This series continues to amaze me just because of its depth and scope. For a while I thought this book was just boring politics, but then I r4.5 stars
This series continues to amaze me just because of its depth and scope. For a while I thought this book was just boring politics, but then I realized that it continues to play with the themes of identity and religion/culture. But in this book, it also questions loyalty and morality and it’s just??? so good????? I don’t want this to sound like I’m shitting on other YA books but this is seriously so thought-provoking and mature (not in its content, really, just that it tackles so many themes and creates such depth of characters) that I can’t believe more people don’t talk about it. The way that it tackles feelings of belonging and religion and loyalty are so impactful and strangely relatable even though this takes place 600 years ago. it’s just absolutely fascinating.
The biggest thing I admire about these books is how much they read like character studies. Lada and Radu are genuinely two of the most interesting characters in YA right now, in my opinion. AND PPL ARE SLEEPING ON IT!!! I cannot emphasize how much I adore Lada as a character. She is ruthless and doesn’t care about others’ opinions of her and does what she think is best for her and is so self-motivated and self-confident, AND YET there’s still this vulnerable and human side to her that craves validation and it makes her so real. And this passion and feeling isn’t even driven by romantic feelings—it’s about duty and feminism and family and morality and IT’S JUST SO GOOD SHE’S SUCH AN INTRICATE AND WELL-CRAFTED CHARACTER. Nothing about her is glossed over. She has periods, she has casual sex, she kills people who betray her, she cries, she is generous. I’m so impressed at the quality of her character. And likewise for Radu. I just……. he’s incredible. The complete opposite of Lada. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s outwardly passionate and intelligent and emotional, but there’s a darker, melancholy side to him and his coming to terms with religion and feeling in-between cultures and his sexuality and his feelings of estrangement from his family. I was genuinely crying by the end of this book when he was having to justify being in war and feeling torn between the two cultures and not being able to escape with blood on his hands. i just want to hug him and wrap him in blankets. And the two of these characters together in one book? As brother and sister? Working together? I’m hooked on every page. Even though they are separated throughout this entire book, I couldn’t choose whose POV was my favorite and I never wished they were together just so that the plot would be more interesting. It carried its own weight magnificently. The machinations of their brains drive the story despite their being apart and in this book, the angst and the tension continues to build. It’s addicting.
One of my only complaints is that it’s so hard to keep characters, nations, and events straight in this book. I don’t know much about Ottoman or European history, and not much is given explanation-wise. I mean, obviously there’s tension between Muslims and Christians, but I feel like White should have used the opportunity to make this more comprehensible by adding information about the countries and basic history that we should know, because I seriously always forget who’s fighting who and why and who is avenging who and why they died and why does Mehmed want to capture Constantinople and was Constantinople a real place and are these descriptions historically accurate? It pulled me out of the story to be constantly questioning what was happening. Is Constantinople in Turkey? If so, why are they fighting with the Ottomans? Why are there so many Italians? Is it in Italy? Do I have to google 15th century European geography just to understand this book? (Yes.) ((Also, googling Constantinople spoils the war in this book soooo))
[side note: the entire problem stated above could probably be solved with a bigger/better map]
One more thing that I think would have made this book stronger would have been the addition of Mehmed’s POV. I know the book is centralized on the Wallachian siblings for a reason and it would have been 100+ pages longer with the added perspective, but everyone is split up and I think it works, but knowing what’s going on with the Ottomans would round out the story and help the readers reason with how they should feel about Mehmed, because he’s in a very grey area in this book. He’s the link between the two siblings, a romantic love interest, and the leader of a powerful empire, but for the majority of this book, i wasn’t sure if i was supposed to be rooting for him or not.
This is such a slow-burning but strong series. I highly, highly recommend it. It contains some of the most dynamic, fleshed-out characters I’ve ever read in YA, on the level of Cassie Clare & Maggie Stiefvater. Don’t let the slowness of the plot and thickness of the books deceive you....more
If you’re easily triggered by descriptions of other people’s mental illnesses, I would advice against reading this during low points. There’s4.5 stars
If you’re easily triggered by descriptions of other people’s mental illnesses, I would advice against reading this during low points. There’s some very in-depth descriptions of his dark thoughts and the panic and depression he felt, and it was really uncomfortable to confront. I think the title misled me because I picked this book up on a bad night hoping it would be uplifting, but I almost immediately had to put it back down when I realized it wasn’t going to help at all, just add to my spiraling. So definitely pick this up when you feel emotionally stable enough to confront very real descriptions of mental illness.
Matt talks several times about how he doesn’t take medication and it scares him and he doesn’t want to, which is a personal choice and that’s fine, but there are so many people that do take meds and it works for them, and if I would have read this before getting on my anxiety medication, it probably would have scared me away from it even further than I already was.
The way that Matt phrased a lot of things was just spot-on. I don’t suffer from depression, but when my anxiety is bad, it can be debilitating. I related to all his descriptions of the fear and the agoraphobia and almost everything else he touched on. Parts of this book were so powerful they brought tears to my eyes. He truly is a brilliantly talented writer, and i'm tempted to pick up some of his other books just because he had that much of a knack with words. But more than that, he just put the experience of living with debilitating mental illness into words. There were a few "solutions" to anxiety that I disagreed with (such as his telling the audience to avoid distractions because they're unhealthy, when I use distractions almost every day as a coping mechanism), but overall, I did tab several parts of this book to return to in the future. ...more
I have been reading so much mindless poetry lately. Poetry written on napkins and scribbed in diaries, just sySHUT THE HECK YOUR FACE THIS WAS SO GOOD
I have been reading so much mindless poetry lately. Poetry written on napkins and scribbed in diaries, just syntax-less ramblings. THIS is poetry with substance, with carefully thought-out writing, with power and emotion.
most of this is about love, but it's unlike anything you've read before. there's not a single cliché.
my favorite poem by far was "The Type." I read it once and was so impressed that I read it again out loud to myself. The quality of all of these poems was so great that I highlighted at least one line from each. Magnificent....more
TW: homophobia (+ usage of word f****t), suicide attempt
This book was just so genius. The best way I can describe it is Saga meets Stranger Things. I TW: homophobia (+ usage of word f****t), suicide attempt
This book was just so genius. The best way I can describe it is Saga meets Stranger Things. I loved the concept of a girl squad running around to solve the world's issues. I loved the sass, the artwork, the clothing and the vibe of the entire book. I love each girl in the group for their own reasons, and I didn't find myself thinking, "wait, who is this person?" like I usually do in graphic novels. As far as a feminist graphic novel, I enjoyed this one more than Bitch Planet, which was weighted down with a lot of boring and aimless dialogue whereas I was glued onto every page of this. Because this book deals with time travel, it was so cool to see pop culture references from both our time and the 80s.
A lot of people say that the plot of this is confusing, but compared to the mindfuck that is the Saga series, I actually followed it alright. It leaves you with unanswered questions, but those should definitely (and hopefully) be resolved in later volumes which I plan to pick up.
There was a character who would make homophobic remarks, but they always went challenged by other characters. I can't wait for (and hope to see) the development and growth of this character....more
This is one of the most important books I've read not only this year, but of all time. Absolutely captivating filled with quotes on EVERY page that maThis is one of the most important books I've read not only this year, but of all time. Absolutely captivating filled with quotes on EVERY page that make me stop and think. This isn't just a book about war, it's a book about writing about tragedy and coming to terms with loss and PTSD and losing friends and every single story was meaningful and symbolic and just shocked me with the sheer amount of truth and power. I know most people who say they've read this read it for a class, but if you haven't picked up this book, PLEASE do so. It will literally change the way you think about war, and it's so damn clever yet heart wrenching....more
Wow. Let me say I had low expectations going into this, but I was so wrong. Backstory: I'm not a fan of milk & honey. It's not a style I enjo4.5 Stars
Wow. Let me say I had low expectations going into this, but I was so wrong. Backstory: I'm not a fan of milk & honey. It's not a style I enjoy at all, and the entire book just felt too Tumblr and cheesy and simplistic. this blew me away. it's so different, fresh, and jaw-dropping.
it’s interesting to see how her writing has grown and evolved. there are very few short poems (unlike m&h), which i was thankful for, because in m&h it seemed like she would just write sentences with skips in it, then label them poetry, and i really hated that style. however, this utilized a lot of longer poems and metaphor and personification of nature, and although it’s still not my favorite style, it’s gotten so much better.
