“At the time I was thirteen, two types of people existed. Those that used others, and those that were used by others. Those that were
3.75 stars.
“At the time I was thirteen, two types of people existed. Those that used others, and those that were used by others. Those that were warm, and those that were cold. Humans and fuel. In this world that was common sense, and nobody attempted to oppose that order. All save for one that is, a single man cloaked in flames.”
TW: Gore, graphic violence, death, mentions of sexual abuse, madness.
It seems like it's going to be a staple of this manga to never go as I expect it to as this volume was absolutely the opposite of all my predictions in the most wonderful way possible.
First of all, it was a surprisingly fast read. Usually, it takes me a long time to get around each of these ones as they are quite heavy with all the philosophical, thematic, metaphysical references and musings, and while this installment did have some of it it didn't compare to other volumes. The more action-centric focus that we get was a very nice break in the norm and refreshing to encounter.
Even though it might have been mostly fighting there was more than one jaw-dropping moment that just blew my mind.
“Like hell I’ll lose! I won’t just die! That’s right, I hated it all! The snow. The hunger. The insanity. This entire time! I never should have let others rule over me! I won’t lose.”
Agni's journey has become more interesting than it seemed it was going to turn out to be and the way it all interweaves together is satisfying to witness. We start our journey with him in such an abrupt manner that getting to be alongside him as some of these changes happen is a great experience.
Really, all of the characters had their time to shine and grow in the middle of all the craziness happening around them.
The fights were dynamic, eye-catching, and exhilarating in all the best ways. With entire panels dedicated to the details of the fight, it was really fun to expend some time just admiring the details and taking it all in.
While the fights and expansion of the themes were great the furthering of the mystery and deepening of the sense of an utterly unreliable narrator are some of my favorite parts of this story. Using insanity as a way to create this atmosphere is quite a fun way to go about it.
“Because, giving Luna a happy life was the fuel of my own survival. So I could only lie to myself, and turn the wish of killing [redacted] in the most excruciating manner into the fuel that I could feed upon to keep me going. So, in order for me to survive, my only path was to act as an avenger. I know very well that killing [redacted] will not bring Luna back from the dead. I hate only because I want to lessen the pain. I even forgot that I’m actually acting a part. The real you, what sort of person are you? You feel that it would be great if all the bad people in this world died out. However, you are unwilling to watch people die in front of you. You cannot forgive the evil committed in front of your eyes, so you also cannot ignore death when it happens before you. This is my justice. […] I want to rescue them […] because I want to save them. I want to save them… I want to… because… I don’t want things to end this way. I don’t want to surrender myself to this world.”
“She was not a warrior or a leader or a queen – only a captive, bound at the wrists, unable to see or feel an escape.”
What a magnificent repres
“She was not a warrior or a leader or a queen – only a captive, bound at the wrists, unable to see or feel an escape.”
What a magnificent representation of healing after emotional and physical trauma and of PTSD.
The Dawn Chorus is a wonderfully honest and raw representation of healing that pulls your chest open and rips your heart open and bleeds you dry. It may just be 100 pages long - give or take - but it packs a heavy, mean punch.
“Trying to get a handle on your sanity, once it starts to slide, is a balancing act. Give a little to the broken parts of you, to keep them quiet and satisfied. Give a little more to the repairs.”
I have few words that can correctly express just how much this novella destroyed me. It wasn't because I wasn't prepared for it, because I was well warned and prepared for the emotional upheaval it was gonna be, but because the way that Shannon treats it, with so much respect and care but without mincing any word just for our comfort, is just masterful.
From beginning to end she just opens up a deep wound and slowly stitches it. With perfectly placed strokes and points.
There wasn't a moment, a second, where my eyes were not completely full of tears and my heart wasn't completely squeezed as small as it can go. Not one. And it spilled over more than once.
“Listen. To the storm. It has the potential to destroy. It is neither quiet, nor gentle, nor soft. That does not make it unnatural. Let the storm into you, Paige. Hold it inside. See yourself as a force of nature, vast enough to defeat a god, and carry that image for all of your days.”
Shannon utilized perfectly all her resources by even including carefully placed flashbacks that enriched the story all that more and added about a hundred tons of meaning and significance to the small details.
I was not expecting them but, man, it wouldn't have been the same without them.
They offered such sweet contrast and reflections to really appreciate all that was happening.
It didn't just provide that extra emotional edge but it was also the perfect way to refresh the memory between the first three novels and its upcoming new addition. So, as a novel, it more than accomplished its job and purpose.
“Perhaps the Dawn Chorus speaks to me... The birds sing in the twilight that bridges night and day. While they sing, we exist on the threshold between two states.”
In short, in a novel, Shannon managed to create and tackle an incredibly sensitive subject and pulls it off flawlessly. I'm sure that this is not the end we will be seeing of it either but, well, it was the perfect mood-setting and it also allows for the story to flow more smoothly in The Mask Falling.
I'm sure I'm gonna return to this story many times in the future. If only, because I'll need to look for the pieces of my heart that were scattered through its pages.
“One embrace was never going to put me back together. Only I could do that, and I sensed that it would be a lifelong task.” “I was a razor blade, all edge, and gleam, and I needed to be dulled. I needed to fade.” “Fear does not extinguish courage.”
_____________________
This was just as good as I thought it'll be.
It definitely pulled me right back to the world.
RTC. _____________________
There's one thing I've been meaning to do and just hadn't gotten around to and that is reading this novella.
Set after the events in The Song Rising I know it's gonna be... emotional and a bit heavy but I'm so ready for it because I've gone long enough without dipping my toes in this world again.
“It is a beautiful mask, but all masks fall. In the end.”
