#DNF review

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2023

#38 - Written in the Ashes, by K. Hollan Van Zandt

DNF Review

There's a type of historical fiction I enjoy, which clearly establishes the setting and context of the time while still caring about its characters and giving them the development they deserve.

This is not that type of historical fiction. This is the type that reads like a painstakingly researched paper for a high school history class, stuffed with details that don't enhance the story itself simply to prove that the research happened.

The characters are dolls for the plot to move around and abuse. Hannah, as the main character, has a little more depth than most--we do at least have her internal monologue and drive to escape her slavery to find her missing, maybe-dead father--but everyone else has at most an occupation and a single personality trait to define them, and the plot happens because it happens to them, not because of much they actually do.

[tommock]

I DNF'd Mistorn: Here's Why

Disclaimer: You asked for this. Let me start there. Don't get mad at me, Mistborn lover. If you clicked on this link, and that means you are taking the dagger into your own hand. The wound is self-inflicted!

I did not finish Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I know, I know, its actually called The Final Empire. The name Mistborn has stuck with so many readers for a reason, so I'll continue to use it as a shorthand. The book didn't work for me, but I think WHY it didn't work for me might be interesting to read about, especially for fellow authors.

If you have read and enjoyed the Mistborn books, or any work by Brandon Sanderson, I'm delighted. I want to applaud any work of fiction that brings people joy (so long as it or its author is not reprehensible in some way (he said, covering his ass)). I don't want you to think this is me taking shots at you or at Sanderson. I'm just talking about a work of fiction and what it did to my brain.

Believe me when I tell you I have no delusions about being some high-handed minister of good taste. You should see some of the anime I watch to destress at the end of a long day trying to be a self-published author, editor, and, well, just an ordinary semi-functioning human being.

I've read many, many books and loved them, only to come back to them later and find they were … less deserving of my matured tastes. Sometimes books meet us at the right time. If Mistborn was, or is, one such book for you, I would be a jerk and a fool if I tried to tell you that you were wrong for liking it. That isn't what this is. But, if you're at all curious why I didn't like it the way you did, here are my thoughts.

Instead of trying to construct some long elaborate essay, I've decided to present my reading notes as I was writing them. If you're at all familiar with my SPFBO9 opening reads thread, this is in a similar, though much protracted style. This is my travelogue of the first few chapters. If these notes are rough or feel stilted in places, I'm sorry. I DNF'd the book a few months ago, and I found in trying to clean up my notes that I was making up commentary to fill in gaps and I don't think that's fair. I've tried to provide some context where I could.

Pages referenced are from the first mass market edition, published August 2007 by Tor

My Notes:

Starts well enough. Interesting introduction to the fantastic elements of the environment (the ash fall) and the enslavement of the skaa. Some neat 2nd world titles “obligator,” etc.

Not great, not riveting, but competent introduction of world and one protagonist, Kelsier. He doesn't know what to do with Vin, though. Disconnect between the characters as we're told they are and their actions. Lacking coherent motivation.

(P.5)The slave that stands and stares defiantly sending a chill through the lord so-and-so is a bit melodramatic. Both actions struck me as over the top.

(writing note)…too many “of courses”

The writing is competent and descriptive. The Mist at night is another interesting setting detail.

(p.6) I immediately dislike Kelsier. “I’ll have to cure them of that (fear of the mist) some day.” This is has an unsympathetic arrogance about it. If this is also the man who stared defiantly at lord-so-and-so, hes blasé about endangering these people, and seems to look down on them, much like lord-so-and-so. I suspect this impression is not intentional. I suspect I’m supposed to think him strong and clever. We’ll see.

(7) rolling his eyes at these people. This seems intentional. But it’s also annoying.

(10) beatings beatings beatings. These “peasants” and their daily beatings. Did I mention the beatings? Their lives are harsh! There are beatings!

(‘) what is this talk about Tepper “leading” the skaa? Leading them how? They’re slaves! What decisions are they making? No, really. What is this forced little conflict? It’s pointless.

(‘) “How do you do that?” “What?” “Smile all the time” - there’s no reason for him to ask this. It’s unmotivated dialogue. How do you smile all the time? How? No. Why, sure. “You keep smiling. Is something about our home funny to you?”

(19-20, ch.1) I’m having trouble with Sandersons storytelling. This is coming across as heavy handed and simplistic. Here’s Vin. She was betrayed. There are betrayals. This boy who came to get her who’s nice enough will also betray her. But the ash is free…

I wonder if we’re going to slowly work through the alphabet section by section. Ash, then beatings and betrayal… who knows what could be next? Crime? I bet it’s crime.

