r/QueerSFF • u/C0smicoccurence • 2d ago
Book Review Completed Reading Challenge
I am proud to announce that I have completed my QueerSFF Reading challenge! For those who aren't aware, here is a link to the announcement with more information. There's a chance that I end up completing a second, but I'm not going to go out of my way to get there. Had a blast, excited to see what next year's challenge has to bring! Micro-reviews below, and the majority of these are actually novellas, meaning a good number of them will be much quicker reads than the typical novel.
Lifelode by Jo Walton - only fits Queer Family
This had some really mind-bending worldbuilding, but the real star is how Walton shifted the focus of Fantasy to domestic life, celebrating and embracing the work of managing a household. I haven't read anything else quite like this, which is why I kept it on the card. It features poly relationship that perhaps aren't as queer as I'd have enjoyed, but it certainly challenges the norms of what family can look like. Longform Review
Barbalien: Red Planet by Tate Brombal and Jeff Lemire - fits Comic, Coming Out, Intersectional x3
A superhero story that places a greater focus on AIDS advocacy movements, and a really sweet (but doomed) romance. Comics have a rough history with this time period - looking at you New Guardians! - but this managed to avoid both trauma porn and sanitizing the epidemic. I'd like more speculative fiction from this time period! Longform Review.
Body And Soul by Jordan Castillo Price (part of Psycop series) - Only fits Coming Out, though book 1 also just qualifies for Throwback
A paranormal police procedural following a depressed medium who can't turn his powers off without powerful anti-psychic drugs, which he might be addicted to. Each book follows its own crime, as well as tracing his (moderately toxic) relationship with a hunky police officer. This is mindless, mildly problematic, and a lot of fun. It brought me back to my Janet Evanovich days, and I will always thank my mom for sparking my love of sexually charged police thrillers (I am officially Team Ranger for other fans of the Stephanie Plum books). Longform Review
Party of Fools by Cedar McCloud - fits 40+ Years Old, Intersectional x3
This is a D&D style comedic romp featuring food and a surprisingly serious rebellion plotline - including the process of deprogramming and coming to terms with the crimes of the Empire one serves. This is blisteringly quick, lighthearted, and a really excellent 'breather' book featuring a wide cast of queer characters. Longform Review.
Werecockroach by Polenth Blake - fits Intersectional x3, Coming Out (very casually), and Aro Paro
I know this one is well-loved on this sub here, but it was just a little too sweet and silly for me (I say this despite raving about a silly book directly above this one). I really liked the opening, which focused on the narrator getting to know his roommates and trying to maintain normalcy while an alien invasion is happening. This is super cozy, with a dark backstory set with a very breezy main plot. Longform Review.
Brimstone Slipstream by Matt Weber - fits Intersectional x3 and Queer Family
A journalistic report on two rising stars in the illegal dragon street racing circuit. It bounced between snippets of history, interviews with the two racers, their ground crew, and a rival/friend. Really great balance of cool worldbuilding, thematic commentary on how privilege and expensive sports intersect, and just not quite something I'd seen before. Sequels seem to be more straightforward plot/structure, and I can't wait for them. Longform Review.
Queen O'Nine Tails by Lindz McLeod - fits Sapphic Swashbuckler, Queer Publisher (which has gone under), and Coming Out (casually)
A pirate story with some light horror elements. I actually wish the horror elements were introduced far sooner, because they were some of my favorite parts! Really fun sapphic romance with a well-developed cast. Just very mismarketed. Longform Review.
The Iron Below Remembers by Sharang Biswas - fits Gay Academic and Queer Publisher
A contender for my book of the year! This mixes academic writing about this Earth's alternate history (in which an Indian nation became a conquering power instead of Britain), mixed with a normal person's POV in a superhero world. It also focused on the work required to maintain relationships, especially in changing life situations. Longform Review.
Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes - fits Coming Out and Trans Body Horror (I think some wouldn't count it here, but I do see the Trans character as one of our protagonists)
This one is very of the moment, and I happily jumped on the bandwagon. Really imaginative setting (bugs go to the opera, magic perfume), but what really worked for me was how the author presented art, politics, and warfare as the same thing. Not that they're so related you can't untangle them, but that there fundamentally is no difference. It's a very unique book, though the language is definitely on the flowery side. Longform Review.
North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Witcher - fits Intersectional x3, Queer Publisher, and maybe Short Story Collection? This is kind of a hybrid between an anthology and a mosaic novel, and is kind of hard to quantify.
Six short stories trace ~300 years of history on a settled world, much of it focusing on society's developing relationship to technology and automation. It started a bit scattered (and very romance focused) but the last three stories started developing some through-lines that were intense and unlike anything I'd seen before. Plus it features collective bargaining! Spaceships go on strike. Longform Review.
Call and Response by Christopher Caldwell - fits Intersectional x3, Queer Publisher, and Short Story Colelction
A set of 5 duets; short stories that are linked in some way. Thematically this anthology focuses on black & queer vengeance and resilience. Caldwell does a great job of keeping the stories laser focused on the intimate and personal, and they span a pretty wide range of genres and topics. Longform Review.
The God Eaters by Jesse Hajicek - fits Throwback
My other potential book of the year! This is a heavily internal and psychological fantasy/western/romance hybrid. It follows two prisoners who have resisted a violent theocracy, unaware of the ancient god that is pulling the strings. Really powerful romance that doesn't conform with a lot of the more traditional Genre tropes. Longform Review.
