sashahc's reviews
189 reviews

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

Go to review page

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

5.0

Just finished “When Women Were Dragons” by Kelly Barnhill.  It’s very unique.  It reads a bit like a fable and is full of intergenerational trauma and frustration and found family.  Not to mention some good queer longing.  And dragons.  Many many dragons. 
The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley

Go to review page

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

5.0

I just finished “The Half Life of Valery K” by Natasha Pulley.  In all her books, Natasha Pulley writes terrible things happening and acknowledges they are terrible, but the characters are so engaging and there is a sweetness that keeps you reading.  This one is no exception, and it has a whole HOST of trigger warnings.  I’m sure you can look them up, but the biggest one for me was nuclear accidents and radiation sickness. (It may seem odd for this to be my biggest one considering what all happens in the book, but there is personal history there.) This #book is a bit of a thriller, and a bit of a character study, and it’s queer.  And there’s an octopus named Albert who steals the TV remote.  So.

This one will stay with me for a while.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Labyrinth's Archivist by Day Al-Mohamed

Go to review page

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

5.0

"The Labyrinth's Archivist" by Day Al-Mohamed is a very (unfortunately) rare #book in that it is queer disabled Middle Eastern rep.  It is set in the "Broken Cities" shared world created by Falstaff Books.  Azulea is from a very long line of Archivists, those who interview and collect information and make maps of the worlds that intersect at the Hall of Gates.  Her mother is Head Archivist, but because of Azulea's blindness, she is unlikely to be ever accepted as a full archivist, despite her perfect memory and her teamwork with her cousin Peny.  When Azulea's grandmother is found dead and other disasters start to befall the archive, Azulea must find who is trying to destroy her family and home.  It's got queer second chance romance, disability community interdependence, and fantastic world building.  
White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Queer SFF is one of few areas where there aren’t a lot of queer male writers, so today meet “White Trash Warlock” by David Slayton.  It’s a bit misnamed, in my opinion, implying a more lighthearted #book than it is.  It’s an urban fantasy starring a 20 something gay low-powered magic user living in a trailer park in Oklahoma who needs to solve a mystery and save his family.  LOTS of trigger warnings in this one, but the characters and plot are very compelling and it’s got relatively rare class diversity.  Not a cozy, but the MC has a sweetness that you don’t usually see in urban fantasy.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton

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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

If you are looking for a middle grade #book that hits all the notes of Harry Potter but without the fatphobia, bigotry and TERFdom, check out “The Marvellers” by Dhonielle Clayton.  It’s about a magical academy that has just been forcibly integrated to include Conjurers and about the first young conjurer to attend.  It has close friends, magical animals, punn-y food, grand adventures, a mysterious villain, and a supportive and close-knit family.  And it’s for-real diverse.  Perfect for ages 6 to adult!
The Tensorate Series by Neon Yang

Go to review page

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

5.0

This is a fantasy series full of shifting genders, vague sexualities, politics, and magic.

Neon Yang’s ”Tensorate” series were some of the first fantasy books I read by an out non-binary author.  The novellas are multi-generational and deeply political in a rich world.  Lots of rebellion both social and internal.  They aren’t exactly cozy, but these are characters you want to visit with and who you miss when they are gone.  There are traumas, though, and it’s worth finding a trigger warning list.  The world building is fantastic and there is a great balance of plot and character, not to mention some playing with form.  Some have called them “silkpunk,” and Yang basically agrees.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Shadow Man by Melissa Scott

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective 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

QUEERS IN SPAAAAAAAAACE.  This is probably the oldest book on my list, but it’s so overlooked and I really want more people to read it.  “Shadow Man” by Melissa Scott is about gender, politics and colonization, but through the lens of very personal relationships.  

Basically, in the future, a drug that allows FTL travel causes 25% of people to be born intersex.  On the world where this takes place, people must choose one of two genders.  Sex is irrelevant.  In the colonizing culture starting to take over, however, Sex and Gender are the same and are defined in five different buckets.  So what happens in both societies when someone doesn’t conform?  The primary MC is a defense lawyer (mainly for sex workers) who refuses. 

One of Melissa Scott’s strengths is showing things play out in both a micro and macro scale - friendship groups, ex-lovers, siblings, but also the fall of governments.  Her worlds feel incredibly lived in and familiar.  This book was published in 1995 and totally broke my brain when I first read it.  I think it was way ahead of its time and is worth a revisit now.
Finna by Nino Cipri

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

“Finna” by Nino Cipri is like if a portal fantasy took place in IKEA.  But make it hella queer and anti-capitalist.  And with chairs that eat people.  It’s somehow both melancholy and cheerful?  And you want to shake the MCs but maybe hug them?  Anyway, it’s a novella so you risk absolutely nothing by reading it.  And you should!  So quit arguing with me about it.  Geez. 
Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

Go to review page

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

"Dead Collections" by Isaac Fellman is a gem of a book.  Beautifully written, full of wry humor and sweetness, and with a main character who you will totally recognize.  Sol Katz is a geeky neurotic trans Jewish vampire who is crashing on the DL in his San Francisco office where he works as an archivist.  He meets a widow who has come to donate her famous wife's papers.  Weird (weirder?) shit starts happening.  This book is in many ways more vibes than plot, but SUCH VIBES.  I will definitely be regularly re-reading this one.  It is aimed at adults, mostly because it will go over younger folk's heads.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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

Gosh, I love this #PrideSFF #book.  It’s a middle grade graphic novel by Kat Leyh about a kiddo who’s sensitive and weird and who meets a sensitive weird adult mentor … who happen to be a witch.  I love so many things about this book - the characters and story, diversity, the art, the deeply queer rep, the casual working class rep.  It’s hopeful and sweet and sassy and just a little tear jerking.   It’s also got one of my favorite examples of a kid transitioning.  If you haven’t, treat yourself and get it.