Lady Of The Lake is a lovely, 6-piece poem by Sir Walter Scott. This poetic …
Review of 'The Lady of the Lake' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
For a long while, this book skirted the line between Problematic and Important, only to eventually settle firmly on Problematic.
The book's intention is not just to tell a story, but also to make the reader more aware of and empathetic towards schizophrenic people.
However, in order to do this, the author creates an image of an Acceptable schizophrenic person - white, straight, cis, young, talented, never has violent thoughts, never has acted violently.
This image is in the book often compared to the "really crazy" and "dangerous" people who do have violent thoughts, act violently, and apparently need to be institutionalised for it. This directly harms schizophrenic people who do not fit the book's image of an Acceptable schizophrenic person.
It's a Cinderella story of the boy who gets mistreated by his awful mother and her awful boyfriend and his daughter and, later, pretty much a whole town.
But …
For a long while, this book skirted the line between Problematic and Important, only to eventually settle firmly on Problematic.
The book's intention is not just to tell a story, but also to make the reader more aware of and empathetic towards schizophrenic people.
However, in order to do this, the author creates an image of an Acceptable schizophrenic person - white, straight, cis, young, talented, never has violent thoughts, never has acted violently.
This image is in the book often compared to the "really crazy" and "dangerous" people who do have violent thoughts, act violently, and apparently need to be institutionalised for it. This directly harms schizophrenic people who do not fit the book's image of an Acceptable schizophrenic person.
It's a Cinderella story of the boy who gets mistreated by his awful mother and her awful boyfriend and his daughter and, later, pretty much a whole town.
But because he's an art genius he ultimately finds a place where everyone loves him and protects him, and he doesn't have to do anything for it.
He doesn't have any character development other than switching girlfriends. Nothing in his life seems to be his own decisions, he barely gets a say in where his own story is headed.
Basically he just got lucky that there were well-meaning abled, neurotypical people around him who made his life better, because he's presented as completely incapable of doing anything on his own or making any independent decisions.
But that's not all!
The book is also terribly white.
Yes, there are some Latinx characters, and some others whose race doesn't get described, but it's a white, privileged perspective nonetheless.
At one point the main character is subjected to police brutality and later on comes the sentence "cops don't like white people either" which.. okay, it's true, but if you just put this sentence down without discussing it further, you imply that there is no racial bias in police brutality. You brush away decades, centuries of activism centering on this racial bias.
And just to top it off, the author makes "the biggest dyke" fall in love with the cis male main character. Come on.
Yes, we need bisexual representation, it would be nice to actually get that, but you can't just go and make a character Definitely Lesbian and then show to all your readers that that doesn't mean she's not interested in men! It just means they need to be Very Special for her to get interested!
This is such a harmful trope.
And have I mentioned that the drama in the book gets kicked off by a false rape accusation? Yep. And through one of the characters, we learn that false rape accusations are the reason why nobody ever believes actual rape victims. Which is just another harmful misconception.
Bottom line, this book is full of harmful tropes and other issues and it does not accomplish what it was meant to. I really wish I hadn't spent money on it because it's not worth it.
A captivating story set in a creatively designed world that doesn't follow any of the common tropes for worldbuilding.
A fantasy world where queer and trans characters are just naturally who they are. This alone makes the book exceptional but on top of that it's also just a good book.
This story is one that leaves the readers with more questions than answers. It highlights the ambivalence of human actions and the ways their paths change even if their goals stay the same.
CNs for death, murder, and hella queer sex scenes.
Review of 'Sunbolt (The Sunbolt Chronicles)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A fascinating book and the promising start of an epic fantasy story.
The intricately designed world is presented with amazing visual descriptions that immerse the reader in the images of a world full of dangers and wonders and people who all have their own motivations and histories.
CNs for - racial aggression (as part of the story, author is a POC) - torture - attempted sexual assault - death, murder
Review of 'Memories of Ash (The Sunbolt Chronicles Book 2)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A mind-blowing trip through the most varied fantasy world I've ever read.
While we follow the protagonist through several parts of her world, we get to know different cultures and the way they interact with each other, with magic and with the magical creatures that inhabit this world.
Through the eyes of the protagonist we get to know different people, we learn about the roles they play and their motivations.
Detailed descriptions allow the reader to visualise every scene in their mind as if they were part of it without becoming excessive or distracting from the plot.
This books doesn't take any shortcuts. The characters and their motivations are as complex and often ambivalent as the world in which they live.
Where the first book was short, this one makes up for being a lot longer.
I cannot wait for the next book of this series. This is hands down …
A mind-blowing trip through the most varied fantasy world I've ever read.
While we follow the protagonist through several parts of her world, we get to know different cultures and the way they interact with each other, with magic and with the magical creatures that inhabit this world.
Through the eyes of the protagonist we get to know different people, we learn about the roles they play and their motivations.
Detailed descriptions allow the reader to visualise every scene in their mind as if they were part of it without becoming excessive or distracting from the plot.
This books doesn't take any shortcuts. The characters and their motivations are as complex and often ambivalent as the world in which they live.
Where the first book was short, this one makes up for being a lot longer.
I cannot wait for the next book of this series. This is hands down one of the best books I've ever read.
In 1919 Boston, best friends Corinne and Ada perform illegally as illusionists in an infamous …
Review of 'Iron cast' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
An intriguing story taking place in 1919, based on the concept: What would happen if there were people with magical abilities, but it was considered an illness?
The first third or so of the book I wasn't sure if this was maybe just a super chaotic story going nowhere but then it really picked up the pace and for the last quarter I was pretty much constantly crying.
The writing is captivating, although sometimes the narration conducts interesting revelations in a less interesting way. But once the plot is firmly established, it's like the story unravels on its own, taking surprising turns and dragging the reader through a roller-coaster of emotions.
The main relationship of the story is a friendship between 2 young women, one Black and one white.
As it is set in the US in 1919, the era's racism gets brushed from the Black character's view a few …
An intriguing story taking place in 1919, based on the concept: What would happen if there were people with magical abilities, but it was considered an illness?
The first third or so of the book I wasn't sure if this was maybe just a super chaotic story going nowhere but then it really picked up the pace and for the last quarter I was pretty much constantly crying.
The writing is captivating, although sometimes the narration conducts interesting revelations in a less interesting way. But once the plot is firmly established, it's like the story unravels on its own, taking surprising turns and dragging the reader through a roller-coaster of emotions.
The main relationship of the story is a friendship between 2 young women, one Black and one white.
As it is set in the US in 1919, the era's racism gets brushed from the Black character's view a few times, but it is not a major plot point.
There are gay side characters.
Content warnings for torture, medical torture, police violence, death, murder and casual ableist language.
It started out so interesting. And then, ableism. And more ableism. And then I gave up. No, being unable to walk is not the end of the world... It's sad. I would have loved to enjoy it. Good physics. But the ableism just hit me so bad, I couldn't go on.
Yes, you notice that it's not been professionally edited, there are some spelling and formatting errors and other small imperfections, but that doesn't take away from the fun of reading it.
There's LOTS of disabled characters, NO ableism, lots of social commentary on disability and ableism. The characters are loveable, surprising and have depth. It's also definitely suitable for children.
