When you love a person, you are expected to give them their freedom, but when you love a monster, you keep it caged.
Fonda Lee is constantly cement
When you love a person, you are expected to give them their freedom, but when you love a monster, you keep it caged.
Fonda Lee is constantly cementing herself as one of my favorite authors.
Untethered Sky follows Ester, a girl half-orphaned by a deadly manticore who becomes a rukher, a hunter of her own killers. In the course of her relationship with Zahra, her massive, deadly roc, as well as her fellow rukhers Yasmine and Darius, she finds a pathway towards her own recovery.
A thousand things could be said about Fonda Lee's fantastic writing, and brilliant, smart character writing. Untethered Sky engages itself with two beasts from Persian and Arabian folklore: manticores, man-eating beasts with human heads and lion bodies, and rocs, giant birds able to hunt them. Ester's narration is compelling strong.
But what truly struck me about this novella is the building of relationships between the rocs and the rukhers. The rukhers grow to truly love their rocs, wishing for their presence. The rocs survive. When one bird dies, there is always another roc to train. Yet the rukhers mourn their birds. By the time we reach the wonderful, emotional ending, I was near tears and thinking about my cat.
Sidra laid one of the kit’s palms atop the synthetic head. She kept it there for a second, two, three. A quick-travel pod arrived, its hatch opening w
Sidra laid one of the kit’s palms atop the synthetic head. She kept it there for a second, two, three. A quick-travel pod arrived, its hatch opening with a soft whir. She leaned toward the AI’s head before leaving. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “This isn’t fair.”
In A Closed and Common Orbit, Lovelace/Sidra, an AI in a human body, finds herself traveling with Pepper (formerly Jane), raised by an AI named Owl. With the help of Pepper’s painter partner Blue and an Aeluon history major named Tak, she’ll have to find her place in a world not made for someone like her. Her narrative alternates with Pepper’s Jane narrative, as she’s raised by Owl.
Becky Chambers has built such a fantastic world with this space, and here we get to spend more time on planets as well!! I love the smaller world building details; there’s so much life in a summerquick sex festival and a realm of tattoo shops. And there’s the wealth of different aliens—silver, box-speaking Aeluons; many-legged Quelin; squishy Hermigeans; and feathered green Aandrisk. It’s just very solid worldbuilding.
These books are built on a foundation of general hope and love for people [and non-people] that really resonates with me. While I found this a bit too slow at points, it's a wonderful book that I know will stick with me.
“She had not realized that a nun was more powerful than a princess, that she could close a door.”
Marra tries to save her sister, Kania, from the evil
“She had not realized that a nun was more powerful than a princess, that she could close a door.”
Marra tries to save her sister, Kania, from the evil prince she’s married – with the help of a dust-witch, a bone-dog, a godmother named Agnes, a goblin-prisoner named Fenris, and a chicken with a demon in it.
Truly one of the most delightful fantasy books I’ve read recently. Two hundred fifty pages of perfect imagination, wonderful pacing, and delightful characters. I’d like to live and breathe the creativity of this universe. While this isn’t particularly cozy fantasy, I felt so deeply drawn in to these characters and this world that it read as such anyway – despite having some excellent horror elements.
I particularly cannot emphasize enough the love put into Marra, Kania, Agnes, Lady Fox, and Fenris. These characters each feel so delightful; their dialogue is beyond charming. Fenris’s arc is pitch-perfect, and the sibling relationship between Marra and Kania is wonderfully complex. And the romance between Marra and Fenris is lovely, subtly yet perfectly built.
Sophocles is by all definitions one of the greatest playwrites of all time. He focuses on the psyContinuing the tradition of greek tragedy reviewing.
Sophocles is by all definitions one of the greatest playwrites of all time. He focuses on the psyche, and often on characters who fall by doing the right thing: who define themselves by honorable traits until it kills them. These plays may be less known on the whole, but still pack a punch.
I did notice that these plays had little affect on me in comparison to certain others by Sophocles, but I believe this may partially be a result of translation; these translations feel less biting, less sharp, more direct meaning than emotion.
Reviewed Plays from this Collection →Ajax ★★★☆☆ Sophocles← (c.445 BCE) (from a diff. volume) Ajax is a man with a name that shrieks: the Greeks would have called him Aias. The vocative, when speaking to him, would've sounded like aiai, the Greek exclamation. In this play, following Ajax's final day after a prophesy comes he will kill himself, he certainly lives up to that. After this one day, the time for his fate to come will expire, and he may live. Ajax dies upon a Trojan sword, on Trojan ground, but he has placed it himself.
Tecmessa, Ajax's wife and war-bride, plays a much wider role in this than expected: she garners respect, in contrast to the expectations for war brides. Yet she still has a fragile role. The consequences for her if Ajax dies are not just losing him, but losing everything. His son, Eurysaces, would be considered illegitimate; indeed, this is the fate of his half-brother, Teucer. The contrast between him and Teucer is also interesting: while Teucer is an archer, associated with cowards (Paris) and tricksters (Odysseus), Ajax is a straight-shooting fighter. But the 'deception' speech to Tecmessa complicates this, using arrow imagery around his upcoming death.
The breaks in convention are notable: the play breaks typical narrative structure, the location shifts, the chorus leaves and comes back, and Ajax dies on stage, rather than off.
Notable Lines (John Moore translation): CHORUS: Strangely the long & countless drift of time brings all things forth from darkness into light. (646) AJAX: My speech is womanish for this woman's sake. (652)
→Women of Trachis ★★★★★ Sophocles← (unk) The saddest of these plays... to me, anyway. Following Deianira, wife of Heracles, as she is tricked by the dead into killing her husband, this play pulls its audience in. Deianira is hopeless, but never pathetic—she uses what agency she has to great renown.
This play made me feel genuinely claustrophobic. We, as the audience, know from the beginning that Deianira is killing her husband through her actions: as she battles with whether to stand still or act, we know she should stand still. But it is impossible to fully want that for her. It is her willingness to act that makes her so compelling; it gives her the chance to fix her life, and eventually destroys her life.
→Philoctetes ★★★☆☆ Sophocles← (409 BCE) This play revolves around the consequences of an evil trick played by the Greeks (as per usual). Ten years ago, the Greek army abandoned war hero Philoctetes on an abandoned island. Now, as per a prophecy, trickster Odysseus and young Neoptolemus must retrieve him. The character of Neoptolemus here must grapple with the bones he's standing on, but also keep the peace with both parties.
This play is interesting in that, like Ajax, it's a story about war that occurs removed from war. This is a recurring theme of Greek tragedy: the battles are not actually the topic of drama. It is the psychological trauma of war and the dynamics of heroism that are up for debate.
There was a piece of me now that no one would ever be able to reach.
A really interesting book about cloning, loneliness, what makes the self, and
There was a piece of me now that no one would ever be able to reach.
A really interesting book about cloning, loneliness, what makes the self, and where programming ends and choices begin. And also, perhaps more notably, a book which uses all of these to talk about abuse and escape.
Evelyn Caldwell is a cold cloning geneticist used to working and getting what she wants. She gets what she wants, that is, until her husband clones his perfect version of her, Martine, ready to fulfill her every need. I should just say off the bat—this book is compulsively readable. Every moment was just so messed up that I could not look away. And I did not want to! I was having a grand old time in this fucked up little place. Sarah Gailey's writing is seemingly not for everyone, but she hits just right for me.
There are two clones and each clone must be defined both by their old selves’ actions, and the new. Martine is programmed to be different from Evelyn, so where is her growth closer to Evelyn agency, and where is her growth away agency? Where should a copy be punished for the acts of that which came before? Where does your selfhood begin if you live as a copy?
I think you could read parts of Martine’s arc somewhat as a political critique of choice feminism—feminism that tells women and afab people that choosing children, makeup, etc are nonpolitical choices. They may be choices, but they are never nonpolitical; at the same time, they may be political, but they’re still choices. Martine’s desires, even those programmed into her, are what she has; she wants a child, and whether programmed into her or not, that desire is part of her to her.