Also - Reen’s sayings and betrayal. I think in general I find it a bit affected when we meet a character and they’re immediately thinking of their backstory … but that’s probably not fair of me. I think what comes across as affected is Sandersons execution. There’s a very light fiction - YA quality about Vin’s angsty introduction. I might have loved it if I read it at 14, but not now.

I’d like to think of an example of what would be more appealing to me - the introduction of a character with similar enough circumstances… Actually, Gideon the 9th might be a good example. We get to hear Gideon’s voice in the prose and the dialogue and get a strong sense of her character as well as the specific and very interesting world building details of how she got into the 9th house. Here, Reen’s betrayal is left completely unexplored, and so I wonder why bring it up at all except for that cheap YA punch in the gut of “my brother betrayed me and now I’m here.”

Maybe Sanderson felt some necessity to move faster here. He wanted to get to the city theiving … but it isn’t working for me, so obviously I think it was a mistake. Obviously he was hoping this would create a sense of anticipation that we would eventually find out HOW Vin’s brother betrayed her, but because he leads with it and then doesn’t explain it, it makes it seem like it doesn’t really matter HOW Vin was betrayed, what’s important is that she was betrayed and now she doesn’t trust anyone. It’s just a bit weak.

THE HEAVY HANDEDNESS (People being mean to Vin - her hard life) (21) the slap in the face (23) Theron looking Vin up and down - “eyes lingered on her … running down the length of her body. … She was hardly enticing (didn’t even look 16); some men preferred such women, however.” (24) “what do you know?” “Enough” - Vin hurts her, expositional dialogue about her brother’s debt and selling her to a whorehouse.

(25) fearing Vin would disappear in a scene she doesn’t have much to do during, we get these unnecessary interjections of her watching the interaction, followed by the explanation of Camon thinking Vin is his good luck charm. This should have been presented earlier, because it just interrupts the dialogue here. But also, it feels inaccurate after Vin made such a useful critique of Camon’s servants. She seems much more useful in other ways than a luck charm, and comfortable offering her criticism without the slightest hesitation.

This chapter ends rather abruptly and without much Go to it. Vin uses her Luck and gets our stuffy official to consider her boss’s mundane business proposal.

The notion that Camon brings Vin along because he thinks of her as his luck charm feels really thin, especially on a job like this where everyone has to look the part. Which raises an important question: what was Vin doing there? I mean literally. Why didn’t Camon have SOMETHING for her to do. Camon didn’t dress her up in any part, she didn’t have any kind of cover story as his daughter or nurse or anything. Just some kid in the room dressed … who knows how while important official business is discussed. She just floats somewhere, doing nothing, as far as anyone is concerned.

VIN’S MOTIVATION Where is it? What does she get out of making this work for Camon if he has no idea what she’s doing? Why is she avoiding him if this is such an important job? Why is she helping him at all?

The pieces are there, but Sanderson doesn’t put them together.

Camon should know about Vin’s ability to “smooth things over” in some capacity. This would give him a serious reason for her being there on this crucial job. Vin should be motivated to help him because if this lucrative job works out, it will go a long way towards paying off her brother’s debt. Now suddenly there is a sense of urgency for her instead of just having a bad time owned by a “crew leader” getting slapped around. The scam itself isn’t enough. Frankly, it’s kind of boring at this point. It’s a slow moving beurocratic swindle.

(32) Kelsier. Sanderson is doing a good job introducing some thieves’ cant here as Dockson and Kelsier are planning their job, talking about how they need a “Smoker.” Someone is a good Tineye. The loss of a man to the Steel Ministry underscores the mortal risk these men are taking. But … there’s something about all this crime play that feels a bit cute, like Sanderson had only a passing, generic understanding of (fictional) gangs/criminal organizations. He’s spent his world building energy on the fantasy aspects of the story - the dystopian Tolkien Lord Ruler and Steel Ministry, skaa, ashfalls, mist - but not on developing the criminal world of the characters, linguistically speaking. They’re all crews working on a job headed by a crew leader. This is the world we’re living in, most immediately, and yet it feels the most underdeveloped.

“Kelsier shook his head. ‘No. He’s a good Smoker, but he’s not a good enough man.’ Dockson smiled. ‘Not a good enough man to be on a THIEVING CREW … Kell, I have missed working with you.”

