Tag: bookish

Help, I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up: A Review of Jade City

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Books

Hello again, traveler! 💚 (Green heart this time around, for the Green Bone Saga!) Guess who’s now at university? Me! It feels like just yesterday that I graduated from high school!

Today, we’ll be discussing one of my favorite reads of the summer: Fonda Lee’s phenomenal adult fantasy debut, Jade City. It’s a recipient of the World Fantasy Award and Aurora Award, as well as a finalist for the Nebula, Locus, Audie, Sunburst, and Seiun Awards. Quite well-deserving, if you ask me.

Are you ready for this?

SYNOPSIS:

The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.

The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion — but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection.

When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.

Add on Goodreads | Add on Storygraph

Rep:

  • Asian author
  • Asian-coded world and characters
  • Gay main character

Content Warnings:

  • Addiction (allegory)
  • Body horror
  • Death
  • Drug use
  • Gun violence
  • Overdose
  • Self-harm (mentioned)
  • Sexual abuse of minor
  • Sexual content
  • Suicide (mentioned)
  • Violence (graphic)

tl;dr: Do I recommend this book?

MY RATING: ★★★★★

Help. This book was so good that I disintegrated on the spot. 

Continue reading “Help, I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up: A Review of Jade City” →

Nostalgia is a Plague: A Review of Severance by Ling Ma

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Books

Hello, traveler! We’re back to writing book reviews! For my first post of the sunny (or shadowy, depending on where you look) month of August, let’s talk about Severance, the shocking and stunning adult sci-fi debut from Ling Ma that absolutely knocked my socks off. (This review is spoiler-free!)

SYNOPSIS:

Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies halt operations. The subways squeak to a halt. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.

Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?

Add on Goodreads | Add on Storygraph

Rep:

  • Chinese-American author and main character
  • Chinese (specifically Fujianese) characters
  • BIPOC side characters

Content Warnings:

  • Death
  • Depression
  • Murder
  • Pandemic content
  • Imprisonment
  • On-page sexual content
  • Suicidal ideation

tl;dr: Do I recommend this book?

MY RATING: ★★★★★

Oh, my God. 

Continue reading “Nostalgia is a Plague: A Review of Severance by Ling Ma” →

Souls From a Serrated Page: A Review of The Chosen and the Beautiful

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Books

I’ve been waiting for this one! (Turn it up!)

How are you, traveler? I hope you’re doing well.

It’s my birthday today! 🎂 I’m turning eighteen, which is crazy! To celebrate this, I’d like to discuss one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 (and incidentally one of my new all-time favorites) — The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo, the author of a fantasy novella series I love, The Singing Hills Cycle.

From the cover, premise, and style, I was absolutely ready to dive right in. And dive in, I did!

SYNOPSIS:

Immigrant. Socialite. Magician.

Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society―she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.

But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.

Goodreads | Book Depository | IndieBound | Preorder Portal

Rep: queer, Vietnamese author and protagonist; queer and BIPOC characters; Asian characters

Content Warnings: racism, fetishization, and xenophobia; homophobia; domestic abuse; sexual intercourse and interactions; pregnancy and abortion; death; substance use

tl;dr: Do I recommend this book?

MY RATING: ★★★★★

“Having gay time now?” I asked, breaking the silence with a smile.

Oh, Jordan. Dearest, darling Jordan Baker — my spirit, my star, my soul. Yes. Yes, amen, I am.

Continue reading “Souls From a Serrated Page: A Review of The Chosen and the Beautiful” →

Amity, Affluence, and AP Exams: A Review of Not THAT Rich

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Books

Hello again, traveler! Are you searching for a fun, diverse book by an Asian-American author? Look no further! Let’s discuss Not THAT Rich by Belinda Lei, a debut YA novel to the tune of Crazy Rich Asians and Gossip Girl that had me absolutely hooked from start to finish and gave me a bit of sunlight during freezing, frightening times.

The cover of Not THAT Rich by Belinda Lei. The text, "Not THAT Rich," at the top of the cover and the author's name at the bottom of the cover are written in gold. An art-deco-esque female figure stands in front of a gothic-style gate amidst a green background.

