Robin Goodfellow's Blog, page 6

Book Review for Ten Hypnotic Texts by J. Saburra

I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form.

Ten Hypnotic Texts, by J. Saburra, is a collection of poetry that details the poet’s struggle to understand her relationship with the world around her. This can include her writing, her interaction with others, and her navigating society’s complexities. Poems such as I know You Do and Pretty Much showcase Saburra’s inner dialogue as she attempts to advocate for herself and her interests while making sure she doesn’t screw herself over in the process. 

Like all of Saburra’s other poetry collections, it was brief but humorous. I especially liked the poem Is that Alright with You? because at one point my colleagues and I had this discussion. Hell, a mutual friend of my husband and I used to say that if photography and film don’t work out for her, she could always go stripping. We’d point out her lack of upper body strength, and then we’d laugh/cry before wondering if anyone would buy our feet pictures. Some of my clients who are going to college are voicing the same concerns. Maybe it’s a part of some weird phase all young adults go through when they’re on the cusp of adulthood. Either way, it was entertaining. 

I also liked how Saburra took the time to evaluate her relationship with herself and others in each poem. She’s very aware of when someone’s mistreating her, but in the same vein, I wonder how she’d feel if someone was showing her affection. Some of the poems carry a weight within them as if she allows the anxieties to build in her head until she’s nothing more than a cesspool of paranoia. It’s a sobering truth, but an important one nonetheless. Perhaps this is what she meant when she described the collection as “Hypnotic”; having your body and mind relive whatever trauma you’ve undergone can be very hypnotic, even if forced. 

The collection is a lot more sobering than other self-help books nowadays. Then again, we need a little sarcasm with all this somewhat toxic positivity. As such, I would give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review for Unexpected Afterlife by Dan Sofer

I received this book for free. This did not impact my review in any shape or form.

An Unexpected Afterlife, by Dan Sofer, is a paranormal adventure about strange predicaments one could face if they were raised from the dead. An example of this would be Moshe Karlin, a secular Jew who, after being resurrected by some unknown means, winds up homeless, familyless, and jobless. He gets taken in by Rabbi Yosef, who believes that Moishe’s resurrection is a sign of the End Times. After meeting Irina, a woman in a similar situation, Moshe sets out to regain everything he’d lost, from the love of his life to some semblance of financial freedom. Meanwhile, the honorable Prophet Elijah, who was supposed to meet Moshe and the others, winds up in a psychiatric hospital where he meets the lovely researcher named Noga who, for all intents and purposes, does not believe a single word he says. 

I laughed at these characters’ pains way more than I should’ve. I like the idea of Moshe being revived and not remembering a single thing about the afterlife. I also like that when Moshe and others came back to life, they weren’t greeted with any fanfare or even welcomed back with open arms (of course, excluding Rabbi Yosef). Everyday stressors still got in the way of them having a safe place to stay. They still had to get jobs. Money still needed to be earned. Reputations were still at stake if the Great Council and Avi were anything to go by. And true, Moshe demonstrated his leadership prowess and love for his fellow undead by establishing the Dry Bones Society. However, that was only because of his perseverance and the ability to hold fast to his values, which are very human traits, nothing supernatural about them. Is there potential for corruption? Of course, but everything that Moshe and Rabbi Yosef earn is deserved. 

I also smiled when Samira revealed her backstory and Rabbi Yosef’s reaction to it. Especially nowadays with everything that’s going on in the Middle East. Death really is the great equalizer. Doesn’t matter what you do or which religion you subscribe to; everyone dies. So it’s not that far off to say that some people might be there for the end times, people you might not have realized were, you know, eligible to witness the end times. 

Unfortunately, this book painfully reminds me of my job. Some clients believe they’ve experienced angels talking to them and Heaven (especially after a bad acid trip), and because of that, have given up on engaging with life. Granted, when they take certain medications, they no longer experience that Heaven, but the memory sticks with them. So for the Prophet (maybe) Elijah to go through what he’s going through, I just kept thinking to myself, “How many clients have actually experienced the unimaginable and are put on psych meds because of it?” If I asked them, “Hey, are you experiencing any hallucinations or delusional thinking?” If they give me something remotely similar to Elijah’s beliefs, I wonder what my reactions would be. Definitely not the psych ward, but it’d be something. 

I had a lot more fun with this book than I should’ve. It’s a feel-good story about lost men and women finding a purpose in their lives again, whether it be continuing old dreams or finding new ones. As such, I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review for Vox by J. Saburra

I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form.

