Review for "Blood for Blood" by Ryan Graudin

"You and I are not monsters. If anything, we're miracles."


 

Rating: ★★★★☆

This series packs a serious emotional punch. I really enjoyed my time reading, and I was really invested in the characters. I loved the moral dilemmas the characters faced (especially Felix, like wowwww), and I think the 3rd person POV was used really well to tell the story as all the characters. The first book was really just about Yael, and while she's still the main character in the second book, the author really broadened the story by incorporating more characters.

The story didn't really go in the direction I thought it would. It was shocking at times, but not in a way I'm sure I liked. The first book was more of a quest plotline while this book was more of a political war plotline, and I just think some of the twists were unrealistic/corny. That's my personal opinion, obviously I still really like this series as I give it 4/5 stars.

Overall on the duology, I can't decide which book I liked more (and they both got 4 stars from me, so I guess that makes sense). The first book was stronger in plot, but the second book was stronger in characters. Normally strong characters would win out, but I only say the characters were stronger because there were MORE of them. Yael was still an amazing character in the first book, and seeing her struggles with her past and making hard choices in the first book was really great. I really loved the writing style in this book, with the --ALL CAPS EFFECTS-- and the strikethroughs on people's names when they were dead. It really showed how the deaths weighed on Yael's conscience. She could've (should've) been so completely jaded from her past in the camp, and used that as unrelenting fuel to kill anyone who stood in the way of her mission. Instead, the death she witnessed gave her a kind of PTSD that made her terrified of death, including when she was the one doing the killing. I think that Yael was a complex protagonist, and I enjoyed reading her POV a lot.

I also really liked Luka's development. It's mentioned several times in the book how he went from the National Socialists' poster boy to national rebel. In the first book, we don't get his POV, so we don't know any of his history. Knowing his past was really cool, and it made sense with how he makes his decisions. I'm torn over whether or not I liked the Luka-Yael romance or if it was unnecessary, like the author was just putting it in there because he felt that a YA should have a love story. I really thought it was sweet how Luka's inner monologue was admitting that he was staying and joining the resistance for Yael, but I think their admissions of loving each other in the end of the book were a bit rash and corny. To be fair, they were in the middle of an extremely dangerous mission where they could very likely die so I mean YOLO, but still it felt weird to read. I liked [ Luka's honorable death, like I like that he died for a cause he only just joined because he knew he was making up for time spent being the face of a horrible government (hide spoiler)] but I wasn't a huge fan of how that all went down exactly. I just felt like he deserved something bigger and more dramatic.

Now Felix was interesting. We definitely got more of him (compared to Luka) in the first book because with Yael impersonating Adele it went into their family history a bit. But Felix's moral dilemma in this story was so, so well executed. His motives are almost the exact same as Yael's, but in an opposite context. Yael knows that killing the bad guys in order to prevent more death in the future is worth it, but she still has trouble doing it. Felix knows (thinks) that betraying the resistance will save his family's lives, but he still has so many doubts and regrets about it. His panic is portrayed really well, and I think it makes it hard to hate him, even if he did ruin things and was wrong. I don't love Adele, but Felix, FELIX, was an awesome character.

One last thing about the series as a whole - I can't decide if I loved or hated the skin shifter plotline! And that was like the main part of the story. It was just a bit too science fiction (in a book that felt more historical fiction) for me to completely jump on board. The science to me just does not make sense, and it made things a bit too convenient throughout the story (except of course, Yael ruined that by have 5 large conspicuous wolf tattoos on her arm, but I suppose she had a pretty telling inmate tattoo to begin with). The skin shifting was interesting, but then when SPOILER Miriam came in and was ALSO a skin shifter... it just felt kind of silly. It was fun, but it brought down the novel's level of legitimacy.

Review for "Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi

We are all children of blood and bone. All instruments of vengeance and virtue. 

 
Rating: ★★★★★

This book was an emotional roller coaster. I hated characters, I loved characters, I loved characters I hated, and hated characters I love. The author really knows how to write character development. There were a lot of tropes in here that have been so poorly executed by many (most) YA fantasy books (enemies-to-lovers, enemies-to-friends, the chosen one, evil overlord, powerful artifact, the quest. Like really guys, there's a lot.) But! I didn't even really notice these plot points as tropes until after I finished the book and was reflecting on it because they fit so well into the story.

