Amy
I haven't actually read any of the Caldwell & Feximal stories and am coming at this solely from being a fan of Whyborne & Griffin (and just Hawk's writing in general). While it is so much fun to see Whyborne and Griffin from an outsiders perspective, all this short story has really done is strengthen my interest in not reading any more of Charles' books - because too many of them have skirted the rape-y side way too close.
Case in point: There were no preliminaries. He barely did more than jerk clothing out of the way, and grab for the bottle of oil by the bedside. He did not give a damn for my pleasure, or take any time for the simple courtesies of lovers. He simply held me down and pushed into me with brutal strokes of possession, his fingers gripping my flesh without mercy, and the words that issued from his lips were a great deal more like threats than endearments.
Which is a shame, because prior to their sex scene, I was leaning towards a five star rating for this short story because it is nice to see Whyborne and Griffin out of their element and - as aforementioned - from an outside perspective. As well as the case being interesting in that it benefits from Whyborne's knowledge of languages but doesn't really need his knowledge of sorcery. Which was a super fun change.
But...well...
I have so many mixed feelings about this book. Nothing about it is a simple, easy read and there is nothing about it that I only have one one feeling on. Nothing herein is clear-cut.
The world building is interesting - and unique compared to that which I usually find in fantasy books - but it is also somewhat...painful? I don't know how to describe it, but there's a lot going on here of marginalization and judgement of people that are different from you. So, yeah.
The use of blood magic is...look, I hate the whole ‘evil magic is evil' thing that crops up so often in fantasy and this book does use a dash of that, but it also shows how blood magic can be a good thing. Which I did appreciate.
The medical stuff is interesting but also, ultimately, at the end of the day, something I found rather gross. Just me personally.
The characters are all deeply, deeply flawed people, difficult to actually like but also kind of difficult to hate. Which left me mostly indifferent to them. Which, more than anything else is why this didn't get a higher rating. (Or, conversely, a lower rating.)
Finally, I do like how queernormative the whole setting is. Everything is just chill and casually queer and I totally need more of this sort of books in my life.
I would be interested in reading more from this author, but I'd likely pass if it was medical based.
2.5 stars rounded up.
It worked out for me slightly better than the first one did. The humor calmed down and the plot was somewhat interesting. (Though it wound up heading is a vastly different direction than I thought it would.)
The real issue I had was that everything is pretty much on fast forward. We have little to no time to actually get to know these characters and so much is left open to interpretation. (I'm not going to get into it, but lets just say that if I hadn't read reviews I would have a) been shocked when one boy suddenly started calling another boy his boyfriend when all we got to see was some very light flirting and b) probably totally missed the fact that one boy was vaguely hinted around as being trans.)
For me there was no real character building moments besides of the ‘we're so funny and quirky' moments and, ultimately, despite liking what I have seen of them for the most part, I feel like I really have little idea about these characters or their lives.
I'd like to give a huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher (HarperCollins) for this chance to read an advance copy of one of my favorite author's work in exchange for an honest review.
And, to be honest, I was a little uncertain about this book upon reading the synopsis. Despite Sebastian being pretty much my go-to author for queer historical romance, there were several things that I wasn't sure I'd like.
Like, I don't consider the 1960's to really be historical, I am not a fan of the so called grumpy/sunshine romances and finally, a solid 95% of my knowledge and fan-ness for sports goes securely to hockey.
But, really, I should have had confidence that this book would be as amazing for me as all Sebastian's other works.
Taking place in the 1960's is really more of a backdrop and is used to inform us readers of the society of the times (and a little look into what being queer in that time would be like) and is very understated and doesn't at all try-hard like a lot of other mid-century ‘historical' books I've read.
