Do you want to live because you want to live, or because you’re afraid to die?
I love being surprised by books. I love it when I go into 3.75 - 4 stars
Do you want to live because you want to live, or because you’re afraid to die?
I love being surprised by books. I love it when I go into a book with preconceived notions whether it be from blurbs or reviews or marketing and then being completely taken aback by how different the story is. Em X. Liu's debut novel The Death I Gave Him is one of those books. It was a lot more darker, angrier, and emotionally charged than I was prepared for.
I definitely see the comparisons to Gideon the Ninth. Spooky labs, mad scientists obsessed with cracking immortality, necromancy and resurrection. How a person's guilt and self-hatred can lead to spiralling to the point of self-destruction. And yet it is something completely unique and on its own. Fans of the former, however, will definitely enjoy this.
The Death I Gave Him is an exploration of mental health, grief and obsession. The writing is some of the emotionally wrought and rawest stuff I have ever read. I was expecting a murder mystery with some queer romance thrown in and packaged as a Hamlet retelling but it was so much more. Liu is a master at writing difficult to like, and difficult to dissect characters. Both Hayden and Felicia contain multitudes and are real fleshed-out characters. Their plights seem real and heartwrenching and it is a hard task distilling them down to "good" or "bad" characters. And I feel like that is the crux of writing a good story. Liu presents Hayden's grief over losing his father as well as his emotional turmoil in the most painful way possible. Hayden's depression and obsession with death and immortality are so interesting to read about because each page and each line reveals so many more layers to what makes him a person and ultimately leads to his tragic actions. Similarly, Felicia and her being torn between what her warring emotions dictate. The plight and conflict of these characters is the very essence of the iconic question "To be or not to be?" To betray their fathers by choosing the path of life and action or to avenge their fathers and commit themselves to the metaphorical or literal death of one's soul. In that, The Death I Gave Him is everything that a retelling should be: Thematically paralleling the original text but also expanding upon it in a unique and more nuanced setting and conflict.
By the time you notice, it’s too late, a precipice inside your own mind that calls to you whenever you feel like you’re not enough, that sings about how much easier the dark is, how nice it might feel to step off.
The structure keeps the reader hooked and makes this book frankly unputdownable. I love the found footage style of narration this had with the footnotes. It really worked to further flesh out the background as well as the consequences of the story. Very unique and original.
In terms of the locked room murder mystery, I wouldn't say there is much shock or actual "mystery" to it. Especially if you know the story of Hamlet. Events leading up to and the conclusion of the murders are pretty much in line with the play. Finding the murderer or the villain isn't the point of the story. It's whether the characters can forgive themselves for all that they've done and learn to live and grow from that. However, what Liu does is use the mystery to develop and push the characters' on their path of existential crisis. The plot pushes Hayden, Felicia and even Horatio to action. To do something about the conflict they are stuck in. So if you go into this expecting to be given a puzzle of whodunit, be warned. This is less a murder mystery and more an exploration of a character's mind and the limits to which it can be pushed in its desire for revenge and meaning. Liu does that exquisitely and this book is a keen study of mental health and suicidal ideation. Though rather than being bleak, the ending is pretty hopeful. It promises light at the end of the tunnel and that there is always a path to healing if you are willing to give life a chance.
The Death I Gave Him comes out 12/09/2023.
Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
I laughed I cried I gasped, but most of all I felt at peace in the end. It has been a Journey and I am so gla4.5 stars
Go ahead. Revile me.
I laughed I cried I gasped, but most of all I felt at peace in the end. It has been a Journey and I am so glad I decided to take it. For a book about the drowning and subsuming nature of grief and anger, it delighted me that the main feeling I took away from it at the end was of love and acceptance. THIS is how you land an ending that is both fulfilling and satisfying after so much buildup. Endings and characters truly make and break a story, Shelley Parker-Chan managed to nail both in a two-part voyage of fate, destiny and autonomy.
He Who Drowned the World is immediately a lot darker, angrier and more gruesome than its predecessor. Given the way the last book ended, that's not a big surprise. The sequel focuses more on the themes of grief, identity, gender and desire. While in the first book, there are ways where you can excuse the characters' actions or understand why they are going to such extreme lengths, in HWBTS the characters' begin on a path of no return. They are willing to do anything and everything to get what they want no matter who or what the cost. That makes for a rather grimdark book, with some gruesome scenes. Though most scenes aren't as graphic in nature there is a sexual assault scene at the end of Chapter 8 that I would warn readers about, since it was a bit more graphic for me.
I have a hard time marshalling my thoughts about HWDTW since I don't think all those emotions I felt reading it can be bottled up and labelled nicely. There were moments where I was absolutely horrified at the cruelty and disregard for human life, there were scenes where I couldn't help but feel a dark well of anger over a world that reviles anyone who deviates from the norm. The grief of losing someone who you love but who never saw you as an equal or deigned to tolerate your presence was gut-wrenching. Parker-Chan can write. I don't think there is any doubt about that. They proved that with Zhu's journey in the first book but in HWDTW Parker-Chan delves even deeper into Zhu's relationship with her body and gender. It's absolutely wonderful to see her journey to accepting her body for who she is, and her determination to make the world accept her.
