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claaaiiirrreee's reviews
369 reviews
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
5.0
WOWWWWWWW.
The Great Gatsby is honestly one of my favorite books of all time. Jordan Baker is my favorite character in The Great Gatsby. So let's just say that I JUMPED at the chance to read a retelling from the perspective of an LGBTQ, Asian, magical Jordan Baker.
Fitzgerald's Gatsby is gorgeously written, and I think Vo matches (and often outpaces) him at every turn. The writing is lyrical and decadent, and it draws you into not only Fitzgerald's world of 1920s high society, but Vo and Jordan's world of magic, demons, and hell on earth. Vo seamlessly and beautifully creates a world within a world that fits precisely in the folds and gaps in the original story.
Over the course of The Chosen and The Beautiful, Jordan opens up to and embraces her Vietnamese heritage, and alongside it, she embraces her ability to perform cut paper magic. In many ways, I wanted more of Jordan's magic, but I adored that the use of it reflected Jordan's own arc and development over the course of the novel.
Initially, Jordan only performs her magic for Daisy – to entertain her, to rescue her – but by the end of the story, Jordan embraces her identity and does her magic for herself, for her own benefit. The novel ends as Jordan is about to embark on this journey, and while a bit frustrating that we don't get to see it for ourselves, it's satisfying to picture her breaking free from the constraints of her world (and of Daisy) and fully embracing her own destiny and potential.
To be honest, I would have been thrilled with a straightforward retelling of Gatsby simply from Jordan's perspective. The Chosen and the Beautiful is so much more.
The Great Gatsby is honestly one of my favorite books of all time. Jordan Baker is my favorite character in The Great Gatsby. So let's just say that I JUMPED at the chance to read a retelling from the perspective of an LGBTQ, Asian, magical Jordan Baker.
Fitzgerald's Gatsby is gorgeously written, and I think Vo matches (and often outpaces) him at every turn. The writing is lyrical and decadent, and it draws you into not only Fitzgerald's world of 1920s high society, but Vo and Jordan's world of magic, demons, and hell on earth. Vo seamlessly and beautifully creates a world within a world that fits precisely in the folds and gaps in the original story.
Over the course of The Chosen and The Beautiful, Jordan opens up to and embraces her Vietnamese heritage, and alongside it, she embraces her ability to perform cut paper magic. In many ways, I wanted more of Jordan's magic, but I adored that the use of it reflected Jordan's own arc and development over the course of the novel.
Initially, Jordan only performs her magic for Daisy – to entertain her, to rescue her – but by the end of the story, Jordan embraces her identity and does her magic for herself, for her own benefit. The novel ends as Jordan is about to embark on this journey, and while a bit frustrating that we don't get to see it for ourselves, it's satisfying to picture her breaking free from the constraints of her world (and of Daisy) and fully embracing her own destiny and potential.
To be honest, I would have been thrilled with a straightforward retelling of Gatsby simply from Jordan's perspective. The Chosen and the Beautiful is so much more.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
3.0
have you ever read a sci-fi book and wondered what happened with the characters on the spaceship in between all the annoying plot points? this is the book for you!
i kept waiting for A Big Plot to set in (and became increasingly confused with every page that it just… wasn’t setting in) but about halfway through I accepted that the plot of this book is just an excuse for vignettes to develop the crew of the wayfarer and the world they live in. once I wrapped my mind around that, I found myself more able to settle in and just enjoy the ride. in a lot of ways, it felt less like a standalone novel and more like the kind of short stories that authors sometimes release between entries in a series to bridge the gaps between the main novels.
ultimately, i liked the characters and the world building enough to not EXACTLY care that the plot is super thin. chambers does a really great job of fleshing out an entire galactic council with multiple alien races that feel unique from not only each other but from your more stereotypical secondary and tertiary aliens in a story. the world building is extensive and sets the stage nicely for the rest of the books in the series, and (most importantly in a story that relies on you liking the characters enough to look past the aforementioned thin plot), there are some really incredible character beats that end up making everything feel super worthwhile.