Vox, by J. Saburra, is a chaotic collection of poetry and prose dedicated to finding yourself in a world that refuses to acknowledge its deceptions. Each poem constitutes an insanity that the poet encounters, whether it be familiarizing oneself with the intersection of violence and peace when healing others to feeling trapped by urban jungles. The collection also represents Saburra’s ability to see the world for what it is and cultivate opinions that might not be popular with the people around her. 

I was in med school way back in the day, so when I saw two poems dedicated to telomeres and CRISPR, I laughed. The poems are absolutely right; we’re using violence to heal ourselves. Although herbalism encompasses a supposedly more “gentle” approach, some herbs can be particularly menacing (there’s a reason why you talk to your doctor every time you use St. John’s Wort and Aspirin simultaneously). And while this fight is occurring, you’ve got people swearing off these experiments altogether, attacking this or that, or proclaiming all sides are stupid because they didn’t “do enough research.” Still, we’re communicating. Not in a good way, of course, but we are.

Then you’ve got poems like Soggy Dollars and What I have not written to the Desert Sun, where the poet understands the practicality of living in this cruel society but also wants to free herself from the confines of it. There’s a balance between these things that not many people can find. One minute you’re content with being a cog in the machine, and the next, you want to throw caution to the wind and live like a witch in the woods. One minute you’re fine with living like a witch in the woods, dependent on nature then suddenly you’re imagining all the material riches in the world and the comforts you’re missing. I do that a lot. My friends call me a cesspool of anxiety, but that’s okay. 

No one idea is going to be the same, and a person can’t remain one-dimensional forever. It’d be a boring existence if that were the case. And this all culminates in a surprisingly straightforward letter to the reader, in regards to the 2016 election. I don’t know how I feel about this letter being in the collection, but it ties into the theme all the same.

I really do enjoy this collection. It’s chock-full of themes that I can use with my clients. The ability to be okay with having two seemingly contradicting thoughts is a must in life, and when we aren’t okay with that, we tend to cause more psychological suffering towards ourselves. 

As such, I would like to give this collection a 5 out of 5 stars.  

Book Review for Colossus by Ryan Leslie

I received this book for free. This did not impact my review in any shape or form.

Colossus, by Ryan Leslie, is a sci-fi epic about what it means to be immortal and whether or not chasing that immortality will give you everything you want. The book is separated into three parts. Dying Wish introduces Clay, a former economics professor who, after losing his wife to the drug Dying Wish, decides to go on a spaceship called Child in the Dark to get away from it all. Unfortunately, he finds himself trapped between (an admittedly one-sided war) two AIs, Justine and Esteban Bros. The second part, Oberon, provides backgrounds on both Justine and Esteban, all the while pondering on the morality of playing God. In the third and final part, Colossus, Clay takes advantage of his newfound quantum immortality to go back and try to save his wife, only to repeat the haunting mistakes that cost him nearly everything. 

I thought it was funny that, despite Gabriel’s pride clearly being the size of the earth, he wasn’t actually given any dialogue. True, he was this looming shadow figure who would gladly drag everyone down with him if it meant he could discover the secrets of the universe. But like all the results of human pride, he nearly killed everyone (actually everyone in other parallel universes). And what was the result of his ambition? An abandoned ship just floating in dead space while everyone else forgets the legacy you wanted to leave behind (except a drug that’s killing everyone). I would’ve loved to see how he would’ve fared on that ship with everyone. The fact that people were still loyal to him despite the mess he’s forced everyone into is a testament to how charismatic this man was. 

I feel like a more down-to-earth version of him was Clay. The utilization of all the Julians, him going back to the mess Gabriel trapped him in, all just to save his wife who had little to no chance of survival, to begin with; I don’t care what Karla was bragging about, her saving Clay from hell. They’ve lost everything, gave up everything, just to get some semblance of their old lives back. The only one who seemed to have some idea of what was going on was Mirabel, although I wouldn’t leave my community for any lump sum of money. Then again, I’ve never been in that situation before, so I couldn’t say.

When I was in college, my professor said that it made sense for there to be parallel universes. The equations are there, and the 50% chance statistic that this could all be a simulation keeps popping up now and then in pop culture. And now Marvel and DC are fumbling around with the multiverse. Do I think this may lead to immortality? Not really, considering all the other Robin Goodfellows have their own lives to live. Does it make me feel small? Significantly. Am I painfully aware that human pride can destroy everyone and everything around them? Yes. Moreover, a scene from the book that sticks out to me was when Esteban was experimenting with Justine and how, whenever she asked if he was God, he’d say he was. It was on his conscience then, the fact that whatever it was they were playing with was something they didn’t understand clearly. 