It's been a long time and process for me to feel even remotely ready 100/10 for sure.
“It is a beautiful mask, but all masks fall. In the end.”
It's been a long time and process for me to feel even remotely ready to write this review because my emotions are still in such turmoil and excruciating pain after the ending of the book that I can barely go on. I'm sure I won't be able to make a lot of sense but I do want to give it a try and express all that this book meant to me, because it meant the stars and moon and so much more.
The Bone Season has been a wonderful series from the beginning but the way Shannon expands and amplifies everything with each book is a true marvel to witness. If I loved The Song Rising for its depth and emotional value as well as a wonderfully constructed world, well, The Mask Falling made a fall deeply in love and guaranteed that this is one of my favorite series.
A book of emotional distress and slow healing while still having incredible world-building and great action scenes I can never describe it as anything but breathtaking and incredibly enjoyable.
“You never can [go back to being the person you were before] That person is dead. So is the person you were yesterday. Death is not an ending. It is only a change of seasons. Passage from one state to another. Your new form is fragile, but in time, it will grow strong. Be patient with yourself.”
One of the first things that I want to point out is the fact that we pick up nearly immediately from the ending of the previous book. I say nearly because there is a small-time period of about a week in-between. A very important week where we can see more of the raw details and honestly told hard truths of Paige's start to healing. The good thing is that this time is not lost to be only mentioned but we can see it in The Dawn Chorus the novella that comes directly before this fourth book in the series.
I love it when novellas are very important and add to the story and that is exactly what that one did. I also think it was brilliant that the hardest, rawest, and more triggering part of the healing process was handled in a separate work, so if that is uncomfortable or triggering for you you can just skip it and you will not really miss anything.
The start of the book works perfectly and picks the flow neatly from where we were left off so it's very easy and comfortable to get back into the world. And we will still get to partake in the ramifications of the last book.
“To disappear between shadow and stone. To walk the buried places of the world and still draw breath. To be everywhere and nowhere, seeing all, known and unknown. To rise from the depths, never seeking the sun. To live as one already dead, and with the dead beside.”
Shannon is, I think, a revolutionary in the way she has treated this dystopian world.
I am more than used to dystopias being very concentrated in a small part of the world and the very isolating feel that they have. The Bone Season, on the other hand, feels like a very open and big world that is very involved.
We have gotten to see the world already, and this new setting, the ever beautiful Paris, was a wonderful location for all the shadows and secrets, healing, and pain that we get involved with on this location.
Not just that, but the way that we continue to uncover just how big this whole thing is, just what we can expect of the world and the rules that we are playing with, well, it felt grand and like we are finally seeing the whole picture. With the domino pieces settling into place and the world being less unknown.
Paris, as a location, just added to the magic and mysteriousness of the whole ordeal. I can honestly not imagine a more perfect place for all of this to go down and feel as distinctive and alive and magical as it did in this wonderful city.
Add to that the fact of discovering the dynamics of the perdues and the Underground and we just have a very compelling and all-encompassing book.
“Let the aether bear witness. I will never keep from you what you should know. I will never conspire against you, nor betray you by word or thought or deed. I will never, by choice, abandon you to your enemies, nor forsake you in adversity. In body and spirit, I am bound to this oath. Seo í mo mhóid shollúinte.”
It is, to a degree, a slower book.
We take a lot of time to explore the relationship between our two protagonists and that is just the one thing I had been craving desperately for a while, and it is all done in a way that makes perfect sense for them to have that kind of time.
It was the sweetest most perfect crescendo and resolution of a tightly coiled story ever. I swear, it's one of my favorite developed love stories because is so incredibly careful in the slow progression of it and the incredibly believable build-up of trust and closeness.
The amount of trust and devotion they both show each other is just so soul-touching. And it is something that they both need to have in the messed up world that they live in. That trust that the other can do what is necessary and they will be okay, but also that the other will be there for them if, when, they need it and be the rock to steady each other is just... I have no words to properly describe it, really. I just know that it steals my soul every single time.
It's romantic and tender and really sweet but it's also comfortable and breathable and strong. Just, the sort of relationship I would want to have.
“I was six. I was stumbling over bodies and through lakes of blood. I was twenty and in hell and there was no escape. My past and present selves were side by side.”
Of course, I cannot forget that this is also an incredibly painful book. In more than one level.
Even before I started reading the book I knew it was not gonna be easy because there was no way that the events of the previous book did not take a toll on Paige and that we would have to deal with that.
That was handled beautifully and realistically through the whole book. Which I love because it's not something that can be done in a second or that wouldn't pop up in the most unexpected of times, and we do have plenty of unexpected - and other rather expected - times when we have to deal with it all. As well as the fact that Shannon took the time to process it all, or attempt to, and she did not shy away from any of it.
All of it was done respectfully and caringly but without sugar-coting the fact that is ever-present and hard and something that you need great courage to confront. It was a very beautiful thing to read and see.
Then we have the least expected ways that this book hurt me too. Well, maybe not so unexpected because I did see many warnings that a certain chapter was nothing but pain and misery, and I have to agree with it.
The way the story progressed and the places we went towards the end, well, let's just say that is one of the most painful cliffhangers/endings I have ever read. So incredibly wonderful and shocking.
Just the way that it opens the story for where we are gonna move from now and to draw lines in the sand is amazing and really rewarding and satisfying. Sure, maybe I could barely keep myself together and had expended the last bit of the book sobbing my eyes out, but it was all perfect.
“[…] I had to make him understand that this was real, that words spoken behind a mask were no less genuine.”
All the characters were amazing, as expected, too.
Paige is such a determined and resilient character that I always find great pleasure in reading of her exploits but I must say that her development and the ways she has matured and grown are my favorite thing to witness in her. She's a badass but she also knows how to be emotional and care a lot. It's a fine line that I think she manages splendidly.