Quotes Sticking Out To Me: ➽I think we would have been dead either way. Even if we were still breathing, even if we were still aboveground, we would have been dead. ➽ That didn’t mean I was the same as Nathan has been. He’d created Martine to be this way; I was merely taking advantage of a thing that was already there. I didn’t forge the tool. I just wanted to use it effectively. ➽ He was never going to be good enough; the original Nathan was born to be a disappointment to me at every turn, all the way down to his marrow. I couldn’t extract that from him. Not without making him someone entirely new. Someone I could never have fallen in love with in the first place. ➽ Everything I felt toward Martine, I felt toward myself, too. Of course, then, I wanted to find some way to protect her. And of course I resented her for it. ➽I had wondered for so long why she stopped there, why she didn’t spread like a climbing vine, devouring the void he left behind. I spent my adolescence nurturing a quiet disdain for the way she failed to become a monster in his absence.
Sarah Gailey, you are beyond insane. Can we get drinks sometime?
“Mother must be dying.” “Stop trying to cheer me up.”
Now that, my friends, is what we in the business call a wild ride. This is a ridiculou
“Mother must be dying.” “Stop trying to cheer me up.”
Now that, my friends, is what we in the business call a wild ride. This is a ridiculous 1970s soap opera that I could not help but enjoy, but I think above all else, it made me hunger on a deep level for a San Francisco I’ve never experienced.
Well. We’ll talk about that in a little while. For now, let’s just say this: Tales of the City is a wild ride from start to finish. On both the level of “this is fucking hilarious” and “holy shit, that was a plot twist”. It’s like someone combined Revenge, the 2012 television show, with The Office. It made me feel like I was on crack. I loved it.
“Finally, she looks at him intently and says, in a voice fraught with meaning, ‘which do you think you’d prefer, Rich? S or M?’” “And?” “He thought it was something to put on the hamburger.”
The tone of these is so delightfully absurdist — you have to lean into the humor a bit and suspend your disbelief to get to the good bits. Actually, it took me a while to get that the chapters were being absurd on purpose (okay, so I received these without context).
Some highlights of the admittedly ridiculous character cast include: →Mary Ann, a San Francisco newbie trying to make it but making bad romantic decisions along the way. Often dumb but occasionally iconic. →Mona, Mary Ann’s first friend when she comes to town. Best friend to Michael. Excellent person with some drug issues. →Michael, a gay icon, Mona’s best friend and second roommate. Constantly looking for long-term love but hasn’t found it yet. →Anna Madrigal, landlord to Mona and later Mary Ann and Michael. Mentor type. Some secrets of her own. →Beachamp, rich and seemingly happy husband to DeDe. Secretly dissatisfied. Sort of a dirtbag. →DeDe, rich daughter of a richer man. Not always the smartest. →Edgar, dissatisfied dying man trying to come to terms with a wasted life via his new friendship with a certain landlord. Father to Dede and husband to Frannie. →Brian, disaster and a half. Token heterosexual. One-time lover to Mary Ann. →Jon, possible lover to Michael. Gynecologist. →Dorothea, black lesbian back in town to get back her old lover. →Vincent, depressed crisis hotline operator whose wife has left him to join the Israeli army. →Norman, older man living on the top floor. Maybe a few secrets.
I think in basically any other book, this character cast would’ve been absurd, but in this book, they feel perfectly believable. I love how all of the characters are written as both flawed and at times selfish but still generally endearing. And the comics are not without their moments of genuine heart: the relationship between Anna and Edgar is honestly really wonderful and tender, and the friendship between Mona and Michael is — honest to god — peak mlm/wlw solidarity. (You will not be surprised to know they were my favorites.)
Due to the serial format, these issues often feel very distinct, at times dealing with very different characters and themes. But I definitely had some favorite scenes and plotlines.
➽Here are some of my book highlights (light spoilers only): →Anna giving Mary Ann a joint as a welcome to San Francisco gift →Michael’s meet-cute with Jon, which takes place at a skating rink after he breaks his nose trying to subtly skate up next to him →when a feminist talking about rape shows up at Dede’s country club and a minor character says delightedly “this is better than when they brought the bulldyke in!” →the scene in which Brian is trying to sleep with a woman who thinks he’s gay and trying to sleep with women to repress it, and who then, when he says he’s not gay, says clinically “You must not be in touch with your body” and walks out. an ally →when Michael answers a call from Mary Ann’s mom and her mom is scandalized about the strange man at her apartment and she then has to tell her mother about the existence of gay people →Mary Ann getting hired at a crisis hotline, accidentally making a pun about playing it by ear, and then contemplating biting her own tongue off →the scene in which Frannie is unloading all her problems but cutting it with “no, but I wouldn’t want to burden you, darling” and you think it’s like, to a friend, and it’s to her fucking dog →WHEN MICHAEL’S PARENTS FIND LUBE IN HIS FUCKING REFRIGERATOR →when Brian asks Michael to go cruising with him and Michael is like… why are straight people like this but then does it anyway. relatable content from 1978 →the guy who photocopied his dick and used the enlarger
And before I get serious, a brief spoiler section: about a bicon:(view spoiler)[Listen, from the very first page, Mona had bi energy. More importantly her and Michael were at PEAK mlm/wlw solidarity and I literally typed in my review notes “I know she’s straight but this is mlm/wlw solidarity at its finest” and then it WAS. actually I think the book isn’t really taking a position on her sexuality (she actually says she’d prefer a long term friendship to having a lover at one point and i was like okay!! !! ! ! ! ! legend ! ! ! !!). it’s just as long as we acknowledge that Mona is in no way a heterosexual we’re good (hide spoiler)] it’s Michael Sad hours, really no spoilers just a rant:(view spoiler)[I actually absolutely love the way Michael is written. because this portrayal of the gay scene is clearly a reflection of promiscuity being really mainstream at that time, a hard-earned freedom. but the narrative still makes it so clear that he just… genuinely wants love? (Michael’s energy in this is the same as my energy when I tweet about wanting a gf every day.) but in all reality, it’s a wonderfully subtle arc and the scene with his parents made me die inside just a little bit. (hide spoiler)] some incredible plot twists:(view spoiler)[okay holy SHIT the minor reveals of characters being involved with each other? INCREDIBLE. I LOVED the way the book did the Mona/Dor reveal, that’s a built reveal babes. the revelation about BEAUCHAMP? when he’s in the bathhouse and Jon sees him? absurd. the fucking Norman investigating Anna reveal left me shook as hell because it immediately made so much sense especially given Edgar’s earlier talk about the Madrigal’s being ridiculous!! Jon being Dede’s FUCKING gynecologist?? ? ?? ?? The thing with Lexy and Norman was awful :(( I loved connecting the dots. the point is I was left shook by so much of this (hide spoiler)] some less incredible plot twists:(view spoiler)[The only thing is that I did not like the twist about Dor, at all. I think it has some really awful connotations to have the only black character in your novel actually be white. I know it’s a soap opera from 1970 but this made me super mad and is honestly the only reason I'm even tempted to not give this a five. (hide spoiler)]
The thing is, I said I was going to get serious, and there’s something I need to say. Conservatives have long loathed it as the axis of liberal politics and political correctness, but now progressives are carping, too. They mourn it for what has been lost, a city that long welcomed everyone and has been altered by an earthquake of wealth. -from Washington Post's How San Francisco Broke America’s Heart I grew up 10 miles south of San Francisco — at the time of writing this, I'm leaving for college in almost exactly a week — with a mother who works as an opera singer up in the city. When I was eight, I knew without a doubt that as soon as I left for college, my mother would be selling our house in favor of a nice apartment near SF opera, as most of her friends had. Ten years later, the idea itself is ludicrous. The money we would receive for selling our (fairly nice) house wouldn't pay rent on anything but a studio. Many of my mother's friends have moved to Oakland, taking long commutes simply to arrive. One of my best friends lives with her family in Brentwood, an area past Oakland and two hours from San Francisco — her mom works a job in Woodside so she can attend a private school in the Bay Area.
I grew up knowing San Francisco as a place of gay culture and a thriving arts scene — a place with a large homeless population and some crime, but also a place where people came to be themselves. Now, I know it as a city where the culture of old residents is rapidly disappearing, replaced with the more homogenous Silicon Valley scene.
