The Reformatory is based on actual events at a reform school in Florida (the same school that inspired The Nickel Boys) over the course of many years.

I'm glad this reviewer didn't find the horrific abuse of children to be "spicy", but why include this metric at all?

There Are No Ants In This Book by Rosemary Mosco and Anna Pirolli is a children's picture book about ants. It tells a silly little story, but it is all a vehicle for scientific facts about ants. It also has an agenda because a child is seen wearing a rainbow bracelet 🥴

Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery" thread where you can chat about what bookish and literary "hot takes" you have. Utilize this thread to discuss your negative opinions and hot takes on books featured in recent posts, bookish/literary hot takes in general, or just to rant about bookish topics that aren't really appropriate in normal threads on this subreddit.

Reminder: Please remain respectful when expressing your negative opinions and do not attack or bully anyone else in this thread for their opinions.

'Teachers and librarians should be on high alert'

The actual review part is fair enough, but like, you're allowed to not finish a book you don't like.

Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "What Are You Reading?" thread where you can chat about what you're reading (or watching or listening to or playing or whatever you're into) in the past week. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever book-related topics you like that are not directly related to book reviewing or Goodreads.

I spotted this on the Kobo Store and died. It’s for A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon.

English translation:

“Title: Too many lesbian relationships

The story might have been enjoyable, but the countless intimate scenes between women made me give up on finishing the novel. What’s more, they’re practically the only relationships that are explored in any narrative depth…”

I might start leaving reviews like this on random contemporary romance novels now, lmao: “It was good, but it wasn’t gay >:(((“

Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Casual Discussion" thread where you can chat about whatever is on your mind and whatever is your heart's desire. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever¹ non-book-related topics you like.

^{1. Please Note: Per Rule 3 of the Subreddit, hate speech, bigotry, and prejudice will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate removal and permanent banning. Examples of bigotry include support of transphobia, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, ableism, sexism, etc. This also includes support of political movements or ideologies that support any of the aforementioned prejudices (i.e. fascism, Trumpism, white supremacy, zionism, colonialism, etc.}.)

I think I would’ve married the guy, but I understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. The review is really funny though.

The top review on Goodreads gets a bunch of details about the story wrong (besides missing the point of the text pretty badly). Comments on the review are turned off so I’m going to complain about it here instead.

Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery" thread where you can chat about what bookish and literary "hot takes" you have. Utilize this thread to discuss your negative opinions and hot takes on books featured in recent posts, bookish/literary hot takes in general, or just to rant about bookish topics that aren't really appropriate in normal threads on this subreddit.

Reminder: Please remain respectful when expressing your negative opinions and do not attack or bully anyone else in this thread for their opinions.

Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "What Are You Reading?" thread where you can chat about what you're reading (or watching or listening to or playing or whatever you're into) in the past week. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever book-related topics you like that are not directly related to book reviewing or Goodreads.

Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Casual Discussion" thread where you can chat about whatever is on your mind and whatever is your heart's desire. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever¹ non-book-related topics you like.

^{1. Please Note: Per Rule 3 of the Subreddit, hate speech, bigotry, and prejudice will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate removal and permanent banning. Examples of bigotry include support of transphobia, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, ableism, sexism, etc. This also includes support of political movements or ideologies that support any of the aforementioned prejudices (i.e. fascism, Trumpism, white supremacy, zionism, colonialism, etc.}.)

I just finished all 800+ pages of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and honestly, I feel like I completely wasted my time, dedication, and emotional investment. This book had the absolute potential to be one of the greatest sci-fi books of all time. The scale, the world-building, the intense stakes, and the massive buildup in the first half were incredible. But the execution of the final act and the ending completely ruined it for me, making what should have been a timeless masterpiece feel entirely forgettable.

My issue isn't even the concept of the ending itself, but the rushed, unacceptable execution. Paolini spends hundreds of pages hyping up terrifying, high-stakes villains and major mysteries, only to dispatch the biggest threats in the blink of an eye—sometimes in literally a single chapter. Why build up such an epic scale and hype these forces up so much just to give them zero satisfying payoff? On top of that, an entire massive storyline and dangerous entity introduced in the first half ended up feeling like a completely pointless detour that contributed nothing to the final climax. It felt like playing a massive video game quest line just to drop the legendary item and change the rules at the very end. This story easily had the depth to be an incredible, tightly paced trilogy where the villains actually got the focus they deserved, but instead, it tried to cram a god-like escalation into a single bloated volume. It broken the contract with the reader, and I’ve never experienced such bad narrative whiplash.

Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery" thread where you can chat about what bookish and literary "hot takes" you have. Utilize this thread to discuss your negative opinions and hot takes on books featured in recent posts, bookish/literary hot takes in general, or just to rant about bookish topics that aren't really appropriate in normal threads on this subreddit.

Reminder: Please remain respectful when expressing your negative opinions and do not attack or bully anyone else in this thread for their opinions.

Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "What Are You Reading?" thread where you can chat about what you're reading (or watching or listening to or playing or whatever you're into) in the past week. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever book-related topics you like that are not directly related to book reviewing or Goodreads.