This stopped me dead. I laughed at the book and put my hand over my eyes. “Thieving crew” is just silly. It’s sixth grade D&D language, but even more ridiculous is the sentiment of Dockson’s statement: that character is somehow a moot point because they are criminals. It’s as if he’s saying: we’re breaking the law, so we’re the bad guys, and bad guys don’t work with “good men.”

Here we see Sanderson’s shallow understanding of the characters he’s portraying. They are stealing from slavers who exist in the service of a brutal, oppressive dictator. But put that aside, and consider we’ve just been told one of their ilk had been caught and beheaded by the Ministry. The risk these people are facing couldn’t be higher. Working with people they can trust, a stand up guy or a “good man,” would be one of the most important things to them. From their point of view a “good man” doesn’t mean a patron saint of the poor, but it means a hell of a lot. If a guy is a drunk who cheats on his wife, you can’t trust him not to turn on you. If he gambles too much, you can’t trust him not to gamble on your safety. He doesn’t keep his apartment clean, how can you trust him to be conscientious about keeping you alive. It all matters - even more so because he’s on a “thieving crew.”

Now, Sanderson probably didn’t give this line more than a moment's thought. He was writing fast and sailed right over it. But that’s exactly the problem. It gives the book a kind of childish, YA feeling.

(33) “Kelsier turned with curious eyes.” I’ve written lines like this, but I almost always revise them because I write about eyes too much. The point is his eyes aren’t curious, Kelsier is, and it shows on his face. I can’t picture curious eyes, and I’m sure you can’t either. And I would cut the next line of dialogue - going to chastise my brother … we already know he was going to do this because he said so, and the line just isn’t very good anyway. A look of curiosity from Kell, and the promise from Dockson “it’ll be worth your time,” gets us out of the section better. Sometimes the best repartee between characters is a look.

(33-34) the scenes with Vin remain heavy handed, and affected. This section adds almost nothing to the story accept for the disappointingly narrow view of a fantasy underworld that the women in it are only ever whores. This from a world crawling with Smokers and Tineyes? I think not. The clumsy presentation of Vin’s awful life is what makes these sections particularly affected. With her particular ability to use her Luck, I can’t help but wonder why she’s even still here. That seems to be the story to me. Not the abuse, but why she remains when she clearly has the power to get out. She can smooth over deals with reps from the SM, but she hasn’t thought to calm some member of the crew and then just … walk? Go literally anywhere in the city and use her Luck to get work where she won’t be whipped and slapped. It seems like the easiest thing in the world, so why hasn’t she done it? This is what the story here could have been, and it would have been so much more interesting.

Obviously she has to be there so Sanderson can have terrible things happen to her so she can be saved by Kelsier just like he saved the other raped scaa girl (let’s all take a moment to roll our eyes) and then her character can have a trajectory from passive victim to active hero - but that’s an excuse, and excuses don’t make good stories.

That said, as is, these two pages could be cut entirely and with very minor revision to the next session, nothing would be lost. It introduces a hideout we don’t need to know about, abuse that is redundant, over the top and unmotivated, and then Camon says “it’s time.” It’s just a prelude, in which nothing happens, before the actual scene. So just cut to the actual scene.

(36) we finally find out what the Camon job was supposed to be, I suspect because Sanderson finally decided what the details were. It would have been much more interesting to know this earlier, just like it would have been more interesting to understand about the particulars of Vin’s brothers betrayal earlier, so we could understand the context of the story being told.

But a LARGER ISSUE continues to emerge. First Camon tells Vin nothing about his plans. She says she is apparently the only crew member who didn’t know what was going on. Then, as they sit in the waiting room, in the vey belly of the obligator beast, he tells her everything. Why? Because Sanderson wants us to know even though he never decided who this character was.

He wants her to be a passive victim of inordinate abuses by a group of irredeemable villains, who only avoids constant sexual assault through the exhausting use of her secret magic so she can be saved and then learn how to be powerful later. But he also wants her to be a smart, capable member of Camon’s crew who is considered as such, because he knows passive protagonists aren’t interesting and because he wants us, the reader, to know what’s going on, and also think that Vin is cool. She can’t be both at the same time. She either needs to be less of an abject, pathetic victim, or she needs to be less involved in this big important scam - and that means she knows less about it and does less to make it work. As is, he’s done too little with either idea of her character and both Vin and Camon are an unmotivated mess.

(42) steel inquisitor. Cool, creepy, disgusting - something straight out of hellraiser.