The romance is wonderful and soft and sweet. I love the fact that the guys are so careful with each other - and themselves - and there is plenty of conversations and kissing before the sex. (Though I most assuredly do not consider this slow-burn.) Mark is, honestly, not grumpy - he's just a cat in human form. He's fussy and particular, likes to gripe and complain, can unleash his claws, but what he really wants is to be told he's important. Eddie is...a golden retriever that was accidentally crossed with a chihuahua, because he has more bite to him than I have ever seen in a ‘sunshine' character.
All in all, everything about the romance makes me very happy. (Add to the fact that there is no melodrama, no late-story separation and no misunderstandings and this book feels like an old favorite in all the best ways, just a calm, relaxing romance.)
About the baseball...Well, it was a decently important part of the story, but as someone that knows very little - and the little they do know they picked up by osmosis from a dad and a brother that were/are baseball fans... It worked. It was easy to follow and things were explained well enough without getting into the minutia. (And, I mean, it's no hockey, but we all knew that going into it.)
Finally, I want to say that I love the attention to community this book had. It wasn't huge, but it was there and very important for both Mark and Eddie. They needed people they could be true to themselves around while also being safe, and I really think they found it and I am glad for them.
This book was a very sweet, very easy to read romance and I am so happy I got this chance to read it.
Review crossposted to Netgalley/Goodreads.
I'm rather glad, actually, that I had to take a few days break from this book while life happened because it made me realize that I was being unduly harsh to it. That being said, I am still very disappointed in this ending.
For one thing, I am not on board with the plot twist/sudden world building reveal that has been a major game changer these last few volumes. This volume also suffers from major cop-out syndrome for the defeat of Kafka/varuga. Which I am also not happy about.
I do still like the characters and, honestly, they are why I could still keep going. But for me the later third of the series was very weak and this last volume was the weakest of them all.
I still like the characters - even Eliska is growing on me more than I thought possible - but the plot... it just is not working for me on any level. It's cheesy and feels like the ‘big reveal' from Mass Effect and is just so blown out of proportion and it also really doesn't matter. I mean, it changes nothing but the background plotlines as nothing about our core goals actually change due to this reveal. I also suffers from a ‘chosen one' setup around Nai, which I truly hate. (To end on a good note though, I do love the character development for Gareki. So, so much.)
I have really mixed feelings about this volume. While I love the whole story line with splitting the group up and having them investigate vastly different areas/events/people, I do not like the revelations about Nai. ... At all.
It feels like there's a lot of revelations in this volume that really changes Nai's character as well as the world and I really don't like those changes. And, also, my brain has to do as massive re-calibration after seeing automobiles for the first time in this manga. There's really a lot of stuff in here that I did not expect to see and, like I said, I'm not really liking it.
Of course, it's always fun to spend time with Airships 1 & 2 which has been saving the last couple volumes of this story, to be honest.
Big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher (Norton Young Readers) for the chance to read an advanced copy of this book!
I liked this book a lot. It really fit what I have been looking for and desperately hoping for when I requested it. What I had been looking for was a non-western European inspired fantasy story and this book, influenced by Western African mythology and written by a Nigerian author, really fit the bill.
I like the world that's been created and really enjoy the little bits of world building that just are different from what I'm used to finding in fantasy stories. Things like what they eat and how they dress, small details that allow you to feel immersed in the world.
The characters are all likable, even if I found Naborhi a little frustrating at times - especially early in the book. But, she is a well developed character and I especially liked that she had to struggle with the idea that her best friend and her sister both like the system that she's wanting so badly to escape. While Naborhi is very much the YA fantasy kick-butt girl, she never dismisses the girls and women that prefer more traditional roles. She's not trying to overthrow a corrupt regime, she's just trying to find her place in the world.
The two boys, Atai and Tamunor, were good characters and both very different from each other with distinct personalities. (But, let's be fair, this is Naborhi's story and they are just here.)
I love, love, love the idea of the Red Tapestry. Without giving away spoilers, the idea for a group of women like this appeals to me - and appeals to me all the more because I know where Naborhi comes from and I can see just how much it appeals to her. (Also, as someone that has a really hard time reading books that have culture/s where women are second class citizens (or worse) I loved that there were so many capable women in this story.)