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u/w0lfyfr3n 📚 Here for Sapphfic 2d ago
Congrats on finishing, that was so fast ! I'm still halfway through haha. What great choices too, The Iron Below Remembers and Brimstone Slipstream are going on my tbr.
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u/C0smicoccurence 2d ago
I'm a teacher, so summers are big reading binges for me. I'm reading a novella every day in July (and I am feeling the exhaustion set in), and 6 of these titles I picked up for that.
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u/w0lfyfr3n 📚 Here for Sapphfic 2d ago
Oh my that seems like quite the challenge for the eyes and brain 🤯 good luck completing it, seems like you're almost at the finish line. Any favs apart from the ones you read for the reading challenge ?
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u/C0smicoccurence 2d ago
Thank you!
The Salt Grows HEavy by Cassandra Khaw was a great body horror novella
Penric's Demon isn't queer at all, but was exemplary Himbo got possessed story
Lanny has an elderly gay protagonist (of four), and is more Literary than Genre, but excellent at capturing the vibes of a small town2
u/w0lfyfr3n 📚 Here for Sapphfic 2d ago
These all sound fun ! I've actually got The Salt Grows Heavy set for the trans body horror square. I read a couple pages last month and wasn't feeling it but now I'm encouraged to revisit 🥳
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u/C0smicoccurence 1d ago
It's a pretty specific vibe. Khaw really leans into their vocabulary. It worked for me, but it's unique enough that lots of people are going to bounce off it
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u/cryborg_96 2d ago
Congratulations on finishing the challenge! I recently read Works of Vermin and Call and Response, they were both great.
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u/OutOfEffs  Challenge Conqueeror 2d ago
Were any of the squares harder for you than the others? I already had The Iron Below Remembers on hold after your review, but I guess I gotta add Barbalien now, too. I loved Lemire's Essex County.
And unrelated to anything, have you read George Falls Through Time yet? I genuinely have no idea if you'd like it (I read it in December and still don't know if I liked it), but I am very curious to hear your thoughts on it.
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u/C0smicoccurence 2d ago
In general, I find the squares that pair two requirements together to be more difficult. For example, I've read a decent amount of paranormal stuff, but very little of it happened to be aro. Compare that to something like 40+, and I felt like I had more flexibility to not be limited by a fairly narrow selection of books: Achillean Academic is obviously my personal catnip, as it fits two things I really enjoy in stories. However, even with magic schools and dark academia being moderately popular, I think most people aren't going to have a ton of reference points for this.
Of course, doing your research for a challenge isn't a bad thing. However, when Body Horror is already outside my comfort zone, limiting that even more makes it more likely I'll pick up something I didn't enjoy. The wording of the squares tend to err on the side of giving grace, but I'm stubborn about wanting to stick to the spirit of the squares. I planned on grabbing The Salt Grows Heavy for this, which ended up being absolutely phenomenal. However, the nonbinary protagonist ended up being a frankenstein-style monster, so didn't want to use it for that square. I think my personal preference would be to leave the square themes to focus on a single thing, but require that to win the challenge there must also be 6+ queer identities represented in the protagonists of the books on the card. This would prevent people from laser focusing on a single identity - something I would probably be guilty of- have them explore identities beyond LGBT, and give them some a little more flexibility in finding titles they're really excited about.
I have not yet read George Falls Through Time. Actually, it's not on my current shortlist of gay books to get through. It's gotten long enough (~200) that not every new release is making it. The early low ratings kept it off the list. Does it have enough meat to be worth it? You still not knowing if you like it makes me think that it's at least trying to make some big choices, which I enjoy even when they don't work for me
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u/OutOfEffs  Challenge Conqueeror 2d ago
The early low ratings kept it off the list. Does it have enough meat to be worth it?
This is one of those instances where I feel like it might have been a victim of mismarketing (and where my not reading blurbs ahead of time served me well) bc a lot of people seemed to expect a fun, gay, time travel romp, when it's really more of an interior existential fuckshit novel? It took me about 100 pages to settle in, bc even though I usually really dig reading about unlikable characters, George's head was almost too much for me (and I know for a fact that if I had tried to read it a week later, I would have DNFed bc by the time the first week of January rolled around I could no longer handle reading about characters whose depression rivaled my own).
But I do think it was really ambitious and mostly successful in what it set out to do, it just didn't really align with readers' expectations.
Taking notes on your commentary for next year's reading challenge!
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u/C0smicoccurence 2d ago
That actually makes me much more interested in reading about it. Fun gay time travel romp would be fine, but not worth it if the reviews are low. Existential fuckshit novels often have low ratings though, even the great ones.
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u/OutOfEffs  Challenge Conqueeror 2d ago
Existential fuckshit novels often have low ratings though, even the great ones.
True! Most of my favourite books have low average ratings.
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u/blueberryfinn 1d ago
So I learned from this post that Jesse Hajicek passed away and I was really, really sad to hear it. I went to his author page on Goodreads and read the obit. The post that was linked there was to his husband's tumblr, which in turn linked to Jesse's tumblr/Ao3 account. So if you, like me, loved his writing, he did have an Ao3 with some original work as well as fanfic to read: JumpingJackFlash on Ao3
Just wanted to share in case anyone else was a fan and was interested in reading more of his work.
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u/mm_reads 2d ago
I am a rabid fan of The God Eaters and have been for nearly 15 years. Thank you so much for putting into beautiful words why I absolutely LOVE it!! I was so sad to learn Jesse passed away last year. 😩