thistle_and_verse's reviews
299 reviews

Very informative. There's so much history I didn't know. I like how Whaley combines her analysis of the art with history with surveys of fans.

A fascinating book and a quick read. Schalk follows the 'tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them' format pretty explicitly. Having the points reiterated multiple times was helpful for me. I'm casually familiar with disability studies, but I don't think that was necessary to understand this book. Schalk does a good job of explaining the concepts relevant to her analysis. This isn't a book where Schalk evaluates how good the disability representation is. Her questions are more around what constitutes a disability in these novels, how is it represented, and how does it conform to or destabilize more realism-based narratives of disability.

A lookbook of mainstream and indie creators of Black comics. I was hoping to spend more time with each artist, but its intention is mainly to be a sampling of current creators.

A disturbing and satisfying read. Due is a master at dropping hints that things aren't quite right with LeFleur and synchronizing these realizations with the story arc. I didn't figure out the twist before it happened, which I appreciated.

The last chapter was mostly what I was reading for and what I was most moved by. I think the idea of restorying and fan fiction as correction for deficits in current media is a really interesting idea, and I hope Thomas writes a follow-up book about it. Thomas introduced me to many new frameworks for analysis and theorizing, but some of the big conclusions she made were things I felt like I already knew from personal observation. I think I most benefitted from the book as academic validation, general enjoyment of Thomas' story and how her field of study ties into her life, and Thomas' analysis of more singular moments within the movies/ books she discussed. It was very gratifying to see her cite people like Moya Bailey and Cashawn Thompson.

We also start to hear from Nassun and thus discover more about Essun as a mother. What we learn is sad and disappointing but perhaps not unexpected. It was a fascinating and moving book.

Great collection with a lot of re-read value. I had the book for 2 days and re-read some stories 3 times. Engrossing stories and the quality was consistent. As someone who's read other of Jemisin's works, it was interesting to see the beginnings or alternate stories for some of the other worlds she's created. Personal favorites were "Red Dirt Witch", "L'Alchimista", "Valedictorian", "The Storyteller's Replacement", "The Evaluators", and "The Narcomancer."

I enjoyed this series from start to end, and this was a pretty good conclusion to it. We learn about the origins of stone eaters and deadcivs (something I didn't think would get circled back to), and I had difficulty predicting what would happen next. Essun and Nassun reach a satisfying if sad understanding of each other.