en-US Mon, 07 Apr 2025 14:06:40 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7470673207 Mon, 07 Apr 2025 14:06:40 -0700 /review/show/7470673207 Benni gave 1 star to This Spells Love (Paperback) by Kate Robb
bookshelves: botm-selections, sff-paranormal-speculative
I guess I will have to swear off all romance novels for awhile.

Writing style: cringe. Author bio and main character reveal that author and MC have the same pet peeves (hate people who use the word "whilst") so is the MC an author stand-in? Feels like hurriedly written, personal spank bank material. Do real people constantly compliment their partners' penises?

Story: barely there. I didn't buy the friendship at all. It was clearly just a "friends but actually want to be more than friends" relationship from the get-go.

BOO. ]]> Review7451964114 Mon, 07 Apr 2025 13:56:14 -0700 /review/show/7451964114 Benni gave 5 stars to The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (Hardcover) by Stephen Graham Jones
bookshelves: historical-fiction, sff-paranormal-speculative, horror
I would be very surprised if this doesn't become an American horror classic. Not an easy read, but very worthwhile. ]]> Review7444953902 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 18:05:18 -0700 /review/show/7444953902 Benni gave 5 stars to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0) by Suzanne Collins
bookshelves: sff-paranormal-speculative, young-adult
I hated Coriolanus Snow in the original trilogy (I know we're supposed to but still), so I wasn't really moved to read this book until after I finished Sunrise on the Reaping. This was an interesting villain origin story. But the ideas Snow has for the Hunger Games seem a little divorced from his experiences? Seems like he would have come up with the same ideas regardless, so that's the only part that I think could have been improved upon. Still, an incredible read. ]]> Review7108708936 Sat, 29 Mar 2025 09:44:21 -0700 /review/show/7108708936 Benni gave 5 stars to Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5) by Suzanne Collins
bookshelves: sff-paranormal-speculative, young-adult
I can't stop thinking about the message...
]]> Review7420910871 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 17:45:21 -0700 /review/show/7420910871 Benni gave 3 stars to Memorials (Hardcover) by Richard Chizmar
bookshelves: horror, thrillers, historical-fiction
I immediately fell in love with the three main characters.

I can't say too much more without spoiling the book, but I did not enjoy where the plot went...despite some interesting "folklore," what actually happens in the end just felt way too hokey and unbelievable. ]]> Review6780078481 Thu, 20 Mar 2025 18:18:41 -0700 /review/show/6780078481 Benni gave 4 stars to The Deep Sky (Hardcover) by Yume Kitasei
bookshelves: asian-stuff, sff-paranormal-speculative
I didn't love the slower-paced flashbacks interspersed between the space chapters because I really wanted to find out what happened. But ultimately this book was an interesting enough spaceship mystery.

(Not sure if I fully understand the mission. Even with multi-national astronauts, 80+ women and tons of sperm may still not be enough for long-term adaptive potential on a faraway planet. And they didn't seem to even test for fertility before they sent off these women.) ]]> Review7405227303 Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:48:28 -0700 /review/show/7405227303 Benni gave 5 stars to Shroud (Hardcover) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
bookshelves: sff-paranormal-speculative, horror
It's so refreshing to read scifi that's bursting with new ideas. Really imaginative planet and its inhabitants that's unlike anything else I've read. I loved that we started getting POV chapters from the Shroud inhabitants so we can see how communications get misinterpreted because of each side's vastly different backgrounds.

The book is bleak in that space travel here isn't just about discovery or necessity but primarily capitalism, so most corporate-driven decisions here seem counter to the type of decisions you normally see in scifi media.

The ending really lands.

]]> Review7401481323 Sat, 15 Mar 2025 07:19:56 -0700 /review/show/7401481323 Benni gave 5 stars to Once Was Willem (Kindle Edition) by M.R. Carey
bookshelves: historical-fiction, sff-paranormal-speculative, horror
Took two chapters to get acclimated to the writing and was easy to read after that. Some heartbreaking stories in the first half but ultimately uplifting. Utterly engrossing throughout. I wish the book were longer, as I did not want to part with these characters. ]]> Review6850863704 Wed, 12 Mar 2025 15:07:32 -0700 /review/show/6850863704 Benni gave 5 stars to Death of the Author (Hardcover) by Nnedi Okorafor
bookshelves: sff-paranormal-speculative
Zelu's story pulled me in; I loved the "interviews"; and I wanted even more Rusted Robots. A beautifully woven story about hope in the face of pain and destruction.

I devoured this book. Now where's my sequel?!! (JK but I see additional reasons why GRRM loved this book.) ]]> Review7354611693 Tue, 11 Mar 2025 08:25:31 -0700 /review/show/7354611693 Benni gave 2 stars to The Scorpion and the Night Blossom (The Three Realms, #1) by Amélie Wen Zhao
bookshelves: asian-stuff, sff-paranormal-speculative
I love cultivation C-dramas...except maybe I don't love the overlong and meandering storylines, so I thought this book could be the perfect, focused tale for me.

The author described things vividly and it was easy to picture things, which was great because visuals are the main draw of C-dramas for me.

But man oh man is the main character insufferable! (Which can be true of C-drama leading ladies as well but this translates poorly in book form, when I can't appreciate how beautiful the costumes are.) Despite her heroic and promising initial introduction, for the remainder of the book, she is useless and dependent on others. Every "win" is handed to her and unearned.

She loves her family but has no other redeeming qualities. She has an almost comically hard time with nuance and shades of gray; she can ping-pong from love to hate to love to hate in a matter of minutes. If someone isn't completely evil or completely good her head explodes.

So, not enjoyable for me. ]]>