(43) “Besides, I’m not about to let a possible Mistborn slip away from us” Ah!

Ch3 (45) after the meeting with the obligator (that was a trap), is the first time Vin ever expresses any interest in getting away. Much too late Sanderson gives us a much too thin reason why Vin hasn’t run away (considering the conflicting versions of her character as mentioned before). It’s little more than an afterthought.

(47) in no more than 2 pages Vin goes from never thinking she could make it on her own to leaving for good, telling herself she’d survived sleeping in alleyways before, she could do it again and - “Reen had taught her how to scavenge and beg. Both were difficult in the Final Empire … but she would find a way, if she had too.”

So far, this is all based on a bad feeling. More motivation conflict - Vin has no problem telling Camon directly how his plans won’t work and that he should change the way the servants are dressed, helps him succeed with her luck in both plans, but sees no reason to tell him “I have a bad feeling about this. That was too easy. Why did that obligator suddenly agree. Doesn’t this seem weird to you?”

Sanderson has many of the right pieces, but he hasn’t been able to put them together coherently.

(45)(And, just as an aside, I’m not sure why a girl who has spent to book so far reiterating to herself that EVERYONE WILL BETRAY ME is going out of her way to tell Ulef she has a bad feeling and to get him to come with her. Sanderson says “if he would go with her, then at least she wouldn’t be alone.” But he has also up until this point defined her character by a near constant desire to be alone - when she is introduced sitting in the window of the hideout thinking her brothers word “Vin wasn’t on duty; the watch-hole was simply one of the few places where she could find solitude. And Vin liked solitude. ‘When you’re alone, no one can betray you’- (37) at the “It’s just another betrayal, she thought sickly. Why does it still bother me so? Everyone betrays everyone else. That’s the way life is … She wanted to find a corner - someplace cramped and secluded - and hide. Alone.”

(47) "Bringing Ulef was a good idea. He had contacts in Luthadel." These after the fact explanations are no good. This isn't Vin thinking this, it's the author coming up with more justification for Vin's action, but in order for her character to seem active and motivated, this needed to be revised into the section where Vin decides to bring Ulef. Now it's just tacked on - oh, yeah, and, by the way, if you weren't sure it made sense for Vin to do this, Ulef probably knows people. So, there.

It doesn’t wash. Who is this girl? Can she not stand the idea of being alone, or is it the one and only thing she wants? Is she strong and resourceful in spite of her circumstances, or is she a passive victim? Does she believe everyone will betray her, or does she desperately want to believe otherwise because she can’t live in such an unkind world? Sanderson doesn’t seem to have been able to make up his mind. Maybe some of these details were added in revision on the suggestion of beta readers and the result is a checkerboard character. I’ve seen that before where you make a suggestion to a writer and they add your suggestion but they don’t make the necessary changes to the rest of the book so that the new material earns its place, they just throw it in and dust off their hands - job well done, gotta stay on schedule to publish! But now I’m just writing fan fiction about Sanderson’s process. I don’t know.

(55) Vin’s “weakness” - the contradictions/inexactitude of characters seems to be an ongoing issue for Sanderson, at least for Vin. Is she weak and has to pretend to be strong, or is she strong and often chooses to pretend to be weak (so far she has seemed to be weak and act weak, other than her Luck).

Well, that's as far as I got. Kel shows up just in time to be the wrath of justice for Vin. He's the superman who will make everything alright for this feckless girl. Our hero. Did Sanderson lay it on thick enough? Did you get that these people were all so irredeemably and stupidly bad? Aren't you so glad this strong man has shown up to be Vin's vengeance, just like had been telegraphed all along?

Sorry, I don't mean to be sarcastic. This part of the narrative really isn't so bad, its just been so heavy handedly and clumsily lead up to that there's no thrill in it for me. It isn't a bit satisfying. I'm just glad I don't have to read about any of these shallow side-characters anymore. Except, I have no intention to read on, so I don't have to read about any of them anymore.

Is this book bad? Yes and no. I don't want to read any more, and only read as far as I did as an examination of storytelling, so for me its bad. You only get so many eyerolls before I have to say that. The sentences are very clear and coherent. On their own, they are coherent. Together, they fail to paint of picture of coherent characters who drive the action of the story. If you don't have that, at least in my book, you've got nothing.