Arcturus is such a fun guy, really, that is also crazy wise and, on occasion, really dumb, it all just works together really well and ensures that I always have a blast seeing whatever he is up to. Seeing all the ways he has grown, too, is just so rewarding and satisfying that I can't help but feel incredibly proud of them.
The new characters that we are introduced to are all so varied and different that it can't help but be really fun. I liked them all for very different reasons each and every one of them, but the one thing they all had in common that I enjoy it's their shadiness and mysteriousness about anything to do more personally with them. Of course, it makes sense why each and everyone one of them is mysterious, which only enhances everything.
It was also fun to get to see a few old faces that I was not expecting to see again. They did blow my mind on more than one occasion.
“Voyants don’t dream. And in the Mime Order, we strive for more than petty treason. We act.”
I will always find it satisfying and great when a story connects neatly with its previous installments and I can't fail to mention just how happy it made me, seeing the connectivity working great in this work.
From just remembering something that happens a long time ago, because flashbacks are just really nice and I always enjoy them, as well as the fact that they refresh my memory when it sags.
We also had some of the things that we had been told early on explained and finally make sense and, well, I love how much sense it makes. The way the thread was right there but we were just not unable to really connect it or see it. And that happens on more than one occasion in the book. Blowing my mind every time.
Seeing again how of the threads that we have been following since the beginning just continues to have great importance and impact is really satisfying and nice to see, especially since at the beginning I had thought it wasn't that important, is nice to be proven so utterly wrong. I had theorized over it a bit but I must say that I wasn't expecting the route it ended up taking.
“You have risen from the ashes before, Arcturus had told me. The only way to survive is to believe you always will.”
To say that I really loved this book is to be completely right because I practically lived with it through all the action and pain and calm moments. All of it weaving to create a beautiful piece of art.
It's a story that has quickly risen to be one of my all-time favorites and to occupy a very special place in my heart for its deeply and well-created characters to the amazing emotional connectivity and action-packed world-building.
“Every moment, every breath, moved me closer to my end. There was no more time to waste. I had come so close to death again. Now I meant to live with abandon.”
__________________
That ending... I'll need forever to get over that ending. Honestly, a book ending hadn't chilled me so since Lord of Shadows.
My heart is in little pieces and I'm so anxious and shocked. The sole idea of having to wait years for the next book is making me suffer even more already. Like I wasn't in deep, agonizing pain already.
I'll need an eternity to get over this book.
RTC. __________________
After the amazingness of The Dawn Chorus I've been super excited to finally be able to read this continuation, not that I wasn't excited before, and now it's finally here!!!!
I'm all here for the emotional rollercoaster this is gonna be and to get back into this very, very interesting world.
The fact that it takes place in Paris, and will probably give me an excuse to practice my French, is just a bonus that I'll take gladly and obsessed over for the foreseeable future....more
“They are right to fear. They are wise to oppress. For are we not vastly superior to them, we Unnaturals?”
This was so much fun to read! And so inf “They are right to fear. They are wise to oppress. For are we not vastly superior to them, we Unnaturals?”
This was so much fun to read! And so informative too.
The concept is pretty simple. We have a description of the "magic" system that is very prominent and important through the story.
The best part? Is an in-world description.
Meaning that this little pamphlet is mentioned several times through the various books that form part of this series.
It's not just a great way to get to know the world and grasp it better but is also a great way to get a better grasp of who, exactly, is Jaxon Hall. Since he's the author we really get a good view of his thinking process and what is really inside him.
The part on the Binders is a really good example of who he is.
Really worthy to read as well as easy.
For me, it was just delightful.
“I have raised you to Roles of great importance, so you shall be the Lords and Queens of these wretched folk; yet see that I have humbled you anew with a prefix, MIME. For though you are a monarch, remember that you are only a mimic. The spirits of the dead have granted us their knowledge so that we may whore it on the streets for coin, sacrificing their secrets for the sake of our continued existence. You, the unnatural, can only ever imitate their greatness.” __________________________
I, actually, finished this a couple of days ago and just completely forgot to update it... life has sure been crazy.
RTC. __________________________
Last but not least in this quest to read The Bone Season series with Mer we have this little one.
To be honest I'm really excited to read it because it has been reference through the books a lot and it seems quite informative.
Of course, it's also one of those things that you just read when you are quite the fan... good thing that now I am quite the fan....more
“You have risen from the ashes before. The only way to survive,’ he said, ‘is to believe that you always will.”
This book was intense. 4.95 stars
“You have risen from the ashes before. The only way to survive,’ he said, ‘is to believe that you always will.”
This book was intense.
From the ending of The Mime Order, I suspected that this was gonna be one heck of a ride, but I could have never quite expected or seen where this book was gonna take us.
It had more action than any of its predecessors and the very tense air around every little interaction put me on edge as well.
I cried. More than I care to admit.
Maybe, it all comes back to the fact that things were coming to an end and we needed to find some answers. Though I have many more questions to ask.
“The Ranthen chose you. I chose you. Most importantly, you chose yourself.”
Paige's arc story is really satisfactory.
Here she is more of a leader than ever before, and that means that she needs to learn to take the hard decisions and hope they are the right ones. But she also has to define herself and who she wants to be. Who she needs to be in order to win this war. And following her in this journey is rewarding.
I felt her struggles and fears and growing pains as if they were my own. I suffered with her and I hoped with her, which is saying a lot since I didn't quite care for her at the beginning of this journey.
It wasn't just Paige though. No, may of these beautiful characters had to prove themselves and had to grow. Some were able to show they're strength and others were able to make their mistakes. But all of them had their little moment to shine.
“I was small and I was endless. I was hope and I was fading.”
I must admit that I was presently surprised by how seriously Shanno took the stakes that war needs to pay and it comforts me to know that she won't shy away from it. It adds realism.
I'm not saying it didn't hurt, for many different reasons, because it did. I didn't want it to happen but I'm happy with them. Well, most of them. (view spoiler)[ Alsafi's death still strikes me as completely unnecessary and it boggles my mind. (hide spoiler)]
The ending is something I'll add to this little list of grievances. I was most certainly not expecting it, sure, there were all the subtle little hints dropped through the series but I didn't quite believe it could be a possibility. I'm really curious to know exactly what's going on and, well, everything, yet I'm still sad.
I've been trying to pinpoint why exactly I feel sad about it and I've come to the conclusion that it's because it feels, too much, like the end of an era. Like something really good and that worked is ending and the next step will be brand new. And that, that scares me a bit.
“I imagined, too. And so imagination became my nemesis; my mind created monsters out of nothing.”
The plot, with all its little twists and crannies, was fun to read. It managed to surprise me here and there, I don't think I quite saw what happened towards the end coming. I liked that part quite a bit. Yet, it was also not that shocking.
The twists made sense and they were reasonable. They were well worked. They were realistic. But I wanted to be blown away, to not be able to tell what's gonna come next. I like uncertainty.
That didn't, in fact, change much of my overall enjoyment of the book.
I believe that if I had been able to, I would have read the book much faster. It was quite addicting.
“And I waited for the sun to rise – as it always had, like a song from the night.”
Just the thought of having to wait a year or so in order to be able to read the next book is excruciating right now.
I need to know what comes next at an anatomical level.
Samantha Shannon became, at some point this year, an author that I'll keep very closely monitored in order to not miss anything in her works. It's been a little while since that happened last. ______________________________
Oh, goodness. I'm still riding on adrenaline from those last chapters.
This feels like the end of something.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. ______________________________
I'm having so much fun buddy reading these books with Mer.
As the last published book in this series I' really, really hyped for it. Especially because the stakes are so darn high now.
I know is terrible to enter a book with expectations but I can't help but have really high expectations on this book. I'm pretty sure they are gonna be met because Shannon has definitely grown as an author and this is closer in time to TPOTOT than any of her other works. And because if the last book was anything to go by, then yes, by all means, this is gonna be one wild ride....more
”Words give wings even to those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hope of repair.”
This was a definite step-up from The Bo 4.5 stars
”Words give wings even to those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hope of repair.”
This was a definite step-up from The Bone Season.
I really loved the way Shannon took the foundation that she laid for this world and grew it in a way that didn't feel like walking into a completely different thing. It was different, of course, it was, but it didn't feel alien or wrong at any point.
It was an organic transition.
The change of setting helped it a lot and really pushed the story forward. The introduction of all this really fun, strong, intriguing new characters and the really high stakes that the book takes keeps you moving forward and entranced through it all.
The action scenes are pure gold. Moving fast and engaging you with each word. They were one of the high lights of the book for sure.
“Some revolutions change the world in a day. Others take decades or centuries or more, and others still never come to fruition. Mine began with a moment and a choice. Mine began with the blooming of a flower in a secret city on the border between worlds.”
To start with let's take one of the more troublesome parts of the last book for me. Paige herself.
Where she came as naive and annoying now, with the help of all that she lived through, she's become wiser. Now she's not only a follower of somebody else's schemes but a leader plotting them.
She's done being a puppet.
Seeing her growth was really rewarding. I already thought she had a lot of potential and a fire inside her that could be really useful but she was a diamond in the rough that needed pressure and time to become a real, shinning, diamond. I'm not saying she's perfect, she certainly still made some decisions that made me turn my eyes but she was much better.
She went around being smart and resourceful and is becoming a really strong character.
“Crave a name, sweet child, a long-dead name.”
Of course, we also have the promised land.
The characters that we saw trough glimpses through The Bone Season.
The Seven Seals.
Oh boy, weren't they fun! Specially Jaxon.
Seeing the dynamics of this group was so interesting. Especially because I couldn't quite figure out some of them. I liked the splashes of different personalities, some so strong that they took the whole page and others so quite that you had to be reminded of them, that just leaped through the paragraphs and felt so real.
My personal favorites are, in o particular order, Eliza, Nick and, of course, Jaxon.
Nick is just so fiercely loyal and resourceful. Someone you can depend on. I also happen to love the concept of him being a doctor and also love to climb buildings, the contrast seems hilarious to me. Eliza is so soft. I'm no saying she isn't strong and fierce but, well, she always comes across to me as someone gentle that could shatter easily, even though the glass she's made of is really diamond.
Jaxon was just a mystery wrap in a mystery topped with a mystery and sprinkled with madness. Kinda the perfect combination. I never knew what he was planning to do, what really motivated him the only clear thing was where he wanted to go. And every time he appeared my excitement climbed to a hundred.
“It was the most secret form of rebellion I could imagine, putting words on paper.”
Clearly, though, there is still something that didn't quite made me happy. It remains the romance.
I'll say this till the end of the world, I like the couple. I think they fit together, they bring a good side on each other and make each other braver. They make sense.
Yet, it still feels all to rushed. All to unbelievable.
It corrected itself a bit. Works a little in the main issue that I didn't like of them, but not enough to make it better. (view spoiler)[ Because I still can't believe that two beings that barely trusted each other, that Paige that was held against her will by Warden, two people that were barely forming an understanding, a friendship, would rush into a romantic relationship. Why? (hide spoiler)]
“Hope is the lifeblood of revolution. Without it, we are nothing but ash, waiting for the wind to take us.”
