The mark of a great book in a great series is that it makes you want to completely and totally begin again, go back to the start, to see those charactThe mark of a great book in a great series is that it makes you want to completely and totally begin again, go back to the start, to see those characters once more, and to understand more deeply. Muir is one of those authors that deserves to be studied and appreciated and used to write complex and thoughtful story lines. Nona was just overflowing with love and anger and beauty, both the book and the character.
This book made me cry too many times to be legal. I cried on a fucking plane. And I would, will, happily subject myself to it again.
What an immaculate, beautiful, intricately weaved story. I have never, ever in my life read anything as unique as this book. It did take a moment to gWhat an immaculate, beautiful, intricately weaved story. I have never, ever in my life read anything as unique as this book. It did take a moment to get into, to understand the perspective points and how the story was being told, but once it clicked the story grew even richer.
It reads like one of the most human stories ever told. It starts in the second person with your Lola telling you a story which then beautifully blends into a story told to you in ethereal, dreamlike theatre. The story becomes a play and, like most people do, you keep relating this play back to things your Lola told you. I felt so wrapped up in this story, in this world.
I felt like, truly, I was sitting there, watching this play unfold, watching it fall into something so beautiful that, when it went to third person and we followed Keema and Jun, I still felt like that watcher, over their shoulder or at a distance watching historic events unfold. And not only are you getting *your* perspective, Keema, or Jun's, you also get the lost souls that lived through this time's perspective. Their words are brief, heartbreaking, but it makes this story so much more alive. So much more human. Real.
It took time to get used to, and at a point it was frustratingly confusing, but remained interesting.
While this story isn't marketed as a tragedy it truly is. At a certain point during the story, you know what is to happen. You know the steps these characters you love are going to have to take and, like every great tragedy, you hope there's an out. You experience beside one of the characters the terror of learning their fate and want to fight alongside them against it. And like all tragedies, it's beautiful and romantic and loving and human.
For all the praise I've been giving, I will say the treatment of women in the book had me a little down. While there were visceral deaths throughout, the women's (or at least women-presenting) deaths always seemed more than the rest. And I don't know if it's meant to say something, or show something symbolic for the story, but to see a woman's death described brutally while a man gets a sentence, maybe two, is a little disappointing. Just something that rubbed me the wrong way, but didn't ruin the entire book as it didn't feel hateful (and we've all read a hateful death given to a woman).
The characters though were some of the most beautiful characters I've had the pleasure of reading. They were mean, they were cold, they were warm, they were kind. They didn't shy away from what they are to make the reader love them. They were so, so human and sometimes that is so hard for an author to accomplish, and Jimenez accomplished it and beyond. The way they interacted with each other, and the world, the way their stories remained intimately tied to one another, not to the reader, all made that oral story-telling aspect so much stronger.
And the love in this book... the love that pours from it if you just read it how it's written to you... it is truly astounding. Truly beautiful.
Like everyone has been saying, have patience. Love this book. It will love you back.
My first review with content warnings! CW: gore, torture, genocide, cannibalism, ableism
**Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.**...more
I have a crush on this book. I don't know how to explain it other than that's how much I enjoyed this journey and the characters and the story and theI have a crush on this book. I don't know how to explain it other than that's how much I enjoyed this journey and the characters and the story and the love and WOW. It's a special book when I wish I could erase my memory and read it for the first time again.
I haven't read any of Griffith's other novels, but I've got Hild and I'm ready to do it all over again :)...more
This book was extremely cute, very wholesome, and is very good for ya readers who might need help on the particular topic of dealing with your sexualiThis book was extremely cute, very wholesome, and is very good for ya readers who might need help on the particular topic of dealing with your sexuality in a heteronormative world.
The line “it would be harder if she weren’t so cute” was a shitty line that rubbed me the wrong way. Iykyk
Other than that, I really enjoyed it. Cute, to the point, with a good message. ...more
Absolutely charming, a unique sci-fi world that is easy to fall into, and a cast of diverse LGBT+ people. I loved every minute of this, even when it wAbsolutely charming, a unique sci-fi world that is easy to fall into, and a cast of diverse LGBT+ people. I loved every minute of this, even when it was a little difficult to remember who's who. I just wished I could've had more time on The Staircase and with Jules and the creatures there.
But it was a fun journey that warmed my heart with stunning visuals. Loved it....more
-clutches chest- I love love so much. This tiny little novella feels like its overflowing with it.
Once against Nghi Vo has blown me and my expectation-clutches chest- I love love so much. This tiny little novella feels like its overflowing with it.
Once against Nghi Vo has blown me and my expectations out of the water, giving me an absolutely thrilling read. It was completely different from its predecessor, Empress of Salt and Fortune. While this novella did the same thing, tell a contained story with a familiar face at its core, it did it in a completely different way.
I was enchanted, feeling pulled in and wrapped up in the world, like the legend told was something I should've known and was learning anew. A quick read that made me regret the turning of each page, that made me want to extend the story for as long as I could, because I quickly fell in love with it.
“When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking.” The only thing this novella was lacking was more....more
I needed a minute before I reviewed this book because it left me clutching it to my chest, sobbing in bed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I needed a minute before I reviewed this book because it left me clutching it to my chest, sobbing in bed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love love.
And that's what this book is, at its core, in its entirety, a love story. It's so very queer, the essence of it, falling in love with someone through writing letters. So many sapphic women throughout history have done it, we have proof of it, and somehow this feels like a love letter to love letters. Two sapphics falling in love literally throughout history.
I know others say it took them a minute to understand what this book was, how it was written, that it was hard to follow and I think that's fair, even if I disagree. I say surrender yourself to it. Don't try to understand, don't try to piece anything together, just let the book teach you, fall in love with the poetic writing and the heartbreak within it.
Being able to follow the journey of Red and Blue felt like a gift. It is a gift, was a gift. There's nothing more to say than that because this book has destroyed me and it has softened me and it has moved me....more
This is like... my sixth? Seventh? Time rereading this book and it only gets better with each read. Such a beautiful story with such beautiful charactThis is like... my sixth? Seventh? Time rereading this book and it only gets better with each read. Such a beautiful story with such beautiful characters that were so ahead of their time. This book is so good, remains good, and Kristin Cashore's afterword made me start crying.
The books I read in middle school and high school (2010s) holding up 15 years later is such a rare occurrence. But this book is one of those rare things, one of those special things, and I am so fucking happy it is. The last time I read this I was 19. 6 years later I am still continuously learning from it and finding it changes with me.
I love it. This will always hold the most special place in my heart....more
LesbianBarista
>
Books:
i-love-love
(8)
Loading...
