Reviews and Comments

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.

I absolutely loved the Dramatized version of All Systems Red and other Murderbot novellas. I love Murderbot series and how nothing seems to match familiar tropes of Sci-fi robots. I think there are logical explanations (though of course not matching reality) which totally makes this a fun romp to listen to. I also love how the author does NOT do the "blue eyes" bullshit to refer to someone who was attractive. Many of the characters are deliberately darker-toned, not of binary gender, & in relationships that are not monogamous. I love vessels like this to describe a world we want to get to.

I loved this murder mystery that starts slow, taking its time to introduce us to the lives of elder Jamaicans who came to UK a long time ago but by the time we get towards the end there are a LOT of twists and turns and almost felt like a thriller. I did not like that there was this "one good cop" situation once again but it was possible to ignore. I think this book will be good as a limited series IMHO. I really hope it gets that!

Jenny Odell asks a good question about why we should claim Rocks are "not living" and what is this arbitrary distinction between living vs non-living. She mentions how Indigenous people have often found mountains, rocks as worthy of respect not to mention how some rivers have been granted personhood so legal actions can be entered on their behalf.

I did not know West Africa does not have Winter but instead it's called Harmattan where strong dry winds blow. This is a fantasy book that was truly wild to read during Zohran's win because the story in the book is also somewhat similar – set in West Africa where the French did not leave where a French-propped puppet tries to win an election against a popular charismatic Indigenous man. The book was very nice but then I read this author also wrote 2 books about the novels of the noted TERF Adiche so I am not so included to love this.

Some aspects were okay but when they said being clean has shown to be responsible for "autistic spectrum disorders" I bailed immediately. A MAHA book from Australia.

Lovely thriller that pulls no punches on the striking inequality and corruption in Pakistan while also navigating a story about a stolen mummy. Features a strong femme protagonist. Really enjoyed the descriptions of people & the city of Karachi. Made me want to visit Pakistan!

Set in the 60s, Vera Kelley is a lesbian spy in the CIA who leaves CIA when they leave her hanging during a hairy time in Argentina. She loses her next job when the manager finds out she is lesbian. She turns to being a private investigator putting her spying skills to good use. This book touches upon the US intervention in Dominican Republic and how much it did to prop up a dictator while also being a mystery that touches on the foster care system and how screwed up it is. Really loved the atmosphere setting which felt very lived in and how difficult it must have been for LGBTQ+ folks to be surviving in the middle of it all and yet they did.

I LOVED LOVED this book. Queer love underneath a Bachelor like reality show. Mysterious mythical creature lurking in the background, people disappearing. Perfectly written feminist horror thriller. Unlike the other one I reviewed today, this one does not have people doing silly things and saying "oops" while dying.

It is quite surprising to note that the author is still working on their MFA at San Jose State university. The book is super compelling read. The story is about two sisters who have a bad experience as very young children in a home that they come back to after 10 years or so and confront their fears. There are ghosts & monsters.

The author transitioned after writing this book (so they go by M. M. Olivas now and not what this book club instance tells us). Do read as it's written by a Bay area author too!

locusmag.com/2024/11/spotlight-on-m-m-olivas/

I did devour this book. It was super compelling. The book covers a future world that feels significantly more miserable than what we live in today. It does cover how AI can be abused for domestic violence. Ultimately it is a positive outcome for the protagonist. I felt the end outcome was a bit contrived. Nonetheless if you want a distraction this is a good book.

For Native American Heritage month, i am reading a bunch of books by indigenous authors. This is a fantasy story where witches exist but are being hunted out of existence by witch hunters who are basically harbingers of capitalism. 7 spoons find the right group of women who are necessary to bring about the end of capitalism & the witch hunters.

The author tries to make this inclusive by having a trans woman as one of the protagonists but really why would a witch have to have something femme about them? It doesnt quite make sense to me really. Somehow it feels like this book is veering towards terf-ness by having such a narrow focus on who can be a witch.

Otherwise this is a very compelling read. Easy to keep reading and the trashing of capitalism is a plus.