Still, I'm a firm believer that this was a genuinely good book.
The ending was mind-blowing and so incredibly, perfectly, poetic that is kinda funny. ______________________________
What?!
That ending... No words.
What an ending. What a book.
I need to sort my emotions.
RTC. ______________________________
Let's see what new things we can discover in this one shall we Mer?
I really liked the world that Shannon presents to us in The Bone Season and getting to see it more fully develop will be, without a doubt, a pleasure. I'm also excited to see how she grows as an author and going on this journey with her is fascinating, especially because I know her current skill.
I hope I can like this better than the first one and, well, I just want more Jaxon and Nick and Finn, please....more
“Some people you meet in life, and they just click with you. It doesn’t matter how much you have in common you just work, somehow.”
Goi 2.95 stars
“Some people you meet in life, and they just click with you. It doesn’t matter how much you have in common you just work, somehow.”
Going into this novella I was pretty curious to see what this was gonna add to the world that we are presented and how it was gonna add to the story and move it. In retrospective, I should have paid a lot more attention to the fact that this is, in fact, a prequel to The Bone Season and, therefore, it was not gonna move the story forward in any way.
The fact that my expectations were not met really hindered my overall enjoyment of the book.
The novella in and of itself was not bad. It stays true to the world created and expands in a moment that gets hinted and already referenced in a book that was published previously - The Mime Order - it gives us a little more of insight in Paige's life before everything went down.
It's cute.
But it is not something that I'll call indispensable.
“They were ordinary moments in my newly extraordinary life – and they, in turn, became extraordinary.”
The characters are great and the story has enough mystery to not be completely flat or boring in any sense. Really, is a good story, but it did nothing for me.
Maybe it was the fact that I read it right after reading The Bone Season and I wanted to find answers or, at least, hints of answers in it. Or maybe it was the fact that I was not completely enamored with the world yet. Whichever the case, I enjoyed this story little.
The fact that al the plot of what happens is actually mentioned, and explain enough to be understandable, in The Mome Order, a book that was published before this came out, makes it seem to me that this was all a little pointless.
"Being in this syndicate will toughen you up, but don't let it turn you to stone. Don't get too big for your boots. And always question what you're told. Remember what it's like to be an outsider, a nobody. Don't look down on the people who end up at the bottom. Give a bit of coin to thew gutterlings. Stay humble. And keep your mind open. You might find it repays you one day."
If somebody asked me when to read this I would strongly suggest they do before reading anything else. It will help them understand the world a bit better before really getting into it and be a good introduction.
I'm just sad I couldn't enjoy it. ______________________________
As I dreaded, this was unnecessary.
RTC. ______________________________
Following in The Bone Season buddy read with the amazing Mer we have this prequel.
I'm curious to see what this is about, but I hope is something really shocking because I feel like we covered Paige's, overall, past really well on the first book.
Starting a book mildly unamused is not ideal, but that's exactly how I'm feeling right now. I do want to see more of the world, it fascinates me to no end, but everything else is a bit meh right now.
Hopefully, I'll change my mind by the end of the book....more
“I feel like the phantom that I’ve trained all my life to become – a Ghost killer, a weapon of destruction, an invisible outsider in e
3.75 stars.
“I feel like the phantom that I’ve trained all my life to become – a Ghost killer, a weapon of destruction, an invisible outsider in every way.”
This was a complicated book to get through. I'm not just saying that because it took me a long time to read it but because, for one, it left my feelings in a jumble that has taken me a little while to untangle and, second, because it deals with difficult themes that opened me raw and that took a lot out of me mentally speaking.
I've read most of Lu's works and I always know that she is about to introduce me to something extraordinary and so well written that is gonna be just plain delightful to read. I can not ignore that Skyhunter is her best written book as to date.
Still, it just seemed to miss the mark for me.
“You have spent your entire lives sneering at the ground I walk on. The style of my clothes and the tint of my skin. The food that I eat. The language of my people, the signs I use because I cannot speak aloud. You have wished for the death of my loved ones by barring them from the safety of our doors, even as you take from them what you like – their jewelry, their customs and food, their traditions. You have taken advantage of my silence in every way, robbed me of my dignity and my pride. You have used me for your own gain. Now, in your hour of greatest need, you will use me again. And yet, I will still risk my life to save yours. I swore and oath to this country on the day I donned this coat, to protect you and every other citizen from harm so long as there is breath in my body.”
This book deals with some very heavy subjects that made me need little breaks from my reading in order to be able to process them and, well, not murder them all. Discrimination and racism are never easy to see represented, they always make my blood boil and my rage feels overpowering, so reading it here was complicated.
Lu writes about it with amazing respect and understanding and the grace of a queen making it feel like a complete, irreversible, all-consuming part of the story without it becoming the absolute focus of it all. Because, at the end of the day, it was just a part of what is going on and what forms the decisions Talin takes.
The way it came to be felt very real and so frighteningly easy to see and made me fall in love with the world and all the shades it has.
Because, without a doubt, the world in which everything is set is my favorite thing about this book. Well, let's not forget the characters - to whom we're gonna get in a second - but I'm counting them into the world-building.
“That he had taken so much from me – my words, my home, my world – and yet could not take everything.”
The mutism added little detail was something that surprised me greatly for how much I wasn't expecting it to be a thing. Or, well, such a beautifully narrated thing.
It has so many little revelations and moments and it adds such a great depth to the story that I couldn't help but fall in love with it. It made sense in an aching sort of way and, at the same time that it reshaped the world all around and gave it different flavors it didn't change anything at all. Because it was a part of the story and not something that felt out of place.
It was different and yet common in its own world and the way that it shaped Talin and all those around her was most interesting to see.
