book.dreamblog’s Book Reviews!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Book Review  *Warning: This review contains spoilers*  Introduction  This book is an ideal read for spooky season, and is a good modern take on the gothic genre. It’s also a good read if you’re looking for something spooky, but that also still feels like it has a deeper thematic concern.  Review Mexican Gothic starts out very strong. It has an interesting protagonist, really immaculate “haunted mansion” type vibes, and there’s a really strong anti-colonial theme to the plot. It fringes the borders of dark fantasy, horror, and science fiction all with a gothic undertone to give the novel crossover appeal to a lot of different readers’ tastes.  We follow Naomí as she travels to her cousin Catalina’s husband’s family home after learning that Catalina is (supposedly) gravely ill, however Catalina believes that her husband is trying to murder her.  Now, as the story goes on, the spooky vibes do start to grow a bit more… co...

It by Stephen King: Book Review  *Warning: this review contains spoilers* *Content warning: this review mentions abuse, racism, homophobia, sexual violence, antisemitism, suicide, sexism, and child abuse*  Introduction  Time for an unpopular opinion! I didn’t love this book.  I know it’s a cult classic, a pop culture phenomenon, and saying you didn’t like it is basically blasphemy because it’s Stephen King’s magnum opus. But there’s actually a lot of reasons that I think this book just doesn’t work for me.  Review  It’s not that there aren’t accomplishments on King’s part with this book. It is actually impressive that he manages to create an entire history for the town his book is set in, his own mini literary universe before literary universes were a thing, there are some genuinely spooky moments involving clown shenanigans. Some of the characters are compelling, particularly Beverly, even if I didn’t like the way all of her storyline was handled, and ther...

This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Summary and Review This is a difficult book for me to review because I absolutely chose a book that was not my usual taste when I selected this to listen to on audio. If you’ve noticed the general trend of books I listen to on audio getting general lower ratings than books I read as physical, it’s because of the correlation to how excited I am about the book. If I’m really excited about reading a book because I think I’m going to love it, then generally I want to buy a physical. And if I’m going to own a physical copy, then I’m going to read that copy, because there’s no point in owning a physical edition of a book if I’m not going to do anything with it. So, I usually pick titles that I’m only mildly intrigued by to listen to on audio—then that way if I don’t love it, I didn’t spend money to own a physical copy of a book I won’t read again.  That’s my philosophy anyway. Also, I listen to audiobooks when I’m work...

  Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel  *Warning: This review contains spoilers* Introduction If there were an award for the book with the most unique plot, I would cast my vote for Station Elven. I had truly never read anything like this book before, but that wasn't what really impressed me about it. What really got to me about this book and stayed with me for a really long time after I finished was that I don't know how much this book would have resonated with me if I hadn't read it during the Pandemic.  Station Eleven is about a contagion that spreads across the whole world and eventually leads to an apocalyptic-like situation as so much of the population died off, and because of the ensuing panic that led to the breakdown of society as we know it? Sound eerie?  Now, the world we live in obviously didn't quite reach this point during Covid. However, despite the fact that this novel was published way back in 2014 before anyone had ever heard the word "Covid...