Finally, I would like to note that there is attraction here, but it is minor and so not the point. Which it is super nice to find a YA book that isn't focused on the romance. Instead, it takes the time to build friendships which is a win as far as I'm concerned.
Now the problems I had were pretty minor and forgivable, but they were there.
First, I had a slight issue with the pacing. I do think most of that was the fault of the synopsis covering such a huge chunk of the book and, in fact, giving away 75% + spoilers. Because of this, I kept waiting for the things mentioned in the plot to happen, which made the first 30% or so seem really slow and then it almost felt like the rest flew by too fast.
Also this is a debut novel. And it feels like it at times. Sometimes things are ... under described? There is a bit of telling instead of showing. Not a lot, definitely not enough to ruin my enjoyment, but I do really look forward to what this author can do when she really starts perfecting her craft.
This review was duel posted to Netgalley and Goodreads.
I do like the way the world is opening up more - we now know more about the running of Circus and we learn a bit about some of the other things they do besides fight varuga. However...it's opening up a little too much for me and more and more focus is being taken off the characters that I love and there's more characters being introduced that aren't really given time to shine or, honestly, much to do at all.
I also have mixed feelings about all the information we're getting about Nai - especially and Karoku to a lesser extent. (I like that some of it ties back to stuff from ages ago, but also I cannot shake the dread that so much of this volume is giving me.)
Finally, I am very happy, actually, that we get more Tsubame and see what she's doing. I hope we get to check in with her more before the end of the story.
I have so much to say about this book and not all of it is actually about this book.Before we get started, a little disclaimer:I did not choose this book for myself. I subscribed to something called ‘just the right book' and this was the first book they sent me that had been ‘personally chosen for me'. I would have never chosen this book for myself to read because:A) I tried another book by Harrow and was not liking her writing style. This book is much the same; lots of verbose wordy-words in the descriptions and pretty much a violent version of purple prose.B) I do not usually like so called sub-genre ‘contemporary fantasy' of which the most well known of is urban fantasy. It's basically taking things that suit a fantasy setting and dropping them into the real world.C) I do not like first person perspectives. Sometimes the character is likable enough that I can get over this preference. Though not often. I also loathe the stylistic choice some authors make of having parts of a story in first person following one character and having other parts in third person, following another character.So, that's all to say that not only would I have never chosen this book for myself but if for some totally out there reason I had, I probably would have DNF'd it by about page 30.If these are things you like, this might be the book for you because this is one of those one star reads for me that I can see a person liking as it wasn't a horrible book. It was, however, a horrible book for me. That, to be fair, gets progressively worse over time.I do like the idea for the story with a magical house that grabs people that have no place else to go and makes them Warden's for the beasts of hell that come up through the basement. (And as someone that has no interest in horror, this book is not scary at all, which was an odd bonus.)However, the main message of the story seemed to be that people are generally shit and life sucks. Because the people in this book are, generally, shit people.Look, I have to like the characters to like a book. And Opal, it's been quite a while since I have hated a main character in a book as much as I hate her. Probably Cassa from [b:Beneath the Citadel 36430924 Beneath the Citadel Destiny Soria https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518016956l/36430924.SX50.jpg 58130626] and if not her, then Tash from [b:Tash Hearts Tolstoy 29414576 Tash Hearts Tolstoy Kathryn Ormsbee https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1495481600l/29414576.SY75.jpg 49672494] so, you know, if you liked them, you'll probably like Opal, too. But Opal is just the type of character I find so hard to even care what happens to - and, ultimately, I didn't. She's selfish and cruel, surly and