Sarah
Historical fiction and noir made for an interesting combo, and I didn't know much about LA's history. The daughters working and caring about each other and holding the family together were very well developed and interesting.
I haven't read other books by this author yet but I probably will at some point.
“Always dream together... Always leave space in your life to grow and soften” is not bad advice.
I really liked this. Pride & Prejudice nods plus Shakespeare quotes and addressing issues of interest and ethics and levels of faith? Better than I'd hoped.
I picked this up just because of the title, and rather enjoyed it. The documentary/oral history setup was well-handled, and fit well with the themes of racism and power in music industry and in society. The pacing got too slow at times, but that was when the characters didn't want to discuss something or the interviewer didn't have/ask the right questions yet, which was clever.
Also, Nev was a lot flatter as a character than Opal, and it was constantly frustrating yet plausible that he would have had the longer fictional career, though I'm glad the story was so firmly set on Opal. (Which is amusing to write, considering that it's fictional oral history. Bumped my rating up some because of the clever setup.)
Hadn't read anything of Cosmere; I'd only read the wheel of time books he'd finished/written. This was fascinating and often funny and I'll need to read more.
The tagline intrigued me, the story lived up to the interest.
I enjoyed the mystery storyline a lot, I would love for this to be a series.
I really liked the chronic illness rep and the understandable frustration for Mallory figuring out how to live with that and how to admit/ask for/accept help, as well as the main trio's friendship recovering and growing strong enough to help.
The magic background was fairly well written though confusing that they'd not think of little things like making a chair more comfortable? Though it provided more funny lines, so not really a problem.
Interesting twist on a locked-room mystery, and both detectives are interesting. Will read the next book.
The writing just felt like “i am trying super hard to be relevant and appealing to teens” - and I hope it does appeal, but I could not get into it. I'm not the targeted demographic, no big deal, just set it down.
Interesting information about Dutch imperialism - which I realized I'd never heard or read much about before college or during, since there was a lot more attention to Spanish/British/Portuguese imperialism.
The actual descriptions of the wrecks and diving were not as interesting as the history of why the ships were there in the first place, and how the various survivors may have made it. It seemed like the author assumed the reader would have already read his other books, which I haven't and I'm not tempted to read them now. The diving and wreck exploration side of this book probably suffered because the discoveries were made 50+ years ago.
Creepy, too torture-porn-esque at times. Pay attention to the sensitive content warnings hinted about in other reviews, they're important for this one.
Some spooky stories, more of an emphasis on gore and violence and hunger without mercy. Which fits the mood, but was more tedious than compelling.
I liked the first book better. This one had more romantic pining - probably unavoidable with the forced long-distance relationship, but it would have been more interesting with more focus on the studies and challenges Nora faced, the other doctors and nurses she was learning from, and the discoveries she wanted the chance to make - and less reliance on the “Oh, I can't burden the person I love with anything I'm struggling with” cliche.
I'm not a big fan of metal, but this was a fascinating and creepy story with a touch of fever dream.
It's not really a heist story, but it's cute. I liked the ace representation and the friendship moments, and I appreciated that Jack concludes “my family is pretty messed up and not close and we need to do better” rather than staying stuck on his mom should be free because wealthy and other people are worse.
Not sure if this was more uncomfortable because of the gore or the religious trauma I grew up with. It's very much a look at what it means to live as a queer person when the world around you would rather you hid or just didn't exist at all... and about how people can be the worst monsters, especially with hate-filled religion involved.
Get some hot cocoa and a blanket and enjoy this. It's a festive but dark locked-room mystery at a Victorian style Christmas shop. It immediately sounded like a win, and it was. I didn't end up liking any of the characters but still wanted to know what would happen to them and why they were at risk - which is okay for a “well who's next to end up injured?” atmosphere - and I saw some of the twists coming, and was satisfied when my suspicions turned out to be right/close. This was fun. I'd read more from this author.
I don't have much background in Arthurian legends, but this was fun. I liked the mystery plot most, but Hilde didn't seem as filled out a character so that got frustrating; Kai and Wayne's storyline of just getting through college and understanding who they each wanted to be seemed unrelated for a while. The multiple story threads didn't bind together that well in the end, but I liked this enough that I'll probably read more from the author. I didn't pick up on all the knight-references until looking at Battis's site after finishing it this morning; the references were fun, especially with some less well-known knights.
A damn enjoyable story when a light, entertaining book is needed. Cozy setting, good sense of humor, well-done slowburn romance.
quality of these stories varied more than usual for an anthology of this type. I liked some, but didn't even pick up one new-to-me author I feel like reading more from, sadly.
Being stuck at 16 forever would be so terrible. The characters aren't well-developed but that's part of the point - they can't grow and change much. The revenge plot was fun but the pace was slow for the first 2/3 of the book.
I had high hopes for this, and it met them. A very thought-provoking book. I very much wish I could convince my family to read it and perhaps they'd slightly understand why I love and study history. (Instead, they just insist “history doesn't change” and insist that the heavily racist pro-slavery story they were given, and have sought ever since because it's familiar and therefore “safe” must be the truth.)
Pretty relatable characters for anyone who's got lots of online friends that are close at heart but you haven't managed to meet face to face yet. I appreciate platonic soulmates that are strong, and the tumblr/discord chat format was done pretty well and realistically. And the lycanthropy metaphor for chronic illness, and discussion of common chronic illness experiences/frustrations, was interesting.
The main character being a POC, from a white author, did feel pretty weird and like that was chosen just for more surface appeal - it had no story impact at all, like it could have been a last-minute choice to appeal to a different market. And the first half had so much understandable emphasis on the frustrations of Priya and the others never knowing how she'll feel in a given day - then mostly ignored that with chasing Brigid around. I mean, sure, wanting to help a friend can mean ignoring some pain but that won't stop your body from demanding rest, from what I've seen from friends who have chronic illnesses.
A good collection with a surprising amount of bi/ace/aro representation, which was great. Two of my favorite stories were “The Invisible Bisexual” and “(don't you) love a singer” - found family on a literal ship in space and singing is <3
Have enjoyed other (city) Noir collections I've read, didn't like the stories in this one. Am not familiar with Kansas City, though, or any of the authors who contributed to this, so that may be somewhat to blame.