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mweis's reviews
1249 reviews
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire
3.25
*I received an audio review copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear gives us Nadya’s backstory and like many of the entries in this series it tackles some hard topics. Nadya is a Russian orphan who has a missing limb and gets adopted by a Christian couple in the United States, and I think McGuire does a great job of discussing adoption and disability with nuance and care. I enjoyed this book while I read it, but I don’t think it’s one that will stick with me. Maybe that’s because I found it too short but I also don’t think we need more pages to get Nadya’s backstory because we’ve met her before.
Overall, I think this was a solid entry in the series and I think it’s a good example of what the series is doing so I do recommend it if you’ve enjoyed in the past, or it could be a good starting point as the series order isn’t necessarily linear.
I tend to read the series via audiobook, and noticed that this narrator (Barrie Kreinik) is new to the series, but I have heard her narration in the past and I found her to be quite competent here.
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear gives us Nadya’s backstory and like many of the entries in this series it tackles some hard topics. Nadya is a Russian orphan who has a missing limb and gets adopted by a Christian couple in the United States, and I think McGuire does a great job of discussing adoption and disability with nuance and care. I enjoyed this book while I read it, but I don’t think it’s one that will stick with me. Maybe that’s because I found it too short but I also don’t think we need more pages to get Nadya’s backstory because we’ve met her before.
Overall, I think this was a solid entry in the series and I think it’s a good example of what the series is doing so I do recommend it if you’ve enjoyed in the past, or it could be a good starting point as the series order isn’t necessarily linear.
I tend to read the series via audiobook, and noticed that this narrator (Barrie Kreinik) is new to the series, but I have heard her narration in the past and I found her to be quite competent here.
Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire by Jennifer Bing, Mike Merryman-Lotze, Jehad Abusalim
4.0
*I received an audio review copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
This is a powerful collection of essays written by Palestinian (and specifically by Palestinians from Gaza) writers and artists discussing the history of Gaza and modern life there. There are discussions about the restriction of movement and the limited access to medical supplies and education/books. The collection is harrowing and so important.
The audio narration by Amin El Gamal and Hanne Rickert was well done, though I found having an ebook copy (generously made free by the publisher in October 2023) to go back to while listening was helpful. Whether via audio or digitally or physically, I highly recommend this collection!
This is a powerful collection of essays written by Palestinian (and specifically by Palestinians from Gaza) writers and artists discussing the history of Gaza and modern life there. There are discussions about the restriction of movement and the limited access to medical supplies and education/books. The collection is harrowing and so important.
The audio narration by Amin El Gamal and Hanne Rickert was well done, though I found having an ebook copy (generously made free by the publisher in October 2023) to go back to while listening was helpful. Whether via audio or digitally or physically, I highly recommend this collection!
All We Were Promised by Ashton Lattimore
2.5
*I received an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I wanted to love this and I'm really sad I didn't. All We Were Promised is a debut historical fiction novel that centers three Black women in 1830s Philadelphia. Charlotte is an escaped slave who lives as a maid to her white-passing father. Her friend Nell is a budding abolitionist from the wealthy Black elite of Philadelphia, and Evie is a friend from the plantation she ran from who is in the city with their previous owner.
There is a lot to love here and bones of such a fantastic story. All three protagonists highlight different experiences within the Black community and the time period and location are fascinating. Lattimore does a great job of showing how divided the country was in the lead up to the Civil War and that the issue of slavery (and Black equality) was not as cut and dry as "North = abolition, South = slavery".
Unfortunately, I really struggled with the writing and the pacing. Over halfway through the book, we were still following Charlotte and Nell as they tried to come up with a plan to save Evie. There are situations where I don't mind a plot that seems to meander or take its time getting somewhere, but that was not the case here, probably because we kept getting repetition of the same kind of details. It wasn't even that we were getting too many tidbits of "real" history, it was just that the same thoughts and character motivations kept getting repeated as if Lattimore didn't trust the reader to remember or to "get it" the first time.
While I didn't love this, I seem to be in the minority of reviewers so I think it's worth a shot if it sounds interesting to you, and I did like the concept enough to not write off whatever Lattimore publishes next to see if the writing and pacing complaints I had were simply because it's a debut.
The author's note is worth a read. I definitely did not expect Lattimore's inspiration to be a song from Les Misérables but after she said that I could definitely see it and I loved seeing the real-life inspirations behind this book.
I wanted to love this and I'm really sad I didn't. All We Were Promised is a debut historical fiction novel that centers three Black women in 1830s Philadelphia. Charlotte is an escaped slave who lives as a maid to her white-passing father. Her friend Nell is a budding abolitionist from the wealthy Black elite of Philadelphia, and Evie is a friend from the plantation she ran from who is in the city with their previous owner.
There is a lot to love here and bones of such a fantastic story. All three protagonists highlight different experiences within the Black community and the time period and location are fascinating. Lattimore does a great job of showing how divided the country was in the lead up to the Civil War and that the issue of slavery (and Black equality) was not as cut and dry as "North = abolition, South = slavery".
Unfortunately, I really struggled with the writing and the pacing. Over halfway through the book, we were still following Charlotte and Nell as they tried to come up with a plan to save Evie. There are situations where I don't mind a plot that seems to meander or take its time getting somewhere, but that was not the case here, probably because we kept getting repetition of the same kind of details. It wasn't even that we were getting too many tidbits of "real" history, it was just that the same thoughts and character motivations kept getting repeated as if Lattimore didn't trust the reader to remember or to "get it" the first time.