Let's talk about the characters:

Zélie:
I was worried about this one in the beginning. When she's in Mama Agba's school learning to fight, and is just so eager and ferocious, I was kinda like hmmmm this is cliche and cringey. However, this initial reaction to Zélie is really a testament to the author's ability to develop the characters throughout the story. Zélie starts out jaded and feisty, but she learns how to also love and still be strong. The author opens the book with the scene of Zélie's mother dying, so that's not a spoiler, but despite the viciousness and brutality of her mother's death, I still didn't really empathize. I thought it was just another trope (dead mother), but as the story progressed we saw how Zélie's history affected her everyday choices and emotions. By the end of the book, I was really emotional over Zélie and everything she went through both as a child and on the journey. I definitely think she was an improved character in this story (if also a little naive). I think I came to connect more with Zélie (and think she's naive) through her relationship with Inan.

Inan:
I was surprised by the first Inan chapter. I thought he was just going to be a nameless, faceless evil pursuer of the main trio, but I actually like what the author did with him. Part of the excitement of the story is not knowing if Inan really has changed or if he's about the betray everything to and for the throne. Part of that mystery is uncovered because we read his perspective, so his inner monologue was pretty telling, but I actually liked that because it kept me from being so anxious while reading. I think Inan and Zélie's relationship was complicated and sweet, and I had mixed feelings about whether or not I liked it throughout my reading journey. By the end of the final scene, I decided that I liked it. If there's one part of Inan's story I could've had more of, it's his relationship with Amari. They had one reconciliation, but the author ends that chapter by saying "But when his hands wrap around my back, all I can think of are how his fingers are resting just above my scars." And then that's the last we really hear about Amari and Inan.

Amari:
I was kind of with Zélie in the beginning of the novel, meaning that I thought Amari was a foolish, sheltered girl who was trying to be the savior of something she didn't even really understand. Again, the character development floored me. Amari is so strong and fierce, and I wish we had gotten even more of that fierceness. Her motives don't make a ton of sense to me; she decided to hate her father and the whole throne because he killed her friend, even though she'd grown up being told why magic is so horrible. I guess I would've been more empathetic if we'd seen more of Amari and Binta's relationship before everything happened with Binta, but I still think it's hard to believe that in just a couple days Amari goes from timid princess to [SPOILER: killing her father.] We didn't really see the extent of her hatred for Saran or her love for Binta in the exposition, but other than that I thought Amari was great.

Tzain:
[SPOILER: So, I knew that obviously either Tzain or Inan was going to die in the book because we couldn't have Tzain and Amari in love AND Inan and Zélie in love, that's weird and borderline incest. But I really thought it would be Tzain! Mainly because he didn't have a POV like Inan did, but I also thought it would make more of an impact on Zélie in terms of developing more the sequel. That being said, I thought Inan's death was fitting and cruel and honorable, and the more I think about it the more I liked the way that he died.] I started out really liking Tzain. I thought he was the perfect overprotective older brother figure. It started going downhill for me when he was getting so controlling over Zélie about Inan. On one hand, yeah she was being kind of naive, but since the reader knew Inan's thoughts and knew that he had good intentions, it was hard to see Tzain so rigid in his hate for Inan. I really hope they take Tzain's character arc to the next level in the sequel, and I would love to see more other Tzain and Amari's relationship because I thought it was so cute in this book (if sparse).

The plot is not the most original in the world, like there aren't any shocking plot twists, but I think the journey really worked for the story. I was intrigued by every new land and culture the characters were exposed to, and I am really excited to see more parts of Orisha in the next novel. Also - I highly recommend the audiobook; I thought the narration was fantastic!

Review for "The Upside of Unrequited" by Becky Albertalli

This book had some of the most unlikable characters I've ever read, I'm really impressed! Yes, that's sarcasm, because I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hate the main character or her twin sister, but here we are, writing a 2-star review. I have not (yet) read Simon, so this review is based entirely on the content of the novel (in my opinion) and not on a preexisting bias of any kind.



Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Two main reasons for the two-star rating: the plot and the characters. And, well, those are two pretty important aspects of novels.

Most of the characters were completely unlikable to me, and they weren't supposed to be. I found them all super basic, like not interesting at all, and they were also just horrible people. CASSIE was the WORST. And I imagine that at times we were supposed to be mad at Cassie as Molly was, but generally I think she was supposed to be seen as a quirky cute LGBT character, and it just completely fell flat. Where she was meant to be strong, she came off as abrasive; where she was meant to be transparent, she was bratty; where she was meant to be teenage relatable, she was just an immature little girl trying to act older than she was.

I also was really rubbed the wrong way by Molly. This girl does not know how to act! She's had 27 unrequited crushes (first of all, who counts their crushes? I mean I guess that was supposed to be the cutesy part of the novel's theme but I'm not here for it), and yet she still doesn't know how to not be a jealous you-know-what as soon as she thinks one might like her back. And straight off the bat she was a judgmental you-know-what! Like ya girl's had 27 unrequited crushes but she's ready to come in here making fun of people because they enjoy GOT and LOTR? At least they have some kind of personality...

I guess I'm wondering this: can a person be fundamentally sexually repulsive? I mean, maybe Reid's not cool or muscular enough for sex. And if I like him anyway, what does that say about me? Is it because I'm scared to like someone hotter?

LIKE Y'ALL THAT IS LITERALLY A QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK. I cannot. I canNOT. Molly is also just not nice. I mean, maybe I should start carrying flyers with my list of schools, ranked by preference. Or maybe--maybe--these random adults should reflect on why they give a shit in the first place. Like girl, who hurt you?! You have no reason to be this jaded. Clean up your act, it's not cute. People are just trying to show they care and are interested in your life, and you know that if no one ever asked this kind of stuff you'd be complaining about how you don't get enough attention. I've never been so heated over a fictional character.

I feel like I've made it obvious that Reid was, IMO, the only likable character in the book and I actually did like him a lot and he did not get the appreciation he deserves. Mina was a dumb, forgettable character, and so were the two boys (can't even remember their names now). Molly does get some points because her personal narrative does admit that she knows she's being a terrible human, so at least she's self aware sometimes. I can't get over how much I hated Cassie though, oops.

And the plot was also just super basic. I didn't hate it, but I was never surprised or excited by it. As soon as Molly met Reid, we all knew how this story was going to end. We just had to get through 340 pages to get there. I feel like the author was trying to do a John Green An Abundance of Katherines thing with the whole 27 crushes plot, but the references/backstories of the crushes were just randomly inserted into the story and didn't make a lot of sense in supporting the plot or the character development.

I'd also like to complain a little bit about the writing. There were just some sentences added onto paragraphs where they did not flow at all, and it was honestly distracting. Reid tugs the front end and guides me over to a bench outside the store. Then, he pushes the cart to the side and sits, looking up at me expectantly. I sit down next to him. The writing is just so choppy and basic. It's literally just writing out actions sequentially.

So yeah, this one was not for me. It gets a bonus star because the diversity is so freaking there, and I appreciate that. At times I felt like the plot relied too much on the quirky diverse character traits, like how Cassie goes off about feminism that one time. I mean, sure girl go off, but I was cringing.

June 2019 Wrap Up

I wish I could read more but I'm just so busy!!! Here are the books I read this month... I'm not even going to include stats because of how shameful my tiny pile is 😂My favorite book this month was Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren.

1. Winning by Lara Deloza

Rating: ★★★★☆
I saw this book for $2 in my local used bookstore and thought the cover was cute, so I bought it. I didn't expect to read it soon after, or to really like it (I knew from the blurb is was a typical teen high school drama), but it's a good thing I read it this month because it helped me out of a bit of a slump. Read my full thoughts HERE.

2. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Rating: ★★★☆☆
This one was fun, but not quite perfect. Check out my full review HERE.

3. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Rating: ★★★★☆
This was a really exciting story. I always forget how much I like survival stories until I read one again. I was impressed at the author's ability to make me connect with Brian when he was pretty much the only character in the book, and it was told in third person. Some people complained that the book was overdescriptive, but I thought it added to the ambience of the story. I listened to this on audiobook, so maybe that helped, but I enjoyed this book.

4. A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

Rating: ★★★★☆
I liked this book a lot. I knocked it out in 3 days which was really good for my healing reading slump. I loved the concept, and the way the author really puts the reader in Shirin's shoes. The romance was also so cute. I only knocked off one star because I wish it wasn't all about the romance, like that there was more about friendships. Also Shirin was so jaded, which I understood given her position, but after a while it got so frustrating to hear her constantly push Ocean away and then go back to him.

5. Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Normally I wouldn't continue in a series when the first book is two stars... but for this one I'm going to have to. Find out why HERE.

6. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Rating: ★★★★★
This is the first Christina Lauren book I've read, and I absolutely loved it! It's funny, it's charming, it's emotional, it has great sex scenes (although it is not recommended to listen to the audiobook with your mother during those scenes). Hazel is a fun, dynamic, yet relatable character. Her personality just oozed with other people I know, yet she was so fun to read about. Josh was an excellent contrast to her, and I honestly want a Josh in my life (it doesn't hurt to point out that the Josh narrator of the audiobook voices one of my favorite anime characters). The audiobook was also great, no complaints there. The only thing that slightly annoyed me in this book is how often Hazel talks about how Josh is "just so hot". Like girl, we know. You said it several times. Chill. But even with that, I rate this book 5 stars because I enjoyed it so much.

Review for "Passenger" by Alexandra Bracken

Opening the door even a crack into this was enough of a temptation for her imagination to rip it open and step inside. What would it be like, she wondered, to go wherever, whenever she wanted to? 



Rating: ★★☆☆☆

If I had read this book when I was younger, I probably would've liked it a lot. But my high standards in YA fantasy have led me to rank this book among basic plot, melodramatic books that are twice as long as they should be. I originally picked this book up because I bought the sequel at Half Price Books (I thought the cover was beautiful and I didn't realize it was a sequel), so I read this one just so I could read that one. Here's hoping the second one is better.

In terms of plot, this is just the most basic time travel plot I can think of. A girl finds out time travel exists, and she does it, and she uses it to find a missing artifact to save her mother who's being held hostage. I just felt like I saw everything coming, like there were no interesting twists. On top of the basicness of the plot, the book moves so incredibly slow. The main quest is finding this missing artifact, and that isn't even introduced until page 189 (39% of the way through the book). There are certain elements I liked, but those are more a factor of time travel stories in general and not anything the author did to make it special (I mean just getting to read about Syria in 1599, New York in 1776, Paris in 1890). And this all goes without even mentioning the plot holes.

This was a 3 star book until all the plot holes made my brain hurt. Obviously, when an author writes a time travel story they have to set the terms of time travel. The author doesn't really address things like the grandfather paradox, but just kind of implies that nothing that extreme as happened in this world of time travel... yet. I'm okay with the vagueness, except for the rules the author does set contradict other parts of the plot. And because it's a YA fantasy, the romance had to be a major point in the plot...

And of course there was that heady floral scent, driving him half mad, making him think of silky night air, and the moon hanging like an opal at midnight... 

The tears collected on her pale lashes, but she did not let them fall. 

What would hurt worse: the regret that she tried or the regret that she didn't? 

Maybe that's why she wanted it so badly--it was impossible, and both of them were too stubborn to let themselves be told what they could and couldn't have. 

I have never read a more melodramatic "love" story. There's no way it's not intentional, but I hate it. The insta-love does not make sense here, but I'm learning that maybe I'm just not an insta-love person. On top of their cringey interactions, the characters act much younger than their stated ages (17-20). This wouldn't be an issue except that they literally have sex and I'm like why are these actual children in the middle of a really vaguely written sex scene. Cringe.

The plot, romance and characters would've been so much more tolerable if they had been going on this journey in a trio instead of just Etta and Nicholas. I wish Sophia had found them out, traveled with them, and eventually realized that Ironwood was bad and turned over to the light side. There were just so many better plot directions this book could've taken in regards to Sophia, and having another female character with Etta and Nicholas would've been really good.

Extra star on my rating for diversity - and for expressly addressing how racial discrimination is different in different points in history.

Review for "The Gilded Wolves" by Roshani Chokshi

I don't want them to look us in the eye. I want them to look away, to blink harshly, as if they've stared at the sun itself. I don't want them standing across from us. I want them kneeling. 



Rating: ★★★☆☆

I feel like sometime in my countless hours on Goodreads and Booktube I heard this described as a Six of Crows 2.o/knockoff (depending on how good you think it is). For me, it's more on the side of knockoff. I think I have distinct positive and negatives for most aspects of the book, that even it out to being a solid three stars.

Concept:
The concept is really interesting. I like how there's a fantastical element, but the setting is 1889 Paris. I also liked how there's the Tower of Babel incorporation. However, I think the concept should have been one or the other. A general comment on the book is that there's just way too much going on at once, so either the World Exposition should have been the main focus, or the Babel Fragments. Having both at the same time just made for a bit of a headache while reading.

Plot:
One thing I think is really important when reading is the entertainment quality. This book was entertaining. Like most standalone/1st in a series fantasy books, the beginning is slow to warm up, but once you get into the thick of it, you are intrigued to know how things turn out. That being said, the plot on a technical level feels disjointed. It's almost as if the author started out with the beginning of the book, then wrote each chapter by itself, constantly trying to bring in new aspects of the Magic, or new artifacts, or new characters. I honestly just couldn't keep it all straight and it was frustrating. There are just too many plot directions and supplements related to the magic system to fully understand and appreciate everything.

Characters:
For the most part, the characters are very well done. I'm a little bit in love with Zofia, and I was totally charmed by Enrique. I love how the 3rd-person shifting viewpoint adds to the characters, so we can really see the world as they do. We get a cynical tone with Enrique, a dark tone from Séverin, etc.

As for Séverin himself... If we're still making comparisons to Six of Crows, Séverin is a major disappointment as a stand-in Kaz Brekker. He's not nearly as smart/calculating; whereas Kaz is always two steps ahead, Séverin falls into a major trap in the very beginning of the novel. I'm conflicted about how I feel about this. On one hand, it makes Séverin more human which makes the story more compelling, but at the same time Kaz is just way cooler. It's just like, Séverin talks a big game, but he doesn't really back it up with actions. I would say Séverin is consistently shaped by the plot, whereas Kaz shapes the plot, so I guess it depends on what kind of book you're looking for. For a multi-character book about using individual skillsets to pull off a heist (the plot/structure of both Six of Crows and The Gilded Wolves), I would be looking for a character-driven novel in which case Kaz is a more compelling character. Again, that's just a comparison to a very similar book that I think did some things better than this one.

Another character I didn't love was Laila. I appreciated her emotion, and I think her backstory from India and how she was "made" is really interesting, but she's again too disjointed. She has so many interests and roles in the novel that it feels like they should've just made another female character to take on some of those roles. She's a down-to-Earth baker, she's a flamboyant broadway dancer (I know the novel makes a point about how she's different to the public and in private, but honestly I don't see that much of a difference because she's still the wardrobe/make-up person in her private life), but she also is a classically trained dancer IRL, she can "read" objects, she's [something???] with Tristan, she had sex with Séverin ONE TIME two years ago and will never forget it... There's just way too much going on. You can have character depth without making a character drown in things that are supposed to make them interesting/drive the plot.

Relationships:
I appreciate that romance is not a driving force in this novel. It is definitely meant to be more of an accessory than a main plot point, which I think works well in these kind of fantasy novels. But did we have to ruin that by talking about Laila and Séverin's one steamy night every other chapter? Every time Laila and Séverin, like, SEE each other, they flashback to "his skin against mine" or some other god-awful sex cliche. It got very tiring. And again, I was confused because I thought in the first half of the novel it was implied that Laila and Tristan were together, so that just changed my comprehension of all Laila's romantic encounters. Also I was shipping Enrique and Zofia SO HARD and then Hypnos swoops in like whaddup I'm here to steal your girlllll, like what?! Grrrr. And then Zofia skips the party when she sees them together, and you KNOW that Enrique is really into her and not Hypnos... (Side note: Who names a character of Hypnos's personality/age/standing "Hypnos"? Yes, I know the mythological significance, but it still sucks as a name for him.)

