primeideal

Kilmeny of the Orchard by L.M. Montgomery - Her most obscure book, and deservedly so. I think this was an early short story that got expanded into a novel well before Anne of Green Gables but was published afterwards; either way, it is hands down her least polished and put together work. It's basically a fanfic of a Scottish ballad with an unlikable Gary Stu protagonist, an extremely contrived plot, and the anti-Italian racism is load-bearing.

In her other books, Montgomery might have characters make racist asides or have one or two minor incidents, but it's usually not so essential to the overall plot/trajectory. Here, it is impossible to remove without the whole thing falling apart.

I would skip this unless you are a Montgomery completionist--it's kind of fun to see the themes and tropes she returns to in other books, and how much she grew and developed as a writer over time, but otherwise this is very much not worth your time.

Love Bullet V1 - Basically "what if the Madoka characters were cupids that used guns and modern weapons instead of bows and arrows?" Very much a first work, but very charming and I look forward to seeing where it goes.

Chainsaw Man V1 - Okay, so I'm finally reading this now that the manga is complete after hearing so much about it. Extremely dark and violent Shounen Jump (!!) manga about a teenager named Denji in a crapsack world who makes a deal with a "chainsaw demon"--an adorable dog-like creature he names Pochita--and gains all of Pochita's considerable powers, including regeneration and the eponymous chainsaws he uses to kill demons. When his original exploitative boss betrays him, Denji's freedom lasts for all of ten seconds before he immediately is forced into service for the cops, who treat him only slightly better than in his old life.

I enjoyed this way more than I expected, given what I'd heard of the premise, but it helps that I can flip past the hyperviolent bloody bits if it gets too intense. I like how Denji exchanges one set of chains for another, yet the chains are also the source of his power and have the ability to break and destroy other things. I also like how simple and straightforward he is--once he starts getting enough to eat, he immediately pivots to a new goal of touching a girl's boobs. It's not that he's a sex pest, he's a teenager and incredibly horny and all he wants is to feel good in his body in a world where that hasn't been possible for him, and it also makes him easier to manipulate once people figure that out.

This is a world where everyone is #problematic in some fashion, there are literally no good options, and I can already see why there have been so many ethical debates/ship wars, and I haven't even met the other love interest yet.

I've also been very slowly revisiting Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles--despite being prone to convoluted plotting as well as their own #issues, CLAMP manga has always been a comfort read for me, and it's interesting to see what I missed/what hits differently now than it did a decade ago.