Zhu's character foils beautifully with the other dramatis personae. Madam Zhang and how she never thinks to strive for anything more than what a woman can strive for in a patriarchal world. Her utter lack of imagination that she can only be worth something in relation to a man, is sadly a very real cause of internal misogyny. Ouyang, and his self-hate and refusal to accept himself as who he is instead of destroying himself to take revenge thinking that will be his only path to peace. Wang Baoxiang (my favourite in this book easily. I need to write essays on this disaster of a man) and how he accepts himself as a social deviant but is bent on making the world hate him for it because he feels he is incapable of love.
The way the author mirrors and contrasts these characters, their journeys and their motivations is so so good. Anyone who follows me on Goodreads knows how much I love a doubling narrative trope, and the doomed by the narrative trope. Except, Parker-Chan paints the doomed by the narrative trope in different shades depending on all 4 of the main characters. It is utterly brilliant and writing and characterisation at its best. This is an English teacher's and a book critic's dream of a novel. There are so many motifs and themes to dissect, I would love to reread this duology with a friend someday and discuss all the tiny bits of hints and foreshadowing scattered about. I can see this becoming a polarizing book however, I feel like there are bits that people will be "controversial" about and try to ban in libraries and schools. Sadly that is the world we live in, but thank you Shelley Parker Chan for giving us a series so inherently and unapologetically queer. This duology will go up in my hall of fame of queer books. I look forward to whatever they write next.
HWDTW is also a lot more plot-rich than SWBTS. There is almost no slow part, so much happens and continues to happen so readers will not be bored at all reading this. It also has a lot more court politics and drama which I absolutely loved. I enjoyed that a lot more than the battle scenes which was surprising. The court intrigue is very reminiscent of seaguk KDramas, the exaggerated acting of the courtesans etc. would be so very historical KDrama-ish that I would be giggling and gasping over the reveals and backstabbings. Truly a joy to read. If I had to make a complaint about this, it would be the lack of Ma Xiuying in this sequel. I wanted more of her and more of her influence on Zhu but she was only really in it at the end and while I loved her contribution to the plot and how it all led to a series of events, I still missed her dearly.
A tour-de-force, He Who Drowned the World has the characters look back on their actions in book 1 and say "I can do worse". Full of queer injustice and anger, HWDTW is about the queer and marginalised people who learn to make their place in a world that tries its hardest to erase and crush their identities. But at the same time, it's about making a place for others like you by accepting and loving them regardless of their identities.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Before Reading #OuyangDeservesBetter
Manifesting a blue-green cover to go along with the rest of the trifecta sequels ...more
DNF @ 25% The trouble with literary fiction x speculative fiction books is that they are either a hit or a miss. I was very excited to get into The TerDNF @ 25% The trouble with literary fiction x speculative fiction books is that they are either a hit or a miss. I was very excited to get into The Terraformers, it sounded like everything I love in a book. However, the info-dumping was relentless even after 9 whole chapters. Maybe I was more invested in the time jump, but that didn't seem to be happening any time soon. The idea and concept are amazing (talking flying moose, I mean who would hate that?!), it;s just the execution that sorely misses the points. Perhaps it gets better after a while, but I made only one New Year's Resolution in 2023, and that was to dnf books if they didn't seem interesting. Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz comes out 31/01/23....more
—So I only fly where you tell me. Hunt what I must. Kill what I must. You are the wind and starfire and q
5 stars
HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY TO THIS BEAUTY!
—So I only fly where you tell me. Hunt what I must. Kill what I must. You are the wind and starfire and quicksilver. I am nothing but the shape you make me.
Dragonfall is easily the best book I've read so far this year. The story draws you in with the phenomenal writing and fast-paced plot. It's enemies to lovers, featuring a human and a dragon and it's oh-so delightfully queer. Diving into the story, I felt that much sought-after reader's bliss. The moment you read the first page and you know that this story is going to be a special one. One that will stay with you for a long time. I always have a terrible time writing reviews for books I love, so bear with me.
The worldbuilding is lush and I was especially intrigued by the dragon realm and its mythologies. I loved the narrative style adopted for the dragon's POV. The payoff is wonderful, and I hope the same style is adopted for the sequels, though I'm not sure considering where lam chooses to take the story next. I loved how it mirrored the prophetic nature of dragon kind in this book and came to such an emotional close at the end. The narrative style might also be the reason why I found the dragon's chapters so much more fun to read than the human's, unlike other reviewers. One thing is obvious, L. R. Lam can WRITE. This is the first book I've read by them and will probably not be the last. The story flows so effortlessly, I found myself immersed in reading it for hours on end. For a genre as over-saturated as epic fantasy, Dragonfall stands tall and distinct with the phenomenal slow burn and well-explained magic system.
I was surprised to see how big of a part the romance played in the book. Like I knew there would be a romance since I'd read the blurb, but the romance seemed to take up a pretty large chunk of the plot. So readers who are looking for less romance in their epic fantasy might not like it. I actually loved the romance. The build-up was torturously slow, but it made the payoff and the angst even better. Since this is the first book of a trilogy, I expect the romance was focused to build up the rest of the books on it.
The characters were also all pretty well written. While we primarily follow the dragon's and the human's POVs, both of which were engaging in their own ways, we also have a smattering of chapters from a warrior priest called Sorin and the dragon's sister Cassia. While they were sparse and few, I loved how the author developed Sorin's character and I am excited about what role she ends up playing in future books. At the end of the book, I don't know who I felt more sorry for Arcady (the human) or Everen (the dragon). I was obviously rooting for both of them but this book ends on a MASSIVE cliffhanger, I don't know how I'm supposed to wait for the next book because finishing this book felt like emerging out of a pool after nearly drowning.
