ohmage_resistance's reviews
45 reviews

Legacy of the Vermillion Blade by Jay Tallsquall

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adventurous inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this book. There was some parts of the pacing that felt a bit off, but that was the only major part that bothered me. I really liked the surprisingly healthy masculinity of the main character and also the importance of non-romantic bonds as well as romantic ones. This book did a great job portraying some common asexual experiences. I found it especially refreshing to read about a more masculine asexual character—those are very rare.
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Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was slower paced and had more romance than I was expecting, which wasn't really what I prefer to read. The world building and magic system were very cool, those were my favorite parts. It was also a bit heavy on the themes about art, but
what do you expect from Hoid?
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The Last Echo of the Lord of Bells by John Bierce

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adventurous emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver

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adventurous hopeful fast-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

The plot felt a bit out of control the entire time, and there are definitely parts about the world building that don't make much sense. It's also a bit too sweet/preachy for me at times. I liked the message, though, and the anxiety representation was pretty good. 

I read this book for the asexual representation (Regan is ace), and it wasn't too much of a focus so far, but I’m curious to see what will happen with it in future books. 
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Common Bonds: An Aromantic Speculative Anthology by C.T. Callahan, B.R. Sanders, RoAnna Sylver, Claudie Arseneault

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  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I read this anthology for the representation, and the quality of that varied somewhat. Some stories had really great representation, some less so. There were even a couple where I had no clue who the aromantic character was supposed to be. I liked the representation in "The Aromatic Lovers" by Morgan Swim and "Would You Like Charms With That?" by E. H. Timms the best. The writing quality also varied a bit from story to story. I liked "Seams of Iron" by Adriana C. Grigore the most. 
The Dragon of Ynys by Minerva Cerridwen

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

 I liked this one! It was a great queer comfort read/cozy fantasy book. The ending was a bit simplistic, but it didn’t bother me too much. I loved how wholesome it was. I liked how an entire book focused on LGBTQ acceptance can have an aro ace MC, because I feel like it’s easy for a-spec people to be forgotten about in these discussions. There were also major trans and lesbian characters, which was also fun to see.
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Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This book wasn’t quite for me. It was a bit too angsty. I could see that other people might really like it though. 

I read this book for its asexuality representation, and I think it did a really good job exploring that. I think the author wrote this as a book they wish they could have read when they were younger, and you can really tell (in a really wonderful way). It was brought up a lot, and I could see that Kamai’s struggle to accept her asexuality would resonate with a lot of aces. It also did a very good job explaining the basics of asexuality and introducing the idea of romantic orientations.
(Can I just mentioned how impressed I am that Strickland managed to sneak in a fantasy version of the Split Attraction Model into the book?)
I really liked how queer this book was in general (gay/bi/trans side characters) as well as having multiple ace characters. The only major downside is that the word "asexuality" is never used (because of the fantasy setting), which is completely understandable. Also, Kamai and the other major asexual side character both have very similar orientations/experiences, which means that it does tend to emphasize one particular time of asexual experience, which is another nitpick I have.
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Loveless by Alice Oseman

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hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I was actually surprised I liked this as much as I did, since I don't read much contemporary YA. didn't expect to get this emotional/engaged in it, but it totally worked for me. I didn't relate to her as much as I would have thought (I honestly probably related the most on the being new to college part), but that's a valid experience.

I'm not surprised this book is as popular as it is for a-spec rep. I does an excellent job portraying the experience of someone coming into terms with their sexuality. It does tend to emphasize one particular type of experience (ie. being sex/romance repulsed, being aro ace, being very into romantic media). This is mostly because this is the way Georgia is, and the character we see discussion their a-spec identity the next most often is also similar to that. But it is mentioned that these things are spectrums. Georgia (as well as the book) also came across as a bit sex negative at times (not just sex repulsed) and I wish there was more of an effort to disprove that.
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Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This was an incredibly wholesome story (somehow, despite the entire genocide/discrimination of witches subplot.) The plot elements of the story were the weakest (no one seems to have any sort of long term plan, and things get resolved annoyingly easily). The more slice-of-life parts were excellent though.

I loved how queer this book was in general, and especially how Arseneault took the time to include especially underrepresented identities. One of our main characters is bigender/genderfluid and an allosexual aromantic, the other is a biromantic demisexual woman. Beyond that, there are multiple more nonbinary, aro-spec, gay, trans, etc. characters. The (almost) only form of discrimination in the world was against witches, so it felt relaxing to see so many queer identities be normalized and accepted. Also, there was representation with disabilities and all sorts of other characteristics included as well. This book did a great job exploring aromanticism in particular from multiple angles, especially from perspectives that we don’t see as often (ie. allo aros, older aros, etc). I also really enjoyed the way it took some romance tropes and twisting it into something platonic and a lot more queer. 
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In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

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