eriniese's reviews
161 reviews

i don't usually trust all those "gripping page-turner" descriptions but this is just what this book is. the plot is interesting and engaging and i absolutely LOVE this <3

the last line (from the perspective of Jiyoung's therapist) left me scoffing. the irony of someone who has gone through jiyoung's entire life and has drawn zero conclusions. bitter reality.

i genuinely think /everyone/ should read this book.

how is it that when i love a book i can't talk about it!!! it's so stupid. i could rant about books i hate for ages and here comes miss daisy jones & the six stealing my heart and i can't even formulate a proper response to the question Why?

Gasp i love books where i can actually dislike characters. where they're developed and interesting enough for me to care about them at all, even more so Not Like Them. and, god, i hardly liked any man in this book PLSSSS i like that none of the characters here was perfect and i found myself liking them and disliking them and rolling my eyes at their decisions and biting at my nails in anticipation of their decisions. i LOVE this book. the format of an interview (WITH THE TWIST AT THE END?? HELLAURR???) really helped to get to know everyone. it was really, really great

atp i think it's impossible for me to dislike anything tjr has written lol

this is so well-written and engaging i didn't want to stop reading hhh i liked the story soooo much. carly annoyed me at the end but it doesn't affect my overall feeling about this book, which is that it's one of my favorite reads of the year, if not of my life lol

i feel like i always complain about books in my reviews but, well, that's probably the only way i can remember what those books were about since this one wasn't memorable, either. which is super upsetting, because i've had it on my 'i need to read this rn or i'll die' list, but, WELLLLL

zero tension, which is strange considering there's a guy murdered and the four people whose povs we're reading are suspected of killing him lol though it was pretty obvious to me that

Spoiler

none of them actually had anything to do with killing simon. the shady elements of mystery and tragic pasts were used to build some mysterious setting that simply didn't work out

, so i was hoping that the ending would actually surprise me, but it didn't.

i had no interest in the characters, because they're bland and boring, but i kind of started liking nate. that phase ended just as quickly, because HE'S JUST SO FUCKING ANNOYING I CAN'T EVEEEEEEN. i won't speak about bronwyn because she's just the most annoying loser of them all, and reading her pov made me want to claw my eyeballs out. addy was meh, cooper was meh, and maybe i would care about them if only they weren't both cheating on their s/o. i mean, i get cooper (kind of) because being gay and closeted fucking sucks, but it's wrong to cheat on your s/o no matter the circumstances. especially when addy got so much shit for doing it one time and regretting it, and cooper didn't even get called a cheater straight-up, or anything. way to make another queer character a complete shit lol.

eh i don't even want to write too much, that's how much i dislike this book. it was just predictable, the characters lacked depth, and i didn't sympathize with any of them. they could all go to jail and i wouldn't care. does this even deserve 2 stars? maybe because it was a quick read and i didn't waste too much time on it.

as mentioned before, this was one of my most anticipated reads this year, and while it started off interesting, i couldn't help but feel disappointed even before i was halfway into the book.
i enjoyed the writing in the beginning, but the more i read, the more it felt as just purple prose, the "better" metaphors and sentences being repeated every other chapter to the point i knew what would be said before reading the paragraph because it had already been said before,,,, the author described so much useless stuff that i didn't need or want to know. especially when it comes to characters. it's tiring to read over and over again their thoughts on the world or the point of things or why they're doing their part in the heist. i feel like there was barely any character development even though the book focused on the characters more than the heist itself. which is kinda not for me, because none of the characters were memorable and i wasn't invested in them. like, they all had one sentence/quality that was repeated each time their turn for a chapter pov rolled around. they were one-dimensional and not particularly likeable. their motivations for taking part in the heist were. . . lacking, to say the least. it was just to pay college loans, really. there was no desperation or at least greed you'd expect from someone who has a ten million dollar offer in front of them. they were all great students at top american universities and working in silicon valley, so aside from living a slightly better life when they come from seemingly more privileged households or have jobs that can allow them a stable future in quite luxury, nothing much would change for them, would it?

the whole heist?? it lacked action, anticipation, actual tension that would have me turning pages and my stomach twisted into knots. i mean, they planned the whole thing in google docs, over telegram, and goddamn ZOOM. you could cut the silly little heist part out of the book and it would probably be more enjoyable -- without the promise of the thrill and all, i probably wouldn't be so disappointed. AND I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD CHOOSE THESE RANDOM COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH NO THIEVERY/CRIMEY BACKGROUND TO RETRIEVE A /VERY/ IMPORTANT PIECES OF ART FOR A WHOLE COUNTRY. FOR FIFTY. MILLION. DOLLARS. especially considering

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there was the other crew that was clearly more professional and cut out for it. and yuling was a part of it

the lgbt storyline (?) i was promised was thrown there at the end, and you can kind of see it coming, because