In reading this book where San Francisco is known as a weird and quirky city with a thriving gay scene, I found myself mourning for a San Francisco (and a Bay Area) I am barely old enough to have experienced, let alone to remember. I've known for years that I wanted to leave for college, but I wonder sometimes whether, thirty years earlier, I would've wanted to come back.
She hadn't meant it to be so honest, so prickling and sharp, but there it was. Prickling and sharp and oh so honest.
This is one of the wei
She hadn't meant it to be so honest, so prickling and sharp, but there it was. Prickling and sharp and oh so honest.
This is one of the weirdest books I’ve read this year… and also one of the most cathartic.
Fundamentally, You Must Not Miss is a story about the struggle for kindness in a world that wishes to crush the outsiders. While Magpie’s personal journey is of course the focus, a great deal of the book focuses on her struggle to be open and honest in her relationships with her closest friends. Ben, for example, a cute guy at school who sees her for who she really is because he’s also been the one on the outside due to being trans. Clare, her classmate who is dealing with grief of her own after her father’s widely-publicized suicide. The importance of Magpie’s friendship with these two, and with two others, Brianna & Luke, is emphatically the closest to goodness the story gets.
Magpie’s character arc, however, is excellent. I think there’s a certain way of portraying and handling trauma that this book plays into, where you give the audience the portrait of a character, and hint at why they are the way they are but do not explicitly say it. In a book of this structure, we’ve generally figured out the past trauma before any character explicitly states it. In the past three months, she has caught her father sleeping with another woman, seen her mother turn to alcohol, and lost her best friend, all at once. But there are details to this story that the narrative slowly allows us to discover.
And discover, we do. Slowly but surely.
There’s a sentence in this book that keeps staying with me, in which Magpie’s mother promises to stop drinking:
“Magpie? You do know how sorry I am, right? I’m going to do so much better. I’m going to get some help. Finally, I’m going to get some help.” And Magpie had heard it before. The daughter or sister or brother or husband or mom or dad or cousin or friend of every alcoholic in the world has heard that before. And every time you heard it… you believed it.
This… landed. I think this book does such a ridiculously good job discussing and unpacking Magpie’s trauma while still not making her into a character she is not, a character who explodes or cries in front of friends. The narrative allows her, and by extension us, catharsis in atypical ways.
In a lot of ways, You Must Not Miss is one of the angriest books I’ve read in recent memory. It is, in all essentials, a story of revenge against those who hurt. But it is also a book about learning that even valid anger is not the best thing to be driven by. Sometimes, the world fails people, and much as we may wish it to be, anger and violence are not the best options for us. You Must Not Miss both allows hate, and counters it with love and kindness.
There were other reasons for her choice: she did not like her house, she did not like other people's houses. She liked neutral ground, neutral territory, a fair and fighting chance for everyone.
But the world I wanted wasn't the world I lived in, and if I would do nothing until I could repair every terrible thing at once, I would do no
But the world I wanted wasn't the world I lived in, and if I would do nothing until I could repair every terrible thing at once, I would do nothing forever.
Spinning Silver is a masterful tapestry of interwoven stories. Containing some of the best lady protagonists of recent fantasy literature, a fantastic narrative around cultural Jewishness, and such diverse fairy tales inspirations as Rumplestiltskin, Hansel & Gretel, A Thousand And One Arabian Nights, and Hades & Persephone, this book was an absolute masterpiece and one of my faves of the year.
This book takes in place via an impressive six points of view: →Miryem Mandelstam – a moneylender’s daughter who takes over the job from her father. Determined, somewhat ambitious, fiercely loving towards her family, and honestly one of the most iconic characters ever. →Wanda Vitkus – the eldest sister of her family, fiercely protective of her brothers Sergey and Stepon. Her friendship with Miryem made me so emo. →Irina – the daughter of a minor lord, occasionally manipulative, trying to save herself and find freedom from her father all in one. →Stepon Vitkus – the youngest Vitkus, naive but loving. →Margreta – Irina’s caretaker, deeply caring and quietly strong. →The Starek King – definition of an ambiguous character. →Prince Mirnatius – possibly possessed, definitely ambiguous.
Oh, god, so what do I say about this novel. This is a hard one to talk about because every story is so tightly and cleverly woven. The initial slow buildup of characters first struck me as a bit overlong, but over the course of the novel I came to appreciate how well built it all is. Every payoff of this novel feels so excellently payed off. Foreshadowing comes to perfect fruition; plot twists make you gasp at how obvious they seem in hindsight. It’s a tightly wound 450 pages that kept me on the edge of my seat, even when the plot itself slowed down.
The other aspect, of course, is the meta-narrative around identity.
But it was all the same choice, every time. The choice between the one death and all the little ones.
Judaism, historically, was often seen as something devilish, a religion of moneylenders who cheat others of their money. Historically, Jewish people were really only moneylenders because 1) many Christian sects felt it went against their religion and because 2) they often quite literally were not allowed into other trades: you can read more about this here. This book uses Jewish identity as a positive identity, an identity belonging to the outsider and yet a positive one nonetheless. It is through identity, both within the context of society and as people, that these characters must find strength.
And the thing is, women in this book do fall in love and care for male characters. But the narrative always puts their agency, growth and development first. Miryem, Wanda, and Irina all exist on their own, independent of men, even in points where men attempt to steal their story.Spinning Silver is, in itself, a meta-narrative about storytelling, about the distances we go to change the stories of others. Rumpelstiltskin is a bastardized tale meant to villainize Jewish people; some fairy tales we hear at night don't get it right.
It is here that I will go into a brief spoiler section and discuss three elements of this book that I want to talk about but don't want to spoil y'all for. on jewish identity as a positive gift: (view spoiler)[There’s this moment from this book that I can’t stop thinking about, in which Shofer, Flek, and Tsop, Miryem’s maidservants help her in her quest to turn the three storerooms to gold, knowing that if they fail they will themselves die. One of these three has a daughter, a daughter with no name. As a sign of their love for Miryem, she asks her to name her daughter. Miryem gives her the name Rebekah, a Jewish name, specifically as a sign of her respect for the three and for the child’s honor. Jewish cultural identity as a positive gift. I honestly don’t know why this made me cry but it made me cry really hard. (hide spoiler)] on a really well-planted twist: (view spoiler)[I should have seen Mirnatius not having sold his soul coming!! I should have!! And I only figured it out... about twenty pages before it was revealed? I absolutely love this kind of plot reveal, the kind that adds another layer to an existing narrative and is so wonderfully set up for the audience to go "oh shit, I should have guessed that". It's possible to figure out but not obvious, and keeps its weight whether guessed or not. God bless. (hide spoiler)] on the two romances-sort-of: (view spoiler)[I love that both of the romances in this book are necessary for satisfying-conclusion reasons but are still treated with a deft hand. I also love that both romances in this book are built off men deciding they respect women who are far more powerful and good at everything than they are. Wanda is a lesbian. Also I actually liked Irina and Mirnatius... so much? That scene where they were faking marital sex... honestly one of the funniest things I've read this year. (hide spoiler)] on my shrine to the final line: (view spoiler)[ “And on the wedding contract, before me and my parents and the rabbi, and Wanda and Sergey for our witnesses, in silver ink he signed his name. But I won't ever tell you what it is.” The last line of this book is the single most delightful line of storytelling text I've ever read. It's such an obvious line but when I read it I seriously wanted to drop the book from pure appreciation of how clever that was. (hide spoiler)]
I also want to take a second to comment on the audiobook performance being excellent. I read the last 100 pages of this in physical copy because my loan was due back. But the way the audiobook narrator dropped her voice for Wanda and raised it for Stepon... academy award, literally. You could tell the difference in narrators so fucking fast.
I don’t want to say a lot more about this book besides that I think you should read it if you like character development, strong women, calling out antisemitism within narrative, subversive retellings of old narratives, and several really excellent plot reveals. I closed this book feeling a sense of satisfaction I doubt will be matched by any other book I read this year.
It doesn’t feel like I could ever be that off the rails again, even though I’m sure that’s how I felt before everything started going to shit
It doesn’t feel like I could ever be that off the rails again, even though I’m sure that’s how I felt before everything started going to shit the first time around.