“If we’re going out, then I’m grateful to be alongside this team. Rats, orphans, disgraced children. We are Maras’s saviors.”
A very important part of any story is its characters and I can say that the cast we have here made my heart hurt and added all the pressure and weight needed to the story. Everything else was just background noise.
I mean, just give me a good bout of chemistry and interactions between any given assortment of characters and I will be happy, and this book was littered with them. The pull of every page was given by them and I am not complaining one bit.
We have the Strikers who are so brave and deadly. War machines that have the grace of dancers and the speed of gazelles. The last line of defense between a wartorn world and the innocent and wicked that are left free. And I loved every single one of them for so very varied reasons.
Talin is a character that I think I'm gonna admire for a long time coming. Finding strength where everyone told her she shouldn't and having the courage to protect and defend those that would not repay her in kindness ... it just sets my heart on fire for her. Lu knows how to write female protagonists in a way that always intoxicates me.
The rest of them doesn't fall behind for a second. Adena with her passion and wits, it always made me think she was a little overeager, but in a nice way. Jeran with all those scars and insecurities but the heart of a lion and the grace of a deer. He deserves the world and more. Aramin dear pragmatic, Aramin, who has to take such difficult decisions in order to keep everyone alive. Red who never let his traumas and pain stop him from doing what must be done.
And, my personal favorite, Talin's mother. Because I have the biggest weakness for mother's that do the impossible for their children and give without expecting anything in return. And, well, she IS a badass regardless so there is a lot from where to choose when it comes to her.
“I am sworn, until death parts us, to protect him, to lay down my life for him, to be there when he needs me.”
The whole idea - and practicality - of the Shields was also something that I loved and think it's totally brilliant.
Strikers are the most elite soldier Mara has left and, therefore, their positions are terrible dangerous, so it makes perfect sense to have someone watching your back. Someone that you know so intimately that you know their every move and they know yours. Someone that is closer than anyone else will ever be to you. Someone that is your perfect complement. It just... it warms my heart and makes me really happy.
Those kinds of deep connections are always rewarding to see and the fact that it's something chosen and not dictated by nature, biology, or whatever just makes it more precious because choosing it adds so many layers to that relationship that nothing else could.
The training endured to get there, the commitment, the passion both parts must put into it. I don't know, it's already so incredible to see all that becoming a Striker entails and just the thought of not being alone through it makes me happy.
“I’m going to find a way to walk through life with courage seared into my bones.”
Of course, there were also a few things I did not appreciate half as much. Well, it's not so much that I didn't appreciate them as it is more that I don't think they quite reached their mark. Which is not the same but very close.
The whole Skyhunter side of the story was just out there for me. And that is something that physically pains me to say seeing as how the whole book revolves around it.
In the beginning, I was largely unimpressed and maintained the firm belief that it was muddling the parts of the story I loved. Not quite because I thought I didn't teach it fitted the story - because it certainly does - but because there was this feeling of incompleteness that permeated it all. Like I was seeing it through a dirty glass that distorted the edges and warped the image just so.
As the book progress it cleared and came into focus a little more but it never quite got the alignment quite right as it always felt like too much or too little.
Sure, it was mostly introduced and we didn't get to really play with it too much but it still left me wanting something that was not delivered. Like a lazy eye opened in the bottom of a canyon.
“Here, to me, is the part of Mara I understand, the people that Mara had allowed into its borders even as the Federation pushes in from all sides. We’re still here and alive. It’s enough of a reason to defend this place.”
The ending, as satisfactory as it felt, it was also something that just left me wanting.
It was really epic and I could see it playing in slow motion and all. The first part of it was a building crescendo, a bubble of a scream that tinted the world in red and seared it with smoke but it ended falling flat and dull at the very last second.
Sure, it opens many opportunities and makes me curious and anxious for the next book but it didn't take my breath away or left me shock... which really felt like a speeding car stopping suddenly and violently after the building pressure we had behind us.
It makes the most simple logic that it would happen. It was something I saw from the very beginning, and it really should have felt like more than how it felt.
“This is what the Federation does to us. It plants these horrifying memories in our minds until our hearts have turned hollow.”
In another note, the Federation is a really cool villain that gave me chills and unsettled me in the most basic of ways.
I love it when a villain can take simple control of the page and seemed to fill the whole world with their beliefs and their actions. A villain that can steal my attention from everything and everyone else is a villain that I can get behind and the eerie Federation has top marks over it.
They are such an integral part of the world-building at the same time that they are central to the plot and every second where I was learning more about them was a second I was happy.
A self-righteous and domineering nation that wants absolute control because it's their right is something that will live in my nightmares from now on and that may even become one of my favorite villains to date.
“Mara refuses to let her into their walls. They call us rats. We are seen as the invader. But Mara had been the country to open her doors for us when we were at our most desperate, when she had a nobler leader. She had saved us from our fates in the Federation. We may be rats here, but we are alive. And here I am, wearing the sapphire coat of a Striker. Mara is imperfect, but it is not the Federation.”
Skyhunter may not be one of my new all-time-favorite books but I do believe that it'll go into the list of worlds that made an impact on me and, if not be remembered forever, at least, it can be said that it was worth the read.
Yes, even after all the struggles I had with it, I believe it is something where you'll find something to like.
That being said, I'm pretty sure I can wait patiently till the next book comes out - I'm in no hurry here - but I'll receive it with open arms and a smile when the time does come.
“For Mara, for its citizens, for the wealthy and the wicked and the poor and the suffering, I am going to give my life today on the battlefield. And maybe it won’t even matter.”
___________________
Hmmm, I'm very undecided about this book. It had a nice ending but I couldn't really get into it.
Also, it was predictable. And I'm not sure if in a good way yet.
Still, Lu's writing is always really good.
RTC __________________
Guess what? I couldn't wait for a second more and I just had to pick up this one and see how it goes.
Marie Lu is one of my most-read authors, everything she publishes I will read, and it makes me really excited to see what this new one is gonna be about. I mean, it looks like it's gonna be dark and I just love dark books.
And, after all, I've been waiting for this book to come out since 2018 so, of course, I'm gonna read it.
I'm excited. __________________
Oh, wow.
That cover really is something... I'm not exactly sure what kind of vibes is giving me... It's very interesting nonetheless. __________________
I don't even care what this is about it's from Marie Lu so I'll read it. After all, she hasn't let me down yet....more
“Because sometimes, broken pieces find a way to make a new whole.”
Rebel is the continuation to the Legend trilogy. Situated 10 yea 3.5 stars.
“Because sometimes, broken pieces find a way to make a new whole.”
Rebel is the continuation to the Legend trilogy. Situated 10 years in the future. In a new city. We follow Daniel and his brother Eden while they try to pick the pieces of their former lives and move on.
Obviously, after so many years discovering that Legend was to have a sequel of sorts was so incredibly exciting. After all, it was an opportunity to see our beloved characters again. And after the epilogue in Champion it seemed like a terrific idea.
Full of action and familial feelings we are once again immersed in a politic drama when a nation enters a crisis time.
The question that it didn't occur to me to ask was, is it really all that necessary?
“Some pasts can’t be left behind. They must be fought.”
With POVs alternating between Daniel and Eden we get a whiff from the past and new voice all at the same time.
It's an interesting idea.
Of course, having Day again was great. Nostalgic and our connection with the past. He is the one that most bring the past and present together and help make peace between both.
Eden, on his part, brings the new aspects and help us explore this new nation. One of the things I was more apprehensive about before starting Rebel was his voice. I remember reading Lu's little snippets that she would post online and thinking that he sounded like a brat. I was glad to be proven wrong.
Yes, Eden turned out to be a lot more palatable than I thought he was gonna be. Yet, he often felt like a 15-year-old kid to me. He is 21-years-old...
And that is just one of the things that irked me must. Eden, a grown-up man, was acting pettily and childishly. His reasoning and actions often didn't reflect his age. I think I would have been a lot more okay with him had he been younger, then his actions wouldn't have irked me as much.
“The world shifts, tilts, sometimes collapses. But sometimes, it bends toward you, and everything feels right.”
Another thing that frustrated me was the complete lack of communication between Daniel and Eden.
Sure, I get that talking about certain things is difficult. They hurt and often avoidance is easier than confrontation but, but some explanations that don't need to be all that pointed or deep can certainly be done.
This book could have been solved so much faster if they had sat and talked sooner. And not even talked about the deep, burning, pungent topics that needed to be addressed but just about the things that were bothering each other. Heck, even just about their days.
Again, I can kind of see why that was so difficult, but it was ridiculous how these two grown-up men couldn't sit and have a little chat.
“June has adjusted better than any of us. But even so, she’s afraid of the past. Just like I am. We may not be the same people we used to be. Maybe we’ll never find our way back to that place. But we bear the same scars from the same old wounds.”
Daniel's and June's story arc was by far my favorite.
I really loved how their relationship was treated and how it evolved and, well, just how it happened. It was what I had been looking forward to.
And, even though I really missed it, I can appreciate not giving June her own POV. For once, I appreciated that certain air of uncertainty that came with not knowing June's thoughts. Though, to me, they were pretty clear through her actions.
Still, she plays her part in the story and we get plenty of time with our girl.
“If you asked me to tell you about myself, I’d say first that I like to understand things.”
Here is the thing.
The answer to that first question I poised.
I appreciate what the book did. I appreciate having another moment with these characters I've come to care so much about. I appreciate the furthering of the world and the reinforcement of the idea that nothing is quite so perfect.
But I find most of this book completely irrelevant.
That simple sentence has been a hard revelation and has taken me a fair amount of time to make my peace with. I'm still not happy with it but I'm starting to accept it.
Why do I find it irrelevant? Well, simple. A lot of these ideas were established in the epilogue of Champion.
As heartwrenching as that epilogue was it was a well constructed, rounded, and filling way to end the trilogy. It left you with a sense of hope and a million possibilities. You already knew things wouldn't be easy right off the bat. That there were issues to be resolved -funny enough the more pressing issues were never really treated in this book - and that things were never gonna be the same. But you also knew that things were gonna be okay because they were there. Together.
All Rebel did to me was go over and over, circling endlessly the same things that were already established in that short, powerful, epilogue.
Sure, we got a lot more of Eden but we could have done that with a well placed novella. Shorter. To the point. But long enough to add that little something that Lu clearly wanted to add.
The political drama in the book was interesting, yes, but at the end of the day, I didn't care very much about this new city. To me, the point seems to be to make sure we got the point that no government is perfect, something that I think the original trilogy did a great job of.
“We may always struggle with our pasts, but we can rest assured that we’ll always have someone else who can pull us forward.”
I'm not saying that the book was dull or filled with nonsense or that it didn't have action. No. As an alone book it was wonderful and thrilling. But as a part of this trilogy? Unnecessary.
Which, I find, it's often the case when an already finished trilogy/series gets renewed years later.
I truly wish it had been different. But it wasn't. I'll treasure the good bits and parts -like that ending - and I'll make my peace with the more unsavory ones.
“A past. A future. Something that can be ours.” _______________________
I'm surprised.
I ended liking it more than I thought I would.
When Lu was posting her little snippets on Instagram I remember reading some and hating the voice that Eden seemed to have. It made me really apprehensive about starting this book, even though I was dying to pick it up.