While I didn't love this, I seem to be in the minority of reviewers so I think it's worth a shot if it sounds interesting to you, and I did like the concept enough to not write off whatever Lattimore publishes next to see if the writing and pacing complaints I had were simply because it's a debut.
The author's note is worth a read. I definitely did not expect Lattimore's inspiration to be a song from Les Misérables but after she said that I could definitely see it and I loved seeing the real-life inspirations behind this book.
Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown
5.0
*I received an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I had started this book a couple of years ago but was not in a headspace that would have allowed me to appreciate it to the fullest extent so I put it on the backburner and I am glad that I waited until I could fully appreciate it.
Much like Angela Chen's Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex, Sherronda J. Brown explores what it means to be asexual in modern society and talks about how A-spec people are often viewed as not straight enough in straight communities but also not queer enough in queer communities. Where this book goes even further than Ace on is in showing how acephobia is connected to anti-Blackness and white supremacy. The intersectionality is an important one to discuss because as Brown (and others) have rightfully called out, the white queer rarely thinks about how their whiteness still privileges them.
I want to see more scholarship on a variety of queer identities, and I am anxious to see how discussions of asexuality and compulsory sexuality play into the rise of homophobia and greater divisiveness surrounding representation in media.
This book is packed with a ton of information yet it never feels dense, and it's laid out in a way that allows for each chapter to be read independently or in bite size chunks. I purchased the audiobook because I tend to prefer consuming my nonfiction in audio format; however, I will absolutely be picking up a physical copy to tab and reference. I especially found the conversation around chrononormativity very fascinating, especially as I reach an age where I'm noticing more and more people not falling into the "standard" lifepath trajectory.
All that to say, I'm glad I finally finished this book and I highly recommend it to anyone even if they are not Black and/or Ace!
I had started this book a couple of years ago but was not in a headspace that would have allowed me to appreciate it to the fullest extent so I put it on the backburner and I am glad that I waited until I could fully appreciate it.
Much like Angela Chen's Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex, Sherronda J. Brown explores what it means to be asexual in modern society and talks about how A-spec people are often viewed as not straight enough in straight communities but also not queer enough in queer communities. Where this book goes even further than Ace on is in showing how acephobia is connected to anti-Blackness and white supremacy. The intersectionality is an important one to discuss because as Brown (and others) have rightfully called out, the white queer rarely thinks about how their whiteness still privileges them.
I want to see more scholarship on a variety of queer identities, and I am anxious to see how discussions of asexuality and compulsory sexuality play into the rise of homophobia and greater divisiveness surrounding representation in media.
This book is packed with a ton of information yet it never feels dense, and it's laid out in a way that allows for each chapter to be read independently or in bite size chunks. I purchased the audiobook because I tend to prefer consuming my nonfiction in audio format; however, I will absolutely be picking up a physical copy to tab and reference. I especially found the conversation around chrononormativity very fascinating, especially as I reach an age where I'm noticing more and more people not falling into the "standard" lifepath trajectory.
All that to say, I'm glad I finally finished this book and I highly recommend it to anyone even if they are not Black and/or Ace!
The Brightness Between Us by Eliot Schrefer
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I finally read The Darkness Outside Us earlier this year and it absolutely blew me away and basically immediately became a favorite of the year if not all time. By the time I read the first book, I knew this surprise sequel had been announced, but I was still a bit hesitant going into it because I thought the first one stood well on its own. But much like Somewhere Beyond the Sea, after a bit of a lull to get into the book I found myself totally immersed and so happy the author chose to continue the series!
When I finished the Part 1, my thoughts were basically "okay I like seeing Ambrose and Kodiak as adults with children and it's interesting to see how they've adapted to life on Minerva but I'm not sure why this felt necessary." But much like its predecessor, I hit the 50% mark and proceeded to repeat what the heck for the entirety of the last half.
In around 450 pages of jumps between Ambrose and Kodiak's children to pre-launch Ambrose and Kodiak, Eliot Schrefer completely tears his readers' hearts out and I will not be the same after reading it. Where TDOU was a sci-fi romance with some thriller vibes, TBBU is a pre-apocalyptic/dystopian that somehow feels cozy? I don't know how he does it but I need more, especially with that ending! TBBU does feel complete on its own but there is definitely room for a third book and I would love to see it.
I finally read The Darkness Outside Us earlier this year and it absolutely blew me away and basically immediately became a favorite of the year if not all time. By the time I read the first book, I knew this surprise sequel had been announced, but I was still a bit hesitant going into it because I thought the first one stood well on its own. But much like Somewhere Beyond the Sea, after a bit of a lull to get into the book I found myself totally immersed and so happy the author chose to continue the series!
When I finished the Part 1, my thoughts were basically "okay I like seeing Ambrose and Kodiak as adults with children and it's interesting to see how they've adapted to life on Minerva but I'm not sure why this felt necessary." But much like its predecessor, I hit the 50% mark and proceeded to repeat what the heck for the entirety of the last half.
In around 450 pages of jumps between Ambrose and Kodiak's children to pre-launch Ambrose and Kodiak, Eliot Schrefer completely tears his readers' hearts out and I will not be the same after reading it. Where TDOU was a sci-fi romance with some thriller vibes, TBBU is a pre-apocalyptic/dystopian that somehow feels cozy? I don't know how he does it but I need more, especially with that ending! TBBU does feel complete on its own but there is definitely room for a third book and I would love to see it.
Trajectory by Cole McCade
4.5
Joshi really pissed me off in this one but hey at least Malcolm and Yoon have found therapists that help them!