The Julians were hilarious. I don’t care how much of an existential nightmare this became; they were the one bright spot in this book I came to enjoy. Personally, I feel that, based on his experiences, quantum immortality doesn’t exist. If anything, it’s like a split consciousness, similar to the one in the video game SOMA. It’s not really you. It’s a part of you, true, but it’s not really you.

Objectively, this is an okay book with a lot of really cool concepts, but personally, it wasn’t my cup of tea. I loved the first part, but when the horror went away, it lost me. Drastically. The play on arrogance was excellent, but I would’ve preferred that to be intertwined with the terror I felt in the first book. As such, I’m gonna give this a 3 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review for Song Dogs by J. Saburra

I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form.

Song Dogs, by J. Saburra, is a lyrical collection that details the attempts to gain freedom, whether it be from the past, society, or the horrors of adulthood. Poems such as Far Away and Sardines capture the whimsical feeling of escaping away into fantasies we can only dream of. Other poems, such as Crow Medicine, become desperate, relying on substances and other self-harm techniques that can only promise a sliver of that hope. 

One of the poems that stuck out to me the most was the aforementioned Far Away. It was musical, and it felt like the words were molding the reader’s imagination into something more simple but elegant. That immaturity leans into the repetitive “far away”, kind of like the phrases “long, long ago” or “once upon a time.” I might just be a sucker for fairytales or even fairytale re-imaginings, but there’s a reason why books are so popular now. They allow us to free ourselves from adulthood, even if just for a moment. Of course, you’re going to have people who want to make a living off this stuff, and so many authors are burnt out from the publishing industry that they just leave altogether. Regardless, I find that this seemingly simple poem captures the weight that we’ve been living under. It’s by far my favorite out of this collection. 

The collection also reminds me of the song Field of Innocence by Evanescence. Like the poems in the beginning, the song discusses a person’s fall from grace, and how they wished they could go back to having faith in the systems around them. The same despairing tones are prevalent in Saburra’s writing, although the dreams are more concrete. I enjoyed how the collection begins as very structured at first, but over time begins to devolve into seemingly romantic madness towards the end. 

I enjoyed this collection, and for right now, I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review for Devil in the Details by Cheri Lynn Feener

I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form. 

Devil in the Details, by Cheri Lynn Feener, is a dark romance about about learning, understanding, and falling in love with the most corrupt parts of yourself. Gael Thiago is still reeling over the betrayal his partner, Shade, had dealt him. He can’t wrap his mind around the idea that a detective, someone he worked with and grew to trust and depend on, had given everything up to be with a serial killer. As such, he decides to go to Alter, a World Ship that prides itself on sexual gratification and privacy (keyword). When he, as well as other guests, become trapped with a psychotic serial killer on board, Gael is forced to reconcile his beliefs with the justice that so many others have tried to ingrain in him. 

I liked the friendship Gael and Shade shared. Even though it’s been a year, he’s relying on Shade for guidance, detective work, or otherwise. And personally, I understand his confusion and frustration. To an outsider, the relationship Shade and Apollo have can be considered abuse. Then again, it’s one of the reasons why BDSM practitioners sell the sign “safe, sane, and CONSENSUAL”. It’s a dynamic that Kai is willing to offer to Gael; he wants Gael on his side, but he knows he’s got to ease him into things. And as much as Gael disapproves, he’s eager to learn. There is a bit of escapism there, but I’m okay with it. It’s hot, it’s steamy, and it satisfies every BookToker’s fantasies, including mine. 

That being said, I’m not sure how I feel about the relationship and the crimes committed. It’s one thing to punish people for making snuff films and videotaping others without their consent. It’s another to get someone so desperate for an orgasm that they’re willing to do whatever you say. I do enjoy dark romance. Don’t get me wrong; again, the scenes are sexy and filled with violent lust, but when it comes to consent, that’s where I am having a bit of an issue. Talking would definitely help, and I do have to agree with Kai; it would’ve been better to have Gael see everything, including the insanity. I’m glad that it worked out. Truly I am. But consent is sexy, and I’m not budging on that. 

Nonetheless, I did like the book, and I will be on the lookout for Feener’s next dark romance. So for now, I’ll give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.  

Book Review for Crossroads Magic by Tracy Cooper-Posey

I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form. 

