I managed to read 5 books during the month (the four pictured above and one ebook), scoring me two whole bingos, which I'm happy with but it's also not quite as much as I hoped to read considering I was on holidays for two weeks in April. In fairness to myself, the whole first term of the year was chaotic and busy and I was working a whole extra day each week so by the end of the term I was pretty exhausted. That first week of the break I didn't feel like doing anything other than sleeping or watching TV/youtube.
But of the books I read, I enjoyed most of them! No five stars but a solid four and some high threes. A bit of a breakdown of each book is below the cut.
The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
Prompt: Published in 2020 | 3 stars
I chose this one to start with because I thought a thriller would be a good kick off but it didn't really work for me. Looking back, I think how burnt out I was feeling was definitely a contributing factor in why. So I'd still recommend it, especially if you like a thriller with some horror elements.
Chicano Frankenstein by Daniel A. Olivas
Prompt: Green on the Cover | 3.5 stars
Definitely an interesting read. I just wish it had done a little more or maybe been a little more focused. I think it's exploration the immigrant experience, especially in regard to political leaders like Trump, in this book is so fascinating and clever and valuable. But the execution of it was lacking.
A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock
Prompt: Poll Pick | 3.75 stars
I wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, despite a fantastic premise and enjoyable elements, mostly it just didn't hit the way I hoped.
Cyberpunk Frankenstein by Elena Voxhart
Prompt: Not Your Usual | 3 stars
At only 28 pages this was a quick read but not a standout one. I think the concept is definitely interesting but the execution was lacklustre.
Eynhallow by Tim McGregor
Prompt: Set In Another Country | 4 stars
My favourite of the month. A little slow in parts but also disturbing, horrifying, deeply upsetting. This one is going to stick with me for a while.
Managed to finish Eynhallow half an our before the end of the month!
In this book we follow Agnes, a mother of four, as her life on the small island of Eynhallow is interrupted when a stranger named Victor Frankenstein moves into a vacant house there.
I ended up really liking it! The first half of the book was a bit slow but it really picked up in the second half. Truely very sad and horrifying and upsetting at points. But a very interesting addition to the Frankenstein mythology.
(Content warnings: spousal abuse, childbirth trauma, animal death, infant death, and a touch of cannibalism)
Last day of April for me means the last day of the readathon! I've got about 40 pages left of my current books so I'm gonna try and crack through them before I go to sleep!
Hows the readingoals readathon gone for everyone else?
✔️ Creature on the Cover: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (some editions)
✔️ Female Author: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
✔️ Poll Pick: The Complete Sonnets and Poems by William Shakespeare (I asked people on Tumblr to choose whether I reread a Shakespeare work or not. They chose a new to me work)
✔️ ~ Borrowed: Mary Shelley: The Strange True Tale of Frankenstein's Creator by Catherine Reef (library loan)
✔️ New to Me Author: Under Different Stars by Amy A Bartol
✔️ Green on the Cover: Howards End by E M Forster
✔️ Set in Another Country: Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K Runyan (Set in Russia)
✔️ Not My Usual: The Other Side of Never: Dark Tales from the World of Peter & Wendy by Various (anthology)
✔️ Published in the 2020s: Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (first published in 2023)
They were all really good apart from one or two stories in The Other Side of Never
It kinda feels like cheating a little bit to include this because it was only like 30 pages long but Cyberpunk Frankenstein by Elena Voxhart has been sitting in my kobo library for a little while now so I figured it was a good time to actually read it!
I don't really read dystopian fiction and I'm even less familiar with cyberpunk as a sub-genre which is why I used it for the not your usual bingo square.
Cyberpunk Frankenstein has a interesting premise - in New Geneva, Dr. Victor Q-Strain creates the Cybernetic Prometheus. This creation becomes instrumental to a revolution against the oppressive corporatocracy that runs the city.
I liked it but in so few pages it's hard to properly explore the dystopian world, the creation of prometheus, and the revolution. I would absolutely pick up a full novel that explores the same concept because it definitely feels like something that needs more pages to properly do it justice.
Readingoals Readathon book 3 done - and my first bingo!
Prompt: Poll Pick
Not gonna lie, I defs needed the push to actually read this one so thanks to everyone who voted in my poll!
Honestly, I kind of don't know what to say about this one. I wanted to love it so much more than I did. I mean, it was good. I liked it. But it lacked something.
I think my problem lies with the characters. The setting was unusual and intriguing, the concept was delicious, the beginning where they dig up a dead girl (their new housekeepers best friend!) to turn it into a weird plant creature is creepy. It had all the ingredients for a beautiful and horrifying story. But the characters felt inconsistent - whilst Simon begins by considering the creature an affront to god, he seems to need very little convincing to begin considering it his daughter. And Gregor seemed to flipflop on whether the creature was a girl or a science experiment at random. One of them become more and more paranoid as the story goes on and yet there wasn't much in the way of explanation for it. I think this was only exacerbated by the way the plot was driven by the characters motivations. There were times they seemed to be thinking whatever the plot needed them to think rather than what was believable.
There were some other smaller inconsistencies within the plot that bugged me too and an overuse of floral language perhaps in an attempt to mimic Victorian literature. Also, it just didn't end up as horror-y as I would have liked. I still liked it and I'm glad I read it, but the execution was lackluster compared to the concept.
Chicano Frankenstein was a very interesting exploration of current US politics using elements of the Frankenstein story. (the blurb claims it's a retelling but it's not really.)
I enjoyed it and I thought Olivas made some very poignant and insightful commentary on how minority communities are being treated by the Trump administration (and right wing politics at large). In Chicano Frankenstein we follow a man (he's never named) who has been brought back to life through a controversial medical process. And this lens allows Olivas to examine multiple aspects of modern politics including the immigrant experience, the pharmaceutical industry, voter fraud allegations, greedy businesses, and MAGA (or as it's known in the book MASA - Make America Safe Again) amongst others.
However, at 220 odd pages, this is not a particularly long book (esp considering many pages are written as transcrips from interviews or conversations) and I felt that whilst Olivas was able to touch on these issues none of them were explored in as much depth as they could have been with either extra pages or more focus. Some parts are very on the nose, others are more subtle but mentioned briefly as a passing idea and then never brought up again. In the authors note he brags about finishing the book in only a couple of months, and unfortunately I think that shows. I feel like if he'd spent a little longer on it, the end product would have been so much stronger. The political satire is the driving force of this novel and it just didn't quite land as hard as I wish it had. For me, the concept was incredible but the execution failed to live up to it.
Read in April 2025, part of the @readingoals Readathon
This review is a bit longer than normal so I'll put some under the cut.
This is an anthology inspired by Peter Pan. As warned in the introduction, these are definitely not for children as they are dark in more than one way. I will rate and do a mini review of each short story separately below but will say now that my favourite story was Silver Hook and my least favourite Boy. My overall rating is my average rating (3.42 stars).
A Visit to Kensington Gardens: A bit confusing with its split narratives but I liked the literary references and the twists on the original tale. 3.5 stars.
Manic Pixie Girl: This is about Tinkerbell in the real, modern world. She's a bit messed up and her story here was quite interesting to read. 4 stars.
Fear of the Pan-Child: A father seemingly overreacts about his son getting the part of Peter Pan in a school play and then becomes obsessed and some strange things happen. 3.75 stars.
And On ‘til Morning: Quite lyrical and melancholic as a lost soul is found. 3.5 stars.
The Other Side of Never: (Title drop, lol.) A retelling set in an alternative universe where there is more than one type of monster. 3.5 stars.
The Lost Boys Monologues: The Lost Boys are a boyband and struggling with their fame for several reasons. A bit too unnecessarily vulgar for me. 2.75 stars.
A School for Peters: If you mixed Peter Pan with The Handmaid's Tale then you'd get this story. Sometimes dark and violent but I did like this one. 4 stars.
Chasing Shadows: A creepy short story about a boy losing his shadow. I would have liked a little bit more about the ‘villain’’s motivation though. 4 stars.
Saturday Morning: At first I was confused but I am grateful it is a short story because I stuck with it to find out it's about how one character copes with the events of Peter Pan. 3 stars.
The Land Between Her Eyelashes: I'm not sure why this was included in this anthology because it didn't feel like it was inspired by Peter Pan to me. Yes, there was a hook but I feel that could have been replaced by another fairytale item quite easily. 2.5 stars.
Boy: What the hell was that?!? Yes, you have the lost boys’ names used as characters but I did not need to read this vulgar misogynist bantz. I should have stopped reading after the first instance of the c word. Ugh. 1 star.
Never Was Born His Equal: This starts off fairly similar to JM Barrie's work but then takes a turn when a monster appears. I quite liked it. 4 stars.
The Shadow Stitcher: Now this is the sort of dark fairytale retelling I like. The short story whet my appetite for more. 4.25 stars.
A House the Size of Me: Another redux of missing children, monsters and madness creeping in for those left behind. It was good though. 4 stars.
Silver Hook: Pirates go looking for Captain Hook and I loved the twists in this. I would love to read an expanded version of this. 4.5 stars.
The Reeds Remember: This is not inspired by Peter Pan but the Greek God, Pan, instead. Good enough but I think in the wrong anthology. 3.25 stars.
No Such Place: Very tenuously linked to Peter Pan I think. Again, I don't think this is in the right place. 3 stars.
Far From Home: An interesting spin on the Peter Pan story. I kind of guessed the climax but I liked it. 3 stars