Some of you might know that I am really, really into books about 1) depression, and 2) toxic parental relationships, and 3) toxic romantic relationships. This… hit me hard in all three categories. I have not emotionally connected to a book this much in… so long, and I kind of can't decide if I hate this and love this.
So before I get into why I loved this so much, I’ll just mention objective quality and all that? Imagine Us Happy is told out of chronological level, a choice that worked quite well for the story being told; we know from the beginning that this will not end well, but we see the good parts along with the bad. It also works fantastically for conveying Stella as a character; she is so difficult not to connect with and relate to.
I will readily admit that a good portion of my enjoyment of this book was that I connected to Stella, as a character, a lot. Stella is dealing with depression and a lack of support system via her parents, which has led her to seek valiation in someone who is dealing with issues but in a very, very unhealthy way. She, meanwhile, is not in a place where she realizes what is going on with her or her partner.
Okay, bear with me, as this is really rather personal and something I haven’t talked about, but I don’t know how to review this book without talking about this.
I was recently in a relationship with someone whom I absolutely believe cared about me, and who had very, very good intentions in pursuing a relationship. The relationship was also, though I didn’t realize it at the time, not good for either of us. And I did not realize it at all because I had not come to terms with my own fear of rejection or perhaps more accurately, as I’ve recently realized, my deep-set fear that I would become a manipulative or needy partner.
So the relationship stopped being a good place for me to be, and I said nothing about it because I was desperately afraid of hurting them. I became increasingly convinced that any problems with the relationship were not compatibility issues, or their ongoing mental health issues, or anything that impacts a relationship, but my fault. There were times where they contributed to this, but I doubt it would have impacted me at all if not for my own deep-held feeling that I was destined to be a selfish and manipulative person and partner. I tried to push down my own feelings. I isolated myself from both my therapist and my friends because I was unwilling to “talk behind their back,” which began to mean no one in my life - and I do mean no one - knew what was happening in any way. My friends would have told you I seemed perfectly happy, and I got very good at pretending I was, but inside I was not at all.
So I think reading this book, in which someone goes through the same thing and they're not villainized for it, meant a lot to me. I really liked that Stella eventually got through the period of the relationship via her best friends, as the support of one of my friends, and later several more, was essentially what got me through that, too.
Oh, and I loved her friends - Katie of the dead frog kink and Lin the John Steinbeck fangirl were so fun. Really though, I love that these two characters feel so un-stereotyped; Katie especially immediately read as the hot partier friend, and I completely assumed I knew how she would be characterized. I did not. Katie does not abandon her friends for greener pastures, not even when Stella pushes her away completely. And Lin, despite being the more academic-oriented of the two, does not read like the nerd archetype — she reads as more of the offbeat-english-major type, which does not show up a lot, and she’s not the unpopular member of their friend group. I liked this a lot - especially as she’s Asian, this is a great way of defying that particular stereotype.
Yeah, it reeks of weed, and the song “Don’t Stop Believin” has been played four times by 10:30 p.m., but chilling in her kitchen getting buzzed off beer while talking with Lin is not actually that far from my ideal Saturday night.
In general, I felt that this book got high school on a level that not a lot of books do? The details of Katie and Lin’s characterization certainly add to this, but it’s the little things, too. Like, there’s a line mentioning the party transitioning to “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls, and I laughed so hard because wow, been there.
Also, this quote so easily could have been cringey, but I laughed my ass off because t r u e:
“I think it would be great if everyone understood feminism. But let’s be realistic for a minute here. How many dudes were in your class?” “Four,” I say. “Out of?” “Twenty-five,” I admit. “And how many of them were gay?” he asks. I pause. “I plead the fifth.”
It’s funny - I sat on this review for so long, and now I think I should probably mention that while writing this part of my review - which took me a month of sitting on, by the way - I was thinking about how much better I am feeling, three months later, and how much that relationship taught me about my own insecurities and my flaws. And I also thought about the other person in that relationship and why we broke up, and I think... we’re both doing better now.
And I don’t know if I really wish that for the love interest in this book, but I do wish that for them. And I think I felt better now, about myself, writing this review, than I have in seventeen years.
It’s a work in progress. But a good one. And this book understood it on a level I don’t think I’ve ever seen.
✨Arc received from the publisher via my local bookstore for an honest review. [releases: October 2018.]
Even before I recognized him, I smiled politely. Well trained, I would have smiled so at my executioner.
[image] These books are so so so
Even before I recognized him, I smiled politely. Well trained, I would have smiled so at my executioner.
[image] These books are so so so much fun. [Source ]
I always struggle to review books that I knew I would love and then did love, but I think I liked this even more than I expected. In a lot of ways, Thick as Thieves is far more of a typical journey novel; it’s simply a successful one because of the characters.
➽Costis – disaster attempting to carry off a mission with a really annoying guy he just kidnapped. also holy fuck I am crying about this post ➽Kamet – disaster trying to lowkey deceive a royal family to save his own life. selfish and he knows it. actually very compelling.
Really though, Kamet’ character development is amazing. As this is a journey novel, his arc takes up a good portion of the buildup in the novel — I loved seeing him realize that his treatment was fucked up, that his enslavement was not right, and also allow himself to have feelings. I love how realistically fucked up his worldview is - his expectation that Costis will be murdered is complete bullshit but fits his character - and I really loved seeing how conscious Megan Whalen Turner was of his flawed point of view.
Speaking of allowing himself to have feelings - the other main arc of this story is the relationship between Costis & Kamet, which is honestly the best. Kamet essentially stalls on escaping until he’s too attached to leave, and it is lovely, and their dynamic is so great. I will also state that it really does read in the same tenor as several romances in this series, and though it’s not exactly canonical, it’s… well, it’s very undisputed by canon. And so, along with the entire very large tumblr fandom for this series, I will acknowledge it as such. Costis and Kamet were in love. [Honestly, I think my bookstagram story said it all. Or maybe this far more articulate post.]
I’ve read fivebooksofthisnow, and I’ve been thinking a lot recently about why I’ve loved this series’ progression so much. I’ve landed on this quote by Megan Whalen Turner:
I am such a softy. I write these incredibly violent books, and I just, I do not like to know that there’s a train wreck coming. I hate watching train wrecks. I much prefer that we just have our horrible thing, and the whole rest of the book is recovery. And although it starts in a very dark place, the whole rest of the book, things get better and better and better. That’s the kind of story arc I like. -Megan Whalen Turner
I really love the sense of hope in this series, the sense I have that Turner really wants recovery, rather than torture porn.
There was so much I adored about this book: the standalone-ish nature, the entire Immakuk and Ennikar thing, the constant allusions to book two, Eugenides showing up to be an asshole, the subtext getting lowkey confirmed, everything Attolia has ever done… everything, basically. This series really is so fun and I can’t wait for the next book.
Sometimes your life changes so slowly and imperceptibly that you don't notice it at all until one day you wake up and think, 'How did I get he
Sometimes your life changes so slowly and imperceptibly that you don't notice it at all until one day you wake up and think, 'How did I get here?' But other times, life changes in an instant with a lightning stroke of good or bad luck with glorious or tragic consequences.
This book is weird, because it’s sort of a meta-thriller-character-exploration that has no genre and hates genre convention, and what’s perhaps even weirder is that um… this is Liane Moriarty’s brand now.
I find it really interesting how Liane Moriarty’s brand has become thrillers that aren’t about the horror element, and how aware of that she is. With books like her two last, Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty, she's used the thriller conceit to tell stories about the everyday horror that comes with domesticity and being a woman. I felt like she did this perfectly with Big Little Lies, but that the thriller conceit was ridiculous in Truly Madly Guilty. Here, I think she's truly leaned in to her talents for character development.
The thing is that what she lacks in actual suspense, she makes up for with interesting characters and some cool messages hidden under a simple story.
She remembered her first-ever boyfriend of over thirty years ago, who told her he preferred smaller breasts than hers, while his hands were on her breasts, as if she’d find this interesting, as if women’s body parts were dishes on a menu and men were the goddamned diners. This is what she said to that first boyfriend: “Sorry.” This was her first boyfriend’s benevolent reply: “That’s okay.”
