March 23, 2023

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #40 Chelsea Sedoti, Vincent Tirado, M.R. Carey


Intro


Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL (though for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/I don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis). But while I'm making up my mind about a new book I've read, I might as well give you the short version 😉. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random!

Oh, just so you know...this is a DNF bunch. Or to be more precise, a bunch of ARCs I DNF 😱. Unprecedented for me, I know...

Note: all the mini blurbs (in italics) are of my own creation.

Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti (ARC Review)

★★

On the heels of a girl's disappearance during a camping trip, the four friends who were in the woods with her are interviewed by the police about the fateful night when she went missing (or died?).

***

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

I'm usually intrigued by books that employ unusual narrative styles, but alas, this one didn't work for me, so I threw the towel early on. The story is told via a series of statements given in an interrogation room by four suspects, each of them answering a question (when not rambling LOL), or following a prompt from the authorities in charge. It got old fast, and I found it was distracting me from the plot/whodunnit, which I guess wasn't the intended effect - not to mention, it made it difficult for me to get emotionally attached to the characters. Also, I didn't buy that real teens would be that snarky and articulated when questioned by the police (Petra, I'm looking at you). I applaud the author for trying a different (and risky) format, but as I said, it ended up not being my thing.

Note: definitive review (I don't have enough to say to justify writing a full-length one later, and of course I don't plan to reread this book).

We Don't Swim Here by Vincent Tirado (ARC Review)

★★

A teenage competitive swimmer is dragged by her parents to her dad's rural hometown where her grandmother is dying, finds out that nobody ever goes near the water there, and sets to uncover the reason, despite her cousin's efforts to keep her out of trouble.

***

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

First off - please note that I didn't have any issues with the writing style or the characters, but regardless, I had to throw in the towel after a few chapters 🙁. This ended up being another instance of "I didn't buy the premise" - and yeah, of course I read the blurb before I requested an ARC, but I guess I expected something different...something, well, less forced. For one thing, there's no foreshadowing whatsoever - the visiting girl is dropped straight into a world of rituals and secrets, except everyone expects her to be a passive spectator and not to ask questions. Besides, I can't believe that no one in Hillwoods ever considered relocating (unless there's a reason why they can't, but if there is, I didn't get that far...and anyway, why was the protagonist's family able to leave, then?). And I can't buy that the visiting girl's dad (who grew up in Hillwoods) didn't know anything about the local curse, whatever the explanation was (again, I didn't get that far). All this was keeping me at an arm's length from the story, so I decided a DNF was in order. But if you're interested in small-town supernatural mysteries, familial relationships and Black + lesbian rep, and if you can suspend disbelief about the points I made, by any means pick this book up.

Note: definitive review (I don't have enough to say to justify writing a full-length one later, and of course I don't plan to reread this book).

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey (ARC Review)
(Pandominion #1)
★★

The lives of three people all based in Lagos, but from three different versions of Earth - a female scientist, a male rogue and a rabbit girl - get intertwined when the first accidentally stumbles across the secret of interdimensional travel.

***

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

This pains me to no end, but despite the juicy premise and my having loved The Girl with All the Gifts by the same author, I stopped reading around the 1/3 mark. The first section was hard sci-fi enough to trouble me a bit, but the first protagonist (a lone Black female scientist living in a dilapidated world that she's intent on saving, if at the expense of others) and her AI helper were interesting enough to keep me going, especially when the actual multiverse stuff made its (albeit timid) appearance. Alas, I never warmed up to the second main character (a Black male hooker/rogue trying to rise out of poverty by any means), and when the more political aspects of the story took center stage, I started to get bored. I'm not sure what I expected - maybe more of a multiverse romp with different, fascinating versions of our planet to visit - but what I got sure wasn't it. I commend the book's being diverse and ambitious in scope though (especially given that it's only the first volume in a series), and I hope - or better, I'm sure - it will find the right audience...

Note: definitive review (I don't have enough to say to justify writing a full-length one later, and of course I don't plan to reread this book).

So, have you read/are you planning to read any of the above? And if you have, what do you think of them? Do you post mini reviews? Do you like to read them?

20 comments:

  1. I've seen some other less than happy reviews for the Sedoti one as well, so...

    We Don't Swim here and "throw in the towel"... ahem. Nicely done. Okay, onward...

    a rabbit girl???? I know carey from his comics work but haven't read any of their books

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "We Don't Swim here and "throw in the towel"... ahem. Nicely done."
      LOL, I didn't even notice the pun! Also, thanks to you I realised I had written "throw the towel", not "throw in", so i corrected it everywhere 😱 😂.

      Yep, apparently, from a race of sentient rabbits...From other reviews, I gathered that her character was very well-received, but I didn't make it that far (though I skimmed a little before I gave up).

      Delete
    2. Throw that towel! :)

      I skim a lot more now, and even give up on books if they're not grabbing me...

      Delete
    3. The older we get, the less patient we become? 😂 Though to be honest, I only skim when I decide to not finish a book, but I still want to know what happens next...

      Delete
    4. I skim sometimes if I'm trying to get through it or just hit a patch where it's extraneous- like describing the curtains or something. :)

      Delete
    5. 😂 I'll admit that my eyes gloss over certain descriptions...I don't skim, but I have trouble with staying focused.

      Delete
  2. I agree, Infinity Gate was tough in the beginning. Lots of hard science and a pretty glum world. But I love how Carey never writes the same book twice, and I thought this one came together really well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even if I gave up on it, I got the impression that it was a good book, only not my cuppa. And yeah, I've only read The Girl with All the Gifts by him, but I agree...not only the genre, even the style sounded totally different.

      Delete
  3. I haven't read any of these but sometimes you just have to stop reading if the book or story isn't grabbing your attention.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I try to select my books with care, but sometimes I fail to pick wisely...and yeah, forcing yourself to finish a book is never a good move.

      Delete
  4. Roberta!!! This is the saddest bunch of books for you. My heart weeps for you. I usually enjoy different narrative styles, but I understand your reasons for Sedoti's not working for you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, I didn't read them back-to-back, but releases dates and other considerations have conspired to make me group them together. I've enjoyed some other books in the meantime. It would have been a bummer otherwise...

      Certain styles can be hit or miss 🤷‍♀️.

      Delete
  5. Oh, no, I'll be reading Tell Me What Really Happened next, and I'm hoping to get to the new M.R. Carey soon. Maybe something will click for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oops 😂. If you're looking for horror, TMWRH isn't a strong specimen of the genre...Carey's book is fine, just not my specific jam. I hope you'll enjoy them more than I did!

      Delete
  6. I hope that you have better books to read soon.
    I enjoy different narrative style books as well (Lanny is a book that does it well), that's frustrating that it didn't write it well.
    And the horror book sounds frustrating, all the things you mentioned seem like things that one should not do when writing horror.
    Anyway, I enjoyed reading your post.
    -Quinley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I'm already enjoying other books, as one does 😉.

      I'll have to look up Lanny...

      You made me think...foreshadowing is, indeed, an integral part of good horror - or it should be.

      And thank you!

      Delete
  7. Wonderful mini reviews! I don't read horror but I am curious to know what's going on in We Don't Swim Here... your review has me interested in googling spoilers! LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I liked unusual sort of narrative styles more as a teen than I do now. Which is not to say it's a teen vs adult thing, just a my tastes changing thing. And if you were expecting a multiverse romp but didn't get that, I can see why you'd give up on a book. Sorry these didn't end up being for you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it's also an author thing? Some of them are able to pull off unusual styles better than others?

      Delete

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