The images work. The setting, in its broad strokes, is eveocative. I'd love to set a DnD campaign in a world of ash and a dark lord and all that (I'm not the least mad about the cliché of the dark lord, by the way. Who doesn't love archetypical stories?) But, as near as I can tell, there are no human beings in this book. No one is real. The characters are just that, only characters in a book. They are paper cutouts. They fall flat when the hand of the author isn't pushing them around and making them do things.

Fans often hold Sanderson up as the gold standard of a fantasy author who produces work fast. And having read this far into Mistborn, I can say this about it: It reads like it was written fast.

Yes, Mistborn was an earlier book of his, so I can't judge him by it alone. But it is a work that is so often held up as a favorite by his readers. That's why I picked it up, to see what all the fuss was about. There were many things I enjoyed, but what I enjoyed wasn't the narrative. The story and the characters who moved it were the thing that I enjoyed least. The unique magic and broad setting details and description of places and creepy Inquisitors were what I liked best. The proper nouns were fun.

But proper nouns don't make a story for me. So I did not finish Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

If I were looking for a light fantasy read that I didn't have to take seriously and I could pick up and put down whenever I wanted because it was never that exciting or particularly witty or clever, but managed to string along one event after another and kept them going, more or less, whether it made much sense or not, until the end, I think Mistborn would be a fine book to dip into. Lots of people have read it. But then, that seems to me to be its major appeal. It’s a book you can talk about with other people.

It's not enough for me, though. There's lots of fun fantasy books out there that feel more coherent, and, well, INTERESTED in the story they're telling. Interested in violence and revolution and crime in an oppressively totalitarian, dystopian world. Interested in the plight of a young girl who only wants … well, what does she want? To be safe? But the only way she finds she can be safe is to go toward danger and realize how very strong she is? Maybe this story would like to be that, but it hasn't been for the first 60 or so pages.

Sanderson's novel felt more interested in the large and vague story shapes around the characters - a city, a dark lord, slavery, soot snow, bad mist, some kinds of magic, and (I cringe to say it) rape and thieving and beatings - but not in the world of their lives.

I've heard good things about The Way Of Kings from people who did not like Mistborn either, but its safe to say at this point that I have reservations about my reading tastes being a good match for Sanderson's work, at least at this point in time.

If I'm looking for fun I'd rather read another swanky, noir fantasy by Douglas Lumsden any day, or the next gothic gaslamp fantasy mystery by Morgan Stang, or discover my next favorite author, indie or otherwise.

I don't think Mistborn was terrible by any stretch of the imagination. Sanderson has delighted readers for over a decade now! He's prolific, hard working, and he delivers what his fans want, and he and they continue to be richly rewarded for his efforts. He is a Name in the genre, often listed alongside the greats. And why not? Isn't pleasing readers what this is all about? Taylor Swift has oceans of adoring fans, and she's no less deserving of her accolades. Brandon Sanderson is the Taylor Swift of fantasy, you could say. I just don't like her music either.

[kithj]

is it just me or is the southern book club's guide to slaying vampires.... really bad?

[books-and-strawberry-tea]

Just DNF’ed another book. That’s 4 this month. I’ve. Ever had this happen before wow.

What a disappointment…

[niseag-reads]

"Oh god no" - a review.

this is a review, or more of a rant, about the Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet by Pamela Compart and Dana Laake. I was not going to post about this book, expecially not as the first post on my shiny new blog. but I need to talk about this. God. I am disgusted to my core and I need to talk about it. Screenshots from the books I read will not be a common occurance on this blog but I will use some here to get across what I have stumbled into.

Book TWs: Ableism (anti-autism sentiment), calorie counting I may have been naive when I judged this book by it's cover, i'm going to be honest with you. I saw this and though "oh! a book with recipes that cover for people with a variety of different needs! how nice!".You can imagine, then, that I was quite thrown off by the contents of the book. The first impression shook that believe a little. Recipes don't start until chapter 10. I skipped the preamble, because honestly I was just here for the food, and it seemed to be about raising autistic children and I am an autistic adult without any children so I figured I didn't need that. I just wanted to know what kind of delicious, sensory friendly foodstuffs the author has in store for us! this excitement was soon crushed as I got to the first recipe, and I am just goint to show you the whole page so you can get a sense of what i stumbled into.