Frances is a struggling romance novelist going for a weekend away to try and revamp her life after another bad experience with romance.
Napoleon, Heather, and Zoe are a family who seem far more perfect on the outside than they are on the inside. Zoe was arguably my favorite character in the book; compared to several other characters, she is perhaps the most rational. And while Napoleon and Heather aren’t quite as central, each has a lot of development and emotional conflict: there's this moment where they just hold hands and yet it is so amazing.
The characters don't end there; Ben and Jessica are a struggling young couple having a conflict over their previous lottery win. Carmel is a young mother dealing with body-image issues after her husband has left her for a younger woman. Lars is a divorce lawyer still attempting to retroactively fix his mother’s situation and in just a bit of conflict with his husband Ray; he was one of my favorite characters. Tony is an ex-football player attempting to change his life up again.
Together, they make up the title's nine perfect strangers, all trying to change their lives. And what I enjoyed the most is that all of these characters have their idiosyncrasies, and aren't particularly likable, but all manage to gain your sympathy anyway.
Perhaps the novel’s biggest problem is that the thriller aspect is really nothing but a ridiculous framing device, and doesn’t actually cause that much conflict to be brought to life. This is not fixed by the pacing issues — the beginning of the novel is far too long, and while the payoff for all her setup is fantastic, I thought Moriarty could have streamlined the middle by integrating character development into the plot with far more care. The novel’s tenth and eleventh character, Marsha & Yao, both get good development, but their role in the narrative itself is somewhat overextended at times.
I also struggled with the novel’s perspective on reviewers – a negative reviewer for the main character’s most recent novel is arguably the book’s most personal villain. This aspect is minor and sort of dumb.
That being said, the payoff truly is excellent. The book ends its chosen arcs with about eight different quality character endings, including but not limited to an amicable marital breakup that subverts expectations, a sendup of romance novels & commentary on the thriller genre that ends one couple’s story, a very sweet coming-to-jesus moment for one couple, and an excellent and very feminist ending for one woman.
Overall, while bits and pieces of this didn’t quite gel, the whole was an enjoyable, entertaining read, and I’m glad I picked it up.
like, I'm glad I enjoyed this, but wow fuck you guys this broke my heart and the only thing I got out of it was my new favorite tumblr blog
So, uh, it like, I'm glad I enjoyed this, but wow fuck you guys this broke my heart and the only thing I got out of it was my new favorite tumblr blog
So, uh, it turns out I like Cassandra Clare books now, and I think she's just improved significantly at creating lovable characters and narratives I personally find compelling, and I am so glad I have learned to love this.
The villain of this book is hate and oppression. The amount of clave-dragging in here…… I’ve been waiting for literal years. And though I think this becomes much more clear in book two, it’s clear from the beginning that hate is about to be the villain.
“This is why fairies are despised, this senseless cruelty.” “Careful, boy,” said Gwynn. “You have your laws and we have ours. The difference is that we do not pretend ours are not cruel.”
Lady Midnight follows various characters and plotlines, most notably including our Forbidden Romantic Plotline, our The Cold Peace Is Terrible plotline, and our Julian Gets Repeatedly Fucked Over By The Clave plotline, but every plotline has a common villain: systematic prejudice.
Also, can I just say: I can’t believe the main villain of this series is a Donald Trump allegory.
➽E M M A A N D J U L I A N
✔Emma Carstairs - a literal ICON, invented big dick energy ✔Julian Blackthorn - definitely would kill a man for his own selfish motivations but listen… he's in love with Emma, that's too relatable and therefore i can't hate him
I literally love that the main couple of this is a reversed bad boy / good girl who’s maybe turning evil dynamic. It’s this strange dynamic because this author feeds into this trope, and seeing such a conscious subversion of that ideal in her work was incredible. There’s this one line where the female lead is like “oh this is his first kiss meanwhile I’ve slept with like 20 people but that’s okay it’s us” and I was SCREAMING I can’t believe this book killed slutshaming. Anyway, I love this so much I’m obsessed with it.
Also, their relationship is so tense. Like, the mutual pining is too good. Also, please let me just share this meme I’ve been laughing at for three years: [image]
I will actually admit that I did not like Emma and Julian’s dynamic… quite as much in the next book, which I talked about in my review? BUT OH WELL.
➽K I E R A N, M A R K, C H R I S T I N A
✔Christina Rosales - an ICON, a blessing to my life………. I love that she’s close platonic friends with Emma and they never feud, I love how much she asks for herself and how unapologetic she is about her life, I just relate to her a lot and I hope she’s happy forever ✔Mark Blackthorn - my boy, my man, the bi icon we deserved. I actually loved his entire reintegration arc so so so much and I adore that he’s trapped between two worlds but still doing his best to get back within his home. too good we did not deserve him ✔Kieran of the Hunt - did anyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely. book two Kieran is the superior Kieran and that’s my discourse for the day.
I’m sorry, but if we’re going to talk about Cassandra Clare redoing constructs from her own work in a different way: the three-sided love triangle of Kieran and Christina and Mark. I will not be elaborating on which dynamic this echoes at this time.
In other news, I cried twice during this book, and both times it was about - you guessed it - Mark and Kieran’s backstory!! They didn’t have to do me like this. (view spoiler)[Kieran didn’t have to do anyone like this. INCLUDING ME that line where he was like “I cannot bear it” Kieran can’t lie he’s not lying he literally means that. in other news I fucking hate this (hide spoiler)]
➽T H E B L A C K T H O R N S
✔Diana Wrayburn - genuinely one of my favorite characters from this series and i have NO IDEA why she’s so slept on. i mean, it’s not like anyone hates her, but i would like you all to be screaming about Diana for 40 hours per week as i do? this is a full-time Diana love zone. i love my canonically trans wife ✔Taavy Blackthorn - he’s ten and i’m pretty sure ten year olds don’t have personalities. pure. ✔Dru Blackthorn - I would fucking die for Dru she’s too legendary. also, she’s plus-sized and the narrative is so good about it. ✔Livvy Blackthorn - a small bean doing her best and it’s just not very good. ✔Ty Blackthorn - deliciousfinallysomegoodfuckingfood.gif it is really, really depressing how few books have canonically autistic characters who are not essentially used as jokes, but here we are. ✔Kit (view spoiler)[Herondale (hide spoiler)] - chaotic bisexual. i have a tumblr post to share about this involving the phrase “token straight family member” but unfortunately, spoilers. (view spoiler)[what is up with this whole plot twist about someone being a Herondale motif. (hide spoiler)]
In case you haven’t noticed, I love the Blackthorn family. The dynamic of the siblings with Julian is absolutely the best, and their mutual love and support for each other means so much to me.
“You pointed a knife at me.” “It wasn’t personal.”
Soooooo, Ty and Kit had two separate meet cutes in this and both of them were the best thing I’ve ever read. They definitely get more development in book two, but Kit’s joining-the-Blackthorns arc, even here, was absolutely the best. Basically, I really wish I could continue to be emotional about the Blackthorns forever.
➽O T H E R C H A R A C T E R S
✔Diego Rosales - not nearly as perfect as the marketing would indicate but I actually him? ✔Annabelle Blackthorn - a very very interesting character of book two. ✔Zara Dearborn - a very very awful character of book two. fuck off, Zara.
I think we all know Cassandra Clare is really into the overlaps between worlds, and I’m honestly… here for it. Jace and Clary’s cameo is the most I’ve liked them in the entire canon of the universe. Jem and Tessa showed up for three pages and it was my favorite thing I’ve ever read. There was some line about the Carstairs “owing the Herondales” and I feel like that’s the exact opposite of TID canon but okay?
also, I know I’m a bitch, but Tessa and Jem were not in book two, and I think that makes it a bad book, personally
➽S H U T U P, E L L E
ANYWAY, the point is, I really enjoyed this book, and so far I'm really enjoying this series. I hope I will continue to not die of sadness!!
Translation Notes I have read four versions of the Antigone, three versions of Oedipus Rex, and two versions This is how I feel about Antigone: [image]
Translation Notes I have read four versions of the Antigone, three versions of Oedipus Rex, and two versions of Oedipus at Colonus, over five years. I don't know why I'm like this either. (Comment your favorite Antigone translations and I'll read them.)
