagerie, and, of course, class politics.  All on a transatlantic voyage.  

This is the second of a series, and I recommend the first, as well, which focuses on different characters.

It’s a great rainy day read.
Strong Wine by A.J. Demas

Go to review page

emotional lighthearted 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? No

5.0

Just finished reading AJ Demas’ “Strong Wine” and it was so fun and sweet and just a great all around read.  It’s an ancient Greece analog mystery romance cozy.  Wonderful world building, characters you want to know, and Queer AF. Perfect end to the trilogy.  I will miss Dami and Varazda.
One Night in Boukos by A.J. Demas

Go to review page

emotional lighthearted 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? No

5.0

I just finished AJ Demas’ book “One Night in Boukos” and it’s perfect pandemic reading.  It’s a cozy queer story of making new friends and falling for them while trying to solve a mystery, taking place in an Alt Ancient Mediterranean.  Highly recommend. 
Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Just finished T Kingfisher’s (aka Ursula Vernon) “Paladin’s Hope” and not to be dramatic, but I’d die for Piper and Galen.  It’s the cutest snarkiest queer fantasy suspense action romance and I was giggling and reading choice passages out loud to my family all day.  And that last sentence - RUDE!
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Go to review page

emotional hopeful sad fast-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 read Malindo Lo's "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" and oboy what a lovely and heartaching book.  Sweet baby dykes in Chinatown and North Beach San Francisco during the 1950s.  It was so evocative and touching.  I'll definitely re-read this one. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings