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Catship

catship@books.theunseen.city

Joined 4 years ago

We're a plural system who loves queer & anarchist scifi.

But recently we just read a few randomly picked up mystery books in a row, in German, and we tend to review books in the language we read them in. That or similar may happen again, be warned.

No reading goals, just feelings.

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finished reading Loup Garou by 2D (La BD dont vous êtes le héros)

2D, Moon: Loup Garou (Hardcover, French language, 2015, Makaka) No rating

This has pretty complex rules, in my first try I totally forgot about competence points and didn't get anywhere....

The story is truly unimpressive. The art style is generally to my liking except for how humans look, especially that most women have their boobs sticking out of their clothes.

It's fun if you just want to kill a few creatures to level up and kill bigger creatures. (There's English and German translations. I managed ok in French, but I had to look some things up, and it felt a little harder than the first gamebook that I read, Le sorcier de la montagne de feu.)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia: The Bewitching (Hardcover, 2025, Del Rey)

Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror …

Glad I read this! I'm getting the ghost story vibes that I didn't get from Mexican Gothic cause I couldn't handle the abuse, and I like how this story is predictable in the very best way, hinting at all the big reveals long before. I always have trouble with stories set at two different times, so this wasn't an easy start, but it worked out well.

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reviewed After the Fall by Edward Ashton

Edward Ashton: After the Fall (EBook, 2026, St. Martin's Publishing Group)

Part alien invasion story, part buddy comedy, and part workplace satire, After The Fall by …

After the Fall

A darkly comedic story about humans being the domesticated pets of large wolf-like Grays that have taken over the world. It's kind of a Planet of the Apes situation, with some Grays treating humans as things and some trying to treat humans as best they can imagine.

The story hook here is that John's owner Martok is perennially skirting poverty (along with John) and has squirrel-esque enthusiasm for shiny new schemes that will surely work this time. He treats John well (as these things go), but his latest scheme puts John's life in the bargain; as John has little leverage or power, he lands himself in increasingly risky situations as he tries to save Martok's financial situation and thus his own life.

After the Fall is written by the same author who wrote Mickey7 if that gives an idea of the dystopian black comedy tone here. Cynical me …

finished reading The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune (The Extraordinaries, #1)

TJ Klune: The Extraordinaries (2020, Tor Teen) No rating

Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune's …

I made it through, so clearly i found some things good about this book, but ooof i was annoyed a lot of the time. Mainly by it being extremely slow-paced. I think the story would have worked out better for me if it was about a third or maybe half of its lenght. A bit like the kind of fanfic that Nick writes, actually. But also, while I was hopeful in the beginning that it would be at least a tiny bit critical towards that profession, it turned more and more into an ode to cops towards the end. And the reporter who is described by Nick in terms of misogynist tropes and then actually turns out to be as horrible as he says was an annoying move too. I might still read book 2 🙄

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Laila Lalami: The Dream Hotel (Hardcover, 2025, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)

A novel about one woman’s fight for freedom, set in a near future where even …

the dangers of algorithmic bias

When the surveillance state is even data-mining your dreams, you could end up in a detention facility without ever committing a crime. I thought this was very realistic in depicting the dangers of algorithmic bias, "computer says no"-mindset and "security"-discourse since 9/11. I still want the brain implant that lets you get an 8 hour sleep in 4 hours.

K. A. Linde: The Robin on the Oak Throne (2025, Pan Macmillan) No rating

This series.... idk. It took me a few tries to get through this book. Just like the first, it's about a young woman who lives and works with sexy asshole monster dudes, which is all a bit threatening, but her world has always been that, and now her friends are also part of the monster powerplay bullshit world. There's always some bi flirting, which I appreciate. There's too much details of penetrative sex for my taste. But in this book.... there's a horrible therapy session, a real bad example, that somehow still feels like "look, even this tough person tries therapy". And some other things that felt like real life references that didn't really work out.

reviewed Le Sorcier de la Montagne de Feu by Ian Livingstone (Un Livre dont vous êtes le Héros: Défis Fantastiques)

Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson, Camille Fabien: Le Sorcier de la Montagne de Feu (Paperback, French language, Gallimard Jeunesse) No rating

it's working

No rating

Ok so the first time i quite literally got struck by lightning when i was almost through. I'm going in for a second time, so my plan to learn some french by reading trashy fantasy choose your own adventure things that are fun enough to keep me going without understanding everything is working. It is pretty trashy too, it's basically just fighting random creatures and getting lost in the mountain.