violent.She is supposed to be 26 years old (Arthur's supposed to be 28) and she acts like a bratty teenager (so does he). She mopes and never thinks about what anyone else actually wants. She's a controlling, mean sister who doesn't even really care what her brother wants, as long as she is needed by him.Arthur is mopey and violent and, it's safe to say, suffering from a cross between touch starvation and an odd form of Stockholm Syndrome where he's being held captive not by Opal, but by - literally - the house (and the one single positive personality trait that anyone that isn't Bev has) and he still develops feelings for Opal - as far as I can tell because she is literally the only human contact that he has had since he was 16. (Which, to a degree, also explains why his emotional growth was stunted 12 years ago. I don't like him, either, but he is a grain of sand better than Opal, so I will give him the benefit of saying that what he needs more than anything else is copious amounts of therapy.)Therapy wouldn't do Opal any good because she would only sneer at the the therapist and claim this isn't something she wants and there's only one thing on her needs list. (Though, with the way Opal and Arthur go from disinterested to wanting to lock lips, and quickly being the reason for everything the other person does... Did I mention that the ‘romance' in this book strikes me as being super unhealthy and gave me the creeps? Because it does.)Really, with their personalities, if they had been teenagers, the book would have been a little easier to take - I expect teens to be selfish brats (which is also why I no longer read much YA fiction) and obsessed with lust (ditto) - instead of ostensibly being adults. Only one thing in the plot would have to change and it was just another reason for Opal to act like she knows what's better for her brother than he does and show, yet again, that she is self-absorbed.The plot is...borderline non-existent and, really, boils down to about twenty pages in the middle and another ten-fifteen at the end. The book is, more than anything else, a vehicle for the characters and their excuse for a ‘happy romance' - or whatever it was supposed to be - and thanks to how much I hated the characters... Well, I did give it one star.
Maybe more of a 3.5 - or 3.75 if I did quarter stars and didn't think it would lead to insanity.
Anyway, we got the wrap up to Yogi's story, which I had fun with and appreciated, but then we were dropped into Karoku's backstory (eventually turning into Nai's backstory) with no warning and I was left scrambling to catch up and understand what was going on.
Also...look, the backstory was informative, but it's not something I thought I needed nor ever wanted. Just because I've never been a fan of Karoku and don't really see that changing. Though, I will say, his mother was a real piece of work. ... His father was only slightly better, really, so, yeah. Sympathy for him, but I still don't really like him.
Overwhelmingly meh. Except for the ending. Which makes me feel sick.
Admittedly, somewhere between the first book and this, the third, book, my interest in superheroes has completely gone. (Like, Marvel killed it, honestly.) But, beyond that, I really didn't think this book was very good.
After the second book ended with this huge reveal, book three starts with pretty much no mention, business as usual. It was definitely trippy and confusing at first, but it probably took me 10% of the book to realize what was going on. It took the characters almost half the book to be told what was going on.
This section was dragged out so much and I hated it so much. So, so much. I will admit, this is the sort of plot device that I always pick up on pretty quickly - but to me that says less about my intelligence and more about the complete and total overuse of this as a plot device. (I'm still bitter about a game doing this with one of my favorite characters and no one picking up on it!)
Then we are taken to the Burke of the matter. Which...I don't 100% understand what he was trying to do. He wants to wipe out extraordinaries and manufacture fake ones that are police? Why? Does he really think he'll be some messiah figure to the civilians and some controlling Dark Lord to the police if he does this? Because that's not what would happen.
For me, though, what made me sick was the endings. Like, the second from last chapter and the epilogue thing. (Not the last chapter, because that was more fanfic humor that, I hate to say, kind of outstayed its welcome for me.)
So...major series spoilers for the character of Owen Burke to follow.
Owen Burke's a murderer. Let's get that out of the way. We remember way back in book one that he killed people. (He, ostensibly, tried again in this book, but I don't think anyone actually died?) This book takes great pains to remind you of that.Why?So you can ignore the fact that he was a teenager that was abused and medically experimented on by his father.This book treats him as the big bad, the final boss. Seth and Nick working together cannot defeat him, so five adults gang up on him. This book lampshades it, but apparently doesn't see anything wrong with five adults (all of whom have superpowers at this moment) ganging up on a freaking abused teenager.(One of them even gets the line of 'I usually don't agree with hitting queers, but for you I'll make an exception.' because that is just so cool. [/sarcasm])He didn't need to be fought, he needed therapy.But, then he gets told there's 'always consequences for you actions' by someone that committed police brutality, didn't receive even a slap on the wrist and then simply left the force. Really? That's your chosen mouthpiece here?But, this is ignoring the fact that what this kid needed wasn't consequences - and, besides, where were the consequences for everyone else? Simon Burke? He went to prison, even though he started this and some could argue (me! me! I'd argue!) that he is directly responsible for any deaths Owen caused while using his powers.So, yes, he's in prison. His horrid wife is in prison. What happens to Owen, who, I would say is one of the actual victims of the story? He vanishes. He turns to a misty shadow and just ceases to exist. (By this point, he probably wanted to.)Does anyone care? Nope. We're more concerned about (activist rights!) getting Gibby reinstated as valedictorian and allowing Seth to return to school....
Finally, the ending. A time jump of nine (?) years all just so we can have a wonderfully happy ending with a wedding. Is there anything I hate more for a story ending than a wedding? I don't think so.
Considering that my favorite books by this author were the first two, romance focused, books I read of his, I'm probably done. (And to be fair, if I keep thinking about this, I will drop the rating and ... Honestly, with the way I feel, it probably deserves that, but I did get a few chuckles out of it, so...)
Maybe more of a 3.5 or a 3.25 if I want to split hairs, but ultimately it was a book I did enjoy. Even if the road was particularly bumpy at times.
I think the important takeaway for me here is to know what the book is before I fall in lust with the title.
I did wind up liking the characters - quite a lot and a lot more than I thought I would. It just took a lot of time for them to grow into characters I actually enjoyed being in the head of. Especially Gwen, because I really had a lot of issues with her to start. My issues with Art came later, as Gwen started to improve - so at least I wasn't finding both of them insufferable at the same time. (And then Art improved and Gwen was the problem again.)
To be fair, though, I got through most of the first third of the book thanks to Gabriel and at least at one point, I thought Bridget and Gabriel could have done much better than either of their love interests. They do both improve (Gwen in fits and starts, honestly, and I still find her somewhat...shrill at times.) But, really, no one is flawless - though Bridget is about as close as possible and still stay likable - and I ultimately enjoyed spending time with these characters - despite them being total messes.
(There's a tiny bit of a plot floating around, but, really, with this title, even I was here for the romance.)
There's nothing that raises this book above average in every way - and more than its fair share of things that reduces it to well below average.
I do not like the characters. I find our two POV's to be insufferable and mostly interchangeable. (The only real difference between them is that Holden is holier-than-thou which also means I hate him the most.) The other three are very underdeveloped and we know little about them at the end of these five hundred plus pages that we didn't learn in the first hundred pages. (To be fair, Naomi or Amos might have been good MC's if they were given the opportunity. They at least have sparks of personality that would, to be fair, likely be gone were they to be the MC's.) (They could wipe out the entire five person ‘main cast' and the most I would feel is an even stronger sense of ‘why did I bother?')
