Jessica reviewed Don't Let the Forest In by Enrique Castells Pérez
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5 stars
Poetically written and compelling. I definitely cried.
Reviews and Comments
I read books sometimes. In my 30s.
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Jessica reviewed Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
The Basis for the Showtime® Original Series Starring Michael C. HallMeet Dexter Morgan, a polite …
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3 stars
Asexual serial killer with DID who is kind of a vigilante (but not really) and has to mask constantly (pretend to understand social etiquette).
Fun read, but it stumbled in the landing and I won't be reading the sequels.
Jessica reviewed Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey
Another Turn, and the deadly silver Threads began falling again. So the bold dragonriders took …
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3 stars
Dragonquest started off with even worse gender politics than Dragonflight, which was actually shocking because of how bad it was in that book. It's like McCaffrey decided she hadn't made it quite clear enough how patriarchal society was and needed to double down. However, the concept of a gender egalitarian society was mentioned. And in a way that hints that maybe it'll happen. Not in this book, though.
Luckily, the plot turned away from how much of an annoying, self-centered, power-hungry bitch Kylara is and towards more sci-fantasy elements and political intrigue between men. Sad when you are desperate for a story to stop centering women because of how misogynist it is, them not having as much to do with the plot is a relief.
The book kind of feels like an excuse to show off the world, rather than to tell a good story. And sure, the world is …
Dragonquest started off with even worse gender politics than Dragonflight, which was actually shocking because of how bad it was in that book. It's like McCaffrey decided she hadn't made it quite clear enough how patriarchal society was and needed to double down. However, the concept of a gender egalitarian society was mentioned. And in a way that hints that maybe it'll happen. Not in this book, though.
Luckily, the plot turned away from how much of an annoying, self-centered, power-hungry bitch Kylara is and towards more sci-fantasy elements and political intrigue between men. Sad when you are desperate for a story to stop centering women because of how misogynist it is, them not having as much to do with the plot is a relief.
The book kind of feels like an excuse to show off the world, rather than to tell a good story. And sure, the world is cool. But the characters are shallow and cliche, and their relationships are glossed over to focus on the tech and how a feudal society would handle it. Also cool. But even just focusing on the intrigue of Kylara and Meron, fleshing them out more to be less "greedy selfish man and greedy selfish woman fuck shit up" could have been a whole book.
Also, F'nor rapes Brekke. Book 1, F'lar rapes Lessa (but it's okay, she falls in love with him /s), book 2 F'nor rapes Brekke (but it's okay, he was the only person she wanted to bone and it was for her own good /s)... will Jaxom rape someone in book 3? I suppose we'll find out.
HOW CAN ONE GIRL SAVE AN ENTIRE WORLD?To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, …
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2 stars
I remember reading this series as a kid and loving it, but now I am an adult and can see how misogynist this book is. The women, other than the Wheyrwoman, do not ride dragons. They cook and clean, when they are mentioned at all. More women are riding dragons at the end, but that changes almost nothing. It's still only Queens flying, and they are segregated to their own unit.
The patriarchal bullshit doesn't stop there. The main character, a woman, has a mental breakdown because she knows that she will be shaken and yelled at by her partner when she returns from a trip he forbade her to take. And he does shake her and yell at her. "Never disobey me again." It's played for laughs. Earlier in the story he is literally committing the equivalent of spousal rape. He calls it such, and only wishes that the …
I remember reading this series as a kid and loving it, but now I am an adult and can see how misogynist this book is. The women, other than the Wheyrwoman, do not ride dragons. They cook and clean, when they are mentioned at all. More women are riding dragons at the end, but that changes almost nothing. It's still only Queens flying, and they are segregated to their own unit.
The patriarchal bullshit doesn't stop there. The main character, a woman, has a mental breakdown because she knows that she will be shaken and yelled at by her partner when she returns from a trip he forbade her to take. And he does shake her and yell at her. "Never disobey me again." It's played for laughs. Earlier in the story he is literally committing the equivalent of spousal rape. He calls it such, and only wishes that the main character would enjoy the sex.
The main plot is thin but acceptable. It feels like a deus ex machina, even though it isn't. The characters are flat, and there's no character development. Unless going from unwilling mate to willing mate counts as development (which you shouldn't, because it happened like a switch flipping).
Nostalgia and curiosity will drive me to read at least one of the sequels, but if I were picking this up fresh I wouldn't be willing to pick up the next one.
Jessica reviewed 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
1Q84 (いちきゅうはちよん, Ichi-Kyū-Hachi-Yon, stylized in the Japanese cover as "ichi-kew-hachi-yon") is a novel written by …
1Q84 is awful
1 star
DNF'd because it isn't good and I realized I was only 10% through. I couldn't take another bad Sexual conversation or pedophilic line of thought.
29 year old Tengo has an uncomfortably pedophilic perspective of a 17 year old.
Aomame has very awkward Sexual encounters. Sean Connery's head shape is mentioned many times.
There is a preoccupation with boob size and the shape of women's bodies.
And I quote:
His penis was in fact somewhat larger than normal, though not too large, as advertised. Aomame's expert handling soon made it big and hard. She took off her blouse and skirt.
"I know youre thinking my breasts are small," she said coldly as she looked down at him in her underwear. "You came through with a good-sized cock and all you get in return is these puny things. I bet you feel cheated."'
Jessica reviewed Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
An Extra Star For Gay Awe
4 stars
A very short read, I completed it in only a few hours. It's written in a way that also makes me feel like I have to hurry, I think it's stream of consciousness. There are no delineations between when speech starts and stops, and sometimes it's ambiguous who is talking because the characters' dialog is also unseparated by paragraph breaks.
I'd give it 3/5 but the protagonist is gay as hell so I'm giving it 4/5. That lesbian awe made the book 20% better.
Jessica reviewed The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Davidson
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4 stars
I've never read horror set in Texarkana before, so I kept forgetting it wasn't in Louisiana or Florida (because of the bog). A book full of vivid descriptions, and quite a bit of imagery that felt familiar in ways most books don't (duct tape patching cracked barstool seat covers, etc).
Jessica reviewed Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes …
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4 stars
Not as good as the prequel, but still pretty fun to read.
Jessica reviewed The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
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3 stars
The moral of this story is that if you have a friend who says deplorable things then you should shun them before they corrupt you or your other friends.
A very gay story of a very impressionable and stupid man.
The prose was very purple and also masterbatory at times, making me go cross-eyed trying to slog through those parts. There are racist descriptions, but luckily (hah) Oscar Wilde only discussed non‐white goy except in passing.
The book ends rather abruptly and unsatisfactorily.
Jessica reviewed What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
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3 stars
Entertaining, but thoroughly predictable. I definitely liked the ternary gender system.
Jessica reviewed Killashandra (Crystal Singer #2) by Anne McCaffrey
Killashandra is a novel by Anne McCaffrey published in 1985, the second novel in the …
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4 stars
"Killashandra" is much better than "Crystal Singer" (its prequel), but in a way that makes CS feel improved with new perspective. The titular character seems a lot less self-centered this go around, and a lot less bratty, and there is an unsubtle shift in personality as Killa learns what life is like after college, and then after learning that other people have feelings, too.
There's one bisexual in this book, and she's an evil tyrant, and also her sexuality is a blink and you miss it bit of dialogue.
I'm excited to begin Act 3.