So, some good things: page layout is great, the little icons that indicate dietary needs are lovely! in later recipes they also tell you how much the recipe makes and the estimated nutritional information which is great if you have to monitor that for one reason or another. but let's get to the rant. to begin, I am autistic and have adhd. I have many autistic friends. none of us enjoy drinking straight water. That is not to say no autistic people like drinking water, but it does make me put questionmarks on a supposedly autism-friendly cookbook to lead with it. Second of all: I don't need a fucking recipe to figure out how to put a glass under the tap right? am I the only one who thinks this is a weird thing to add as a recipe? I suppose it's probably done tongue in cheek but, really... is this the tone we're going for here? I felt somewhat belittled by this book reading this. anyway, i pressed on. a lot of recipes were just standard and seemingly random recipes none of which really stood out to me as particularly kid or neurodivergent friendly. A lot of recipes required a lot of different ingredients and different steps and kitchen appliances to use which definitely rules them out for my flavour of neurodivergence (the adhd task avoidance would never let me go through that many steps to make a meal, eat it, and then also do the dishes) but fine, I suppose, different people can handle different things, expecially if you're a parent cooking for a child this might not be an issue at all, and I also understand that to eat gluten free more work is sometimes, sadly, needed. Anyway, my various questionmarks about the recipes compiled with the inclusion of not one, but two recipes for communion wafers. what? no shade on anyone that needs gluten free communion wafers and decides to make them themselves, that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. What confuses me is why they are here, in this book. It seems unrelated to anything? At this point, in between the water and the communion wafers and the whole first chunk of the book being about bringing up children, I was starting to realise this was a book written by a stereotypical "autism mom" I proceeded with caution, because I hadn't given up on finding nice recipes in here, though at this point I had told myself that I was definitely not reading the first 10 chapters. I should have stopped reading. because on page 215 I wa greeted with this sentence

recovered from fucking autism??? if I had any hope left that this book was trying to promote acceptance and inclusivity, it shattered right there. i went back to the first 10 chapters and scanned them. there's bits in there about how to make your child eat things they might be averse to, how to force them to comply. I then, finally, read a summary. appearently some people think that you can cure autism with a low gluten diet? I'm just so tired of this stuff, man. 0 stars. technically DNF. I feel gross after having read this.

[deqncas]

are cockles and dreamnotfound the only RPF ships on the 2023 tumblr top ships?? that's a hell of a pair

[isthequeerbookgood]

I'm alive! Just. Between exams and catching covid I managed to finish exactly one book during June, and it was a nonfiction book called A Brief History of the Countryside in 100 Objects. Which I do recommend, but isn't entirely relevant to the theme of this blog.

However I did fail to complete a number of books, so naturally I'm here to tell you all exactly why.

Born of Scourge - S. Jean This one mostly just didn't grab me. The overall concept seemed pretty cool, but the writing felt quite… naive? I bounced off the style and wasn't invested enough to finish, I think other people might enjoy it more but to me it did feel kind of like it was written by a teenager. DNF'd at 20%

House of Crimson Hearts - Ruby Roe Reads like something I would have written aged 14 and that is not a compliment. It's just. So absurdly edgy. The main character is an extra special vampire who is hated and feared by everyone because of the way she was born. She owns a nightclub that has optics full of special flavours of blood. There's dubcon lesbian sex in chapter 2. I'm just too old and tired for this. DNF'd at chapter 3.

Moonlight Love and Witchcraft - Vaela Denarr and Micah Iannandrea This book deliberately advertises itself as low stakes and cosy, which is a legitimate choice. However, the authors seem to have mistaken low stakes for low impact. Lots of things happen but they don't seem to mean anything, and it didn't really feel like the characters or relationships were developing at all (kind of a problem in a romance novel). It felt like the write up of people batting around cool ideas about their OCs, rather than a coherent novel, which is... not the worst thing in the world?

Honestly I would probably have kept reading except for the fact that the character described as ADHD rep was so viscerally annoying that she felt like a hate crime against me personally. Also it's 150k. DNF'd at 40%.

10 Things That Never Happened - Alexis Hall Honestly I quite enjoyed Alexis Hall's other novels in this universe. His writing tends toward the ridiculous, but they are genuinely funny and he has a real awareness of contemporary life. Unfortunately this one seems to revolve around some tropes I personally don't enjoy (the main character faking amnesia - I really hate romance stories that revolve around deceit) so I put it down. I can't remember where I DNF'd because I returned it to the library.

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

you can definitely tell that "Deviser" was made by Harlan Guthrie. If you like Malevolent and are looking for something shorter to binge; or if you are maybe unsure about starting malevolent and are intimidated by it's length, I recommend giving a listen

[ace-trainer-risu]

sometimes I’ll read goodreads reviews and it’s like Ah. This person and I do not exist on the same plane of reality.

