“And when the Empire is weak, it is often because a powerful few have denied us the abundance of our people.”
if you’re looking for a fantasy murder mystery that has a sherlock and watson dynamic, with a setting that feels like you were dropping into attack on titans, with themes of systemic injustice, and discussions on classism, with a story that follows a queer mc with a learning disability… well, i am here to tell you to please look no further
in this world, the land is separated by rings, and those rings are walls that are constantly being reinforced to keep leviathans out and the people safe. especially the outermost wall, that is also constantly being manned by a military force. also in this world, people are able to get magical augmentations that enhance abilities - and there is a vast range of different augmentations from strength, to sight, or even memory. this land, these augmentations, and different sorts of technological advancements are constantly changing and evolving because of the flora and the importance of the array of plant life on this land. also, this story takes place right on the cusp of the wet season, where the land is less forgiving, alongside the leviathans trying to breach the walls. and if the leviathans do reach the shores, their blood and bodies have a very strange effect on the land and can make a place completely uninhabitable. and lastly, a murder rather unusual, involving the flora in this world, just happened and no one has any clues as to why or how, but the empire needs it solved before the wet season officially hits.
this story follows an assistant to a detective, named dim, who is an engraver, which means he has an enhancement that allows him to remember everything he is seeing, and relay it back to his detective with 100% accuracy and certainty. this is because of an augmentation that he has, and he is able to extra anchor the memories with a vial of a fragrance he is able to tie the experience to. and truly, him exploring all of these places, and manors, and crime scenes, and attaching all of these clues to scent, was one of my favorite parts of this book.
but the detective herself? oh, ana is the best character i’ve read in years! truly a new favorite for me! ana is a bit of a mystery herself throughout the book, so i don’t want to say too much, but she seems to be banished to the outer ring, but she needed a new assistant for a murder mystery in which she is very much needed to solve. and together we watch din and her work together and try to find the murderer(s), while more and more mystery ensues.
this was just a really fresh story, and something that really pushed the bounds of both fantasy and mystery genres. yet, also combining both and making a really beautiful and harmonious experience for readers. this felt different to read, and special to consume, and it really surpassed absolutely every expectation i had prior to purchasing this book at b&n because i love the trend of covers being printed directly on hardcovers with no dust jackets.
“Born into systems beyond our control, into relationships and organizations that obligate us to change, all so our families may prosper… That’s what the empire is, isn’t it?”
to me, this story really also discusses themes of classism and social injustice, where the rich colonizers get to live in safety in the most inner walls, while also having the money to protect themselves from any and all things. while the essential workers who are trying to make all the walls and land a safer and better place are forced to work and live in unsafe conditions. and while people from impoverished communities are forced to give everything they have, in hopes that something will make it back to their families so they will be able to live a tiny bit of a better life. (please know, there is a lot more i want to say, but i won’t because of spoilers - but i really loved some of the themes and thoughts that i felt like were presented within this story!!)
“If you want to figure out where everyone got fleas, look no further than the biggest pack of wild cats. Even if they do prowl behind high walls and fancy gates.”
this book also, to me, has some good representations that i loved reading. both of our main characters have disabilities and they are shown and felt throughout, especially din’s reading disability. but also the message of learning and having to do things differently does not mean it is lesser, it’s just a different way and there is a lot of beauty and strength in that. din is also queer, even though no words are used on page, but he was for sure giving me pan or bi vibes. and there is a very sweet m/m romance that really did have me kicking my feet.
overall, this is the first 2024 published novel that i am giving five stars to this year! you know, i have tried to read so many horrors and thrillers, but maybe the secret sauce was just me picking up a murder mystery. i just fell so in love with our two main characters, and seeing their adventures unfold was a joy and highlight of my 2024 reading. also the amount of tabs i used because the descriptions were so lush and vivid and the quotes so powerful and beautiful? very wild, i promise. even more wild than me being so very alert and looking out for any and all cups because of the title and the cover lol. but i just loved this and i think it really reminded me how much i love murder mysteries, especially with a fantasy back drop. if you have any recommendations, please let me know! and i hope you all have even half as good of a time with this story as i did, because i still believe that will be a five star!
