What a hook!
Reviews and Comments
Mostly read around bedtime. Mostly.
He/him/they cishet white fragile trying dreamer antiracist gullible.
Since the ratings on the Bookwyrms don't impact authors' livelihoods, I feel comfortable getting more granular and using all the stars, so if you see a 3/5 rating on a book I say I liked, this is a rough breakdown of what I mean by my stars:
- ★☆☆☆☆ I was offended. I think this book has serious flaws.
- ★★☆☆☆ Not really my thing, and may have been a struggle.
- ★★★☆☆ Liked it, maybe even a lot. Might re-read.
- ★★★★☆ Loved this, and I want to talk about it.
- ★★★★★ I am obsessed. I may even be shaking right now.
As always, the text of my review is a much more accurate representation of my feelings.
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Another Hopeful Fool wants to read Julia: A Novel by Sandra Newman
Another Hopeful Fool wants to read Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Another Hopeful Fool wants to read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
I Cried
4 stars
The dual stories, told in short, impactful chapters is such a powerful mechanism, and Becky Chambers wields it perfectly.
Both stories are riveting for their own, very different reasons. But both have to do with social justice, and personhood denied.
I found myself getting to the end of one chapter and being oh but I want to stay with this character! only to get embroiled in the other character's chapter immediately.
It's like an anti-cliffhanger. Rather than leaving you hanging, it pulls you in to the next segment, and then pulls you right back into the following.
If you liked The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - the previous entry by Becky Chambers, then I can super-recommend this.
Another Hopeful Fool reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Whisked Away
5 stars
If you like the first page, you'll love the whole book. Undeniably a new cozy "comfort read" for me, with a permanent place on my bookshelf.
As a slow reader I felt like my nightly visits over several months were whisking me off to some mystical land.