Crossroads Magic, by Tracy Cooper-Posey, is a paranormal women’s fiction about a struggling, middle-aged woman stumbling across a strangely beautiful yet terrifying secret her late mother had left behind. Anna is a divorcee who’d lost everything after committing the heinous sin every woman dreads; being old. After losing her house and admittedly useless husband and seemingly on the verge of losing her dead-end job, Anna is not in a good place. The fact that her adult daughter, Ghaliya, suddenly barges into her life with little more than a pregnancy announcement and a cry for help does little to ease her fears. One day, she receives a phone call from a man named Benedict Marcus, who informs her that her mother has passed and for her to come to the little town of Haigton Crossing to sort through her affairs. With little to no money left, Anna decides to go, where she realizes her mother has been murdered. What starts as a dark story of betrayal and mystery turns into something far more terrifying when Anna stumbles across her mother’s secrets, secrets that threaten to trap her and Ghaliya in the town for good.

Anna is living my nightmare. I’m not looking forward to the day I get old. I can’t imagine that the partner I have now will someday turn against me or children I plan to pass my legacy down to will abandon it in favor of societal norms. I don’t want to visualize losing everything financially (and after all the lessons my mother drilled into me about having money at all times too). I guess that’s why Haigton Crossing is so enticing for people. It’s peaceful and quaint, and while the townsfolk may be a bit eccentric (with Harper being the main culprit), it’s a perfect getaway from life. I know that whenever I go to circles or covens and ask around, it seems everyone’s going through the same struggles Anna is. I don’t blame them for wanting to find solace in the community and a sacred space to do it in. I would settle into that mindset too. So I was happy when Anna found a place there, even if it wasn’t in ideal circumstances. 

It also seems like with every book about witchcraft, the magic lies in the struggle. I loved how each townsperson there has some kind of inescapable obstacle they can’t figure out how to get around, and because of it, they can’t leave. While Harper was annoying, my heart definitely goes out to her, no matter how bratty she is. Personally, I like how the greenway acts as a highway for supernatural creatures and humans alike; everyone is going through something. No matter how powerful you have, or how much main character syndrome you’re experiencing; at the end of the day, you’re going to have pain and grief. 

Does the bad guy win? In this case yes. Do I feel like that’s a loss? Really no, considering the sorry way the world’s treated Ghaliya and Anna. Then again, a lot of safe havens start off that way, but as long as you get your peace, I can’t say I’d do anything different. As such, I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review for The Dreamer by Travis McBee

I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form.

The Dreamer, by Travis McBee, is a horror mystery about a young woman who innocently murders everyone around her. Sixteen-year-old Natalie Mullin lives in the small town of Oak Grove, Georgia. Although she suffers from horrific night terrors, she can’t remember them and goes about her days stroking the ego of college student Mitchell. But when she starts to remember her dreams, she begins to understand the relationship between their occurrence and the onslaught of the strange deaths around her. What starts off as some random coincidence turns into something more terrifying when she uncovers the horrifying power her dreams have, a power that she may not be able to control.

I absolutely loved Natalie’s development. She’s a reckless teenager who lives a sheltered life, not even understanding her vulnerability. She hasn’t had all the hardships people her age face, probably because she’s so sure of herself. For her to crumble under the weight of her power was heartbreaking, even though she was able to get revenge on Andrew and get back some of the independence she’d lost. I loved the little tidbit of Carrie being her favorite book and in a way, her ending was massively more destructive than hers. For Natalie, who, for all intents and purposes, is a sweet, sexy angel, it’s funny that everyone who interacted with her, negative or otherwise, had fallen prey to such violent deaths. The only one that survived was Mitchell, and that was only by the skin of his teeth. Although he was overly protective at the beginning, I can empathize with his reactions at the end.

I also liked seeing the different characters affected by Natalie; they were all interesting in their own way, and personally, had their lives not been cut short, I would’ve liked to see where they would’ve ended up. It goes back to the idea of Death being the great equalizer; it doesn’t matter how kind you are, how rich, or if you’ve done everything right. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is whether or not you were mentioned in a passing conversation and if a girl just witnessed her boyfriend being violent. It’s twisted, it’s funny, and it’s horrible at the same time. The fact that McBee had demonstrated this in the finale hammers home the idea. 

It was a bit hard to follow the book at first, but nonetheless, I enjoyed reading this book. As such, I would give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review for McSexy: An African Inspired Romance by Sianah Nalika DeShield

I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form. 

McSexy: An African Inspired Romance, by Sianah Nalika DeShield, is a billionaire romance about loving someone despite their many, many, many flaws. Mike Frimpong is a Ghanaian multimillionaire with a reputation for being an infamous playboy. After accepting a bet from his friend to get a woman pregnant, he suddenly finds himself falling head over heels for a beautiful, intelligent woman who is miles out of his league. Lily Annah is a university lecturer and beloved children’s writer struggling to help her family make ends meet. When she learns that her family will lose their home after a series of gargantuan debts her late father had left for them, Lily finds herself responding to a surrogacy ad that could pay the entire debt off and then some. She finds herself choosing between the billionaire playboy pursuing her and taking care of her family. 