trigger + content warnings: murder, death, blood, vomit, talk of poverty, bullying, abuse, anxiety, smoking, violence, medical testing (involving humans and animals), magical compilation, body horror, contagion, and a lot of talk and imagery of fungus and spores
“I dreamt myths larger than my girl body could hold.”
such a heartfelt literary horror debut that i think i will hold inside me forever. i really d
“I dreamt myths larger than my girl body could hold.”
such a heartfelt literary horror debut that i think i will hold inside me forever. i really did love this, and the writing is just completely out of this world. i cannot wait to see what this author does next, and just follow their career and stories forever.
ren has loved mermaids and their stories for all her life, but when she is a small girl she also discovers her love and fascination for the water, and the escapism and transformation it can bring. She joins her school's swim team and starts swimming competitively, and this story takes place in highschool when her life is consumed with being the best swimmer her body will allow her to be, despite being only human… for now. and we get to watch ren holding on to the identity of a girl, of a swimmer, of a child of immigrants, of being queer, and we get to also watch her become the mermaid she was always meant to be.
chlorine is also a little bit of an epistolary novel, and we get to see letters being written to ren’s friend/love interest, cathy, where we get to see her perspective of the transformation of ren, while also being filled with longing. this just adds an extra dark tone to the novel, because the reader is reading these one sided letters of missing someone, while switching back and forth to the story and the direction of events that are playing out with Ren inside her mind.
i feel like you probably shouldn’t know too much more before going in, but some other things in this novel that i really loved, despite being hard to read: talk of being a child of diaspora and how the american dream your elders came searching for can really be a nightmare. how doctors can be horrible and not actually care about their patients or their health, and how medical care you are choosing to get can still feel like a violation, and how these last two things can be so much bigger when you're a queer nonwhite kid. how adults can push kids so far past their limits, yet still ignore all the signs that they are drowning.
overall, i really did love this and sapphic asian stories about feeling like you’re from a completely different world are always going to tug on my heartstrings very hard and very deeply. (and if you need to hear it, you belong and your continuous transformation is beautiful.) i really recommend this debut if you are in a good head space with the trigger warnings. bonus: this author is army and wrote a really beautiful piece about their debut novel, inspiration, and bts (and i am very grateful to read this blue side story and gain hope.) - On BTS, Writing, and What Makes an Artist. bonus bonus: i wrote this entire review listening to come back to me by rm on repeat because bts are also one of my greatest inspirations in life.
content warnings at the start of the book: racism, misogyny, self-harm, eating disorders, homophobia, depression, and sexual violence.
additional trigger + content warnings i found while reading: blood, menstruation, scene getting an iud, talk of abortion, pregnancy scare, abandonment, child abuse, grooming, hospital setting, concussion, extreme headaches, car crash one sentence mention, anxiety, grief, pica, needles, talk of debt, abuse of medication, drinking, smoking, vomit, bad medical professionals and treatment, a lot of microaggressions from the love interest, and i just want to emphasize that there is a lot of talk of body image and a lot of food descriptions that are central themes in this book that go hand in hand with disordered eating.
this is two stories… two parts of a story… maybe a bindup of two novellas… that i truly did not know existed, but i promise you this 150 page book was an easy and so heartfelt five star for me. you can totally read this before assassin's apprentice , but i do think you will get a little more out of it if you have read even a little bit of the first trilogy in the realm of the elderlings. but i will very much warn you: this is a tragedy to its core. this reads so very much like a fairytale, yet i was weeping over so many parts, but the ending healed it all and it felt like storytelling perfection.
to not give anything away, the barebones of this story is that we follow a little girl, named felicity, who grows up alongside princess caution farseer. we get to see their lives together and them becoming the people they want to be versus the people their families expect them to become. in the second part of this story, we follow their sons, both very different but their hearts also very intertwined like both of their mothers. and without saying anything else, this story helps put lineage and heritage a little more into perspective. and it also serves as a reason why many people in this world are scared of the magic called the witt.
