sarah2438's reviews
1046 reviews

I'm just not excited about it yet and the accents in this audiobook are terrible-- are we in Prague or Dracula's mansion?

Wow this was not good.
I was excited at first because I was initially a fan of the writing. It reminded me of The Road but more poetic-- I thought I was growing up from disliking that book! Look at me, maturing from my high school days. Wow. But then I was reminded why I hated The Road. The stream-of-consciousness narrative starts to wear on me because it leads to simplistic language mixed with the lack of punctuation where you can't even tell who's talking in a conversation. (Authors, please use quotation marks, I'm begging you. My brain does not work that way.) This was combined with a stick figure of a plot and an unsatisfying lack of information about how the world got so bad. Add into that a bizarre instalove ("pussy whipped at a thousand feet") and the most cringey sex scenes I've ever read. Some intriguing writing at the start does not make up for everything else. I would've happily DNF'd this if I weren't reading it for the book club I created.
Also, what is with all the vomit scenes??

This one was also not good lol the end was such a cop out.

Better than the first one! But gotta say, the trials seemed really easy? I liked the cliffhanger at the end though.

Plot was subpar and the art style made it very difficult to track what was going on, particularly in the action scenes. Disappointing but I've thrifted the whole series so I'll keep going.

5 stars for the reading experience, 4 stars for the craft, so I'm going with 4.5. It was so much fun-- I forgot how fast-paced and satisfying a good YA novel can be. My only complaints are issues that feel annoyingly fundamental, which is why I can't do a full 5 stars.
My first problem is that I really needed more background on the rivalry here. It felt like as soon as we were introduced to the characters, their dynamic began to thaw, and it was more that they were telling us about their rivalry than actually showing us. I think that made it harder to build up the desired tension in the beginning.
And my other big problem is that this book really needed more worldbuilding. I know, I don't think I've EVER said that. Normally I gloss over the worldbuilding in my fantasy books to get to the meat of the story. But I'm so confused about the history and geography at play here. Where is anything? We're in the 1800s (a way that our world marks time) but there seems to be more advanced technology than what we had in the 1800s, and obviously there's all this mythology that we barely get to learn anything about.
My reviews always lean more critical than positive (sorry) but I will emphasize that I absolutely see the hype here and can't wait to read the sequel. The romance gets much stronger and the writing is beautiful. The pacing is also well done, where we aren't running around all the time but it never drags. This is overall a very well crafted novel, especially for YA where I think authors can get a little intimidated, it just had a couple basic issues that could have been worked out with a bit more thought and attention.

Exactly the vibe for today, as I spend my Saturday sick with a cold and in need of comfort. I kept my physical copy close but mostly just laid on the couch with the audiobook playing (read by Tom Felton himself, with a special closing chapter not included in the print copy) and fondly recalled past Harry Potter marathons. Tom is so humble throughout his story, but the chapter about the contrast between Harry and Draco shows his subtle expertise in the role. What a kind soul. I'm glad he's well.

I kind of liked it but I also kind of hated it. I think fans of Nightbitch would be into this because it has the same cringe-level of "now was that really necessary?" as our MC talks about her transformation. But that cringe level is made worse by the fact that it's a teenager who truly doesn't seem to know anything about the world, and yet is condescending towards the entire human race. The writing was certainly intriguing and I did find it beautiful at times, but the pacing also dragged significantly. A 250 page book has never felt longer. Overall I'm glad I stuck with it because I'm in the mood for a good weird book lately, and while this was very weird, it didn't properly scratch that itch.

Pretty cute at times but the plot was just so damn predictable. And maybe that's just because I'm familiar with the genre but I saw every little twist and reveal coming, and that just makes it hard for me to get excited about this book. I don't really understand the rave reviews.

Stunning. You can clearly see the connection between this and one of her future collections of essays, Not That Bad, which I also enjoyed. This memoir has a lot of complexities to it and goes far beyond a memoir of an eating disorder. Gay contemplates trauma, race, sexuality, and disability, as well as inequities in healthcare. It was so impressive how she covered so much, briefly but still with a great deal of depth. It never felt like she was trying to shoe-horn in a topic just to check a box; rather, everything that was set felt wholly essential to her story. Wholeheartedly recommend.