Brynawel
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
Xenophon Vos (Any/All)I just finished Tender Is The Flesh, my 8th book of 2026! This was book number 6 off my physical TBR, leaving 29 to go!
Tender Is The Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica, is a dystopian horror about a world where cannibalism has become institutionalized. For me, it was a 2 star book.
The world was amazing. Avoiding spoilers, every single concept and feature of the world felt well thought out, planned, realistic, and possible. I would've loved to read a story in this world if it didn't have the major failing of this book. That being the writing.
Frequently, there are points where characters existing in the world and having existed in a world where this is normalized will comment on or mention features of their world as if the other is learning these facts in that moment.
Not only that, but some features of the story seem like they're just made for the author to reach towards new examples of how this world is bad. It makes it hard to read this for the story.
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I just finished Automatic Noodle, my 7th book of 2026!
Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz, is a sci-fi dystopic cozy story about a great restaurant built out of the remains of a horrible one by robots. For me, it was a 3.5 star book.
While the story was fun, there were points where it felt like the author restated certain things just a few too many times, and it made me feel like the book was trying to play down. It was also a very formatting-intensive book, with moments of text chats and spelling changes which complicated it a bit for me, who was listening to the audiobook.
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