this was one of the most beautifully written things ive ever read. the writing was so compelling that the story felt like it was being told to me by the most lulling bard to ever sing a tale. i know this is a short read, but from page one this truly put a spell on me and i was unable to put it down. i just loved this completely and highly recommend it to anyone who already loves fitz, but also to everyone who will eventually love fitz.
trigger + content warnings: drugging, a lot of talk of pregnancy and childbirth, loss of a parent, loss of a loved one, loss of a child, violence (a lot), blood, gore, bullying, animal abuse, animal death, scenes of childbirth and death in childbirth, grief, talk of illness, abusive parent, depression - this is actually a very dark story/stories, so please use caution and make sure you’re in a good headspace
when i heard sapphic medusa reimagining with a dark academia setting, i knew i couldn’t resist reading this for tosalted pasta water is still crazy...
when i heard sapphic medusa reimagining with a dark academia setting, i knew i couldn’t resist reading this for too long. and this book is that! and i really loved the romance! and i will always love seeing women getting revenge and healing the way they want to heal against horrible acts committed against them!! but this is a dark book that really centers on sexual assault at this college, so please use caution and take care of yourselves while reading. (i would say just skip chapter 2 when the on page rape happens, but different assaults happen and are discussed throughout this entire story.)
after chapter two, we get to see lex almost a year later, back at the university that did nothing to protect her and everything to protect her rapist, and she is ready to get that revenge that she deserves. she is also ready, with the help of her sister, to take revenge for people who feel voiceless and put fear in the men who walk around campus feeling untouchable after making people feel voiceless. but when a girl who is supposed to be part of lex’s personal revenge starts to feel like something she has always wanted, things get a little more complicated.
i really liked the romance in this. going into this book, i was scared because i knew it had a revenge element, but i didn’t feel any weird power dynamics, there was no bullying towards one another, and i felt like both girls just truly liked each other from the very start. i also felt like luna’s journey in realizing she is bi was really thoughtfully done and realistic. and i also really respected and enjoyed lex’s portrayal for always knowing she is a lesbian. i know the salted pasta water is still crazy, but the sex scenes were actually extremely well done - maybe some of the best i've read. and i just really enjoyed watching this romance unfold.
i just really respected what this book and story is, and i wish we got more books like this. i wish we got more empowering books about women getting revenge on the people who have committed these acts that our broken systems don’t accurately punish them for. And i also wish we got more books of just girls falling in love, girls discovering their sexuality, and girls having all different kinds of relationships - some quiet, some loud, some slow, some fast, some light, some heavy. (i feel like some of the comments i am seeing about the romance/sex in this book… you all are not saying this to the 500 m/m romances we get every year. i really appreciate this story and what it is doing for so many reasons, but also the reason the baseline fact that we need more sapphic stories of all kinds.)
i also “enjoyed” (it feels weird to say that for this but…. i just think it's an important conversation) seeing the discussion on how men/society can treat lesbians because the world cannot fathom someone not being attracted to men in some shape or form or way. How people will say you're just confused, or you just haven't had a good experience with a man yet, because it is impossible for some people to wrap their minds around their own unimportance (and their misogyny). i am pan, but i really respected that being shown in this book, because i sadly do think that is a reality for so many people who aren’t interested in men romantically or sexually and it should be talked about (and unlearned) more.
overall, i just really am happy this book exists for many reasons. i loved the sapphic romance and seeing these two girls heal and realize that they deserve good and safe things, maybe even with the unconditional help and support from one another. and i also really respected what the author did with these darker themes and the helplessness people often feel. i'm not saying this was a perfect book by any means, but i am thankful for it and i really hope this author writes more sapphic romance in the future, because i will be preordering.
trigger + content warnings: rape and sexual assault (on page, many different depictions, and talked about through the entirety of this book), not being believed after sa, predatory behavior, drugging, vomit, misogyny, snakes, blood, bullying, child abuse mentions, abusive parents, graphic physical abuse, ptsd, nightmares, harry potter mentions, torture, gore, violence, homophobia (in a negative light always), use of slur for lesbians, suicidal thoughts in past, murder
this is such a hard book to rate and review, because i truly loved so much of it. the characters, the set up, the setting, the messages and themes, evthis is such a hard book to rate and review, because i truly loved so much of it. the characters, the set up, the setting, the messages and themes, even the writing was so perfect for me. But the plot of this? oh, friends, i was just unable to be captivated by it. i really found myself a bit bored while reading, and while waiting for these things i loved to make a plot that i equally loved, but sadly it just never happened.
this is a story about two elven sisters, one blessed with battle and one blessed with prophecy, and their journey discovering that the fae are real when they are banished from their elven homeland. we get to see the underground world of the fae, their bonded animal companions, a really cool tree of souls, and the different magic they are able to harness. And then a murder mystery plotline also comes about while these sisters are trying to survive and learn a history that has been hidden from them.
again, there was so much good in this. It truly breaks my heart to give this a three star. And i promise i will read more from this author in the future.
trigger + content warnings: battle, war, blood, children soldiers, talk of selling children / human trafficking, slavery, illness, a lot of talk of loss of a parent in past, graphic animal deaths also involving skinning, violence, gore, torture, captivity, brief hospital setting, murder, and death.
the honey witch is about a girl who is about to take up her grandmother’s legacy being, you guessed it, thARC provided by Orbit - thank you so much !!
the honey witch is about a girl who is about to take up her grandmother’s legacy being, you guessed it, the next honey witch on her island. every eldest daughter in her family had the potential to be a witch, if they so do choose it. we follow our main character (and the eldest daughter), marigold, as she is healing and figuring out what she wants her life to look like, versus the life that society has always told her life should look like. and we are alongside marigold as she is learning her new potion making abilities, while also trying to prove to someone that witchcraft is very real.
this is a really hard book to rate and talk about, because i just never felt connected to the story itself, or the characters, or anything going on with the plot, but i can also recognize that this book had a lot of good in it, that did really mean a lot to me. i mean, first off, sapphic cottagecore vibes, with a queer beekeeper who is learning things from spellbooks her grandmother left her, who is also healing from her past and trying to have a healthy relationship with her friends and family in the present. like, a lot of good! a lot of stuff i will always recommend to you guys!! I just wish i could have connected more with the actual story and plot and not just the themes and concepts.
i also really loved the queer representation in this book, and even though no titles are actually given, i personally feel like the representation of bi, pan, and lesbian was really beautifully done. also, there is a tattoo scene in this book that is truly one of the hottest things i’ve ever read in my entire life. ahhh, friends - i recommend this book just because i want it to succeed and i want more stories from sydney j. shields, and more chances to fall in love with her books completely.
cws from the author at the start of this book: Tattooing/Needles, Burns, Blood/Injuries, Sex, House fire, Bee stings, Loss of a grandparent, Death/Grief, Discussions of infertility, A woman seeks aid of the honey witch for treatment of her miscarriage
other tw/cw i wrote down: mention and talk of abusive and predatory relationship in past, caretaking for a loved one, loss of parents in past, abandonment, fire, blood, vomit
i feel like… if more people knew that this book is sapphic then more people would pick it up. maybe people don’t want to say that because it has sapphi feel like… if more people knew that this book is sapphic then more people would pick it up. maybe people don’t want to say that because it has sapphics doing bad things, but there are sapphics doing good things too… so i don’t know. but i was truly bamboozled (in the best way) when i opened this up and realized! and how much of a discussion on comphet, and how that can make figuring out your sexuality harder to figure out/accept, were held within these pages!
but this is a mystery thriller about a (you guessed it) writing retreat, where four people are invited each year to write a story alongside a famous author who has quite the following. yet this year, there are going to be five attendees, one being our main character and one being her ex best friend. the retreat is held at a very isolated victorian mansion in the winter, and our aspiring writers have no connection to the outside world. But when one of the other attendees go missing, the mystery really begins.
