sonygaystation's reviews
417 reviews

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

God this was so boring that i truly struggled to remember let alone understand what was going on

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

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challenging dark 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

3.75

I love it when women are insane!

(i do wish this book had more of the summer camp slasher vibe than it did. It was pretty focused on life after the Event, which did keep me guessing. I feel like I got no answers though and I’ve definitely read better thrillers/horror, queer books, and queer thriller/horror. But it was just unhinged enough to satisfy the insanity palette iykwim. Although the main couple were TERRIBLE together like if I had to hear them fight one more time lmao 😭 as a 29 yo gay person in a committed relationship my young besties if you fight like this I’m gonna need you to do some serious inventory on if “love” is worth it lmfao 😭)

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Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book is lots of fun! It started out trending a little “Masculine Author”, y’know the kind… but it was a brief blip in an otherwise very amusing book. I loved the potshots taken at popular gamer culture, especially as someone who is Terminally Online™️ and into D&D, MTG, video games, etc 🫡 I would rate this higher if it was a little less formulaic and repetitive, and used the word “plummeted” less. But none of those things detract from my enjoyment of the book at all! They’re just things that keep me from rating it higher - but I can’t wait to read the next one!! I just have to wait until it even appears at ALL on Libby let alone being able to put a hold on it!

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Nestlings by Nat Cassidy

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.25

I enjoyed this for a lot of reasons, but it definitely comes second to Mary (which blew me away with how much I just LOVED it). I really liked Ana as a character - her disability and her relationship with motherhood were so good. I also absolutely loveeeed the inherent Jewish-ness of the novel. I think the way it was incorporated was so satisfying and the fact that you couldn’t have major plot beats happen if you erased the Judaic aspects is so chef’s kiss. I’m not even religious and I want to see more religion in horror. The vampires were an interesting new take too. Not my favourite the way they were presented but definitely novel and cool! I do wish the book had maybe been a bit more scary or had more of the vampires doin their thing than it did, but also hearing about it was so GROSS LMAO that maybe I’m good with what we got. I also really enjoy hearing Nat Cassidy’s thoughts at the end of the book and it felt comforting that his 2021 was as much a dumpster fire hell year as mine was, even though I wish very much that there wasn’t need for comfort or to be comforting. Also Reed wins shittiest man award I hated him and baby bird was the cutest friggin nickname ever ok that’s all :)

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The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was kinda messy but in way I enjoyed! The time jumps were a little jarring with the perspective changes but once I got the handle of it (I listened rather than read the book) I could go with the flow better. I think there could’ve been more room for character development with the side characters because I enjoyed them and would’ve liked to see them more. I think James literally just served as a love interest (which I don’t dislike because lorde knows so many writers dump women in their novels as side characters just to serve as the MC’s LI) and I wish his role in things was a little more prevalent. I did really enjoy Nora’s extracurricular scenes because I really liked Ruth! With Becca, there was one line Nora’s sister said where it was made pretty clear Becca isn’t seen as good for Nora and (alongside a convo with Nora’s mom) implied that Becca’s too overprotective of Nora to the point that keeps Nora from making other friends. That felt like a big theme to have but it didn’t really go anywhere? Like all we see of their relationship is from Nora’s perspective but she spends 80% of the book only referring to their falling out and we only hear about the good parts really as they were when they were kids so that felt off. But! I had a good time and I’d read it again for sure!! I’m also happy it ended the way it did because Nora deserved some good things coming her way 🫶

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