brnineworms's reviews
184 reviews

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

“You’re more than just neither, honey. There’s other ways to be than either-or.”

Brutal and efficient sketches that amass to something quite substantial. Dated in some ways but nonetheless a groundbreaking representation of gender nonconformity. Jess is a flawed and compelling protagonist. The story follows her life as a working class butch in America in the latter half of the twentieth century. It’s essentially a series of anecdotes, progressing from one job to another or one partner to another (it’s more engaging than I make it sound, I promise). The one thing tying it all together (besides Jess as a character) is the theme of change, summed up nicely in this quote: “things don’t change back [...] they just keep changing.” It works well, it’s a skilfully crafted novel.

I’m really glad I finally read this book. I can see why it’s considered a classic of lesbian/trans literature.

CONTENT WARNINGS: homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, racism, antisemitism, violence, sexual harassment and rape, police brutality, imprisonment, institutionalisation, homelessness, injury, suicide

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

Strange book. It starts off as a bildungsroman but it’s also a bit of a manifesto, so I have to assess it from both angles. Stephen is a stand-in for the author, her mouthpiece. Around the midpoint of the book

she gives an impassioned speech defending her queerness, arguing against her mother who deems it unnatural and wrong.

It seemed almost like wish fulfilment on the part of the author, imagining a braver version of herself who has the guts to stand up to bigotry and fight back (

though she does ultimately agree to leave her childhood home

). Later, these diatribes are delivered via narration rather than dialogue; they are suppressed to internal thoughts. This reflects Stephen falling into despair and becoming increasingly isolated and aware of the hostility which surrounds her, but it also seems as though Hall at this point wanted to make her declarations without having to convey them through a story.

There were a few elements that didn’t quite work for me as I was reading the book but, upon reflection, I can see what Hall was (maybe?) going for. An example: the First World War lasts only a couple dozen pages. Maybe Hall didn’t want to explore in-depth a recent real world horror. Understandable. But that short section does introduce

Stephen’s main love interest, Mary,

and there’s that whole thing about war being an opportunity to prove one’s masculinity and worth, something which appeals to Stephen. There’s no time to delve into that, though. The war kind of just happens. It’s a blip. Maybe that’s how it felt to those who lived through it? But it was odd considering the first half of the novel had really taken its time to flesh out the characters and breathe life into the world –

Mary is more of a plot device than a person

and the quickening of the pace from this point forward gives the impression of a montage.

As Stephen’s life falls apart, so too does the structure of the novel.

It’s an interesting artefact of queer history. For modern readers it blurs the line between lesbianism and transmasculinity; the prevailing concept at the time (or the one Hall subscribed to, at least) was inversion. It’s fascinating to see how concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality were (and to some degree still are) intertwined in the public consciousness – a woman who loves women must be on some level a man, and a woman who wants to be a man is and will always be a woman. And every invert has some physical sign of their disorder, like Brockett having feminine hands. It’s proof that queerness is true, that it’s more than an affectation or a behavioural choice. I think Hall was interested in exploring/explaining the origins of queerness. It is stated very clearly in this book to be a natural phenomenon. But the born this way narrative does in some way concede that queerness is undesirable, only we can’t help it. This entire novel is built on that foundation.
It is a sympathetic portrayal – sympathy really is the key word here. We are urged to understand Stephen and to pity her plight, because queerness is inseparable from tragedy.

Well.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

war, injury, death (including animal death), terminal illness, suicide, grief/depression, anxiety/self-consciousness, toxic/abusive relationships, cheating, outing, dysphoria, sexism, lesbophobia (including internalised lesbophobia), racism, drugs and addiction (and prejudice against addicts)

The Fealty of Monsters by Ladz

dark medium-paced

2.0

Not for me. It reads like fanfic, with a bare-bones plot serving as a vehicle for the juicy stuff (porn). I don’t think the author actually wanted to engage with the historical setting or the fantasy worldbuilding beyond a vague aesthetic, which is a real shame because this could have been a fascinating historical drama with a gothic twist. Instead the story oscillates between political matters one minute and “the muscular squish of boypussy” the next.

Sasza being a “stealth” vampire is hard to believe because he’s two metres tall with white hair and amber eyes.

Not that it really matters because Świetlana figures it out easily and Ilya, as it turns out, knew all along. To me it seems to parallel that have your cake and eat it too fantasy a lot of young queer people have where they want to remain closeted for the sake of safety but also don’t want to have the capacity to pass as straight/cis because they want it to be obvious who they truly are.