everything i typed above is the reason i picked this up, and truly i had such a good time with this. i never wanted to put it down, i loved the setting, and i was really enthralled by our main character and her mind. But this is really a discussion on how society makes women competitive with each other in all aspects of life, but especially with achievements. how the world makes women feel like there isn’t enough room for multiples, you have to be singularly the best. And then when you add everything i said in the first paragraph, about sexuality and trying to figure that out in a world that automatically makes this inhospitable environment… this was a really thought provoking book and i really was very impressed by this debut. I think this is my favorite thriller of the year, and i really recommend it.
trigger + content warnings: anxiety, panic attacks, blood, intrusive thoughts, mention of child abuse in past, ptsd, child abandonment + neglect in past, a few mentions of the holocaust and n*zis, domestic abuse in past, brief homophobia in past, talk of suicide, mention of cancer, mention of loss of a loved one, gun violence, gaslighting, manipulation, missing person, unwanted + unknowing filming happening, captivity, talk of aids, racism, sexism, drugging, mention of bullying and harassment in past, and dubious consent in a sexual encounter
even though i did not love this, i think i have finally recognized that i’m just not this type of horror reader. i love anything speculative, anythingeven though i did not love this, i think i have finally recognized that i’m just not this type of horror reader. i love anything speculative, anything paranormal, but actual murders/slasher-like stories? they just don’t work for me, they have never worked for me, and this one also did not work for me. and if a sapphic cottagecore one didn’t work for me, i fear just none ever will. so i really implore you to look at other reviews if this book sounds good to you - here are some of my faves: gabby, genesee, cassidy
but yeah! sapphic, cottagecore, two girls meeting at a farmers market, but something sinister is always looming in the background. our main character is an assistant professor who has finally moved from the big city after a bad breakup. she is very lonely, very isolated, and trying to find a bit of happiness despite some major trust issues. i felt like this book was told in a satirical way, where the author is very aware and letting you know how pretentious rosemary is, and how she is just ignoring every red flag left, right, and center. yet, i also thought it was exploring themes of not wanting to see you are in an abusive relationship, and wanting to believe your partner so badly that you will very much be hurting yourself in the process by ignoring their abuse. and that’s important and something that i think can be hard to see, especially in your 20s and you’re leaving the only life you’ve ever really known, on top of having emotionally abusive family situations who have normalized abuse for you.
again, sadly, this just didn’t work for me, i think mostly because i just knew what was happening and for some reason having to watch it play out was just not as enjoyable as i wished it was. It really did feel like the 200 pages did go quickly and i was invested enough, maybe hoping a different twist would come and change the trajectory of the very obvious plot, but i never wanted to put the book down! and i will also say the very end of this book was actually insane and i let out the biggest gasp i didn’t know i was holding lol. i just kind of wish we had a moment like that in the middle of the story, and then the last half could have felt fresher and like there were more possibilities. not to be spoilery, but i was highkey hoping the roles would be reversed at the midway point, but alas! regardless, i hope if you pick this one up that you enjoy it! happy reading, and happy trying to enjoy eating charcuterie boards with meat after this one, friends!
trigger + content warnings: a lot of talk of body image, mention of infidelity, mention of loss of a father in the past, abandonment, missing person mention, abusive guardian in past, child abuse in past, animal cruelty + animal death (racoon), drinking, throwing up, unwanted videos being taken, one sentence mention/insinuation of pictures of underage children taken at a pool with them unknowing in the past, unknowing (and knowing) cannibalism, gaslighting, abuse in a relationship, abduction, captivity, amputation, violence, torture, gore
“Her conviction, born of long days and longer nights, was that if the world contained magic at all, then it could not also contain their war.”