Anyway, in the end, it was way better than I thought it would be.
I'm still gasping about that ending.
RTC. _______________________
I'm finally starting this beauty.
I'm so excited, and a little apprehensive, about reading this book. I love the world and characters Lu created and having the opportunity to revisit them and get a bit more of their story is just wonderful.
Re-reading the previous three books in order to refresh my memory was a great idea, after all, some years have passed since Campion was published.
I hope the book lives to the standards that the previous books have set....more
“We’d created a little world in Seven Dials, a world of crime and color.”
So it starts.
This is the debut novel for S**spoiler alert** 3.5 stars
“We’d created a little world in Seven Dials, a world of crime and color.”
So it starts.
This is the debut novel for Shannon and, as such, I really wanted to check it out. After all, I really liked her most recent work, seeing the journey of becoming that brilliant author was sure to be a fun ride. Having read this I can say that she really grew.
The Bone Season is a fine mix of supernatural/steampunk that lays the foundation to what has the possibility to be a great and complex world.
I found myself going through a range of emotions from amusement to disbelief to annoyance and intrigue. There were parts I really liked and others that I'm still not so sure about. But, for a debut novel, I think it's a nice job.
“Nothing is worse than a story without an end.”
The plot is... interesting.
We start off with action, which I like. We follow Paige -our MC - and through her start discovering this new world.
The thing is that from that early stage the plot seems very straightforward, we have been given rules and goals, the world is neatly outlined and there's this impression of where the story must be going and then... well, there's the twist.
The whole story changes and it's nice in the sense that I was extremely surprised and pleased at being flabbergasted but, it's also confusing. Mostly because that's the kind of twist that a normal book would pull at the end. I like the defiance in that move.
Yet, this direction makes the book move slower.
We started at a breakneck pace and suddenly we are going slower. I had whiplash.
Don't get me wrong, I liked it. It works. It was necessary. It helps to make the rest of the series comprehensible. To add to the depth of all. It was good.
“I like to imagine that there were more of us in the beginning.”
Then we have the characters. And here, here, lies a lot of the reason why I rated the book as I did.
Paige is nothing short of exasperating. I really wanted to bang my head at some points because enough was enough.
She has fire. She's a fighter and has a lot of potential, you can see that, it's just that she's also stubborn and foolish. She would make the same mistake over and over again and each time expected for a different ending. (view spoiler)[ Kepp fighting the Rephaim when the only thing she accomplishes was to get someone hurt. The smart move would have been to just be complacent at the same time that you plan a scape. Poor Liss had to pay for her actions. (hide spoiler)]
Another part of the character problem was that I ended loving more characters that, till the very end, were seen through memories or just mentioned more than the ones that were actively participating in the development of the book.
Sure, I liked Liss and Julian and Warden but any mention of Jax or Nick had me squealing a lot more.
I'm not saying they were bad characters, no, they had layers and were interesting enough but paled compared to the others.
“His words stripped layers from my dreamscape. I was back to my sixteen-year-old self, afraid of the world, afraid of everything inside me. Then armor built around me, and I was someone else.”
Yet, any and all action scene described was really good. Those action moments and the mysteries were the heart that kept me going.
Oh! and let us not forget the whole romance. I'm still asking myself "why?"
I saw the potential since, the very beginning. I like it. What I don't like is the fact that it needed to be handled carefully. It's a complicated relationship from the beginning and a slow burn would have been so satisfactory, and I mean a slow burn that lasted a few books, at least. Instead they happened, rather rashly and rushed, in this book. The very first one. And I happen to feel that that renders it a bit unrealistic for the simple fact that they weren't ready. Sure, I was happy because I like the couple. But they really needed more time to develop more relation before.
“But it’s better to be honest, I think. Otherwise you’re living a lie.”
I did fall in love with the world.
The whole supernatural thing going on was really fun to explore and all the doors this book opens are just so alluring.
The Bone Season is a good foundation from were to build and create a truly magnificent world. Lord knows the ending is promising. _______________________________
What a ride!
I'm torn between the things I liked and the things that just didn't make a whole lot of sense. But I think I liked it a lot.
The no-expectations rule seems to have served me well, at least.
RTC. _______________________________
I'm so excited to do this buddy read with the awesome Mer even though we had to postpone a bit XD.
This book had been on my TBR for years now and even though it has always interested me it had never been a priority, that is until I read The Priory of the Orange Tree which I truly love and knew that I had to read more from the author. Hence, here I am.
Do I have expectations? Maybe? I did read an incredibly great book by the author, but at the same time, I know this was written before and, therefore, it may be a little... rougher. So, I'm trying really hard not to have too many, and big, expectations. Let's see how this can surprise me....more
I entered this with the biggest expectations and hopes about it (a terrible idea in any case) after all, this is a world that I love with all my heartI entered this with the biggest expectations and hopes about it (a terrible idea in any case) after all, this is a world that I love with all my heart. And yet I find myself disappointed in this exact moment.
To start things off it's an extremely slow book. I swear the first hundred or so pages were filled with Thomas just sitting around and no kind of action happened. We literally just heard his thoughts and descriptions over the most mundane things.
Then the things that this book revealed, well, they were things we already knew, either by mention or description. So what this book did add to the universe was extremely little, maybe one or two things.
The last couple pages finally had some bit of action and character development for all, but yet again nothing shocking or really big.
So yeah, I believe that we could have been spared this book - that is entirely too long - and James could have told us these things in an interview or article and the effect would have been the same.
All in all, I still love this universe immensely and don't regret reading this book... Not completely at least....more
Alexandra Elend Wolf
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Books:
dystopia
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