Oxford edition, trans. unk (2015): In ninth grade, I read the Theban plays in my English class. I liked them. Antigone, specifically, made a very very large impression on me. I promptly forgot every single thing I thought about them. [I have a terrible memory.] So when audible offered a free audio of the plays with a full-cast narration… I went for it. And of course loved it again. Will need to reread these translations to fully retranslate. Audio edition, trans. unk (2018): This audio stars the excellent Jamie Glover as Oedipus and the always-talented Hayley Atwell as Antigone, but casting such as Samantha Bond as Jocasta, Michael Melone as Creon, and Lydia Leonard as Ismene stand out as well. This is the reading upon which I decided perhaps Oedipus the King was very good. Antigonick trans. Anne Carson (2019): More an adaption than a translation, and certainly not my favorite, if only because I love Antigone's original words so much. Worth reading, but after reading Antigone proper. Reviewed here. The Greek Plays edition trans. Frank Nisetich (2020): I loved the biting stychomythia of this translation.
Play Reviews for Everything
→Oedipus the King←★★★★★ Oedipus means swollen foot, in reference to his broken feet as a child, but holds a double meaning: Oida means I know, and Eidon means I saw, so the term could also be 'seeing foot'. If only he could see where his feet were going. Seeing, indeed, is the primary tension of the play. One eyewitness has two key details to give: the story of exposing the baby for Laius, and the story of watching a stranger kill Laius on a dark road.
What I like about this play is that it is a tragedy where no character has purposefully fucked things up. Every single character — from the later-unsympathetic Creon to the excellently written Jocasta — is sympathetic. It is so upsetting to see it unfold, see these characters have their lives so completely ruined. Around halfway through the play, Jocasta figures it out, and begs Oedipus to stop the process; knowing, but thinking to take it to her grave: he does not take it. Oedipus receives the opportunity to blame it all on Creon and keep his leadership: he does not take it. He is finding the truth for altruism, and will take it to the end.
For Oedipus, his recognition and reversal are a nightmare come true, a dream he never thought could occur. I was near tears during Oedipus’ final speech.
→Oedipus at Colonus←★★★★☆ I actually, in hindsight, am not sure I read this in ninth grade. [We were only actually required to read Antigone.] This is the Family Feelings play, as in… the relationship between Antigone and Ismene and Oedipus is upsetting and I don’t like it. Almost all the action of this one is offstage, which makes it far harder to follow; honestly, this feels like a joiner between Oedipus the King and Antigone. I did enjoy the sense of tragedy and the character development.
→Antigone←★★★★★ What I like about Antigone is Antigone. No, that's not quite right. What I like about Antigone is its focus on very different characters as they try to undermine Creon in three very different ways. Acting from honor, from logic, from empathy, the three youth of the royal family protest his decisions: Antigone representing the god’s honor and the woman’s honor; Ismene representing the woman’s honor; Haemon representing the youth’s honor and the city’s honor. The actions of Antigone, Haemon, and Ismene break the heirarchy down, and though by the end of the play, two lie dead, they have taught Creon his lesson. When the tyrant does not listen to those around him, he has nothing, and leaves the dead in his wake.
Antigone loves her honor before the gods, and will break any heirarchy, woman or not, to get to it; yet the city is on her side, following her lead. Ismene and Antigone have a fascinating sisterly relationship. The stychomythia (certain kind of meter used for conversation) between Haemon and Creon is one of my favorite scenes in any play I’ve read ever.
The 'guard' witnesses two very key events in Antigone's life: he is almost more 'casual', and oddly comedic. He introduces two burials, one scattering of earth, one seemingly divine and done by Antigone. This is not notable on the first readthrough. On the second, the question of who actually does the first burial hits.
Notable in the sense of tragic convention is that the chorus is all-male; in this genre, the chorus is generally the same gender as the protagonists, generally of a lower social position, but sympathetic. Though the chorus here is at times kind to Antigone, they are never fully on her side. By the time she gives her death speech, about to walk into her tomb, we know she is truly alone. Antigone is a spectacle to the chorus, as Oedipus once was.
Notable Lines (Frank Nisetich translation): ANTIGONE: No dread of what some man might think would ever make me… be guilty before the gods. (457-459) ANTIGONE: And I can’t join in hate, but only in love. (528) ANTIGONE: Your thoughts appealed to some, mine to others. ISMENE: And yet we’re both found guilty, both alike. (558-559) CREON: Rulers own their cities--isn’t that the saying? HAEMON: A fine ruler you’d make, alone, in a desert. CREON: This fellow, it seems, is on the woman’s side. HAEMON: If you’re a woman: it’s you I care for. (738-741) HAEMON: Do you want to talk and talk and never listen? (755)
These plays are an excellent look at the nature of humanity, the hypocrisy of us and the fact that we all have our good sides and our bad. I know I will not be ending my love affair with Antigone anytime soon.
“If you do this, Nedra, if you choose necromancy… I cannot follow you into that darkness.” “Oh, Grey,” I said, shifting my bag onto my shoulder
“If you do this, Nedra, if you choose necromancy… I cannot follow you into that darkness.” “Oh, Grey,” I said, shifting my bag onto my shoulder. “What do you know of darkness?”
This book looked like a generic, if fun, YA fantasy that just happened to have this really nice and intriguing cover. And then it turned out to be a story about a wonderfully crafted antiheroine falling into darkness in the face of relentless oppression, and then Really Doing That, and I was just shook. If you liked hero-to-villain arcs in books like The Young Elites and The Grisha Trilogy and want more of that nice slide to evil, you should be reading this. Actually...I have a feeling it might be even more hardcore later on.
How about I promo this book to you with one anecdote: (view spoiler)[at one point, a man shows up to Nedra trying to bring his wife back, and it’s revealed that he was the one who murdered her, and Nedra is like “fuck that” and allows her army of the dead to murder him while walking off. (hide spoiler)] Because I think about that a lot.
Okay, okay. Give the Dark My Love is an antiheroine origin story, but more importantly, it’s a book about losing your people and the grief of that - the horror of losing the people who have defined your humanity.
I mean, if you want to be sad for 300 hours, you will be over Nedra’s relationships with the people around her. Grey and Nedra’s romance is a sweet touch, perfectly geared to make you sad. I really loved Nedra’s family; there’s this one scene where she switches places with her sister to fool her mother, and it’s one of the most adorable and sweet things I’ve ever read. Ernesta in general is a great character, a delight in every page she’s in [and also canonically bi? which I love?] Master Ostrum is a great side character and ambiguous-support for Nedra and it’s fantastic.
Which only makes it more upsetting when her family is involved in the conflict.
“I love you, Nedra, but...” I didn't realize until that moment how the but cancelled out the love. Love could not exist when it came with conditions.
As the book goes on, Nedra is left feeling alone, unsupported, forced to do everything herself… and is driven to levels of unspeakable morals. And despite his best efforts, Grey’s refusal to allow her to be happy with her dark side drives them apart as well. The ending wasn’t unpredictable, but it was cool as fuck.
I will admit, I struggled with Grey’s point of view. It’s not the worst – he’s a compelling enough character. It’s just so clear that despite his not-insignificant impact on the narrative and its depiction of poverty, this book is not his story. In a book that is in every other way Nedra’s book, where Grey fills the role of a compelling love interest and no more, it feels odd and somewhat distracting to get his POV.
Oh, speaking of Grey, here’s another thing I absolutely adored: the fact that this book is, at its core, a story about the repression of lower classes. In this world, the north of Lunar Island has been left behind the economy of the wealthier south. So when a new plague spreads in the north, richer southerners assume it’s a disease based off the dirtiness of the north.
Not that this is a parallel to the real world or anything, but… this is a fantastic parallel to the real world.
It’s just overall a very strong book about necromancy and antiheroine-ism. The world doesn’t always give you fairness and sometimes, you need to wrest it back. Spirits don’t always want to come back. And even the villains have a point.
Also, can I just say… it really fucking goes there. Nedra is such a queen. The last hundred pages changed me as a person, obviously. But I also… there’s this one section in this book that I can’t stop thinking about because it was so deeply fucked up, and then the narrative just kept fucking describing everything. You’ll know what I mean when you get there.