i kept waiting for A Big Plot to set in (and became increasingly confused with every page that it just… wasn’t setting in) but about halfway through I accepted that the plot of this book is just an excuse for vignettes to develop the crew of the wayfarer and the world they live in. once I wrapped my mind around that, I found myself more able to settle in and just enjoy the ride. in a lot of ways, it felt less like a standalone novel and more like the kind of short stories that authors sometimes release between entries in a series to bridge the gaps between the main novels.
ultimately, i liked the characters and the world building enough to not EXACTLY care that the plot is super thin. chambers does a really great job of fleshing out an entire galactic council with multiple alien races that feel unique from not only each other but from your more stereotypical secondary and tertiary aliens in a story. the world building is extensive and sets the stage nicely for the rest of the books in the series, and (most importantly in a story that relies on you liking the characters enough to look past the aforementioned thin plot), there are some really incredible character beats that end up making everything feel super worthwhile.
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
3.0
Wallace Price, a Scrooge-like lawyer, is frankly a terrible person. He lives an isolated life after alienating those around him, he is callous towards his employees and nobody around him can stand him. He suddenly dies after a heart attack and the only people who attend his funeral are there out of obligation – including Mei, a reaper who is tasked with taking him to his ferryman. Hugo, the ferryman, is an affable owner of a tea shop who is to help Wallace move onto the next phase of existence.
Wallace rages against the entire idea of death and moving on – for about 8 hours. Then, suddenly, he decides that he is not only content in this new life as a ghost in the tea shop, he undergoes a personality transformation in all of about one day. Sadly, this is where the book starts to fall apart for me. We are shown for the first few chapters of the book that Wallace is a miserable man with close to zero redeeming qualities, but we are then told that in a very brief period of time in the tea shop he overhauled his entire "deal" to become a treasured member of the tea shop family.
There is of course an interesting idea behind this character development, and it's not unheard of that a man who lived life poorly would want to course-correct in death. However, this character development is simply missing from the middle chunk of the book. We jump from point A to point Z a bit too quickly. It felt like on one page he's an awful person, and on the next page he's practically the glue holding this found family together.
I wanted to enjoy the ending and where the characters ended up, but it almost felt like a cop-out given the themes of the book and where everything seemed to be headed for 95% of the book. This book deals with grief and death – and the idea of doing your best in life and being able to move beyond – but at the last minute it felt like those themes were all sacrificed for a twist ending and warm fuzzy feelings. Not that I hate books with nice endings, but it felt like emotional whiplash for the sake of being emotional whiplash.
Ultimately, this book has a fantastic concept but lacked a bit in execution.
Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC!
Wallace rages against the entire idea of death and moving on – for about 8 hours. Then, suddenly, he decides that he is not only content in this new life as a ghost in the tea shop, he undergoes a personality transformation in all of about one day. Sadly, this is where the book starts to fall apart for me. We are shown for the first few chapters of the book that Wallace is a miserable man with close to zero redeeming qualities, but we are then told that in a very brief period of time in the tea shop he overhauled his entire "deal" to become a treasured member of the tea shop family.
There is of course an interesting idea behind this character development, and it's not unheard of that a man who lived life poorly would want to course-correct in death. However, this character development is simply missing from the middle chunk of the book. We jump from point A to point Z a bit too quickly. It felt like on one page he's an awful person, and on the next page he's practically the glue holding this found family together.
I wanted to enjoy the ending and where the characters ended up, but it almost felt like a cop-out given the themes of the book and where everything seemed to be headed for 95% of the book. This book deals with grief and death – and the idea of doing your best in life and being able to move beyond – but at the last minute it felt like those themes were all sacrificed for a twist ending and warm fuzzy feelings. Not that I hate books with nice endings, but it felt like emotional whiplash for the sake of being emotional whiplash.
Ultimately, this book has a fantastic concept but lacked a bit in execution.
Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC!