MixedSmart Bitches Trashy Books... I [was] disappointed by the presence of harmful stereotypes in what could have been a more inclusively feminist story ... Something about the way each of them coped with surviving trauma just really spoke to me. I was totally invested in them ... One place where characterization runs into serious trouble is with Adrienne. Adrienne, who is African American...is the first person to be killed in the book, which means that despite all the tropes this book subverts, The Black Dude Still Dies First. Adrienne is also supposedly fine with the fact that the character based on her in her film franchise is played by a White actress. Adrienne is a pragmatic person who loves raising money, but I still found it difficult to accept that she would be completely fine with her character being White-washed ... I think the book works better as a thought experiment than as an actual novel ... Feminist thought experiments about horror are catnip for me, and so are narratives about unabashedly triumphant survivors of male violence, so I ate Final Girl Suppport Group right up. However, I don’t think I would recommend it to someone with no interest in cultural or feminist criqutes of horror ... every time I re-read this book, I like it less. On the other hand, I have been re-reading it, something I don’t always do, and the first go-around was pure adrenaline for me. I’d say this is a VERY mileage-will-vary book, not only from person to person but also from read to read, and it has serious problems with representation.
M. A. Carrick
RaveSmart Bitches Trashy BooksThe Mask of Mirrors is a long and complicated book ... It is very high praise indeed when I say that it kept my attention and had me reading along to see what will happen next, while also pausing to linger on the amazing world-building details. This is a fantasy novel, the first in a trilogy, that begins as a con-artist story and transitions into a political and magical epic ... This book is slow-paced until the last third of the book when a lot of violent and magical things happen at one time. I actually liked the slower-paced parts of the book because I enjoyed the attention to detail ... I liked the slow character building, especially since there are so many characters and point-of-view switches often. At first there does not seem to be any magic in the book, but it gradually becomes part of the narrative until things literally and figuratively explode in the latter third of the story ... Readers who like political scheming, fashion as a weapon and a tool, secrets, and swashbuckling will enjoy this, and as a special treat for Tarot fans the characters have their own form of cartomancy which is described in detail in the book. I recommend this to fans of epic trilogies with a lot of intrigue.
Molly Greeley
PositiveSmart Bitches, Trashy BooksFans of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice might recall meeting Anne de Bourgh for a hot minute and also hearing her referred to incessantly by her domineering mother, Lady Catherine. The Heiress tells Anne’s story from her point of view ... This book was not what I expected, but I loved it once I adjusted to its tone. While The Heiress contains a romance, it is less about romance and much more about the search of the protagonist for autonomy and purpose in her life. It may not be necessary to have read Pride and Prejudice to enjoy this novel, but the reader should at least have a familiarity with the characters and basic plot ... I was enchanted by the lyrical, descriptive, mood-evoking language in the novel. It is sensorially immersive but also allows the reader to share Anne’s mood. What the book lacks in plot it makes up for in description – assuming that the reader enjoys long descriptive passages such as the one quoted above ... This is a slow-paced, character-based novel, with no major exciting events. Nothing explodes, there are no murders, no high-speed chases. Instead, it’s a quiet, lyrical, moving biography of a remarkable woman who fights a lifetime of gaslighting, abuse and drug dependency to live life on her own terms. A lot of this book was difficult to read because of the gaslighting and abuse, but it is ultimately triumphant. Meanwhile, the prose is gorgeous. This is not the light read I was expecting. It’s so much better, and will delight readers who enjoy beautifully written, historically accurate, feminist, LGBTQIA-friendly fiction with the inclusion of a moving love story.