Anyway, I absolutely loved this, and I cannot wait to get to book two - look out for my review here!
The fact that Cam is one of my friends has absolutely nothing to do with how absolutely incredible this book was. Because the thing is, this releases The fact that Cam is one of my friends has absolutely nothing to do with how absolutely incredible this book was. Because the thing is, this releases on October 29th, and I cried twice reading this, and it actually understands What Real Life Teenagers Are Like, and on the level that I am a reviewer who wants to recommend you books you’ll love, I think you should read this if you like tender slice-of-life YA contemporary about bisexuality and being HIV+ and the power of both familial and platonic and romantic love.
If that sounds interesting to you, here is a very abridged list of things that really resonated with me about this book: ➽the positivity of Simone’s dynamic with her dads, and the fact that they each feel like fully realized people with their own problems but are still loving and kind ➽Simone being a teenager with HIV who did not get it from some kind of traumatic event, but from her mom, and it being an experience she has, not something that defines her ➽Simone’s best friends being so central in her life — I feel like sometimes I read YA where the main character has best friends but you would not know it because they interact twice the whole book. Claudia and Lydia are both excellent ➽the fact that very casually Claudia is an ace lesbian and Lydia is bi. the solidarity of it all ➽Simone being bi and closeted even in a situation where she’s not in danger: she’s just not ready and has had bad experiences, and the fact that the narrative is empathetic towards that and it’s also not the only experience in her life ➽Simone’s drama passion feeling like such an important part of this narrative ➽just in general I think this book does an amazing job of making Simone really multifaceted because that’s what human beings are like ➽also, the drama teacher tea in this book. hit so close to home why are drama teachers Like That ➽this one quote: (view spoiler)[
Last week, my health teacher made this long speech about how girls should spend their formative years discovering themselves and making close friends. Friendships, she said, are just as fulfilling as relationships. And I guess she’s right. I’m so grateful to have found Lydia and Claudia. I love them tons, but not in romantic way. Not having that makes me lonely in a way I can’t really describe.
(hide spoiler)] ➽the positive (and really funny) discussion of masturbation for women ➽that one scene with Claudia and Lydia…… this trio is so. my senior year best friend experience ➽the portrayal of Claudia and Lydia each to certain degrees not knowing how to discuss HIV, slash their friend being bi, but also being willing to grow and change from that ➽that section in which Miles says he doesn’t care about people talking about musicals, he likes the way Simone talks about them. like if someone said that to me I too would risk it all ➽the fact that Simone’s past with Sarah feels fully fleshed out despite us not getting a flashback? I feel like it’s really easy to resort to flashbacks so I appreciated the slow reveal ➽I did not guess the ending until a few pages before and i a l w a y s guess the ending ➽I know I’ve talked about Simone and her dads already. but genuinely they made me cry once and tear up several other times ➽also this quote: (view spoiler)[
We can’t live by them. We continue living our lives and fighting the fight. You can’t just let people control you with their hate. You keep living, Simone.
(hide spoiler)] ➽the entire section between Simone and Miles where *** ***** *** is just………… it's so tender. honestly all their interactions are so tender I was just ...more
Sawkill Girls is a book about not being your parent’s mistake, the deep and long-lasting effects of trauma and loss, and the repression of grief we all go through. It’s also a horror book. Also, it’s also about three girls and they’re all sapphic and all so well written and developed I want to cry.
I don’t quite know how to describe what made this book so fantastic - it’s a character study that’s also a thriller, a supernatural horror movie that’s also a discussion of grief and trauma. The thematic arc around Zoey’s loss of Thora; Marion’s experience with loss of someone close to her, and her experience of losing her mother’s being fully there, a loss of a loving family that isn’t even full; and Val’s feeling of never having had a loving family, but mourning for the love she’s never gotten nonetheless. It’s just fucking awesome.
➽C H A R A C T E R S
→Marion - bisexual daughter of a mother in mourning, trying to find her own identity. →Val - morally grey lesbian abuse survivor. if any of you know me you possibly know that this a character archetype written for me, personally, →Zoey - black and bi and asexual legend trying to recover from grief over a friend.
“It’s not as expensive as you think.” Sara Holmes leaned against the entry to the parlor, arms folded and mouth quirked into a smile. The lace
“It’s not as expensive as you think.” Sara Holmes leaned against the entry to the parlor, arms folded and mouth quirked into a smile. The lace gloves on her hands were just visible, though their color had faded to a pale gray. “How did you-” “Deduction. And a certain empathy born of like experience.”
god, this was so good. it's a really fucking awesome reimagining of Sherlock Holmes but they're both black sapphic ladies and also, it takes place in a post-Trump era, and also, it's a political thriller.
[this feels like it should be a solid recommendation all on its own.]
So I have not read Sherlock Holmes, but I do know from general life experience [and from watching this hilariously dedicated literary analysis, like, eight times] that it is episodic in nature. Something this does not do, as an adaptation, is act episodic in nature. Another thing this does not quite do, as an adaptation, is give you the clues and let you figure it all out. Also, Irene Adler is a villain. I think. This is slightly disappointing. However, the element this novel chooses to adapt well is the characterization of the two leads, and personally, I thought that was pitch perfect.
So I mean, the plot is fine, but the best part of the book? The characterization. I mean, first of all, there are the two lead characters themselves. Watson is super well-written and one of my new fave characters of the year. She’s the focal character here, disabled and dealing with ptsd and constantly stressed. Oh, and Holmes is this gloriously sarcastic and enigmatic character who also feels human. All of the Holmes-is-completely-a-dick narratives can go fuck themselves; this Holmes is occasionally a dick, yeah, but she's also a genuinely loving and caring person who wants to use her smarts for good.
And then there’s the centerpoint of the novel, and the reason I loved it so much: the relationship between Watson and Holmes. Their dynamic is this weird in-between where they're best friends but also Watson is just so Tired™ of Holmes but also they have a vague amount of romantic chemistry, and it's kind of the best thing about the whole damn book. I still kind of want them to be girlfriends, but I… also am happy with their current relationship? Which I actually think is the authorial intent and I. Love. It. I found their dynamic so effortlessly compelling and interesting and fun.
This is also the first book I’ve read that feels very much like fiction that is… explicitly a reaction to the Trump presidency. So let’s talk about that. In recent months, we have seen an incredible immigration crisis – in which children, down to preschool age – were separated from parents. This is a crisis author could have in no way known of when she wrote this book, yet the book itself is explicitly a book about an America in which political discourse has become tinged in racism and discrimination no matter which faction you belong to.
Which is… harrowing. And accurate.
I’m wondering how this novel will hold up in five years, but still, it’s a frightening portrayal of a world gone wrong; just not in the overt, dystopian way. It’s gone just wrong enough that people like Janet Watson, a disabled veteran and a sapphic black woman, would feel it. Would hurt because of it. But not wrong enough that it feels like a far cry from our society, which is perhaps the most terrifying thing of all. We are so complicit when we want to be.
The world is horriying and the way that we as human beings use the media we produce and consume to deal with it is fascinating. Anyway.
On the whole, I thought this was excellent. Like this year’s earlier Witchmark, despite my feelings that the plot was hovering somewhere around “just good,” the character dynamic is so completely 20/10, and I adored all the themes and various existential tensions so much that I just can’t not five star this. I will definitely be revisiting this when I’m sad and you should definitely pick up your copy immediately when it releases on July 31st.
Oh my god, you guys, this book was such a delight. With sarcastic, witty narration, a compelling mystery, and an on-point vibe, I was completely iOh my god, you guys, this book was such a delight. With sarcastic, witty narration, a compelling mystery, and an on-point vibe, I was completely impressed.
Undead Girl Gang follows Mila, who brings back three girls from the dead: astrology-obsessed and complicated June, joyful and hilarious Dayton, and Riley, Mila’s best friend back from the dead.
First of all, you guys, I binged this. I haven’t binged a book in a day in around a month, so that should definitely say something.
The snarky tone of this book is a huge standout. This book feels all over the place, but in a good way. It’s uper super funny, but occasionally heart-touching and sad and sweet. There are cliche bits [like the romance] but the author is so aware of her genre tropes that it feels more meta than everything else. This is all topped off with an excellent bittersweet ending. You’ll tear up a little, you will probably be surprised by who it is, and you will obviously love the conclusion that really reminded me of one of my favorite movies. Oh, and not to spoil, but speaking of favorite movies, can we talk about how this entire book is a sendup of Heathers? I don’t think I’m reaching here, right? Two popular bullies who are best friends die, along with one friend. (view spoiler)[Not even mentioning the rest of the parallels you can see later on. (hide spoiler)] Come on, man.
And then there are all the characters! Mila, the lead, is such an icon, first of all. And let’s face it, the girl gang at the center is an absolute favorite for everyone. If you don’t stan them I probably want to fight you.
I think this alone would make for a fairly strong novel, but like other dark comedies of its nature, this has a super strong thematic core. This novel is about redemption and moving on at the same time. There’s also a lot of subtle stuff interwoven about being the only brown girl in a white town, and also being the fat girl at school and how people treat you for who you are [Mila is latina, Wiccan, and fat].
Unfortunately, while I’ve mentioned my love for the bittersweet ending, I didn’t think the ending totally stuck the landing – I mean, the conclusion for Mila felt really rushed and I wished we saw more of her arc throughout. She does that thing characters do in YA where suddenly she makes changes to her life after the climax, and we’ve seen the events that led up to that, but we haven’t felt her actual growth till the end. It makes character development feel like a narrative afterthought when it clearly is not in this book.
Okay, fine, all right, spoilers under the cut:(view spoiler)[I wished we saw more of Mila questioning her idealization of Xander. I love that the ending is framed as a subversion of the not-like-other-girls trope and the romance-curing-death trope, but Xander has never invoked the not-like-other-girls trope, and I would’ve loved to see more of Mila’s development from swoon to self-realization. Maybe one more scene of their interaction in which they really start dating before the mushroom reveal scene? Then we have time for her to start questioning the narrative he offers. Or alternately, a few more scenes between when she finds out and the climax. (hide spoiler)] So maybe the climax didn’t totally work for me. Maybe I thought that this book could have gone just a bit further and turned out one of my favorite books of the year. But does it really matter? Overall, this was lovely. Totally worth the read if it’s what you like.
2 1/2 stars. This is a book that I have immensely mixed feelings on! I will say I did not hate it. It doesn’t perpetrate anything that actively made m2 1/2 stars. This is a book that I have immensely mixed feelings on! I will say I did not hate it. It doesn’t perpetrate anything that actively made me want to 1) vomit and 2) throw the book away! [The bar for abuse books is currently underneath the floor.] Buuuuuuuut I also think this is of slightly low actual quality than both of the other abuse books I have despised recently. And the ending? The ending is a total mess.
Let’s discuss.
✔️The transition to abuse is done really well. There’s a very subtle transition from a fairly okay relationship to a horrible relationship that isn’t overtold or exagerrated, which is really rare and great for books about abusive relationships.
❌Unfortunately, the abusive relationship is so ludicrously instantaneous that it’s actually hard to believe in them as a couple. Abusive relationships starting quickly? Fine. Believable. But like… when the protagonist says she feels like a girl falling in love after they have literally only met once and flirted for thirty seconds and the first I love you is dropped two weeks in, you’re not going to get the readers at all believing in their progression as a couple. A longer timetable would have made this 300% more believable. But two weeks? Come on.
✔️The relationship between Jo and Bee being how Bee pulls herself out? A fucking mood. Amazing. Outstanding. Showstopping. 300/10. Joanna is the best character in this book and in my opinion, the only reason it works. She is constantly sticking up for Bee and helping to show her exactly how shitty Aiden’s treatment of her is. She is also sapphic and gets the girl at the end!! Having abuse end partially as a result of the bff is a great decision and I love it.
❌Guys, the ending just crashes and burns and ruins the book. The conflict around the abusive relationship is essentially solved by a plot device, and a somewhat overdramatic one at that, rather than a character arc. Everything the novel has built up to for Bee’s character doesn’t fucking happen. A scene romanticizes how controlling her mother was, when it seems fairly clear to me that her parents were basically horrible - I support their thoughts on Aiden, but y’all, her mom is never nice to her. Our intro to her is Bee’s mother walking in the house and ordering her to get the table set without even saying hello. Who the fuck does that to another human being and then doesn’t apologize?
✔️I will say that the ending doesn’t totally go in the romance direction. Way too close for comfort, though. Why couldn't the entire thing with Eric be cut.
on the whole, this just felt like one of those times when you read a book that builds up all that fucking potential and then just crashes and burns and you're extra bitter because it Could Have Been So Great and it Almost Went There and then it didn't. I am in disappointment city and will now proceed to cry in a corner. This might be a good one to pick up for the great girl friendship and the fact pace, but some problems with the ending sort of made this fall of the tracks for me.
Okay, first of all, this book made me so deeply fucking happy. like, on a level of my soul I did not know existed I am happy. It was a weirdly emotionOkay, first of all, this book made me so deeply fucking happy. like, on a level of my soul I did not know existed I am happy. It was a weirdly emotionally cathartic read for me because it’s a happy book, but it also doesn’t shy away from the fact that these are all teenagers dealing with their own shit.
Foolish Hearts follows Claudia, who, after accidentally witnessing the great breakup of Her School’s Popular Sapphic Couple, is forced into a rivalry with the exceptionally closed-off and hurt Iris. Here are some things that resonated with me about this book:
➽There is a romance and it’s freaking adorable, but the main developing arc of this book is a friendship – that between Iris and Claudia. you wanted developed female friendships? you got developed female friendships. ➽I love Iris, so fucking much. Iris starts out the book as a really mean character, very closed off from other people and bad at pulling herself out of her shell, and then she develops into one of the most compelling and freaking amazing female characters of recent years. ➽I love the cast of this book so much. I would give my life for Iris and Paige and Gideon and Claudia and Zoe and Alex and Noah and Del and even fucking Lena, and I just… don’t know the last time I liked a full cast so much. Oh my god. ➽And of course, this book is freaking hilarious. Like, some of the best humor I have ever seen. I don’t know if this will be for everyone - humor is a super subjective thing, after all - but I found this book absolutely freaking hilarious in its entirety. Take a look at this shit:
”Kill Darth Vader, and marry Voldemort,” Zoe finishes. “What the hell?” Alex says. "That’s the exact wrong answer.” I don’t want to participate, but I can’t stop myself: “Why would you want to marry Voldemort? Why would you not kill Voldemort?” “I think-“ “No, literally, who chooses not to kill Voldemort?” Alex says. “I think I could change the course of his whole life,” Zoe says simply. “You don’t think you could change Darth Vader?” I say. “Nah, girl, Padme tried." “I feel like I would fuck Darth Vader, because he’s got like powers and stuff, you know?” Alex says. “How would the force factor in? How would we negotiate the suit and stuff? It’s a guaranteed wild ride from start to finish.”
[I was screaming at this. It's so in character for all of them and it's also something I would say and I adore it. nahgirlPadmetried.gif]
The reason I really liked this book is that I think this book is a super authentic portrayal of the fact that teenagers are people, each with their own passions and obsessions beyond just “hanging out with friends.” Which seems like such a basic point, but trust me, in current contemporary YA, it's really not. The lead character being a gamer girl and bonding with a new friend over a boy band, without either of those things being belittled, is something I think I’ve literally never seen before. Also, the portrayal of being an unpopular person in high school is so… not-over-the-top. It’s not like Claudia is all alone and it’s all she ever thinks about and oh, woe is me; it’s just that she isn’t as close to any of her school friends and she wishes for more. Also, very accurate humor and dialogue; the phrase “my guy” was used properly within this book, and at one point a character calls another character “Straighty McHetero” and it’s basically the funniest thing I have ever read. And then there’s the entire portrayal of a high school drama department being accurate, and so much more. Basically, wow, finally someone gets what high school is actually like beyond the cliches.
in summary: it's a super emotionally real but also freaking hilarious book. I adored this and I could not recommend more.
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