twirl's reviews
100 reviews

A story of death, grief, and love. 

TJ Klune has a very stylistic way of writing, specifically when it comes to characters. His minor characters tend to be caricatures, exaggerated in both physical descriptions as well as their actions. However, his major characters provide a very human depth, specifically as he centers flawed main characters who change over the course of the story. 

This story in particular seemed to be more of a character study than The House in the Cerulean Sea. The plot took a backseat as the characters drove the story. With such a minimal plot, the book did feel a little too long. However, the focus on character development did lend to the books themes on death, grief, and loved ones. The second act had my heart aching, with the love and sadness I felt for these characters. Klune really allowed the audience to feel with them, which I think is practically necessary for this kind of book.

I was impressed with how this book managed the very fragile topics of death and grief. While still existing in a world with magic and elements of spectral fantasy, it continues to have moments grounded in the reality of death and grief. While I haven’t read many fictional books reflection on death, this book has practically everything that The Midnight Library did not. It was delicate, tender, and empathetic.

This book was a slow read for me, as it is monotonous and slow. However, I am glad to have read it since I had never had the displeasure of being required to read it in school. Reading it has given me an opportunity to learn about the book, Orwell, and provided some ideas as so why it is so prominent in American literature teachings. I had never known that the CIA had investing in the books movie rights and slightly altered the message.

It seems there are two ways this story can be perceived: that it is anti-communist, stating that there is no reality in which everyone can be equal and that hierarchy is a natural element of society; or that it is anti-capitalist, and that the only way for a society to properly rebel and sustain equality is if the people/workers have the intellect to discern and stand up against those who grip the reins of power tighter than is needed.

Personally, I don’t know what the intention of Orwell’s writing was, but I think if the book was intended to be anti-capitalist, it did not quite succeed. Orwell consistently harps on how stupid the animals are, both directly and indirectly throughout the story. Even towards the end, only the final line draws the parallel between Jones/the humans and Napoleon/the pigs. Without any indication that the animals have realized their mishap of trusting the pigs or that they have finally realized that the wool has been pulled over their eyes, the book seems to leave with the message of “that is how the world works!”, even if it’s tone is heavily depressing.

I’d be interested to listen to a high school classes analysis of this book.

It is not quite the story I expected it to be, and I am interested to one day reread 1984 and see how that book compares. But not anytime soon, because Orwell’s writing is kinda dry. 

The concepts and enemies in the stories were quite incredible. I was slightly disappointed that these ideas didn’t make their way into a full book since they were quite impressive. However, the stories weren’t executed in the same brilliance as the other (full length) books of the series. This book has several short stories of Percy’s adventures with some previously introduced minor characters. While it’s nice to see them in action aside Percy, but there is little character development for both Percy and the other characters.

Some of my favorite parts were the interviews. I feel like the entire book could have gone in a more casual way, similar to this. Perhaps a quiz to find out which potential god or goddess might be your parent. Some backstory on a demigod experience that Percy or another halfblood had before their realization of the truth. A story that was not from Percy’s perspective, either providing another point of view on a previously written story or an entirely new one. Stories that could be perceived more as a demigod “failure” with ample humor, brining to light a few moments where a camper didn’t succeed or just barely succeeded, in a less life-or-death way than the series (and the shorts in this book) often have.

All in all, I felt like the content of this story was a bit confusing, since part of felt fun and lighthearted while the other half was intense without the full intensity of the typical full novels, nor the comedy that Riordan often brings. I’m not sure why this book was created at all, since it doesn’t seem to fulfill any purpose aside from being extra material for consumption. I didn’t read this book back when I was a fan of the series in high school and it’s safe to say that if you skipped this one, you wouldn’t be missing too much. 

This book has its insightful moments and nonsensical moments. 

Super intense. I loved the present tense chapters. It was thrilling, from the devious planning and the wrenches in those plans, to the quiet moments between the three characters that showcased their deep and meaningful connections. I struggled with the past tense chapters. All of the characters felt flat and I felt the book could have still made its point without harping on the main characters traumatic past. All in all, I was surprisingly satisfied by the ending. I wouldn’t read this again but it was a good read.

If it wasn’t for book club, I wouldn’t have finished this.

First, I’m very happy queer stories are being told, and I’m very happy queer authors are writing them.

Maybe I just don’t like romance? But the cliche miscommunication tropes, cringy metaphors, falling for someone who you barely know even though you’re super heartbroken…? Ok that last one was super specific but it all doesn’t spark joy for me. It sparks yawns and makes the spicy scenes just kinda awkward to read. And the romantic metaphors about food do not help lol 😂

It’s not by any means a bad romance!! Heck, it’s pretty decent, especially if you don’t mind the cliches listed above. Just maybe not my style. 

Why hasn’t Netflix picked this up for adaptation yet?? This could be the new Squid Games.

The foundations of this book are upon the war between the two sides of abortion rights: pro life and pro choice. After the war, certain laws come into place which are the premise for this book. These laws are highly absurd. I feel as though the laws in the world could have made more sense had they been fleshed out further as to why they were created or surrounded by more world building. The world building in general is not very notable, with nothing more being of note besides legal changes, leaning it to be less of a sci-fi book than it seems.

Suspending that disbelief, it is an interesting commentary on what is life, why governments make the decisions they do, how education and religion form who we are, and more deep thoughts. However, the author never takes a clear side of the abortion rights discussion which can be disappointing for many readers.

Beyond high level concepts, Shusterman does a great job voicing the characters. I found the main character, Conner, to be the least interesting with his boring background and basic rebellious personality. However, Risa and Lev are very interesting and get a decent amount of coverage in the story (though I wish I had more of Lev, as some of his moments were the strongest, yet entire weeks were skipped). Even the antagonist had an interesting depth, though most of which was highlighted late in the book.

Finally, the story itself was very good. Quick pacing, great writing, and several Chekhov's guns (that you wouldn’t think were guns) that go off. All of that to say, this book is chaos neatly woven. It’s a great blend of fast pace moments and not knowing what is going to happen next, and slow thoughtful beats that make you take in the moment.

I highly recommend this to anyone over the age of 18 because let’s be real, some of those scenes were low-key traumatizing and it is not meant for the YA genre. 4.5 stars. 

First and foremost, this is a sales book. While it’s intended to be educational, it’s main goal is to advertise the EOS system, which means there are lots of fluffy stories of how so-and-so company made more money after implementing these strategies.

Secondly, most of these strategies are common sense strategies with fancy names like “L 10’s” (for a problem solving meeting) “scorecards” (measuring how the business is going) “people analyzer” (pretty much what it sounds like). Truthfully, I agree with many of the strategies this book recommends, but I feel the need to acknowledge that of many of these points are simple strategies many business likely used prior to this system existing, with buzzword names (which help with systems sales).

Finally, the strategies presented in this book feel mechanical and overly optimistic. Many strategies would be great in a perfect world and there is little account for human emotion and human error. For example, they recommend saying “tangent” or “rabbit” when a meeting is getting off track, but I feel that could be disrespectful and disregard the importance of what someone might be sharing. Or stating that using L 10’s will allow them to solve issues “once and for all” without mentioning that with human error, some issues might return before the best solution is found. The strategies are designed to make the business function like a machine, which can be beneficial for systematic problem solving and growth, but I wish there was more addressed on how to also kindly acknowledge the work of your human employees in the system and that even with this system, errors and imperfections will exist.

1.5 stars. I’m sure there are better business system books out there. 

Ah yes, to have a fun time with your queer friend group on a school trip 🥲 love