The plot is bog standard, recycled sci-fi fair. There isn't original here, though there is a lot that I personally dislike. (I deeply, deeply hate when my sci-fi takes a turn into horror which I feel that this did, around the halfway point. It does climb back out, after awhile, but by then the damage was done and I had, it turns out, completely checked out. For me horror is often categorized by a lack of characters to care about, characters to feel anything for and more of a focus on how grotesque/disgusting something is. And this book never really pulled out of that. shrugs)
I find it extremely jarring that in the preface of the 10th anniversary edition, the authors said ‘the project was a love letter to the science fiction of the 70's [...] with an updated, contemporary sensibility' when there is very little here that isn't sci-fi straight out of the 70's or 80's. The two narrators are still straight, cis, white men. Yeah, that's updated. I mean, there were none of them as narrators in the 70's, right? There a five person main cast and there is only one woman. Are any of the main cast BIPOC? (I think Naomi is, but I don't know if that's because it was said or I'm just linking her to the show Naomi. Was Alex? It seemed like he might be?) How about literally any LGBT+ rep - or at least the aforementioned straight, cis, white men narrators not lusting after a woman for over half the book and/or fancying they're in love with a woman and/or maybe a little less hardcore heteronormativity?
(Also, it just generally pisses me off/creeps me out that our missing female macguffin also functions as a love interest for one of our MC's because he talks to her in his head.)
What's absolutely hilarious to me - and somewhat appalling - is that the more I read this book, the less I liked it. We started out, for the first quarter or so, at around an estimated for stars. (That might have been a little high, but I was enjoying it.) Each quarter my estimation dropped by one star until I was left with this mess that I would have just been all around happier if I hadn't read.
So...I do appreciate that there's talk of mental health and anorexia - especially considering that this is not a format that I usually see either in. (Not just comics, but MLM romances.) But... The reason I got so attached to season one and the first volume or two of the comics was because of how soft, low stress they were. (I mean, even the bad stuff was tempered with the soft, everything is going to be fine vibe.) Season two of the show completely lost that feeling for me and the comics have been slowly loosing that feel as well.
Don't get me wrong, they're good, the show is so important and I am so, so thrilled with the good bi (male bi realization, especially) rep we get. But, being honest, if the story had started here with all the big deal issues being at the forefront, I probably would have quickly dropped it.
(Side note: there is also way too much time jumped over in this story and a lot of ‘recap' text instead of actually seeing it happen. Season three of the show should be interesting, because they covered a little out of this volume, but most of it was Charlie's health taking the forefront and the show hasn't fully delved into that yet.)
Woohoo! I finally caught up to those that I haven't read yet! Anyway, this was a really, really good volume for me. I wasn't sure I was going to be too happy because I'm like ‘who are these people and why are we getting her creepy backstory?' - And then it all became clear and ... I just want to hug everyone. (And Gareki being all ‘I totally don't care, nope, not at all. Why do you think I do? I don't!' was so, so good.)
Cross-posted to Netgalley
I want to give a big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher (Groundwood Books) for this free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. (And oh boy is this opinion honest and honestly mine.)
I have so much to say about this book. I have over three pages of notes on Word - at least half of it covering the same subject: the romance.
Okay, first, what worked for me. The gaming. That's why I was interested in this book. And it is lovely. The sections of novelizing their campaign were well written, polished and descriptive. The irl gaming talk and segments were obviously drawing on the author's own enthusiasm and experience. If I could have stayed here, the book would have been four stars for me.
But, the ‘real life' I did not find as polished or as well written, and then the drama started and just grew and grew until it took over the whole story.
This book deals with sexual assault, bullying, death threats, threats of suicide, cheating, abusive relationships, homophobia, ect. It all got to be just too much for me.
Then came the tent-peg romance. Darcy and Art. Our co-leads.
I did not like or support their relationship. I could have, but there were events that - due to Netgalley's spoiler policy - I will not get into here. Let's just say Darcy's actions were waved away without her having to take any responsibility for them. There were extenuating circumstances, but that did not negate her poor choices - and I did not like the way the book seemed to push the idea that she made no mistakes and did nothing wrong.
All in all, I am literally heartbroken that this book didn't turn out better for me.
