the_midwest_library's reviews
733 reviews

Excellent as always, the story is a bit slow for sure because I'm like damn we are 10 volumes in and I'm like TELL ME WHATS HAPPENING hahaha but I do love these books! 

I really enjoyed this, the art is so cute and the story is so fun while also tackling some more serious topics. The age range on this series is 8-14 I think and I totally agree, I think the way this series explores anxiety is so perfect for that age group?

This is a hard review to write efficiently. There are a lot of really interesting concepts in this book. But frankly, for me, each element of the book was a bit unpolished. The genre (climate fiction) provides a wonderful backdrop for a social/economic metaphor. But the theming felt heavy handed. 

 The world is really creative: magic rain provides a synthetic type "element" which is the backbone for the economic/political/technological systems. However, because the world is so busy and the book relies on telling not showing, I found the worldbuilding required you to suspend a lot of disbelief. 

But the biggest issue I had was that the writing was sophomoric and unrefined. I almost feel like this falls between age demographics a bit weirdly. The characters are not young per se but they act very immature at times. 

It's a shame because there is a lot to like about this but it just didn't feel like s6 complete story to me. 

What a weird fucking book haha I really loved this, in a sick sort of way. The story unravels as our narrator unravels. The writing is a bit sultry, a bit perverted. The plot is nonsensical while also being very linear and narrow in scope. On its face this is a story of one semester (it seems at least to be one semester or one year) in an unique academic writing program right before graduation. The story takes place on an elite college campus, who is known for their extremely sought after creative writing program. Our narrator and her....classmates are in this workshop together, blurring the lines between reality and what their minds can create. 

Some parts of the prose are odd and take you out of the story a bit. I also felt like the beginning third is a bit slower in pace. But overall a really weird book but I quite enjoyed it. 

This was my first Sally Rooney book and it won't be my last, I really adored this. It was exceptionally heavy while being so well written and not overwhelming emotionally. The prose was beautiful, and I loved the characters...except Peter who is on my list. I think he needs therapy 😂😂😂. I would die for Ivan, and wish him nothing but the very best. 

The view of grief was so well handled, I loved the backdrop of societal issues that we saw and the commentary on gender and age was really fabulous. I really liked this one! 

This is a complicated review to write. 

I firmly believe that I am simply not the target demographic for this series. I think there are aspects of the series that some readers will absolutely adore, but I really think that the formatting and the presentation of the series is going to be a barrier for a lot of readers. 

Book one reads like a history textbook the characters in this fantasy world would read in class. While extremely well written, technically speaking, it is not the most traditional in format and felt very clinical to read. 

Book two takes a complete 180 and gives us a more traditional narrative style but retains a lot of the coldness from book one. This entire series, in my opinion is "tell" not "show." While there is so much going on throughout the book, and while each of those individual stories can be interesting in their own way, the grand story that's being told is extremely lackluster from my perspective. And I truly think it's a product of the presentation of the book alone because the story itself on its face is interesting.  I think it's a combination of the narrative device being used, and the fact that the entire series is written in a way where you are kept at arm's length from the characters and the world. 

There are some fantastically written characters in this book, but I feel like I know nothing about them. There are unique political sequences throughout this series, but you're never shown them. 

I enjoy Fantasy worlds that are extremely character driven, where you are really understanding the mindset and the emotional state of the characters as they progress through the plot. This series is not going to give you that. 

If you are looking for an exceptionally creative fantasy world, a really unique way to read fantasy blending science fiction elements in a very strange yet compelling way, you might enjoy this. This isn't a series I would never recommend, but it is a series that I would cautiously recommend depending on who the reader is. 

I don't know at this point in time if I'm going to rush to continue in this world. I have read hundreds of pages at this point, and while I can appreciate what the author has done, I don't think the format works for me. 

I quite enjoyed this, this was the pick for my irl bookclub and I had a good time. I know you aren't really supposed to like the guy but he was certainly a charmer. I would say this is a really great biographical history of Arthur Barry and his criminal escapades. Stealing from the rich by playing their own games, he's basically the Anna Delvey of his time hahahaha. 

This is a hard one to rate....and a harder one to describe. The Grace of Kings is a fabulously written fantasy textbook. I truly don't know how else to describe it. You are told an extremely thorough family history for the world's current political family. You are kept at arms length from the story the entire time but there are core characters you really see develop as the story progresses. 

I can't say a lot of people will enjoy this. I'm frankly not sure I did. It's so well written, but it's also so high level you just don't connect well with the story. I was simultaneously entertained and sort of bored that the story was told from such a 10,000x foot overview at times. 

I'm intrigued to see where book 2 takes me, as I've heard the narrative voice shifts. 

This is one of those Nonfiction books that you pick up and reflect on for a while. I think this absolutely should be on everyone's core reading lists if they have any interest in systemic racism, US government and the history of segregation. From banks to HOAs to the IRS there is a long, tangible history of racially motivated provisions and decision making whose sole purpose was to further racial divide across this country. Without understanding systemic issues like this, you cannot come to the table ready to make change. 

I finished! Whoop, and guess what? I really liked the conclusion and frankly the whole trilogy. Is it perfect? No. 

But it's dark, it has a charming sense of self, and I thought overall the characters were really interesting while being distinctly individuals. 

We finally get the conclusion and some answers as to the larger world and magic upon this land, there's some political maneuvering, but I do think the politics were a bit weak compared to what I would usually prefer. But I'm chalking that up to being more on the YA/NA age demographic spectrum. 

I didn't particularly enjoy how the interpersonal conflicts were written in this book. If you know you know, I just think it was unnecessary and it didn't add anything to any of the characters. If anything I think it cheapened a few moments from earlier books. 

I have rated the entire Trilogy four stars at this point and I think that fits for this book as well.