Dragonfall is a submersive, atmospheric epic fantasy with high stakes, slow burn, and gorgeous writing. Come for the dragons, stay for the gay pining. Storytelling at its best.
Dragonfall comes out 2nd May 2023. Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder&Stroughton for sending me an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
I have a rule of thumb, that if a book does not draw me in in the first quarter, I am no longer wasting my time on it. The First Bright ThingDNF @ 21%
I have a rule of thumb, that if a book does not draw me in in the first quarter, I am no longer wasting my time on it. The First Bright Thing had all the buzzwords that usually appeal to me, but for some reason, the writing was so stilted and slow I could not get into it. It's told in a dual timeline, and the writing style for the 1917 chapters is soo much better than the 1926 chapters. It almost feels like a separate writer. The third-person distant style of narration does not seem to work for the 1926 chapters, meanwhile, the third-person personal style is something I enjoy reading in the 1917 chapters. Long story short: I wasn't much intrigued by the characters, but it was mainly the quagmire-esque writing that made me drop this book. Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
before reading: time travelling sapphic circus acrobats?? today was a good day on netgalley <3...more
I really tried with this book. The premise was very unique. A tattooed, chain smoking, queer ex-punk rock nun solves a mystery at her CatholicDNF@ 54%
I really tried with this book. The premise was very unique. A tattooed, chain smoking, queer ex-punk rock nun solves a mystery at her Catholic school. Her dark past is shown in flashbacks and she's clearly not your typical definition of a nun. Sister Holiday's character was something I wanted to read more about and we are told about her tragic backstory in bits and pieces, and what ultimately led her to become a nun teaching music at a school in New Orleans. Sadly, the writing made me lose interest in the weak plot and nonsensical police investigation. The arson investigator Rivaeux who was clearly meant to be Holiday's romantic interest also came across as bland. The plot and writing are very stilted and janky, the sentence structure is simplistic and events move in the A to B way which doesn't really make you invested in the story.
Apparently, this is the start of a sleuthing series, so hopefully, the sequels are better written than this one. Though I do seem to be in the minority in my opinion.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Buckle up everyone, because this is going to be a loong review. This book fueled my feminist rage and I was in a constantly ranty mode while re4 stars
Buckle up everyone, because this is going to be a loong review. This book fueled my feminist rage and I was in a constantly ranty mode while reading this. A phenomenal debut; I cannot wait to read the sequel after that cliffhanger of an ending!
The Daughters of Izdihar was everything I wanted by a novel marketed as "two women's quest to fight for women's rights in an Egypt-inspired world with elemental magic". I have read a couple of fantasy books that tackle sexism on a large scale, centring on a group of women fighting for their basic human rights, and while I usually enjoy most of them, The Daughters of Izdihar hits home more than those other books. Part of the reason might be because the world feels so real and close to me. I grew up in a conservative South Asian Muslim country where religious dogma and extremism meant that women were treated as sub-human creatures. A lot of the struggles depicted in Elsbai's book are still rampant/normalized in countries such as my own. Not to mention the feminist revolution taking place in Iran is eerily similar to how the Daughters are treated in this book. Elsbai shows us the ugly truth of the patriarchal society we live in, a place where women are denied the right to vote, go out on their own, sign legal documents, and not be allowed to pursue education. This is the reality faced by women and young girls in Afghanistan and Saudia Arabia. Women who dare to speak out are jailed and beaten and abused.
Both of Elsbai's leading characters are unique perspectives on how sexism affects women differently depending on their social class. Nehal, a wealthy sheltered woman, who doesn't really care about the consequences of her actions because she has her wealth and privilege to fall back on is a study of how most rich women might not care about misogyny in society because they are so sheltered. Meanwhile, Giorgina coming from a poor household, and having no security in life has a more muted or hesitant perspective in fighting for her rights. Not to mention the numerous other members of the Daughters who each have their own circumstances and choose to fight their battles accordingly. I feel like depictions like this, show that there is no such thing as a bad feminist.
I loved the character development of both characters, how Nehal eventually opens her eyes to injustice, and how Giorgina finally gains the courage to live her own life, by stepping out of the shadow cast by her controlling father. Another thing I found interesting was how Nico, Giorgina's love interest was shown to be a very passive person when it came to matters that did not affect him that deeply. It showed the lack of initiative by many men who claim to be "allies".
This book is also unapologetically queer which given the community it's set in, hits painfully home for me. The writing is nothing extraordinary but for a debut book, I would say it's still pretty good given other recent debuts. The worldbuilding is lush and you can see the author's love for her culture in the way she describes the foods and architecture. The magic system is very Avatar-style elemental magic, and I'm excited to learn more about Nehal and Giorgina's growing powers in book two.
The Daughters of Izdihar takes the patriarchy and rips it to shreds. We desperately need more WOC writing books about feminism because they shed light on how underprivileged women in underdeveloped countries are still suffering. Unfortunately, the racist bias in the publishing industry is obvious, given the lack of marketing this book had. Seems like people only care about domestic violence when Collen Hoover rights about it...
Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own ...more
Everything I love in a book condensed into one bite-sized story. Lady knights, oaths of fealty, timey wimey shit, and 2nd person POV payoff! Tr5 stars
Everything I love in a book condensed into one bite-sized story. Lady knights, oaths of fealty, timey wimey shit, and 2nd person POV payoff! Trust me, the blurb does not even scratch the surface of the story.
“I would rather love a coward than mourn a legend.”
