seawarrior's reviews
1660 reviews

Chlorine by Jade Song

Go to review page

5.0

Chlorine is a brutal, brilliant coming-of-age tale of a young woman determined to carve herself the destiny she aches for. Ren Yu tells her narrative with a distanced, combative air. She is uninterested in the reader's sympathy or judgement, her story belongs solely to her, and she knows it. I was quickly drawn to Ren's defiant and tenacious nature. She refuses to be anyone other than herself, even when deemed disturbed and mutilated by those she once trusted. Song perfectly captures the weight of pain in adolescence and the impossible, frenzied want to transcend human perils and emerge triumphant. This is a grisly, unparalleled gem of a story. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Jim Henson's Labyrinth Beyond the Goblin City: Beyond the Goblin City by Gustavo Duarte, Delilah S. Dawson

Go to review page

3.0

Erased, Volume 1 by Kei Sanbe

Go to review page

4.0

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki, Mariko Tamaki

Go to review page

4.0

Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology by Ellen Datlow

Go to review page

4.0

Christmas and Other Horrors is an entertaining anthology where each story is unique in tone and inspiration. This was a delight to read over the Christmas holiday while safe and snug in our family home, accompanied by Krampus playing for my sisters and I while our parents tried to cheerily ignore the bloodshed. My favorite story in the anthology reminded me of our family classic Krampus by telling the tale of the child-eaters that were once abundant in winter myths. Many other stories included here were memorable enough to make their impression, and like the Christmas movies I obsessively rewatch year after year, this may be a title to revisit. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Marvel Vault of Heroes: Hulk: Biggest & Best by Paul Benjamin

Go to review page

4.0

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

Go to review page

4.0

Brainwyrms is as dark, disgusting, and wormy as promised. Rumfitt excels at ironic wit and at writing thorny characters who encounter brutal pulses of horror within their otherwise mundane lives.

The leads in Brainwyrms treat themselves and others with an aggressive disregard that unfurls into gruesome violence of cosmic proportions. I recognized their ideas and actions in some of the worst and most unwell people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. Rumfitt is obviously someone who has grown up on the Internet, and was able to depict its underbellies and relentless noise of voices with deftness. However, I did not understand how some of the plots and themes of the book related to one another. This may be because I read the book so quickly, or it may be because I had no familiarity with Edgar Allen Poe's "The Conqueror Worm", which should be a prerequisite for this novel. I would recommend this book to other readers willing to sit with their disgust and read a story that makes no attempt to alleviate their fear of the future. The future for transgender people may be a horrifying one, and Rumfitt knows it. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
How Can I Help You by Laura Sims

Go to review page

dark

3.0

This was a straightforward novel that never spiraled into madness the way that I'd hoped. Secrets were revealed too soon, personalities were never fully developed, and Sims played it too safe by adapting the true story of a historical serial killer into her lead character. The only highlight of the story for me was the accuracy regarding library work and the gulf between those who view it as an exile or a safe haven. Ultimately, this mystery is dry and disappointing. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Monster's Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World by David K. Randall

Go to review page

informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

The Monster's Bones tells a tale so strange that it can only be true. It is almost unbelievable to imagine that the tyrannosaurus rex may still be unknown to mankind if not for the desperate searching of two outrageous personalities whose careers depended on uncovering a marvel. 

Although Randall's telling drifted at times, the timeline of the story remained apparent and never dull. I had never before considered the cognitive dissonance and disbelief that the first humans to study dinosaurs must have encountered. Many aspects of the story amazed me in ways both great and terrible, and left me eager to explain it to others with poor man's paraphrasing. This is a must read for anyone with even a slight interest in paleontology. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda

Go to review page

dark tense

5.0

Endlessly disturbing and breathtakingly creative, Jawbone is a story of adolescent daring and purity that descends into violence. Ojeda's use of language, bodily disgust, and topical pop culture references create a story that is unique to the point of mythological. The horror draws the reader in and then clamps down its teeth, culminating in an ending soaked in madness and terror. One of the greatest horror stories I've ever read, and not recommended for the faint of heart.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings