saint_eleanor's reviews
287 reviews

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

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dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I loved this a lot and honestly it was a really nice break from Graham's Indian Lake trilogy where you have to fight tooth and nail to understand what's happening in any given scene, the writing in this is way more straight up but still very poetic. I love the southern gothic style as well, it's so fun to read and it's so ruff n tumble. It's a werewolf book but it's more of a family drama and examination of class/race disparity in the united states. very very sad but very good.
Hit Parade of Tears by Izumi Suzuki

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challenging dark funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

I really loved a couple of these stories and didn't really like others, but I thought they were really well-written and cool. Short easy read
Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm

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challenging dark lighthearted mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

This was really beautiful and poetic but maybe just  not what I expected, I was hoping for maybe a little bit more of a concrete mystery
The Road: a Graphic Novel Adaptation by Manu Larcenet

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

my heart is frickin broken. This is perfect for me bc i love cormac mccarthy’s plots but find him slightly irritating. The art is impeccable.
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Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

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dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The writing style of this was really cool, like 'Beloved' meets 'a Certain Hunger' meets 'Bless the daughter raised by a voice in her head' (i.e. lots of the royal "we" , lots of lust, and all the prose) . I loved listening to it on tape so i could hear the Igbo read by the author and the pronunciation of stuff, Igbo is so beautiful to listen to! But I feel like i had known that this was autobiographical before i read it i would have liked it more, but i was definitely expecting a novel so it definitely felt really slow. 
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A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

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dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

Super interesting writing style and I'm not sure i LOVED it especially towards the end but it was so unique that i feel like i want to recommend it to people. The perspective from the young child was so accurate it kind of freaked me out loll and all the extra details just made it super Meta or something it was very fun. It kind of gave me both AHS Ragnarok plus a more avant-garde film vibe lol
Grey Dog by Elliott Gish

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes

3.5

I definitely really enjoyed this but I think reading it so close to 'Nightbitch' made me feel like it was kind of unoriginal? Or idk i feel like i've seen this exact plot in like 3 books this year.  I feel like none of the characters were very complex besides our MC. Kind of all stereotypes. I did absolutely love the main character and her inner thoughts and i loved the witchiness. Super fun to read, for sure and good for Halloween time! Loved the ending especially.
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No

5.0

This book is pain and suffering. I hate men. I hate capitalism. I hate that is a true story. Hanya Yanigahara is one of the best authors in the world. 
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Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Definitely going to re-read this I loved it so much! I think I'm going through a prose phase because this  was extremely metaphorical and very abstract. 

“Most had bellies full of plastic. The plastic would grow and grow in their bellies until, years from now, as they mingled, as they drank expensive wine, their bellies would burst and out would come all the plastic, dribbling onto the floor. Pressing cool and bloody against some synthetic floor.”

The stories really sent shivers down my spine it wasn't what I expecting at all out of this series. Hella bomb 
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I liked this a lot but it was not my favorite. I liked the moral complexity it all but the plot was structured kinda weird imo, I didn't feel super attached to any of the characters. Whereas in Strange Bird i literally cried over a lab experiment the whole time.