Divya Manian reviewed The Door on the sea by Caskey Russell (The Raven and Eagle series, #1)
When Elān trapped a salmon-stealing raven in his cupboard, he never expected it would hold …
Epic fantasy better than LOTR
5 stars
I couldn't put it down.
User Profile
I love murder mysteries & history. Preferably in the same book.
This link opens in a pop-up window
Divya Manian's books
User Activity
RSS feed Back
Divya Manian finished reading The Door on the sea by Caskey Russell (The Raven and Eagle series, #1)
When Elān trapped a salmon-stealing raven in his cupboard, he never expected it would hold …
Absolutely STUNNING epic about a young boy who accidentally becomes responsible for the fate of his tribe. You can read this as an allegory to the white invasion of the Turtle island AND as a better epic than Lord of the Rings. The only frustration I have is, for these matrilineal tribes there are so few women characters in this story. Go READ!
Divya Manian reviewed Dead Girls Walking by Sami Ellis
Temple Baker knows that evil runs in her blood. Her father is the North Point …
Go read this immediately
5 stars
Divya Manian reviewed Dead Girls Walking by Sami Ellis
Temple Baker knows that evil runs in her blood. Her father is the North Point …
Go read this immediately
5 stars
Divya Manian finished reading Dead Girls Walking by Sami Ellis
Temple Baker knows that evil runs in her blood. Her father is the North Point …
Absolutely thrilling slasher. Do not read in the dark!! The daughter of a serial-killer revisits her home while being a student counselor to this horror camp for Black queer teens to figure out if her mother was really killed by her father. I LOVE how uplifting this book is which is a weird thing to say about a slasher. But it truly is.
Also, the content alert says there is description of transphobia but I didn't notice any. Entirely possible it escaped me, but I also thought how cool it is that this book normalizes being queer & not having to deal with the usual fears of racism & queer-phobia.
I also loved how kick-ass cool the protagonist is and the other main characters. Finally, give me a protagonist who doesn't do silly & wild things again and again to move the plot forward. This protagonist has Plan A, Plan …
Absolutely thrilling slasher. Do not read in the dark!! The daughter of a serial-killer revisits her home while being a student counselor to this horror camp for Black queer teens to figure out if her mother was really killed by her father. I LOVE how uplifting this book is which is a weird thing to say about a slasher. But it truly is.
Also, the content alert says there is description of transphobia but I didn't notice any. Entirely possible it escaped me, but I also thought how cool it is that this book normalizes being queer & not having to deal with the usual fears of racism & queer-phobia.
I also loved how kick-ass cool the protagonist is and the other main characters. Finally, give me a protagonist who doesn't do silly & wild things again and again to move the plot forward. This protagonist has Plan A, Plan B AND Plan C figured out. YES.
If you lock me in a room and tell me I have to criticize something about this book, then I will tell you, I wish we had more of a backstory to the main villain. I guess the lack of backstory helps with the surprise but I wish we had more of a story there.
Run to buy this book or place a hold in your library systems if you like slasher horror!!
Divya Manian rated Jackal: 5 stars
Jackal by Erin E. Adams
It’s watching.
Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn’t exactly have fond …
Divya Manian rated This Cursed House: 5 stars
This Cursed House by Del Sandeen
In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has …
Divya Manian rated When the Reckoning Comes: 5 stars
Divya Manian finished reading When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen
Absolutely STUNNING horror set in a plantation. It is hard to read because of all the description of abuse that the Enslaved people had endured and description of how current Plantations pretend the Enslaved people had a "good time". But the ending is satisfying, the way the protagonist understands viscerally at the end how the white successors of slave owners are continuing to be complicit. It would be a DAMNED good Jordan Peele movie, but I fear the racists would use it as a documentary for what they want to do instead.
Divya Manian wants to read They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran
They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran
The author of the New York Times bestselling horror phenomenon She Is a Haunting is back with a novel about …
Divya Manian finished reading Jackal by Erin E. Adams
It’s watching.
Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, …
I have a type of book I like, historical horror / sci-fi / murder mystery. This book fits the bill. I kinda did not like the protagonist but the flawed protagonist worked really well in this book. Quite gripping & vivid. The protagonist returns to the town she was born where 2,000 Black people were disappeared overnight (a true fact: newpittsburghcourier.com/2023/10/19/100-years-ago-blacks-had-24-hours-to-leave-johnstown-pa-one-of-the-most-horrific-racial-injustices-in-western-pennsylvania/). The book imagines a horror background for that with a quite fulfilling end.
Divya Manian finished reading This Cursed House by Del Sandeen
In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in …
Absolutely loved this. I had to read this in one sitting. The horror is gripping & thrilling. I did feel the end was a little too rosy somehow. There are twists & turns that are completely unnerving and amazing. It is a historical horror and the period accurate details are so amazing. This book is about a Black woman in the 60s who is hired by this white-passing Plantation owners. Little does she know what awaits her. I hope someone makes a big budget horror movie out of this.
Divya Manian stopped reading
Dark Reservations by John Fortunato
"Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent Joe Evers still mourns the death of his wife and, after bungling an investigation, …
Divya Manian started reading Dark Reservations by John Fortunato
"Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent Joe Evers still mourns the death of his wife …
Every time I searched for an Indigenous mystery on Libby, this book would come up front and given the starred reviewed I figured I should read it. Boy, was I not more wrong, what a terrible book. This man is a current FBI agent who used to investigate cases in the Reservations. First things that are off, a dog is killed by a cop ("but you didnt take care of it anyway" says the cop to the Indigenous person), then a coyote & her puppies are killed by an Indigenous Elder because Coyotes are a "nuisance", I have never heard of Indigenous people killing Coyotes especially pups. Final nail in the coffin was when his characters who were leaders of American Indian Movement decide to claim some current issue as a fake reason to raise money.
I refuse to read any book that does not respect & honor Indigenous people …
Every time I searched for an Indigenous mystery on Libby, this book would come up front and given the starred reviewed I figured I should read it. Boy, was I not more wrong, what a terrible book. This man is a current FBI agent who used to investigate cases in the Reservations. First things that are off, a dog is killed by a cop ("but you didnt take care of it anyway" says the cop to the Indigenous person), then a coyote & her puppies are killed by an Indigenous Elder because Coyotes are a "nuisance", I have never heard of Indigenous people killing Coyotes especially pups. Final nail in the coffin was when his characters who were leaders of American Indian Movement decide to claim some current issue as a fake reason to raise money.
I refuse to read any book that does not respect & honor Indigenous people especially when it is about them. Read a book by an Indigenous person any time. I really hope nobody decides to make an adaptation of this book for TV.
Divya Manian finished reading Ask for Andrea by Noelle West Ihli
The classic blockbuster thriller about three women who refuse to let death itself stop them …
The premise is so exciting, 3 ghosts hunt their murderer. Unfortunately, there is not much hunting and a lot of reminiscing. In between all this we are shown a police force that is shockingly professional – no phoning it in, following up on clues, etc etc which is a fairy tale as far as reality goes. Definitely not a "thriller" as far as thrills go.