Gold stars for Alix E. Harrow because she has yet to disappoint me with any of her books, novellas, or short stories! What makes her work even more impressive is that all her stories are so different from each other. There isn't such a thing as a "typical" Harrow book and I feel like that versatility is something that makes her books very fresh. The Six Deaths of the Saint is Harrow's darkest book yet. The palette is very limited and that works perfectly considering the length of the short story. There is a lot of physicality to the story, given that it's about war and the relationship between the soldiers and the people calling the shots. A lot of thematic resonance to The Poppy War and The Locked Tomb trilogy. Harrow does not shy away from the topic or sugar coat it, the ugliness and terribleness seep through the pages, but at the same time, the gore isn't oversaturated for the thrill factor.
“I could have killed you," you said, and he had answered, obscurely, “You never do.”
I'm usually super picky about short stories and I rarely ever like them, because mostly they don't manage to convey the depth in 30-50 pages. The Six Deaths meanwhile, is brimming with emotions. The whole story only works because the writer was able to convey the main character's and Gwynne's emotions so well. Imagine being ride or die for a couple only introduced in a handful of pages! Another reason why I instantly loved this was that it was timey wimey and everyone knows I eat that shit up.
When you die, little Devil, a kingdom will fall to its knees and crawl to your bier. In a thousand years and a thousand after that, they will still sing of the Prince and his Devil.
Apparently, this short story is an experiment for a proper novel the author might later write, and I have to say I'll be down to read it for sure! The strength of The Six Deaths does lie in its short and concise length but I am curious to how she would handle a full novel.
Disclaimer: Thank you to the author for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content Warnings: War, death, and violence, on the page, described with some detail; child neglect; physical violence against a child; death of a major character...more
2 stars DNF @ 70% They let me, a clout-less fool, read the sapphic space pirates book!! And it turned out to be basic af. I'd heard a lot about this on 2 stars DNF @ 70% They let me, a clout-less fool, read the sapphic space pirates book!! And it turned out to be basic af. I'd heard a lot about this on twitter, so I was very excited when Netgalley approved my request for an ARC. My main issue with this book is that it lacks substance. The characters and the plot is flimsy and plain, there wasn't a single character that I liked, they all seemed tropey and flat. I was interested in the world building but there was barely any information provided, the villains were just cartoonishly evil. There was no subtle foreshadowing, everything was rather obvious in terms of how the plot would go. The one reason why I wanted to read this book was because of the sapphic pirates, and I was immediately let down by how insta-love the romance was. I'm sorry but I can never connect with the characters or the romance when they want to bang each other from the moment they meet. Might just be me, but it feels rather superficial. Thank you to Gollancz and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Everyone knows how hard second books in trilogies can be. To impress, to live up to the original, and e3.75 stars
HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY TO THE FAITHLESS!
Everyone knows how hard second books in trilogies can be. To impress, to live up to the original, and especially to top the original. The Faithless is one of those second books that I actually liked more than the first. The pacing isn't much faster than in The Unbroken, it seems like this is simply the style Clark prefers in her books. This is fine, as what made this book better was that Touraine wasn't as much of a naive dumbass as she was in book 1, and Luca was so much more likeable. I couldn't stand Luca in the first book. I felt like throwing something every time her chapters came around, but Clark's characters definitely grew from the first book and that is always nice to see. I absolutely despise static characters, even more so when it comes to series. Another thing I liked was that all three of the leading characters have a very distinct voice for a book with multiple POVs in 3rd person. Oftentimes, my complaint with multi-POV books is that the character voices blend together, that isn't the case in The Faithless and is another reason why it is a strong contender after The Unbroken.
Plot-wise, there is a lot happening, but at the same time, nothing happens. This was definitely more of a character-based book, and for once I didn't mind it because I found the characters so lacking in book 1, and it was good to actually understand them, and sympathise with them somewhat. The romance was also a lot better, and it just goes to show that slow-burn romances are the way to go. I might not have shipped Luca and Touraine in book 1 (mainly because of my distaste for Luca), but I admit to getting butterflies during the more intimate scenes here.
Similar to my complaint with the deus ex machina ending for The Unbroken, I am not a fan of how there is always so much conflict going on, but ends up being solved abruptly and so easily once the 80% mark comes around. It doesn't feel as satisfying and makes the aforementioned high stakes seem not so high because we know they will be somehow solved by the end of the book. Clark does not shy away from killing off her characters though, which was demonstrated in how she killed off 3-4 major supporting characters in one chapter.
I will read the finale of the trilogy because I am pretty invested in this series by now. I hope it's better in terms of plot progression, conflict resolution and pacing as compared to the first two books. Clark's improvement in writing is pretty noticeable in The Faithless, so I trust we are in good hands for the ending. So far the sapphic trifecta has not disappointed me, and I am excited for the resolution for all three of the book later this year or hopefully next year.
Thank you to Netgalley, Little Brown Book Group UK, and Orbit UK for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The Faithless comes out March 7th 2023.
Before Reading THE BIG DYKE ENERGY THIS COVER HAS!! (I'm sorry for hating on you Luca, you can have all the sapphics at your knees queen)
The first thing you have to understand is that I loved her.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a love letter to fairy tales. It follows th4 stars
The first thing you have to understand is that I loved her.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a love letter to fairy tales. It follows the fairy-tale aesthetic, logic, and even language. Roshani Chokshi is at her best with her adult debut, and I wonder why she doesn’t stick to this genre when it works wonders for her. This book did have its ups and does, and I do believe that the last few chapters really changed my mind about it.