the warm hands of ghosts is a story set during world war 1, following a combat nurse who has recently returned home after the hospital she was working at was bombed. now, back in halifax canada, another explosion has happened and all she has left is her brother, who is still in german occupied france fighting in the forbidden zone. but when a package reaches her with some of his items and a note saying he is missing, she knows she must get back to france and see if she can find out any information about the only person she has left in this world. And a beautiful story, within two stories, is crafted about love, faith, and sacrifice as we switch perspective of these two siblings encountering a force this world has always known. (and the speculative element involving a magical inn that is described as a “faerie revels that end at sunrise”? yeah, 11/10 for me and my reading wheelhouse.)
i know a lot of you were really curious about my thoughts on this book, because the winternight trilogy is one of my favorite stories, and it really does mean a great deal to me. comparing that to this book feels so impossible, because the stories are so vastly differently, but i still really enjoyed this book and was completely swept away by katherine arden’s prose and storycrafting and heart.
i am just not the biggest historical reader, and i am also not the biggest fan of reading war stories, but i knew if anyone could make me enjoy a story with a backdrop like this, it would be katherine arden. but i did find myself very much enjoying laura’s pov of traveling and healing and discovering what was going on way more than freddies trapped within this war pov (which seems to be a very not popular opinion according to early reviews)! but even despite this book being very catered not to my tastes, there is just something so magical about katherine’s writing, and ability to tell a story. and the way she handled the different evils in this book was really perfect in my opinion. plus, you all know i love a good big sister and little brother story always!
i really don’t want to give away too much of the plot, because it really is cool to discover everything right alongside laura and freddie, but my favorite part of this book is actually the title. just this idea sparking that our own hands can become unusable because of the brutal acts of men (and how women are trying to heal from many of those acts against all odds), and how we can be having our hands guided by ghosts (some ghosts, some angels, some… a little bit of dark entities) was just really thought provoking and so very profound to me. very very galaxy brain. also the theme of how it is easier to blame one person, one thing, rather than a completely broken system that needs to be dismantled and rebuilt. i know this is a world war 1 story, but it feels extra heartbreaking how much of this felt so very relevant in 2024. maybe we need our hands guided a lot more by ghosts and not leaders who still don’t want to view human lives equally 100 years later.
“It was so much easier to hate a man than a system: vast, inhuman, bloodstained.”
this book also puts a very heavy emphasis on hope and how important it is to have a north star to keep that hope alive, keep you having faith, making it easier for you to believe in something and maybe, in turn, believe in yourself. This book really showcases that in a lot of ways - through anger, though sacrifice, though a never waning belief of hope back in that very same person. And also shows the beauty of realizing that you are able to hope in something new, which can also be a safe harbor when the world feels unnavigable by yourself.
also this book has a very big central theme of pairings within the characters. This old and new world that so many of these characters fall into and you can see them having a harder or easier time depending on what way they fall. i feel we (americans) are taught around 8th grade the literary juxtaposition of the 20s and of old and new with gatsby (and at such an annoying length), but this really made me think that maybe this was a heightened view that people were really discussing and feeling during and after the great war (pre jazz era/roaring twenties… listen, i am an sff reader and reviewer not a historical one hahaha but this really was thought provoking for me). but i just really love the element of pairings and how everyone kind of has a co-something counterpart within this story as well. i enjoy it as a reader and also as a type a virgo.
okay i think i am finally able to let you in on the secret reading of this book (i can’t even believe i am about to type this!) I was able to have the opportunity to buddy read this with katherine arden (and a bunch of amazing booksellers and book content creators!) and the amount of research and respect and heart that she put into this novel is so very felt, but i really was lucky enough to experience that so much deeper. i was speechless at how much she knew and how much she dug deeper to learn so many personal stories of families during this time. it allowed me to have an even deeper level of empathy and just taught me so much in regard to understanding what life was really like during this time period all around the world.
i also want to let you know because this was such a magical experience for me, there could potentially be some bias going on, or simply that i just read this book with a different lens compared to if i read it all by myself. You know, it feels a little fated to even write this because the reason i picked up the bear and the nightingale in 2017 was because it was gifted to me by the goodreads staff, which they all wrote sweet things in, and it is forever one of my favorite books in my collection. so maybe i am just destined to have really unique reading experiences with katherin arden.