Language:
I wouldn't normally include language in my book reviews, but some of the language here did not sit well with me. First of all, I know we give YA fantasy novels a lot of lenience in using dramatic cliches, but "She tasted impossible. Like candied moonlight." Seriously... that's bad. Also, I feel like the author was not always mindful that this story took place in the 19th century when writing the dialogue. Using phrases like "all the rage"... I don't know, something with the language and dialogue just doesn't fit with the setting.

Overall thoughts:
I like the concepts, I like the entertainment value of the plot, I like most of the characters, I just think that all of it should have been cut in half. Half of the artifacts and magic things, half of the character's divergent personalities, half of the plot points should have just been thrown out. The novel is entertaining at the same time as it is messy and disjointed.

Review for "Winning" by Lara Deloza

Why the hell should I care about Alexandra Miles's opinion of me? I think it has something to do with her freakishly strong magnetism. She's like the sun. You never really stop wanting to feel that warm, buttery light on your face. Even if you've been burned by it. 



Rating: ★★★★☆

There's a good possibility that I'm being overly generous with my rating of this book for two main reasons: 1) My self-proclaimed guilty pleasure is trashy teen high school drama books - I absolutely DIED over reading PLL, and I binged all 8 seasons of Gossip Girl in a month and 2) This is exactly the kind of book I needed to read right now. I picked this book up in a bookstore because the cover was gorgeous and it was in great condition and it was actually $2. I've been in a bit of slump - I've just been reading so much heavy sci-fi and classics and complicated/dark fantasy lately that it has been burning me out. So, my cure? A 300-page teen drama. And it accomplished its mission well enough.

When it comes to betrayal, a little goes a long way. 

This book is like the movie Mean Girls, if it was told from the perspectives of Regina, Gretchen, Janis, and Damian. The funny thing is, one of the narrators even recognizes the extreme similarities and makes connections between the characters in Winning and the characters from the film. Also, if Regina George was more like Blair Waldorf - smart in her scheming, vindictive, cruel, and not concerned with "collateral damage".

I really liked seeing the viewpoint of Alexandra (the Queen Bee/Regina George/Blair Waldorf). Obviously, the way she's written makes her absolutely horrible, and I think this is one unlikable character where it is very obvious that you are not supposed to like her. It helps that there are multiple perspectives from the good guys, it stops us from siding too much with Alexandra when we know it's wrong. I didn't love Sloane's chapters just because I thought they were completely unnecessary. She acts like she's going to bring Alexandra down (ahem, Janis Ian), using her best friend (Gretchen) and by ruining her relationship with Matt (Aaron Samuels). But then she hardly plays a role in orchestrating Alexandra's great fall. I suppose they added her perspective because they wanted the book to be longer or more substantive, but if that's the case they really should have given some chapters to New Girl Erin. I understand why she didn't have any chapters, since it did help make her seem like an outsider, but for a book that is supposedly about a Queen Bee protecting her throne from a preppy New Girl, the New Girl isn't in the novel as much as you'd expect.

Just a small detail I want to point out - no matter how immature and evil Alexandra was, can we talk about Principal Frick? Like how can a principal "have it out" for a student? How is a school administrator allowed to so publicly hate a student? I'm not saying Alexandra didn't deserve to be hated, but Frick was just unprofessional.

Look, the writing isn't fantastic. The plot is clearly not original. The characters are one-dimensional, and the author is a little insensitive to certain societal taboos (having a sober person take advantage of a drunk/roofied person at a party, but it's okay because they weren't the one that roofied her and they end up dating later anyway). Overall, the story is cliche and predictable and not that compelling. But I still liked it. I enjoyed my time reading it, and I wanted to know how everything was going to happen. For me, this book was an escape into a 2000's teen movie. You know it's not real, or even a realistic reflection of high school, but it's still entertaining. So I may reduce my rating after I've had more time for it to sink in, but overall I was entertained and that's the important thing IMO.