dreadthemad's reviews
434 reviews

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Hell Followed With Us is yet another hit in the queer, apocalyptic, body horror genre and I hope it isn’t the last of its kind. It seems like such a niche kind of story but I’ve read at least 4 or more books with these concepts, yet every one has managed to be unique. I found the representation in this one to be really refreshing, especially the portrayal of Benji’s trans identity and Nick’s autism. The gore crazy monsters were definitely my favourite aspect, I would love to see scenes from this book get animated, especially the ending action sequence. The only trouble I had whilst reading it was the overly religious language and big scripture dumps, but I understand that’s a purely personal thing since I’m an atheist. Being forced to pray as a kid can sure make you phobic of Biblical verses. I can’t wait to read more horror books in the future, any recs would be appreciated! 🌿🖤🌿
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

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adventurous mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

🖤King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

This makes for the 6th book in the Grishaverse series, taking place roughly a year after Six of Crows and I believe 3 years after the events of Ruin and Rising. I’ve got to say, this reminded me of how much I love Bardugo’s world-building and characters. I now have a real craving to reread Six of Crows, and having Nina as a key player in this opened up a new, potentially darker branch of her character arc. I also enjoyed exploring Zoya and Nikolai as main characters, and Zoya was probably my favourite KOS protagonist. King of Scars although slow to the draw did well to redevelop fun side characters from the trilogy into deeper renditions of themselves. My one gripe was the pacing of the novel. It took a long time for the plot to fully unfold and although it had some pretty glorious plot twists I hope the sequel is much quicker. All in all, it is not the failure many people make it out to be, but I can’t deny it lacks the overwhelming charm of SOC. 
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare

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

4.0

Clare’s Shadowhunter series has been in my life for a while now. I have read a couple of books in this series, some I thought were okay, some bad and some excellent. The Infernal Devices has been my favourite so far and Ghosts of the Shadow Market felt like a nice add-on to that story, whilst it also expanded on other TMI and TDA plots. I DNF’d The Dark Artifices after book 1 but the wicked powers series sounds appealing to me. I would need to read the rest of TDA to understand it, so maybe i’ll try it again someday. 🌿🌻
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was a solid sequel to the book Dune, I’m interested to see how they adapt it in the films. Because it was shorter it also felt more digestible. I was most interested by Alia’s presence in this one. I also liked seeing the imperfections of Paul who has caused mass destruction for the universe, it gives a good warning of how power will corrupt everyone.🌿🌻
Hannibal by Thomas Harris

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Orpheus Builds A Girl by Heather Parry

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

AFTG never fails to get me tangled up in all of its drama and messy characters. Jean was so sad and fascinating to read about. Seeing the foxes again made me want to reread the trilogy even though I am not long after finishing it. I’m excited for the rest of the series. I think I would have fun reading Sakavic’s shopping list at this point. 🖤💛
You've Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0