This book was just so much more personal. m&h felt like a ton of blanket statements and tumblr posts, but this one had quotes that actually made me sit back and go “whoa.”
“i even tried to bury myself alive but the dirt recoiled you have already rotted it said there is nothing left for me to do - self-hate”
AMAZING.
This book adds on an entire section about immigration and refugees, and I thought it was new and powerful as opposed to only talking about feminism, the body, and self-love. also, brown girls NEED to pick up this book. there is so much positivity and messages about acceptance of your skin.
i will say, if you decide to pick this up, don't give up hope until you reach part 2. The whole first part seems like it was a step back from milk & honey? milk and honey was so feminist and focused on recovery and self-love and some of the poems in the first part were like “TELL ME I’M PRETTY I NEED VALIDATION” and stuff like that and I was like ??????? It started out really weak but definitely got better.
Lastly, another thing I wasn’t a huge fan of is none of her poems use punctuation. She had some longer poems unlike anything she had in m&h, but most of those just employed really long-winded run-on sentences and I wasn’t a huge fan of that style. Because of that, it was hard to tell sometimes when one poem ended and another begun because none were punctuated, some didn’t have titles, some were just one sentence, etc.
Regardless, I'm sorta speechless because I expected to hate this and I actually enjoyed it so much. Several of the poems gave me chills. If you gave up hope after milk & honey, definitely think about trying this from a library or something because it is a MAJOR improvement and I think its messages are valuable, and nothing about this feels like a regurgitation of a Tumblr post....more
TW: Attempted rape, gore/violence, homophobia, islamophobia Representation in this book: Gay MC, lesbian side couple, mostly Islamic characters
4.5 StarTW: Attempted rape, gore/violence, homophobia, islamophobia Representation in this book: Gay MC, lesbian side couple, mostly Islamic characters
4.5 Stars I'M SO GLAD I DIDN'T GIVE UP ON THIS! It was a very pleasant- although disturbing- surprise. What happened is that I began this book on audiobook and failed miserably at comprehending its storyline, so I put it down around page 150 and ended up forgetting about it for a few months. When I picked it up, I decided to completely reread it from the beginning with just the text (this is unusual for me-- usually i'll give up on something or pick up where i left off and hope i don't get confused. so i was DEVOTED to giving this book a good chance at impressing me.) I do NOT regret rereading this and going slow. It's so worth it.
A lot of people mention that this is really slow, and although it's almost 500 pages and you see the progression of the characters over several years of their lives, I would disagree that this book is slow. Perhaps it's slow-burning, but the pace itself was never dragging to me. I was never uninterested. It's an unconventional storytelling method for YA, but I thought it was crucial to the character development to show the characters in their youth. It also prevented a plethora of flashback scenes.
This book an incredible ride, mostly because it’s like nothing I’ve read before and there is such a maturity to the content and the characters’ complexities. I ADORE both of our main characters, brother and sister Radu and Lada. This book technically centers on Lada because she is the female version of Vlad the Impaler, who the story is modeled after, but I really have a soft spot in my heart for Radu. I loved that Lada had a fresh fierceness to her that I dare to say rivals most YA female characters who claim to be badass. She has a strength that wasn't just all bark with no bite; she had the sassy attitude with the actual strength and intelligence to back it up.
On the other hand, Radu stole my heart because I'm just a complete sucker for gentle, kind characters that are thrust into an unforgiving world. His transformation was especially meaningful for me because even after everything he endured, he still retained this optimism that one would assume would have been gouged out of him after all he's experienced.
Radu was also SUCH an admirable character just because of the circumstances of he and his sister being forced to live in the Ottoman empire. Lada is vocal about how she finds Islam ridiculous--which is why i've put a content warning for islamophobia--but Radu oppositely learns to embrace the religion and the Ottoman culture and his level of respect for it, although it was something he was supposed to outright oppose, I thought was so mindful of the author and very admirable for his character.
I could keep going on and on about the characters, because again they have such intricate complexities and transformations, but I think I've gone on enough. One complaint I would have about the characters, however, is that there are a lot of them. And I got most of the way through this book before realizing that there is a character list (and a glossary!!) in the back of this book, spoiler-free. ARRGGHHH, PUBLISHERS! PUT THIS AT THE BEGINNING!
The plot was, as I mentioned earlier, fascinating. For the most part, I followed everything easily, there were compelling twists, and my attention was captured enough to read this book in hours-long sittings at a time, which is unusual for me this year. One weird thing that I noticed about White's storytelling, however, is that sometimes she'll build up to a ~really important~ event, or an event that seems important that's detailed in a letter, but she'll miraculously skip that scene and just put the reader in a later scene after it's been resolved. For example, the characters spent a whole chapter making a plan about how they were going to sneak into the city, arguing options and everything, then the very next scene is them inside the castle after completing the sneak-in. This doesn't seem like much, but the skips often felt unnatural and left me feeling hanging a few times, which also might be a reason why the audiobook was choppy and hard to follow. This book does deal with a few time skips because it takes place over several years, but I do think that the progression of time was handled well, just not these random skips that exclude a scene that would seem to be important.
The writing was also lovely. Both the descriptions of imagery and inner monologue were moving, and it's very hard to impress me with writing style. There were points in the book where there were just such punchy lines of dialogue and such emotional conversation or inner monologue that I actually had to close the book and walk around because it was so moving or angsty. I love when a book makes me do that. I have such respect for a book that makes me empathetic for the characters, that makes me want to enter the book myself just so I can alleviate some of the awkwardness or angst or heartbreak.
I did go ahead and pick up the second book, but got half a chapter in before deciding I'm gonna let the series rest for a little bit before returning to it. Nevertheless, I adored this first book in a way that I didn't anticipate I would, and I definitely plan on continuing it. Radu and Lada are characters that I think will stick with me for a long time.
Note on homophobia: This is set in the 1400s, and in an Islamic nation, so there is a general air of needing to hide any attraction for same-sex partners. Some characters express discomfort about gay relationships, including Lada....more
Alex was so interesting to read about. Her inner monologue. Her tormented life. I dug it so hard. I loved that this took place in 3 diffasdfghjkl;
YES
Alex was so interesting to read about. Her inner monologue. Her tormented life. I dug it so hard. I loved that this took place in 3 different perspectives because they all added something different to the story that by the end of the book tied together so well. This book is power. I loved it.
If anything, I'm wary about the realisticness of the events surrounding the rapes in this book. Especially in a book about really lewd high schoolers that don't seem to be afraid to harass women, I was surprised by the author's decision to have the rapists in this book be depicted as serial rapists or drug addicts. I feel like the impact would be a lot more stark if she stuck to the fact that a lot of sexual assault happens to people you're friends with or people you know. This way, the ending wouldn't feel so..... unrealistic. Hyperbolized. Idk. I think from that angle, it could have added a lot more impact.
Regardless, I think this book packs a punch and I read it in less than 12 hours. It's different than most YA contemporary that you'll read....more
I spent so long today crying and thinking about this book that it completely slipped my mind to mark it as completed on Goodreads. I was beginning to I spent so long today crying and thinking about this book that it completely slipped my mind to mark it as completed on Goodreads. I was beginning to lose faith in this series because book two was a very weak sequel in my opinion and the first half of this book took me quite a while to finish. I will admit that I did skim read quite a few chapters in here (I found the addition of POVs other than lila/rhy/alucard/holland's quite slow), but it finally gained speed in the last half.
A lot of the reason I didn't enjoy the middle of this series is because I'm really not a fan of books about pirates, or books that take place on boats. If i'd known that a huge chunk of this series was about being out at sea, I would have been far more wary to pick it up, but it was worth it in the end!
I think Kell is one of the most interesting characters that I've read about in a long time. It was so engaging to be inside his head and to think and feel the way that he does. He's a refreshing, fully fleshed out character. He compliments every other character so well, and the way that he interacts with other people was just fascinating.
I began the series hating Lila because I was like whY ARE U SO RECKLESS WITH THIS ROCK UR LITERALLY GONNA KILL EVERYONE AND THEN DIE U ARE SO DUMB but by this book i was like "pls knife me also i love you, my mother." Her dialogue and her attitude and the way that she demands respect from other characters is so refreshing and empowering. I only wish her relationship with Kell could be explored further, but the book ended too soon.
And Rhy. My son. My baby. I love him so fucking much. I was crying so hard for him at the end of this book that I had to put it down. Victoria wrote so much heartwrenching material for him, and yet he remained a character that provided comedic relief and realness and bravery and I LOVE HIM IDK WHY I'M TALKING ABOUT HIM LIKE HE'S A REAL PERSON I WANT TO PROTECT HIM AT ALL COSTS
alucard is awesome i love the fanart he has a man bun in most of it 10/10
We're not gonna talk about Holland but asdfghjkl; YES bUT ALSO NO BUT ALSO YES I LOVE HIM
Long story short, this had a LOT of plot to wade through, and I skipped some chapters from irrelevant side characters (even Osaron lmao whoops but really what did he add ~nothing~). The final battle scene became a little confusing just because this is one of those books that just throws loopholes in your face at the last minute like "we've been working for over 3 books to defeat this thing and by the way i just remembered something to stop the evil that could have ended this 1,000 pages ago!" But BESIDES that, it's a fabulous book with memorable characters.
I love Holland. I love Kell. I love Lila. I love Rhy. Alucard is ok. ajfldsjfdjksa fkdlsa
to those who keep asking, this series is worth it....more
Wow. I knew going into this that it was going to be John Green’s pretentious writing and unrealistic characters who speak like philosophers, 4.5 Stars
Wow. I knew going into this that it was going to be John Green’s pretentious writing and unrealistic characters who speak like philosophers, but even so, i can’t help but admire his writing. It’s so interesting to read something of his as a college student because back when I read TFIOS I was a sophomore in high school and I loved every facet of it. Now that I’m 5 years older, I catch things in this that just remind me that John Green is a genius storyteller. The way he weaves threads together and creates motifs is enviable. He's not afraid of writing bittersweet plots and I love that he doesn't romanticize hardships. As much as I found myself questioning if 16 year olds would be having this mature of a conversation, it was still really mind-boggling and thought-provoking.
But as far as this book's flaws, there were two major things that just rubbed me the wrong way.
1. I don’t want to seem ableist in pointing this out, but it was SO frustrating to read about a girl who has the money, resources, medication, therapy, and support to get better, but she actively decides that nothing works and she’s not going to get better. I understand this may be a realistic mindset for a lot of teens, but she is SO fortunate to have the resources she has, and yet she’s consumed by the idea that the medication doesn’t work (even though she never takes it??) and there’s no hope for her. As someone with anxiety who deals constantly with spiraling/intrusive thoughts, one of the most hopeful thoughts for me that causes me to snap out of my own headspace is to know that I have access to meds and a counselor every week. Therefore, I can't comprehend why Aza has given up hope when she’s in a really privileged position that a lot of mentally ill people don’t have. Perhaps if Green had given Aza a moment of challenging this reluctance to take medication and get better then it wouldn't seem so problematic, but without any questioning of WHY she was rejecting recovery, it just seemed so harmful to herself (and potentially harmful to young readers).
2. I thought Daisy was a HORRIBLE friend. Of course she’s great and funny in the beginning, but she eventually tells Aza some disgusting, unforgivable things for which she was let off the hook quite easily. I genuinely expected Aza would finally tell her they wouldn’t be friends, because sure as hell if one of my friends told me that I’m annoying and a burden to them, I would never be speaking to them again. I don’t like that Green redeemed her with a simple apology because that is some DEEP rooted anger that Aza doesn’t deserve, especially if she’s trying to recover.
So although I couldn't relate to this 100%, I think this is the book that's struck the closest to home. I was crying at certain parts of it just because it was too real and I felt for Aza so hard....more
i feel like all the blood has been systematically drained out of my body but otherwise this was good!!!
pros: -a lot of malec**spoiler alert** 3.5 stars
i feel like all the blood has been systematically drained out of my body but otherwise this was good!!!
pros: -a lot of malec -a lot of mark and kieran -the chapters about people i didn't care about were short -more demon fighting (eh) -we got to see more faerie! -really neat parallels between current politics & the disdain toward downworlders
cons: -booored (but less than book 1. still skim read a lot tho.) -i couldn't care less about any of the blackthorns other than ty -emma's cheesy dialogue makes me gag -zara literally has permission to choke -still info-dumpish -this book is so character-based, and since i don't care about any of the characters except for like 4 of them, it drags -too much relationship drama. this book is about stopping a murderer, not figuring out everyone's drama...more
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
TW: cutting, homophobia, domestic violence, and rape
I've gotta say, before th4.5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
TW: cutting, homophobia, domestic violence, and rape
I've gotta say, before this, I gave up on reading self-published books because most of them were so unbearable to read since they lacked so much editing. I was slightly hesitant going into this because of that, but one of my really good friends recommended this to me on the basis that her friend wrote it and it was actually really good, so I had faith. And wow.
This book is powerful. And exactly the type of story I love. What it lacks in wobbly structure, it makes up for with your investment in the characters and the story. It's a book about self-love and friendship and sexual identity and recovery. And it's done so realistically.
Hands down, the best thing about this book is the characters. I compare them to The Raven Boys because it's that exact type of character development in which you get to know them by the tiny details, and it builds their character from the ground up. I'm a sucker for noticing details, and making a character feel like they're in the flesh by attributing flaws to them. This book was a masterpiece at doing that.
The one downfall is that since it is self-published, there are some parts that are clunky because I feel like they could use some work. Particularly, the dialogue could be a bit jarring because everyone seems to sputter or repeat themselves a lot. The villain/ex-boyfriend felt a bit two-demensional for reasons I won't spoil, but I felt like his issues could have been explored or explained better and less in-your-face. Additionally, I wished the college setting was more fleshed out and we could have seen Taylor in his classes or the dining hall, and also I think the changing of seasons could have been more apparent.
But as you can see, my issues with it are minor. This book made me laugh, this book made me cry. I hope you all decide to try it and support my friend!! (i'm only slightly biased because briston is awesome and she deserves all the love)...more
I was doomed to rate this five stars before opening the pages.
If you're unaware: Keaton Henson is my everything. He is a singer that pours his heart I was doomed to rate this five stars before opening the pages.
If you're unaware: Keaton Henson is my everything. He is a singer that pours his heart out into every song with a voice so wavering and gentle that I just want to hold him in my arms until the end of the Earth and tell him he's precious and that it's okay and nobody will ever hurt him again. He has severe social anxiety that causes him to only play live music rarely, which just makes this book that much more special, for him to share more of himself with us.
I'm utterly torn because of this. He writes so candidly, and his heartbreak and self-loathing and poeticness really shine through. This book talks about loving and losing love, his anxiety, his relationship with his family, his relationship with London, and everything in between. It's gorgeous. It's haunting. It's everything.
Interspersed are penciled-in drawings of Keaton's, and they were just the nicest touch. A lot of the images are incomprehensible--his style is questionable at best--but somehow they work. Even if I have no idea what i'm looking at, even just the texture of the pencil strokes speaks enough about what he must have been feeling while he was drawing it.
I can't emphasize enough how much you should pick up this book. If I wasn't a fan of Keaton it would probably only be a 4 star book for me, but just because I had his music on shuffle while reading and knowing him as an artist, I connected to this on a personal level and it just made me ten times more inspired to jump on a plane to London so that I can find him and tell him how perfect he is and how important he is to me.
This book is truly priceless. Please get it if you love Keaton at all. ...more
Something almost makes me want to lean toward giving this 4.5 stars because parts of it did begin to drag, but the ending made me cry for half an hourSomething almost makes me want to lean toward giving this 4.5 stars because parts of it did begin to drag, but the ending made me cry for half an hour so here i am like the trashman i am, giving a generous but bitter 5 stars...more
Representation: Black (Jamaican), undocumented MC, Korean love interest
YES. I read this back-to-back with The Hate U Give and I'm just so her4.5 Stars
Representation: Black (Jamaican), undocumented MC, Korean love interest
YES. I read this back-to-back with The Hate U Give and I'm just so here for black girls in YA right now. I devoured Natasha and Daniel's story. I can't say enough good things about it. Really, I only have one complaint, which I'll get to.
But first and foremost, this book is genius. It takes place in 3 perspectives: the 2 characters, and then the universe, which shows you the outside perspective of characters you meet in passing glances but whose lives intricately align with the main characters'. This book is thought-provoking, and not just because it deals with the topic of deportation and what it means to be American. This discusses alternate universes and the phenomenon of coincidence and whether fate and true love are real. The third POV of the universe was such a nice feature and extended your thinking beyond the love story between the two main characters.
And there's so many things I could compliment beyond the actual plot. The discussion of science versus poetry, the challenging of racism, the discussion of choosing your own destiny, of family troubles inherited by sons and daughters of immigrant parents, and much more. Everything ties together BEAUTIFULLY and I think the threads on the cover of the book really fit this fact. There are so many threads, so many things working together to make this book strong, and they all hold up in the end.
I absolutely loved our characters. Natasha was unforgivingly blunt and headstrong, and I was rooting for her and her struggle the entire book. Daniel was precious and hilarious and such a great supporting character for Natasha. Their dialogue was cute without being cheesy, realistic and thought-provoking without being pretentious. I said in my review of Everything, Everything that it really felt like the same John Green dynamic of writing where the characters are real and witty but they have a level of realism that Green's always lack. The way they grew closer was heartwarming. The way they grew apart was heartbreaking. I was rooting for them.
The only downfall to this book was that since it takes place during only one day, the instalove was real. I understand this is a discussion about love at first sight and fate and people who are meant to be together, but I think there could have been a subtler way to navigate their feelings rather than just "I see her and she is perfect and we shall be together forever." A more cautious approach to this might have made it more bearable, but it's definitely difficult just because of the short time frame and the topic itself is hard to avoid seeming like instalove.
Nevertheless, I highly recommend this. It's cute but also meaningful, and it makes you think in a way that's so rare in YA contemporary. The subject matter is important. The characters shine so brightly. The audiobook is superb. Just read it....more
I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory.
so wow. I've heard for years that this book is sad but so, so powerful, which I understand. I thinI imagine death so much it feels more like a memory.
so wow. I've heard for years that this book is sad but so, so powerful, which I understand. I think it was a leeeeeettle overhyped for me, but it was still a magnificent read.
This story had such a great aesthetic. Set in ancient Greece but told through the lens of a quiet, conflicted main character. I thought it was beautiful. The writing, the way that Achilles is described, the first half of this book developing the characters was just absolutely gorgeous.
Then I began to have a lot of issues with it. Mainly, the whole middle section about the developing Trojan war was boring. Nothing was happening, there were too many characters with unpronouncable names, and Achilles turned into sort of a pompous ass. One of the main downfalls of this story is that it focuses so much on Achilles' honor, and that was so annoying to me. This book really emphasizes the flaws in characters, which I assume is why this was discussed so much, but it just irritated me that I was expecting a love story and there was actually a lot of underlying conflict between Patroclus and Achilles.
This is more of a war story and the development of individual characters than it is about a love story. That being said, I felt like the romance was a little bit on the dry side. I adored the two together, but at some points, the story just felt so drained of any emotion and it was like Miller was just slugging through a textbook saying "this happened then this happened then this happened." There were so many moments that I felt we could have taken a step back and added some more impactful imagery and dialogue to make a short scene more meaningful to the reader, but it ended up feeling so stretched thin because this book takes place over 12+ years.
Regardless, I cried throughout the last 50 pages of this book. It delivered the punchy ending I was anticipating, and it SLIGHTLY appeased the hatred I have for Achilles' mother. slightly. she's still a raging bitch but like...... a chill raging bitch.
(also just kill me so i never have to read that last paragraph ever again my chest hurts)...more
this book is great because it has one of those plots that's infuriating and makes you go NOOOOOOOO throughout the entire book and i ok!!!!! nice!!!!!!
this book is great because it has one of those plots that's infuriating and makes you go NOOOOOOOO throughout the entire book and i wanted to pull my hair out and scream because i was so invested in the well-being of all the characters.
i love kell. i love kell so much. eeeep.
my only complaint about this book is that since it's the first book in a series, there is quite a bit of worldbuilding and lengthy chapters explaining the world--which is necessary because it's complex, but took us out of the action for a while. i know the rest of the books in this series will be five stars, though, and i can't wait to read them!...more
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