I like Lily. She is the embodiment of a successful woman who gives back to her community through her achievements and education. 

The problem is that she follows the whole, “Oh, I’m educated and published a famous book and people are calling me beautiful, but I’m not that special”. It’s stereotypical. It’s not good. And it follows the longstanding tradition of women degrading themselves to get a man. 

Now, humility in anyone is very sexy. But this is ridiculous. For someone to be a Ph.D. candidate and publish, you’ve got to have a certain level of confidence in yourself and if Lily doesn’t see herself as anything special, I don’t know how she was able to accomplish anything, especially with how hard it is for women to be taken seriously, to begin with. The same could be said for Mike. In all honesty, if you ignore the fact that he’s rich, he sounds exactly like the men in the red pill movement. And after he found out Lily’s secret, with the reaction he had, personally, I would’ve taken the money then run. I can definitely see that if Lily and Mike get together, five years down the road, the relationship will end very badly. I’m not even gonna get into the whole surrogacy/relationship with Lily factor; this guy needs to suffer first before he can go after anyone for marriage. While I enjoy a certain wish fulfillment in my books, I cannot buy into this relationship.

Still, it’s not like the book doesn’t have any positives. I liked how fleshed out the relationship is between Lily and her mother, though I would’ve wanted to see more from Andrea and Lily. I grew up with parents like Mama Naa, and everything she said triggered me (in a good way). Moreover, the conversation Lily had with Andrea, I’ve had with my family. Not everything can be solved with one conversation. It takes a lot of practice and understanding to fix a situation like that. This subplot, while having a lot of potential, suffers from the same idealism that the romance does. 

I do appreciate the community coming around Lily and Mike. I love how protective Uncle Richard and Mama Naa are of her reputation. It emphasizes the painful reality of the struggles a woman goes through to make something of herself in this world. It seemed that the only people that have any sense in them were Uncle Richard, Maggie, and Mary. And if the relationship were less problematic, I loved seeing the connections Mike made with Billy. But no. No, Mike ruined that at the end. 

Well, he ruined it in the beginning too with his toxicity, but more so at the end. 

So for now, I’m giving this book a rating of 2 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review for Prince of the Undying by Karen Kincy

I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form. 

Prince of the Undying, by Karen Kincy, is a paranormal romance about leaving behind a horrific legacy to secure a future for yourself and your loved ones. Ardis is a mercenary who stumbles across a “dying” necromancer named Wendel, also known as the Prince of the Undying. Falling hard and fast for the supposed abomination, Astrid suddenly finds herself embroiled in a supernatural war as countries fight for control over magic and technology. With Wendel and Konstantine, a very young Archmage of Vienna, Astrid must navigate through complex alliances and histories to understand the true nature of the looming war and the cost that comes to fight it.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the romance between Wendel and Astrid. Everything was just so extra. At first, it was rather cute, if a little cringe, that Astrid would blalantly announce her attraction to Wendel, even if it was only in her thoughts. But the more they interacted, the more staged it felt, and when we got to the pivotal “I love you scene”, it felt very unearned. I understand that war makes people do dumb things sometimes, and the adrenaline may intensify already existing feelings, but it was still too fast-paced for me. The fact that Wendel became codependent on her because of his own heartbreaking past did little to sweeten the relationship for me. I also really wished that their actions and histories were more fleshed out. The characters wanted to be more, and in hindsight, they were interesting. I would’ve loved to know more about Wendel’s background and his relationship with the Order of Asphodel, as well as his own family. I wanted to see the hardened exterior that Ardis probably had to develop to ensure her own safety, alongside the fondness she had for her mother. Unfortunately, the romance got in the way of the character development. 

That being said, I absolutely loved the backdrop of the world. I cannot begin to imagine the magnificence of integrating magic into everyday technology, including warfare. I enjoy urban fantasies, and this book did not disappoint. Everywhere the characters went, I felt like I was being immersed in some dark dungeon with only magical orbs for light, or even tall shelters with tiny magical devices floating by. Even the military names like Project Lazarus gave me the chills. 

This book has a lot of potential. The intensity of the romance between Wendel and Ardis is good, and the settings provide the perfect way to explore the story. However, that romance overshadows a lot of the character’s development and relationships, and I feel it detracts from the plot as a whole. So for now, I’ll give this book a 3 out of 5 stars.