SYNOPSIS:

Hunter and Trisha Wang, like the majority of their classmates, are trying to balance AP classes, Ivy League applications, numerous extracurriculars, and tumultuously juicy social lives, all while living in their affluent, suburban bubble.

Will Hunter get into Stanford and still be able to maintain his relationship with the “it girl” Sierra Jones? Will Trisha find love with outsider Ray Martinez and figure out what’s going on with her influencer best friend, Pamela Shah? Will billionaire newcomer Jack Zhou figure out how to fit in? And who exactly is The Stranger?

Welcome to Winchester High, a prestigious college preparatory school where students live seemingly perfect, privileged lives.

Goodreads | Book Depository | IndieBound

Rep: Chinese-American author, protagonists, and characters; Asian and BIPOC cast; queer characters

Content Warnings: unplanned pregnancy; racism and xenophobia; homophobia; loss of a loved one; drug and substance use; bullying; physical and psychological abuse

tl;dr: Do I recommend this book?

MY RATING: ★★★★★

In short: eat the rich. They have some delicious stories to tell.

This is the sort of high-school drama I’ve been searching for all of my life.

Continue reading “Amity, Affluence, and AP Exams: A Review of Not THAT Rich” →

Memory is a Flood: A Review of The Deep

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Books

Greetings, traveler. It’s Black History Month! During every month of the year, I will be featuring an array of amazing works by Black authors (as all readers and bloggers should) via rec lists and book reviews. Let’s always celebrate the incredible beauty of diverse stories!

Today, we’ll be diving into the breathtaking world of The Deep by Rivers Solomon, a novella inspired by the song of the same name, written by Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes of Clipping (one of my new favorite hip-hop groups. Their album, Visions of Bodies Being Burned, is so good).

SYNOPSIS:

Yetu holds the memories for her people — water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners — who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one — the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities — and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past — and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity — and own who they really are.

Goodreads | Book Depository | IndieBound

Rep: African, non-binary author and characters; African protagonists, characters, and setting; sapphic and queer protagonist and characters; intersex character

Content Warnings: animal death; grief and trauma; slavery and themes of slavery; death of loved ones; self-harm and injury; attempted suicide; hallucinations; the aftermath of war

tl;dr: Do I recommend this book?

Image result for yes fish image

MY RATING: ★★★★★

This is my first five-star rating on this blog! Hooray!

Our mothers were pregnant African women

Thrown overboard while crossing the Atlantic Ocean on slave ships

We were born breathing water as we did in the womb

We built our home on the sea floor

Unaware of the two-legged surface dwellers

Until their world came to destroy ours

With cannons, they searched for oil beneath our cities

Their greed and recklessness forced our uprising

Tonight, we remember.

Traveler, what do you remember?

Continue reading “Memory is a Flood: A Review of The Deep” →

The 20 Best Diverse Releases of 2020, According to the Internet Book Community

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Books

Can you believe it? It’s 2021! Time no longer exists, if it ever did in the first place.

Everything held in the boundaries of the seemingly endless, three-hundred-sixty-six days of 2020 (and these frightening inaugural weeks of 2021) has been up-in-the-air, but one thing’s for sure: we’ve kept ourselves anchored to the Earth by the provisions of fiction. It’s good to step back at times and seek out the escapism we need to stay grounded.

The books in this list are perfect vessels of catharsis and reverie.

Last year, in late December, I conducted a poll across platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Discord to gather a consensus on the 2020 releases and sequels you all loved. Each of the books presented in the poll were written by BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors, and featured wonderful diverse stories across genres.

Let’s dive into the 20 best diverse releases of 2020, according to you, the Internet book community!

Continue reading “The 20 Best Diverse Releases of 2020, According to the Internet Book Community” →

Yee-Haw, This Wasn’t It: A Review of Six-Gun Snow White (ft. Eight Great Books by Indigenous Authors)

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Books

Hello again, traveler! (Scroll to the images of a fluffy Highland cows divider for the rec list! In fact, read the rec list first! But only if you want.)