Chokshi is one of those authors, whose books are choked full of purple prose, so readers who find that exhausting or slow might not appreciate her work. I’m not a huge fan of it either, but it really works here considering the type of story she wanted to tell. At its heart, Flower Bride is a gothic romance. And like most gothic romances, it must have a shady and mysterious spouse, an ancient house, secrets, and obsessive characters. At the start, I was reminded of Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea (a book I decisively hated), but since I’d enjoyed Chokshi’s fairy-tale-type mythological YA novels from her early years, I was hopeful this might not disappoint as much. As I read on, I was reminded more and more of the works of the Bronte sisters. Think Mr. Rochester and his mad wife locked in the attic, think of Heathcliff and Catherine’s obsessive love that spanned generations and decades. And lastly, one of my favorite reads of the year These Violent Delightss by Micah Nevermeer (and yes, this is not THAT tvd. Get over yourself.). Indigo and Azure’s relationship is the likes of Paul and Julien’s. The only difference is Azure, and Indigo were never explicitly queer. The queer coding of most of the characters of this book is an essay for another time, but it plays a huge role in how the character dynamics play out.
And like most gothic stories, this was at the end of the day a book about monstrosity, horror, and love, all wrapped up in a nice little tragic package. I want to read more of Chokshi’s adult work if she ever gives it another try. For Flower Bride I enjoyed Azure and Indigo’s characterization, but I found the bridegroom’s character and storyline to be very lacking, especially the way his and Indigo’s relationship was rushed through. Indigo came across as his manic pixie dream girl during the entire courting phase and that wasn’t something I enjoyed.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride comes out on the 14th of February 2023, Valentine's Day. And it is the perfect gift if you and your significant other love fairy tales, fucked up rich people and gothic mansions. Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder Books for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
HAPPY RELEASE DAY!! 5 stars holy fuck...rfk you absolute beast! this book left me horrified. Hell is empty and all the devils are in publishing.
Review:
HAPPY RELEASE DAY!! 5 stars holy fuck...rfk you absolute beast! this book left me horrified. Hell is empty and all the devils are in publishing.
Review:
Who has the right to write about suffering?
That question is at the centre of RFK's latest comedic thriller about racism, xenophobia and cancel culture. One thing is for sure, that right does not lie with June Hayward. Yellowface distinctly differs from Kuang's previous work. It's more contemporary and commercial, a page-turner, popcorn fiction. Though at the end of the day, like most of her work it centres on the Chinese voice. The only difference is, in this case, Kuang chooses to highlight white tears from the lens of a twenty-something flop white author.
I absolutely ate this book up. I couldn't stop reading it and had to tear myself away at 4 am. Kuang deploys her witty and biting commentary on the hell that is the publishing industry and the internet. She leaves no room for excuses. No rationalizing or absolution of the kind of shit the main character pulls. It is this ruthless depiction of her protagonist/villain that makes Yellowface such a success. Kuang is not here to show the white allies like June, she is here to show the ugly bitter truth and she gives zero fucks how it will be perceived by a white audience. I have to mention that this isn't new for her work. Kuang's books are known for making the reader uncomfortable, by shedding light on to issues that the Twitteratis love to dissect and cancel people for. ironically enough the day I got approved for the ARC, there was this entire discourse on twt by white European readers on how "attacked" and "persecuted" they feel by Babel: An Arcane History.
Kuang also deftly handles the subject of cancel culture and how character assassinations leave everyone damaged with only the keyboard warriors and critics and bloggers victorious with their increased reach and engagement. It gets very meta at times, and a lot of the critiques that Athena Liu's work gets are similar to what Kuang's own work used to get, even a lot of the milestones achieved by Athena's character are similar to how Kuang herself is such a prodigy in the writing community. Yellowface also tackles the horrors of publishing and how racist, unfair and elitist it can be. How a book is declared a "bestseller" not on the merits of its writing/storytelling but because the publishers said it will be. The closed-door meetings are where the success or failure of a book is determined given how many diversity points it gets. Ultimately, no one gives a fuck about Own Voices or the visibility of marginalised communities in the industry. It's all about how it can be packaged to become the next Tick Tock phenomenon.
I can not wait for this book to be out in the world, to wallow in white tears and tormented Karens. Excited to see how this is unironically dissected in the court of public opinion. Will definitely be preordering this. Yellowface comes out May 2023.
Thank you to Netgalley, HarperCollins UK, and HarperFiction for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Let me just start off by saying that I have loved everything Alix E. Harrow has written. Wh3 stars
I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen.
Let me just start off by saying that I have loved everything Alix E. Harrow has written. Whether it be her novels, her novellas, or her short stories. Harrow's writing is a safe place for me, a hug from a friend. Also, that horror fantasy is my niche genre. I love it to pieces and I love spooky season. Which is why it was so hard for me to realize that this book just wasn't for me.
The writing is beautiful. It feels like coming home. I didn't realize how much I had missed Harrow's novel-style writing until I actually started this. But I loved how lyrical it was. She has a particular way of writing descriptions and her turns of phrases are so uniquely hers. Her stories have a common theme that I have come to notice as well. They are always about finding acceptance or finding home in the full sense of the word. They are about the people who are overlooked by history or society coming into their own. And I love that, I love seeing those rivers of thought appearing again and again in her stories. But, for some reason, it did not work for me. That is not to say that I hated it, but I loved it way way less than I have loved her other works. Maybe it was the contemporary setting that is always a hit or miss for me when it comes to reading fantasy, or maybe it was the kind of cliche character that was Arthur Starling, and I wasn't a big fan of the romance.