There be light relationship spoilers beyond this point
Look, I get that Darcy was in a bad situation, that James was abusive. I called it abuse long before this book called it abuse. But that doesn't mean she gets a free pass on her actions! This book is trying to make her behavior - cheating on James/Art, never telling Art that she was still with James because she was afraid to break it off, only talking to Art after the truth comes out when SHE wants something - okay. And it's not okay!She made poor choices and I don't like how this book seems to want her actions - not even forgiven - but just ignored like what she did was totally not a problem and perfectly fine and absolutely no consequences for her actions - when she did things that were bad.Art tells her that 'you're not responsible for the way James treated you. Or the way I treated you, for that matter. You're not to blame, Darcy.' and while this is true, she is responsible for her actions. She made poor choices and she should be allowed to at least take responsibility for her actions. She wasn't allowed to and the narration of the book basically made it sound like she didn't need to.(Side note: No, Darcy never actually apologizes, even though everyone says she did. She said she 'needed to apologize' Art says 'you're forgiven' and they move on. There is a difference between saying 'I need to say I'm sorry' and saying 'I am sorry'. Even if Art is young and wants his girlfriend back and doesn't think there's a difference.)
3.5 rounded up.
I love this crop of modern fantasy books that look at the old-school traditionalists that cry out ‘realism' when we wonder where gender and sexual diversity - and equality - is in our magic and dragons books and are all like: nope!
Without knowing anything about this book, I wanted to read it, simply on the strength of how much I loved Thor's Tarnished are the Stars - which was, honestly, probably a lot of stress to put on this book.
Anyway, this is a very difficult book for me to rate. If I hadn't been at work, with this the only audio book I had downloaded at the time, when I started listening to it, I would have DNF'd it around chapter three.
Basically, a rating breakdown would look like this:
First third: 2 stars
Middle third: 3 stars
Final third: 4 stars
By the time the final third came around, Ingrid actually started becoming likable. Prior to that, she was only occasionally not terrible. (Around the Meyers' campaign people.) Otherwise, around Linden and her dad and when she was by herself, I kind of hated her. Not for any real, major reason. I just found her too wishy-washy and pretty insufferable.
Oh, and having her and Linden as a couple from the start was 100% a surefire way to make me not care a bit about them as a couple. Which...made it all the more surprising that I came to like Linden even before I started to like Ingrid - because he was not at all what I expected.
And I do like all the other people Ingrid surrounds herself with: Alex, Charlotte, Faye, Bertie, Clarence, Louise and Gwendolyn. They are all an amazing cast of characters and...that made it stick out unbelievably horribly for over half the book that I just didn't like Ingrid. Seriously, I liked everyone else - which is why I kept going after I met them - just not Ingrid for the longest time.
Finally, I have to say that I have very, very strong feels for the ... not-romance in the book. I love that was the tent-peg relationship and I would have loved it even more if more of a focus could have been on that and not Ingrid's uncomfortable romance.
(Side note: I think with two of the books I've read this year, I am going to have to create a qpr shelf, because that is what I believe the modern term would be. Right? I'm still a little fuzzy on queer platonic, but I think this is it.)
Edited February 2024
Nope, still not done with this because another book I was reading capitalized ‘Black' which reminded me of the hue and cry this book received for capitalizing ‘White' and seeing an odd choice a second time so closely together made me do a quick google search which netted this quote direct from the American Psychological Association in an article on Racial and Ethnic Identity.
When you are writing, you need to follow general principles to ensure that your language is free of bias. Here we provide guidelines for talking about racial and ethnic identity with inclusivity and respect.
Further down the article, the pertinent quote is thus:
Racial and ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and are capitalized. Therefore, use “Black” and “White” instead of “black” and “white” (do not use colors to refer to other human groups; doing so is considered pejorative).
So... ... Yeah. I thought the choice was a little odd because I had never seen it before. Turns out, the author made the right choice. That is, being respectful and free of bias in this instance.