Spoiler

irene and alex are supposed to have that enemies to lovers thingy or something

but it's also not even outright said or anything, and . . . what is it with this author being afraid to say the word lesbian. i was told this book has a lesbian rep and yet there's nothing to indicate that, really. which is disappointing and kind of weird but i'm sensitive when it comes to this topic so maybe it's just me.
aside from these two, the relationships between characters were. . . just not there. they were practically strangers, they weren't even a crew, so the relationships and supposed romance felt flat and bland and i didn't liked it. i liked the interactions between will and daniel, though, but daniel with irene also made me feel weird abdbsjjbs ANYWAY.

what was very, very good about this book was the actual in-depth experience of the chinese diaspora in america. that's the strongest point of the book (is it gonna be mean if i say the only one? lol) i'm a white person from poland so i have no wish or right to speak on that more, since there's no way for me to actually understand the struggles of standing between two different worlds and cultures, but i found that part of the book interesting, compelling, and heartfelt.

the role of art, colonialism, and imperialism on the other hand, was explored only on a superficial level that didn't feel like enough when it seemed like an integral part of why the story is happening in the first place.

the ending was. . . just shit. like, if you read the book, you can probably tell how ridiculous it was. i just feel bad for daniel's father, is all. no other thoughts, really, or this would have to become a document of complaints as long and as dull as this book

i liked it a lot, but i spent 10 years reading so i can’t even rate it properly jbsjbsd

this wasn't Bad, but it certainly didn't cause any emotional distress to me either, so it wasn't Good. until, like, the 300th page, nothing memorable happened; or, rather, nothing at all happened. melodramatic and unnecessary prolonged scenes that didn't really add anything to the story and made me lose the plot every other chapter, really. everything dragged, and it was super boring at times. not even magnus bane helped make it better (the third star is for him!). as someone said, the author creates good side characters but terrible mains and it's so true i can't even!!! i honestly couldn't care less about tessa; she's boring and she lacks the spice of a heroine. i want to learn more about jem and i want to hope he isn't going to become nothing more than her possible love interest in the next books. will is okay, even though he tends to piss me off terribly and he's just an asshole most of the time. it seems to me that the only person he really cares about is jem, but, hey--i don't blame him; i feel the same way. his "romance" with tessa is honestly super annoying. we don't need love thrown into everything! a story with a good plot would be enough!

i don't remember struggling this much with a book in a while. i know everyone can have their own opinions but i literally cannot understand people giving this book FIVE STARS LIKEEEEE did we read the same book. maybe i just got sold this awful piece of crap while you guys were reading some masterpiece?? i'm just wondering.

even simon didn't annoy me as much as cl*ry and j*ce did, and i disliked him throughout the first two books. clary has literally zero character development. she's just this special little angel baby. ugh. i was straight-up uncomfortable with her and jace for literally Every Single Page, and i don't think that'll change

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even though it turned out that they're not actually siblings.

like, the whole storyline was insane to me and my comments as i was marking how much i read speak of that quite clearly. just the fact that these two were willing to be in a relationship while thinking they were related by blood was disgusting. as if that isn't enough, here comes

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another brother!

who actually knows they're siblings, and he still tries to shove his tongue down her throat. cassandra clare has problems. she needs to stop.

also not to be gay but jace and simon would have more chemistry going on with all that hate thing like?? lol but we already got three two-sentence long scenes of malec in the background so i guess that's it for gay people. that also leads to the fact that i absolutely love alec and isabelle and there's just not enough of them in the books for me. maybe that's why i find the shitty tv show more bearable than the books.

also

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valentine's death

was so unsatisfying that i'm HOPING he'll come back and stir up some drama lol it annoyed me that that we were given this shitty scene by the lake instead of insight at the battle, which would be more interesting than

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clary giving up her wish from the angel to bring back the love of her life to life when she could've at least considered that she's not the only person who lost someone because there was a whole BATTLE GOING ON, but she's a self-centered bitch, so i guess she obviously does not care

UGHHH i'm gonna throw up. and it only shows how USELESS SHE IS. like,

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the angel comes, kills valentine

and miss fray remains absolutely fucking useless. she literally does NOTHING.

also

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when jocelyn woke up from the coma and clary started attacking her like ?!?!?!?! DUDEEEE

we get it. you're a self-absorbed little mary sue who doesn't care about anyone other than herself so you can't possibly understand that your mother did everything she could to protect you.

my favorite quote of the book: "You should never have come. I know I told you it's because it isn't safe for yoU here, but that wasn't true. The truth is that I don't want you here because you're rash and thoughtless and you'll mess everything up." LIKEEE he said he was lying then to hurt her but ?@!?!?! LMAAOO HE WAS RIGHT!!!! and it makes me pissed.


and, well, i will still be reading the next books because i want to know how the books are going to get tangled with the prequels. and also for the lightwoods + magnus. i hope there'll be more of them.

what. a. page. turner. I'M SCREAMING!! scarlett is doing the god's work, literally, disposing of trash that shouldn't be allowed to walk on earth. the plot twist and the merging of her and carly's pov halfway through the book had my eyes bulging; it was SOOOO good.
i love insane women and These women gave me literal CHILLS. do i care that scarlett is a murderer? no. i want her so bad. please give me one (1) chance.