Arthur Starling is every tragic gothic male love interest come alive. I know that many people love that kind of stuff (believe me I dig the tragic hero as much as the next gothic fan), but at times it got a bit too ridiculous and I could not take it seriously. Probably why I wasn't able to get the chemistry of the romance either. Opal was an interesting character, and I loved being in her head and reading about her. Also a tragic character but someone with a bit more personality to her than a walking cliche.
The horror fantasy part was also not very mind-blowing to me, I wanted more of the magic etc but it felt like not enough. I did like the back stories and the history of the town and how that worked into the story but it got a bit repetitive and not very shocking by the end. In terms of plot twists, there aren't really any. You can pretty much guess most stuff so the big emotional reveal falls short.
Starling House reminds me a lot of Holly Black's Book of Night and that was another book that I didn't really enjoy. I guess I have figured out the kind of horror fantasies that don't work for me and will try to steer clear of them.
Believe me when I say that writing negative reviews for authors I adore is one of my least favourite things, but it happens ig.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
"What do you do if you’ve forgotten all you know?” “You start again from the beginning.”
TJK books are full of fairy dust and magic; I can never 4 stars
"What do you do if you’ve forgotten all you know?” “You start again from the beginning.”
TJK books are full of fairy dust and magic; I can never get enough of them.
In The Lives of Puppets has to be TJ Klune's most human book as of yet. It also has the qualities of a fairytale or fable. While his books always have dealt with how to live fully, Puppets asks what it means to live as a human. The emotions, the nagging thoughts, the anxieties and the head vs heart debates we have so often.
I have always loved how much heart and emotion Klune manages to pack into his books. His books are always so human, and it's part of the reason why they work so well as "cosy feel good stories". They tackle the ugly parts of humanity and tell the reader that it's okay, there are ways you can be better, ways you can still be kind in a world that tries to destroy every good thing ever.
Be it man or machine, Victor thought, to love something meant loving the ghost inside, to be haunted by it.
In The Lives of Puppets is an amalgamation of humanity and what it means. It emphasizes the importance of being kind. Just kind. Giving each other the space to grow and make mistakes; acknowledging those mistakes and choosing to do better despite everything. Klune manages to balance the fine line between twee and comfy. The importance of second chances and free will. Having the free will to make choices that help others when it would be easier to hurt them. I also love the continuous-running theme of the importance of art and music that is ever present in his books. Klune's characters will often find themselves really considering their humanity while listening to some blues, or dancing to some jazz. As I write this review, I have Cheek to Cheek playing in the background because reading Klune's books really feels like one is in Heaven.
While Puppets might be darker than The House in the Cerulean Sea and more adult than Under the Whispering Door, it still has its own distinctive voice. Klune has clearly proved that he isn't a one-trick pony, and is capable of building intricate worlds and lovable characters while still retaining that damned humanness that sets his work apart. I do feel like the first half was tighter, and I kind of lost myself in the middle, but it all comes around beautifully by the end. There are a lot of thematic and narrative parallels to Pinocchio, but it's the best kind of "retelling" where it manages to stand on its own two feet without having to rely too much on the source. I loved the resonances with Pinocchio tbh. Gepetto had always been my favourite in the story, and to nobody's surprise, Giovanni was my favourite in this book (though Nurse Ratched) was a close second. You can read more of the author's thoughts on writing this book here.
Emotional and magical, In The Lives of Puppets is a beautiful story of love and kindness. TJ Klune has done it again folks! The book comes out 28/04/2023.
Thank you Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Reading a post-apocalyptic YA thriller in 2022?? Never thought would happen, but the cover is gorgeous plus it's on Read Now on Netgalley, PLUS it's aReading a post-apocalyptic YA thriller in 2022?? Never thought would happen, but the cover is gorgeous plus it's on Read Now on Netgalley, PLUS it's about a rag-tag bunch of queer kids fighting the theocracy!!...more
2.5 stars Well, this was a humongous disappointment. The Cartographers is a prime example of a great idea, but terrible execution. I didn't vibe with 2.5 stars Well, this was a humongous disappointment. The Cartographers is a prime example of a great idea, but terrible execution. I didn't vibe with the writing at all. It was bland and boring. The plot was idiotic and made no sense. The characters were flat, the villain's motives were non-sensical and the heroes pulled the stupidest shit imaginable.
The plot of The Cartographers is inspired by General Drafting and the town of Agloe NY. I first heard about Agloe when I read John Green's Paper Towns and his infamous TED Talk on the topic of paper towns and phantom settlements. I found the concept so cool, mix it in with some magical realism, and this could have been such a great book. But with the weak characterization and non-existent plot,The Cartographers ended up being a terrible disappointment. Should have DNF-ed it at 30%. I had to force myself to finish this book.
Disclaimer Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and unbiased. ...more
3.5 stars Maybe the real enemy was the capitalist assholes monetizing art for politics all along... A really cute and fun novella, about two rival actin3.5 stars Maybe the real enemy was the capitalist assholes monetizing art for politics all along... A really cute and fun novella, about two rival acting troupes. While the worldbuilding felt rushed, and I was confused about the languages and culture, I did enjoy this novella immensely. The romance was a slow burn and really cute, I hope it's developed more in the sequels which I will definitely be reading!
