Indulgent, at times brilliant but mostly just messy and unsatisfying story with an interesting protagonist that it then ends up wasting on a convoluted mess of a plot. Where I thought Chainsaw was going turned out to be more interesting than where it actually was going.
(Also: I found the endless references annoying. Yes, we've seen all the 80s slashers, yes, we all love them, but just referencing them is not paying homage to them, it's just ... name-dropping.)
Reviews and Comments
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dare rated Upright Women Wanted: 2 stars
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey, Romy Nordlinger
“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.”
Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself …
dare rated Desolation Called Peace: 4 stars
Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine (Teixcalaan book 2)
An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy …
dare reviewed My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #1)
Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with an abusive father, an absent mother, and …
Review of 'My Heart Is a Chainsaw' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
dare reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange …
Review of 'This Is How You Lose the Time War' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is probably someone's favourite book of the year. It's not mine - it's pretty far from the kind of stuff I usually love - and I was still really impressed and moved.
A love story with a backdrop of a paradimensional war, with the focus on beautiful writing and all the worldbuilding strictly as an afterthought. This is a novel that knows exactly what it wants to be and succeeds in that admirably. There's nothing superfluous here, only beautiful prose and a story that cannot but end tragically. Maybe.
dare rated Leviathan Falls: 4 stars
Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey (The Expanse, #9)
The Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the thirteen hundred solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the …
dare rated Galactic north: 4 stars
Galactic north by Alastair Reynolds
The first short story collection by "ONE OF SCIENCE FICTION'S BEST AND MOST AMBITIOUS NOVELISTS"(SFX).With eight short stories and novellas, …
dare rated Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (Gollancz): 3 stars
dare rated The Outside: 4 stars
The Outside by Ada Hoffmann (The Outside)
Autistic scientist Yasira Shien has developed a radical new energy drive that could change the future of humanity. But when …
dare rated Harrow the Ninth: 3 stars
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (The Locked Tomb Trilogy)
"She answered the Emperor's call.
She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.
In victory, her world …
dare reviewed Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (The Locked Tomb, #1)
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian …
Review of 'Gideon the Ninth' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
At first I thought this was just your average ponderous sci-fi/fantasy epic, the kind that tends to bore me. Then Gideon began to speak and suddenly the story turned into a real delight. Somehow the main character's resentful teenage stupidity elevated the book from dull into hilarious.
dare reviewed Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Review of 'Loop' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
It's been a while since I've read anything so uncompromisingly violent and brutal. This is a compliment! If I'm reading a horror story, I like it to be rough and merciless, and the Loop certainly fit the bill.
Johana Gustawsson: Block 46 (2017)
Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson (Roy & Castells Series)
In Falkenberg, Sweden, the mutilated body of talented young jewelry designer Linnea Blix is found in a snow-swept marina. In …