[buggywiththefolkmagic]

Book Review: Modern Witch: Spells, Recipes & Workings

TW: Appropriation, mentions of sexually transmitted diseases.

This is: Modern Witch: Spells, Recipes & Workings by Devin Hunter

Rating: 4/10 for the first 100 pages then 1/10 for the rest.

Pros: The author covers a ton of correspondences, from spirits, to protection, and anything else in-between. He focuses a lot on vibrations, but insists on cleansing and protection which is very good! The author also uses a lot of more folk-based workings, which would help new witches understand that you don't need a giant fancy ritual and a jar to do a spell!

The author also includes options for LGBTQ+ individuals with the workings that would normally require a male and female attribute or focus in more gender balanced/Wiccanized practices. It has three and a half pages of a bibliography, which is fine for a 200 page book.

Cons: Unfortunately that's about all the 'good' this book has. The author uses a lot of items which are very not minor friendly. He also advocates for the use of white sage, sweetgrass, smudging, honey jars, proper voodoo dolls without initiation, working with closed deities, love spells, and...quite frankly the worst part?

The author very specifically mentions something in the protection section that...boils me up. He says that Java Citronella, the plant commonly used for avoiding mosquitos...when used on a person specifically a member of the LGBTQ+ community...it'll protect them from...very particular STDs. The type that has haunted the LGBTQ community as an epidemic called AIDS. A plant will keep you from getting this beyond horrific disease. It's absolutely irresponsible to make a claim like that, and insulting to those that have suffered with AIDS, not to mention that the LGBTQ+ community isn't the only humans capable of getting these, to make it seem otherwise is crude, rude, and derogatory if you ask me. I did not finish this book after reading that.

Overview: In my personal opinion please avoid this book, save your time, energy, and money. I found a couple of spells I liked, but nothing in this book is worth dealing with someone who thinks this way, regardless of his personal orientation. And he writes Fortnite books. Just saying if you want extra ooh no tacked onto your witchcraft author listing. Witch...and Fornite official author. At least use different pennames for different genres or something.

[softlyfiercely]

So I joined “booktok” with my new pen name on some professional advice (though I’m low key hoping it just gets banned and I don’t have to think about it ever again) and this is the best book review I’ve ever seen in my life

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2024

#29 - The Witches of New York, by Ami McKay

DNF review

I thought this had a promising start, but when more than two weeks had gone by and I was still barely halfway through, I decided to stop forcing myself to keep going; I was more determined to finish the book for the sake of marking it done, than I was to actually find out how the story ended, so I knew it was time to give up. At first I found the many POVs intriguing, and when the writing was at its best I was reminded of Neil Gaiman's work in tone and style: mysterious and even portentous without being heavy-handed, supernatural while still being grounded in the day-to-day life of the real world.  But somehow, no matter how much I seemed to think I liked it while I was reading it, after half an hour at most I would find myself putting it down and finding something else to do. The incredibly short length of some "chapters" felt abrupt, and even frustrating when the snippet was from a POV that hadn't appeared for a while. I would tell myself "I'll sit down and read for a whole hour, I don't have anywhere to be right now" and still get bored and stop reading. I'm not against slow-paced books as a rule, but the constant stop-start of POV changes (and some annoying head-hopping within scenes) made me feel like I was on a jerky train car, never able to settle comfortably in for the long ride. The world was interesting, but I never found myself terribly invested in the characters, and even the hint of budding romance couldn't keep me going, as it was so minor it doesn't even justify calling it a subplot.

[accidentalspaceexplorer]

2023 Book Reviews: DNFs, Part 1

These ones I'm probably not going to be able to pitch as well lol because I stopped reading them all partway through, but I'll do my best!

1. Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: 2/5, dnf

Pitch: mystery set in 1970s Mexico, being investigated by a secretary & a gang enforcer

Review: I generally like Silvia Moreno-Garcia's stuff, so I picked up Velvet Was the Night on a whim, despite the fact that it's not the kind of book I would typically go for. Turns out I was right about my tastes though - anti-heroes really aren't for me, no matter how much interesting Mexican history goes along with it.

2. The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton: 1.5/5, dnf

Pitch: upright Victorian lady who is also a thief must team up with her assassin & falls in love; houses can fly & most everyone is a pirate

Review: I think whimsy just really isn't for me. I'll be fine with the most ridiculous plot twists in a book as long as they attempt to justify them, but when it's played for charm and whimsy I just can't buy it at all. I have to buy in, and the kind of light frothy ridiculousness presented by this book won't do it.