There’s only one scene that I can recall where Sasza being closeted is relevant, and I see what the author was doing there:

no one stood up for him despite there being more at stake (no pun intended) for Sasza himself, as a marginalised person, than there would be for his supposed allies. But the same effect could have been achieved if Sasza had been known to be a vampire, regarded as one of the good ones (albeit on thin ice). Honestly, it seems odd to introduce two types of vampire, one which is animalistic and reviled and another which is basically just a guy with a blood kink, if you’re not going to do something with that contrast. Vampires which resemble humans are tolerated because they’re not like those hideous bestiapirs. You know? And we know Sasza has the ability to transform into a bestiapir but do all vampires? His father was horrified at his transformation but is that just because he turned into a Buzzwole or was it his ability to transform at all that upset him? It’s implied to be the latter but I’m not sure. Anyway, Sasza is frustrated that his allies let him down so he immediately shifts from being closeted to going apeshit.

The violence in this book is just as gratuitous as the sex. I’m not at all opposed to either but it very much feels like this was what the author wanted to write and everything else was just half-baked filler. Which sucks because there were some interesting concepts. Wasted potential.

This novel should have been right up my alley but I found it amateurish and lacklustre. I don’t think I’ll read the sequel awkwardly teased at the end.

CONTENT WARNINGS: death, blood, gore, body horror, vomit, violence, limb loss, needles, drug use, alcoholism, self harm for magic use 

When I Arrived at the Castle by E.M. Carroll

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

Good stuff.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

blood, body horror/transformation, suicide, violence, mind games

 

The Pleasure of the Text by Sami Alwani

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

As Alwani puts it, “an exotic blend of complex trauma, psychotic ramblings and spicy gay high aesthetic make you a hit at the dinner party while remaining just pathetic enough to be non-threatening”

CONTENT WARNINGS:

panic, paranoia, delusions, suicidality, drug use, white supremacy

Cicatrix by Elle

dark reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

Wish it were longer.

CONTENT WARNINGS: hypochondria, paranoia, guilt, colonialism/imperialism, dictatorship 

Dagger Dagger by Al Gofa, Sloane Leong, Matt Emmons

adventurous dark emotional inspiring fast-paced

3.0

Dagger Dagger is not a cohesive anthology. The cover promises “dark fantasy and sci-fi” and editor Al Gofa coins the term “blood-fi” to describe these works. “Blood-fi” to me invokes those manga where characters explode with more blood than could possibly be contained within a human body, and enemies are viscerally torn apart (something like Berserk or Fist of the North Star). By comparison, the comics in this anthology really seem to be holding back; in fact, there are many comics which barely feature blood, or don’t at all. They do all touch on grisly subject matter like slavery and warfare, but these are major themes throughout science fiction and fantasy literature, so I don’t think this book is especially “dark.”

The individual comics are fine, largely mediocre. I did like the art of The Monastery by Goran Gligović, Angelic Missile by Linnea Sterte, and Yesaul by Artyom Trakhanov and Artem Dumov. I’ve been a fan of Sterte’s work for a while but I’ll make sure to check out those other artists as well.

I think that’s ultimately the main goal of this anthology – to highlight some comic creators and give them exposure. The book literally ends with the Evil Wizard following all the featured creators on social media and being inspired to create their own comics. If that’s what Dagger Dagger was aiming for, it did succeed.

CONTENT WARNINGS: war, violence, execution, slavery, injury, fire 

A Guest in the House by E.M. Carroll

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

 “...and I, beneath... would find stillness in the hot viscera.”

CONTENT WARNINGS:

death, murder, mentions of terminal illness and suicide, mental illness (dissociation, dereality, hallucinations, nightmares, paranoia), blood and gore, toxic relationships, constant lies/manipulation, sexism

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake
Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.

The writing is sardonic and meandering – that’ll take some getting used to. And there’s a lot that’s making me kind of uncomfortable, from cringey one-note characters to objectionable politics. Maybe this improves as the book goes on, but I’m just not in the mood right now.

I might come back to it eventually. We’ll see.

Flavor Girls by Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky, Eros De Santiago

adventurous fast-paced

4.0

Love the artwork. I can see the French and Japanese stylistic influences – a little bit of bande dessinée, a little bit of manga... And Locatelli-Kournwsky’s knack for shape and silhouette is uplifted by de Santiago’s vibrant colours.

The fight scenes are slightly hard to follow, but that moment where

Troezen yeets a makeshift weapon and it flies out of the confines of the panel, seemingly towards the reader...

that was very cool.

There are some interesting concepts, like

magical girls being coopted by the state; the image of Naoko in her leotard and tights being deployed from a military aircraft

– ugh! So good.

It’s really promising! This volume is only the introduction, laying the groundwork for (hopefully many) future instalments. I’m hungry for more.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

invasion, injury (amputation, blood), trauma, alcoholism