Review: Concrete Rose

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been almost four years since Angie Thomas gave us The Hate U Give and, as far as I can remember, it hasn't been off the bestseller list once since then. Did I ever expect at the time that she would give us a prequel centered on Starr's dad Maverick? I admit, no, and when she announced this book, its premise was pretty unexpected. But yeah, here we are, getting to see Maverick as a younger man, about the same age Starr was in her book - so, back in 1998. 

Review: Wayward Witch

Wayward Witch by Zoraida Córdova
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third sister, the third Brooklyn Bruja, Rose...after the stories of Alex and Lula, this trilogy's finally come to its conclusion. While I do think it's a slight comedown from the first two books - it's not as easily memorable, and the stakes feel somewhat lower - it does at the very least achieve one thing its predecessors didn't. It brings the story of the Mortiz sisters much more full-circle than ever, getting into a lot more detail about what the hell happened to their father, and also introducing us to a new side of this dark fairytale world. Literally, even, as they go to Adas, a dying faerie kingdom that's bound and determined to use the powers of the brujexes (Córdova spells the neutral form, used here for new nonbinary fae-brujex character Lin in particular, slightly differently than Aiden Thomas did in Cemetery Boys, which to my eye actually makes a certain amount of sense given both authors have backgrounds in different parts of Latin America) to restore itself by any means necessary. One more perilous magical adventure, and now to this latest trilogy of Córdova's, I can say ave atque vale. But I really do have to catch up on her Incendiary series while I'm at it...

View all my reviews

Review: Each of Us a Desert

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mark Oshiro presents: And Now For Something Completely Different. Shifting away from the hard-hitting examination of systemic racism in Anger is a Gift, they now dive deeper into their Latinx roots with a new story set in a distant desert world, magical realism about a young woman in search of love - if only she didn't have to wander far and wide and avoid the monsters, metaphorical and literal, terrorizing her. Magical realism and fabulism have always been something of a hit-or-miss for me - hits with lovely, dreamy prose, but misses for me not really understand what the story is about, whether from the plot being confusing, thin, or both. But Oshiro leans much more into the latter this time, interspersing the prose with frequent Spanish, including Spanish poetry - not to mention the bleak beauty of this desert environment, inspired by the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. And when you get to the acknowledgments at the end and realize that Oshiro took a lot of inspiration from their relationship with their late partner Baize White, then things make a lot more sense. As much as I'm looking forward to moving to Oregon, this book has also made me want to take a road trip someday to Arizona and see the wonder for myself. Maybe even get some inspiration of my own.

View all my reviews

Review: These Violent Delights

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Without the monster, there is no madness. With no madness, he goes out of business." 

I gotta thank Jaroda for loving that line so much that he screenshotted my Insta post quoting it, and thank Blake for getting me to put this book in my library ebook queue. And boy was it worth the time it took to savor. Take Romeo and Juliet to 1920s Shanghai, sprinkle in the critique of early 20th century geopolitics of The Gilded Wolves and the particular focus on Chinese history of The Poppy War, all with a fresh fantasy twist...yeah, I'm putting this one up as another book that I didn't get to review until the year after it came out, even though most of it I technically did read in its debut year...but still, I didn't get to finish it till the following calendar year. And that's okay, but if I'd done the Pinecone Awards post on my blog for 2020 rather than just limit it to a brief Twitter thread, this one would've merited a Special Salute had I finished it in time, due in large part to its lush prose, intriguing plot, and historical context that isn't explored nearly often enough in literature. And thank God we're already waiting for a sequel after the way this one ended...

View all my reviews

Review: Camp

Camp by Lev A.C. Rosen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It took me a while to remember this book existed, and then again to place an e-book order at the library, and then to read it - in one sitting, strangely enough. Well, one and a half - I only took a break to get out of the car I'd been riding in while getting through about the first 40-50 percent or so of the book. I just wish my thoughts on this weren't so...muddled. I mean, it's not a bad book, but it's also definitely one of those YA contemporaries that just didn't feel right for me for some reason or another. Though I do appreciate how much it delves into certain intra-community conflicts, especially among gay guys - critique of toxic masculinity and "masc4masc" attitudes, it's pretty important to bring up so we all remember that the gay community, like any other, isn't a monolith.