Six-Gun Snow White | Book by Catherynne M. Valente, Charlie Bowater | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

SYNOPSIS:

Forget the dark, enchanted forest. Picture instead a masterfully evoked Old West where you are more likely to find coyotes as the seven dwarves. Insert into this scene a plain-spoken, appealing narrator who relates the history of our heroine’s parents — a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. Although her mother’s life ended as hers began, so begins a remarkable tale: equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have. Filled with fascinating glimpses through the fabled looking glass and a close-up look at hard living in the gritty gun-slinging West, this is an utterly enchanting story… at once familiar and entirely new. 

MY RATING: ★★

“Saint Michael doesn’t question why when the Big Dog says git.” (I just enjoyed this line.)

I picked up this book from my school’s online library because it didn’t have a wait time, hehe.

Catherynne M. Valente is (probably; this position often fluctuates! I’m more of Ken Liu stan nowadays) my favorite writer. Her works are some of the wildest rides I’ve ever caught hold of.  Six-Gun Snow White is no exception.

I’m still giving it two stars, though.

Hear me out!

Continue reading “Yee-Haw, This Wasn’t It: A Review of Six-Gun Snow White (ft. Eight Great Books by Indigenous Authors)” →

Words Like Snow and Steel: A Winterglass Review

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Books

Hello, traveler!

Let’s take a peek at Winterglass, a novella written by Benjanun Sriduangkaew. It’s the first installment of the Her Pitiless Command series, an epic fantasy lesbian retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, which takes place in a world based on Southeast and South Asian cultures where the primary form of magic-technology is powered by the dead.

Synopsis:

The city-state Sirapirat once knew only warmth and monsoon. When the Winter Queen conquered it, she remade the land in her image, turning Sirapirat into a country of snow and unending frost. But an empire is not her only goal. In secret, she seeks the fragments of a mirror whose power will grant her deepest desire.

At her right hand is General Lussadh, who bears a mirror shard in her heart, as loyal to winter as she is plagued by her past as a traitor to her country. Tasked with locating other glass-bearers, she finds one in Nuawa, an insurgent who’s forged herself into a weapon that will strike down the queen.

To earn her place in the queen’s army, Nuawa must enter a deadly tournament where the losers’ souls are given in service to winter. To free Sirapirat, she is prepared to make sacrifices: those she loves, herself, and the complicated bond slowly forming between her and Lussadh.

If the splinter of glass in Nuawa’s heart doesn’t destroy her first.

My Rating: ★★★

(A rather unrelated note: have you ever seen a more beautiful cover, dear traveler? Its artist, Anna Dittman, is an absolute legend!)

Maybe I just don’t have enough brain cells to understand this book properly (there are no wrinkles up in my cranium, yo. Up there, it’s as smooth as the rolling sea), but I must say: Winterglass was rather difficult to dig through!

 

Continue reading “Words Like Snow and Steel: A Winterglass Review” →

Why I Love to Read

by cephalopodiatry, posted in Stories

When did you first start reading?

I started reading when I was too small to reach the middle shelf. (I’m still far too small to reach the middle shelf, but still.) My mother read to me every night when I was little. We’d curl up together in my bed (I remember my Dora the Explorer-themed bedspread and stuffed purple unicorns), and my mother would stack the hardback picture books (gently retrieved from our black wooden shelf against the wall of the living room) between us.

While she narrated aloud, I’d follow her index finger as it brushed against a page’s structured sentences. Her soft and expressive voice transformed my small bedroom into the palace from Twelve Dancing Princesses, the garden from Little Miss Spider, or the house from Pinkalicious. (Plus, the musical versions of those books absolutely slap — especially Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Period!) I would imagine we were in Paris with Madeline and her boarding school sisters; sometimes, we’d be exploring the cut-out worlds of Eric Carle and the Foolish Magistrate’s home in Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat.

Eventually I leveled up (as one does after gaining experience points); I no longer needed bedtime stories to lull me to sleep.  

Though I never grew out of stories.

Continue reading “Why I Love to Read” →