I don’t think I’ve ever been so pulled into a novel by the dedication, author’s note, and epigraph. (The epigraph to Part One is “i did not come to preach of peace / for that’s not the hunted’s duty.” -Danez Smith.) In the author’s note, Johnson explains the inspiration behind this book coming from her time participating in the 62-day sit in at Nashville’s Tennessee State Capitol. I found myself writing down multiple quotations, including…
An Open Wound of a Novel: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Review
This is a book I respect, and it’s one I struggled to get through. The subject matter is difficult—not only is it set in a near-future dystopia where prisoners fight each other to the death for a chance at freedom, but it also includes footnotes about the real-life atrocities of the prison-industrial complex. I canRead More
A Tough But Necessary Read: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Review
Content warnings for pretty much everything: violence, gore, racism, incarceration, solitary confinement, self harm, cutting At the time of writing this, it’s barely been three weeks since the 2024 presidential election in the United States, which Donald Trump won by a handy margin. Although Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah came out over a yearRead More
Murder by Crowdfunding: Crowded Vol. 1 by Christopher Sebela et al.
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! The Crowded comic book series tells the satirical story of a dystopian world not too far in the future where the gig economy has become unhinged. In this world, everything has a price, including putting out hits on someone’s life through an app called Reapr. AnyoneRead More
A Land of Gods, Monsters, and Talking Cats: Monstress Vol. 1 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Oftentimes bleak but consistently awe-inspiring, Liu’s world of steampunk, art deco fantasy is a marvel to behold. This is definitely one to check the trigger warnings for. Set in a world where humans and Arcanics (a cross between humans and a mystical race calledRead More
An Ode to Burning it All Down: The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Have you ever been seized with the inexplicable urge to destroy an intricate and beautiful object? But you don’t; you just sit with that strange, uncomfortable urge twisting in your chest and gnawing away at your heart. That’s a bit like what reading The GenesisRead More
A House Haunted by Fascism: Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I feel so conflicted about Tell Me I’m Worthless, because it’s one the most thought-provoking and memorable horror books I’ve ever read. The sections I liked were captivating, and in the first chapter, this felt like a new favourite book. But there were alsoRead More
Maggie reviews Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link I knew going into Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin that it was going to be a wild ride. The pair of bloody testicles suggested by the cover tells you that right off the bat. And to tell the truth, I’ve mostly gone off of apocalypse fiction the last few years –Read More