overall, this was a really heartfelt story and an entire experience that meant a lot to me. it was a true honor reading this, and laura is a character who will stay in my heart forever. i absolutely am already begging for whatever katherine arden does next and this book really helped solidify her as a favorite author of all time.
trigger + content warnings: the whole setting being world war 1, a constant talk and imagery of war, halifax harbor explosion, battle of passchendaele mentions, mentions of chemical gassing warfare, prisoner of war, death, murder, gun violence, so many hospital settings, violence, gore, blood, blood transfusions, needles, surgery, talk of medical conditions and illness constantly, missing loved one, a lot of talk of loss of loved ones (including parents, children, partners, friends), captivity, claustrophobic scenes, extreme ptsd, extreme nightmares, smoking and drinking, crowd crush scene, talk of suicide, suicide ideation.
“The world starts with a story. So do dynasties and eras and wars. So does love, and so does revenge. Everything starts with a story.”
i really love nghi vo and everything she creates, but this series takes up an extra big space in my heart. This series is all about story telling, and we follow cleric chih who is in the middle of documenting a new tale for us in this fifth installment. this novella feels very different than the rest, and i will let you know why in the next paragraph - but i highly recommend you don’t read it until after you’ve read the last page (and maybe even the acknowledgements - that made me tear up at the very end!!) but the bare bones of this story is that chih is traveling with the pham family to doi cao, a walled city with many stories of its own, where they are going to be having wedding negotiations with the lord of the city. chih becomes very close with the bride to be, and together they start to explore the grounds of what could be her new home, but there is also a mystery of lord guo, and his maybe cursed son, and whatever else lurks in the shadows.
that really is all you need to know, but the reason this story got a five star from me is because it really did something bold and different and really left me impressed. because ultimately, this is a story about lies and deception, and how sometimes people who portray themselves as docile and innocent can be the ones who hurt you the most. this really is a story about monsters, and how they come in many, many forms. this also touches on how people who wrong you will really have the audacity to be upset that you’re upset they wronged you. this 100 page story had better twists than 500 page mystery thrillers out there, and i am just very thankful for every sentence of magic nghi vo weaves.
trigger + content warnings: blood, spider mentions, mention of sickness in past (also regarding a child), captivity, drugging (sleep), power dynamic situations, manipulation, death, murder, talk of poisoning, abuse, body horror, violence
“It was the first time I thought about how strange it was that the thing I spent all my time doing belonged to a culture that wasn't mine. But my p
“It was the first time I thought about how strange it was that the thing I spent all my time doing belonged to a culture that wasn't mine. But my parents were the ones who taught me piano. It is just as much a part of my blood as it is hers.”
oh friends, i really thought this was going to be a five star at first! the writing is so atmospheric and enchanting and harrowing and just... it's perfect. and i still really enjoyed the story as well! the themes of connection and belonging in two different worlds constantly were so loud and heartfelt. i know a lot of younger diaspora people will find so much with these pages, both good and bad but very real and seen. there were multiple parts of this story that made me cry and feel so many things simultaneously.
the end was just too wild for me. maybe i'm too much of a horror new reader, but i just couldn't. i, very heartbreakingly, loved the metaphor at the end too, but i just ended up not loving the story as a whole as much as i hoped for when starting. i still highly recommend this debut with my whole heart and i am very happy that i was able to read it.
trigger and content warnings (some of these could be plot spoilers so please use caution): suicidal thoughts, depression, ptsd, anxiety, grief, racism, colorism, talk of labor camps in past, extreme bullying in past, disordered eating and a lot of descriptions of disordered eating thoughts, hospitalization of loved ones, hospital setting, loss of parents, loss of a loved one, animal abuse, animal testing, animal deaths, human experimentations, sexual assault, sexual abuse, grooming, predatory behavior, drugging, forced impregnation, kind of bestiality maybe idk, cannibalism, lots of descriptions of worms and slugs and spiders and crabs, blood, death, seizures, and just lots of body horror things!
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