The main character, Saba is THE most useless lesbian (don't blame her). Might fuck around, challenge my arch-nemesis to a duel, burn a building down, and fall in love with a rival?
Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Let me start off with saying that I had been waiting for this book to come out ever since the publishing rights were sold and it was announced.2 stars
Let me start off with saying that I had been waiting for this book to come out ever since the publishing rights were sold and it was announced. Previously I had read Tesh's Greenhollow duology, which is among the list of my favourite books. I was so ready to love Some Desperate Glory, it sounded great just from the premise. Teenage supersoldier Kyr is born for battle at their militant planetoid community, but once her brother is assigned to be a suicide bomber and Kyr sent to breed soldier babies, she leaves behind the Atwood-ian life she has grown up in to save her brother. That all sounds lovely and great, we have a brainwashed child soldier, hell-bent on revenge and everyone's excited to see Kyr realize all that brainwashing was just propaganda. I would say the plot is pretty enjoyable till the 30% or so mark which is how long it takes for the events mentioned in the blurb to take place. That should have been warning enough of the kind of book this would turn out to be, but I was an optimistic dumbass.
From that moment on, the plot unravels pretty fast, there is so much going on and the reader is just supposed to shut up and take it all in, because asking questions of how A worked or how B was possible will just be pointless because frankly enough none of it makes sense. I love the scifi genre and am able to suspend my disbelief for quite a lot of shenanigans. But sometimes, fantasy authors assume that scifi is not much different from fantasy except it's just set in space. But even in fantasy, you have to explain the magic system etc and how the world works. In Glory, however, some fancy mumbo jumbo like "shadow engines" and "reality distortions" are thrown around and the reader is supposed to just nod along and assume it makes perfect sense. The plot holes are so glaringly obvious that it all ends up being painful.
The debates and discussions on the nature of fascism and propaganda were interesting enough but were not enough to carry the weight of the novel. I didn't really care for any of the characters except maybe for Avi, though it was less liking his character and more being intrigued by what war crimes he would commit next. Another issue I had was with the mismarketing of this book. Just because T Muir was willing to blurb the book, and it has teenage soldiers in space and hints of sapphicness, does not make it the new Gideon the Ninth. Funnily enough, while GtN is termed as scifi and space opera, I would say it's way more fantasy. The science fiction aspects of GtN only serve as a background to the story and if tesh had taken that route with her world building it might have actually worked! But instead, Glory tries to ride along the multiverse rodeo which backfires because the science behind the plot just doesn't add up!
The wonky science, the absent yet forced romance, and the messy plotting made Some Desperate Glory to be a disappointing novel for me. Readers of YA sci-fi might like it if they like jarring plot twists and philosophising about the aspects of living under a dictatorship. Some Desperate Glory comes out 06/04/23.
Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit UK for sending me an advanced readers' copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
that was a waste of time and an insult to my intelligence. RTC...more
花瓣凋零，芬芳褪尽， 曾映骄阳, 却落泥霜. The blossoms fall, their sweet fragrance is lost, Once warmed by the sun, now sunken in frost.
The onl2.5 stars rounded up to 3
花瓣凋零，芬芳褪尽， 曾映骄阳, 却落泥霜. The blossoms fall, their sweet fragrance is lost, Once warmed by the sun, now sunken in frost.
The only reason I rounded up the rating was that this is a debut novel, and I feel bad when I write brutal and harsh reviews for baby authors. The only reason I didn't dnf this sooner, I had high expectations by how hyped up it was on bookstagram 6 months before its release. I also feel bad about dnf-ing ARCs that I requested. Reading felt like slogging through a quagmire of tropes and cliches. It's a miracle I finished it.
In the first couple of chapters, I was intrigued because the writing style reminded me a lot of Madeline Miller's Circe. However, that effect wore off pretty soon and there was no improvement in the storytelling after that. The writing is draggy and fairly unremarkable. The plot is weak, and a lot of it seems a bit too convenient. The prince just happens to find Xingyin crying by the river and immediately takes a liking to her, even helping her win the competition, despite knowing nothing about her. The book seems to be a disjointed mess of more than stories jumbled together. So much happens but it feels like nothing at all happened.
The characterization is weak and I couldn't give a rat's ass about what happened to them. The love triangle just annoyed me endlessly and I didn't find the appeal of any of the love interests. It was super duper straight. No to mention the book just barely passes the Bechdel Test. Xingyin has a palace servant she talks to sometimes but the servant exists just as a medium for Xingyin to talk about her love life. Similarly, Shuxiao had soo much potential as a hot warrior but she was just a one-dimensional character introduced to develop Xingyin. They both served in the army together, but they barely have any meaningful interaction except when Shuxiao tells Xingyin her sad family history.
The villains were cartoonishly evil. Because the worldbuilding is so flimsy, we have no clue why the bad guys are bad or why the good guys are good. The seemingly 'good' guys have caused the most pain for our mc yet we are supposed to still side with them over the 'bad' guys trying to overthrow them. The internalized misogyny was disgusting when it came to one of the villains, Lady Hualing. Her entire arc is about overthrowing the slutty patriarchial men, just to get back at a man...
So there wasn't anything that I really liked about this book. I guess Chang'e, the Moon Goddess' story was interesting but it was such a small part that it seems like I am grasping at straws. If you are an avid reader of mainstream YA and dig love triangles and cliched tropes, you might enjoy Daughter of the Moon Goddess. This book was just not for me sadly.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Initial Thoughts: Finally finished this. Was a pretty big disappointment. The plot was poorly constructed, so much happened but it felt like nothing happened? The characters were super clichè, this book fell into so many of the annoying YA tropes. Full RTC.