3. The Bright Ages by David M. Perry, Matthew Gabriele: 3/5, dnf

Pitch: a history of medieval Europe that refutes the general "everything sucked" view of the Dark Ages

Review: It just wasn't capturing my attention. I think that I like nonfiction with more defined narratives that keep me engaged and reading, and this didn't really have that. Also, I'm realizing that I'm less interested in history than I think I am!

4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: 2/5, dnf

Pitch: old people obsessed with true crime solve a murder

Review: I really just didn't like the writing style. Between the constant cuts, the plethora of POVs, and the different styles of the POVs, it just really didn't gel for me.

5. Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking by Marianne Eloise: 2.5/5, dnf

Pitch: memoir about OCD, ADHD, and coming to love and appreciate yourself

Review: I could tell by 25% into the memoir that her messages about her obsessions weren't really working for me, and reading about all the horrible things in her nightmares was relatable but not helpful

[rayvnwolf17]

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[books-and-strawberry-tea]

Lucy Undying - Kiersten White.

If I was to describe this book in two words, it would be:

Utterly Insufferable!

I was so excited for this book. I rushed out to purchase. Spending $35AUD on this garbage just 3 days ago. Today I sat down to read it, and my cat decided to spill a whole 1L bottle of my hydrolyte drink on it. Absolutely soaking the back half of the book. I should have took this as a sign and thanked him for his service. Unfortunately, I had no clue what absurdity he was saving me from. If only I'd just thrown the book away.

The book follows Iris, but it also follows Lucy...and vampire Lucy. Iris' events is set in 2024 - 2025. Lucy, the vampire, is followed by tape recordings following her life as a vampire and how her past human life had impacted it. As well as human Lucy in the form of journal entries. At first I was intrigued at how this would play out. As I love different media in books. Unfortunately, the POV's were all over the place. The voice recordings would give away spoilers to the journal entries, completely taking away the element of surprise, holding no suspense what so ever. Making the proceeding chapters boring as you'd already know what was to happen.

Iris...Iris, Iris, Iris. Girl you are absolutely intolerable. 20% through the book, and she's mad at life, her mum, her dad, her past. But the reader has no idea as to why. Making her frustrating to read about as she is always angry. The author also repeats every chapter over and over and over that she needs to sell items in her mothers property in England. Every chapter with Iris' POV, these same words are repeated over and over again. Like yes, thank you, I've read the other chapters. I get it. Also why are all rich people in stories the same? So desperate to be away from the money and wealth of their family, but actively try to benefit at the same time from their families wealth.....but repeat over and over again they want nothing to do with it. I don't understand.

Other issues I had with the book involved the usage of the word queer, and the obvious declaration that the author has no clue to the history, original meaning, and modern usage of the word. It honestly felt like an insult. Two examples of the words usage, both used in a 1890's journal, frustrated me to no end. The first example, the author used the word queer as a quirky cool thing to be. Like how "wonderful" it is for me to be using the word queer in a 1890s view point (Obviously sarcasm on my behalf). I read the word in this usage and wanted to scream. This word historically was not something you wanted to be called. It had such a negative connotation and literally meant weird, strange, abnormal. But White used the modern day usage and connotation in this journal. Then, only a few chapters later, for example 2, in another 1890s journal, she used the old meaning of the word. Lucy describing herself as queer and strange, like something is wrong with her. Does White actually know much about this word? Cause it truly feels like they don't.

The book felt like a fanfiction. Written purely for self fulfilment, and not actually intending for a wider audience.

Also, was the modern day American politics necessary to mention?? Personal gripe, mentions like this in books automatically centres American audiences as the only intended audience. It's incredibly frustrating. Not everything has to involve American centralist mindsets. But apparently we non American's can't escape it. Even in fictional world's.

The 2024 references also made me cringe to my soul. 'The Last of Us' as a reference?? Really?? This is just a perfect way to age a book. Especially since the most recent editions of that game made audiences furious. Not a good look.

I'm seriously disappointed. The cover was gorgeous. It's a real shame the cover is the only good quality about this book.

Star rating. 1/5.

Wish I could label it 0. But good reads won't allow that.

DNF 20%.

[homerjacksons]

When the editor of a book personally reaches out to send you an advanced copy after meeting you at an event and the author follows you on instagram and you’re…not enjoying the book at all