Before reading: got approved for an ARC!! bless the Netgalley gods!...more
**Disclaimer: I have made a lot of idiotic decisions throughout the course of my life. Stalking the author after I HAPPY RELEASE DAY TO THIS BEAUTY!
**Disclaimer: I have made a lot of idiotic decisions throughout the course of my life. Stalking the author after I heard about this book on their socials and on their website was definitely one of those good decisions, as it led me to the publisher's email address, leading me to draft an email begging for an ARC in exchange for a kidney. Thankfully the publisher was nice enough to grant my Netgalley wish without asking for an organ in return. Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Teen for letting me read this Advanced Readers Copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I have not been paid to write this review etc **
4 stars!
"With bound feet, you learn the value of the bonds between family."
I didn't expect to love this book as much as I ended up loving it! Iron Widow is a futuristic space opera set in a world inspired by Imperial China, specifically the Tang dynasty. It draws inspiration from Chinese mythology in its fantasy and sci-fi elements, as well as bases the main character on Empress Wu Zetian, China's only female Emperor. It features a sexist society, where girls are used as "concubine-pilots" aka qi batteries that their male co-pilots drain during battle, killing the girls. Our main cast consists of three bisexuals in a polyamorous relationship.
Let's talk about my complaints first: The writing was mediocre but the plot and characterization made up for most of it My biggest complaint about the writing was the overuse of the word 'mellow'. A simple Ctrl+F will show you that the word is used at least 30 times in the entirety of the book, often in consecutive chapters. My second complaint made me feel pretty uncomfy because the thing is this book just barely passes the Bechdel Test which is something you would not be expecting from a book marketed as 'feminist'. There are only 2 other female pilots who are the only women Zetian talks/interact with. Yet these women are one-dimensional flat personas that seemed to be added as an afterthought. Zetian has a very close and special bond with her older sister but then again, her older sister has been dead since before the book starts. I do hope that the author improves on this point in her sequels because it was a very big reason this book did not be an insta favorite for me. (also the reason for 4 stars instead of 5) Another thing that disappointed me was the lack of development of Yizhi and Shimin's relationship. Maybe if we had one of the guys' POVs we would have been to see their relationship blossom better, but through the eyes of Zetian, there isn't much depth between the two. Another thing i hope the author will explore more in the sequel.
Other than that, I loved the imagery used in describing and building up the pilots' minds and yin-yang realms. The Chinese mythology was also very well explained and didn't feel like an info dump. I enjoyed learning about the different types of qis and spirit pressure etc. The historical personalities from Chinese history were also a delight to read about. (Xiuying and Yuanzhuang made me squeal because i just finished reading Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun) The magic and sci-fi system with the Transformers-esque battle robots was also pretty cool.
"I dream about walking on daggers every night, you know," he murmurs. "It feels like a nightmare, but I think it's just your life."
Iron Widow explored a lot of the sexist East Asian traditions, for example breaking and binding young girls' feet. It was an interesting and an educating experience to have the author critique and break down the toxic parts of her culture. Unapologetically feminist, iron Widow leaves no room for any kind of misogyny. It tackles subjects from grief to addiction, to sexuality, to the concept of shame, and how ingrained a woman's dignity is in our Asian cultures.
Shame. That was their favorite tool. A tool to corrode me from the inside until I believed I could only accept whatever lot they threw at my bound feet.
The characterization was one of the strongest points of this book. Wu Zetian's character is such a dominant and fiercely angry character that it feels like standing too close to a roaring flame. But her anger is justified, at the world and the society for breaking the will of young women every day and instilling the internalized misogyny that just perpetuates the abuse and toxicity. Though, as some readers pointed out, it does seem weird that Zetian is so 'woke' when she's been crushed under the same sexist society as the rest of the girls.
Lee Shimin and Gao Yizhi, the two love interests were also surprisingly well developed for a YA novel. Though, tbf, I feel like Iron Widow breaks a lot of the traditional YA boundaries. (by turning a love triangle into a polyam relationship/threesome) I adored Yizhi at first but despised him for trying to 'buy' Zetian into marriage to prevent her from being enlisted. He did develop drastically over the course of the book so that was nice to see. Lee Shimin and his battle with addiction as well as his battle of wills to let countless girls be sacrificed in the concubine-pilot drama was a major part of his arc. It was nice to see his soft, nerd persona underneath all that anger and violance.
You tell them they're meant to do nothing but serve from the minute they're born. you tell them they're weak. You tell them they're prey. You tell them over and over until it's the only truth they're capable of living.
(view spoiler)[ I kind of guess the ending, that the Gods were obviously aliens or a more intelligent being, but it was still nice to confirm that. I wasn't expecting Shimin to be kidnapped though lol. His 'death was pretty heartbreaking but I assumed he would somehow survive the battle at the end. I LOVEED it when Yizhi yeeted his dick of a dad. And I already love the old Emperor pilot. Boy just woke up in the middle of a threesome after sleeping for 200 years lol. (hide spoiler)]
A must-read for fans of YA and SFF, Iron Widow comes out Sept 22 so be sure to check it out and show some love to the author <3
before reading A PolyAm YA feminist space opera inspired by the only female Chinese emperor, with a morally grey heroine! What's not to like :)...more
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