(If you want to read the whole article, you can find it here. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/racial-ethnic-minorities)
edited to add:
After reading some of the low reviews, I have to ask: am I oblivious? I mean, I don't pick up on a lot of racist and sometimes sexist issues that other people do - and the things that do bother me often doesn't bother anyone else. I don't know what to think about this situation that I now find myself in because, yes, there were some uncomfortable moments in this book - but as someone that has read a lot of books about literal demons, I didn't view this quite the same way as ‘slaves are now soulless' as other people had that as the takeaway.
I'm not saying my impression is right and theirs is wrong - I'm just trying to wrap my head around my feelings towards this book - and the things that, yes, did make me uncomfortable (like everyone's propensity for violence) but that were not mentioned in favor of things that I didn't even see. I don't know. I feel like I need to sit on this rating and review as well as reread this book to see if I can see what other people have. None of which I will do, to be fair.
I don't know, but this book and others reviews has given me food for thought - even if that wasn't the purpose.
Original, first impression review below.
Edited once more to add:
Upon more thought, and thinking about my impressions as I was reading, I viewed the scene with the demon feeding on the slave at auction as the demon being a manifestation of the slave's hopelessness. I didn't really view it as an actual demon - though there are questions I have about the word choice here and other places. Also, if they really are demons, why would a succubi be feeding on cattle? I mean, really. I don't know if this was how it was meant to be taken, but that was how I saw it.
The other scenes that were brought up by other reviewers... When it was said that that's why the slaves don't hex the whites (yes, whites was capitalized, which I admit I did not notice and is an odd choice, but at the same time I'm not sure I would have more than a raised eyebrow as someone that finds a lot of books capitalize other races, but not humans) I took that to be more because they do not own the cotton, not that they do not own themselves.
Finally, the whole ‘subjugated' and including slaves and livestock... I mean, yes, that's a poor choice of wording and everything. I don't disagree. But...I don't really know how to take it, because that is the kind of thoughts that a white girl from that era could totally possibly have. I'm not trying to say that makes it okay. Because it obviously doesn't. And yet, at the same time, I disagree with whitewashing parts of history because we know better now.
I do not know if it was the author's intent - and I do not know if author intent actually counts for anything once the book is released to the wild - but I have been given much food for thought from this short little tale.
I am not going to change my rating or my original review - and in truth, I'll probably have no idea why this review has so many edits when I do my year end surveys and wrap-up for my blog - because it was my first impression thoughts.
Original review to follow.
Edited one final time (hopefully) to add:
After sleeping on it, I have decided to do something I have never done before: drop the rating of this book. So, I still don't see the same problems others do - but that anyone saw it like that is a problem. One that I maybe don't understand as well as those that saw it, but that I do agree that is a problem.
So...
Also, though, some of this is on me. Completely. Because I have not had a good year so far with books. I've only read two and one was a two star and I've already had two DNF's this year. I was trying so hard to make this a good book for me that I ignored things that did bother me somewhat - and there's no reason to think that I didn't ignore - or explain away - the problems that other people did see.
My issues with this book was 1: the level of violence and/or violent thoughts. There were at least two instances that the POV character wanted to severely hurt another, and once instance where our de facto hero slaps another girl that part of her ‘union' and, ostensibly one of her friends. The other girl apologizes for what she said that ‘caused' the slap. Our hero does not apologize for slapping her.
And, 2: the magic. Look, this wasn't a group of witches banding together to stick it to the man. This was one magic girl creating a spell that a non-magic girl could cast on all of them to make them loyal. It wasn't ‘look what us women can do' so much as it was ‘us women can't be trusted without magic forcing us'. And the penalty of wanting to break the magic binding is getting your hair magically picked out of your scalp.
Look, both these things made me uncomfortable when I read them, but I refused to see them as problematic because I wanted a good book (also, likely, because I read this all in one day without, really, giving myself time to think about it) - but they are problematic, at least for me.
Now, after more attention than this short book probably ever thought it would get, and a close examination of myself, I am ready to put this book fully behind me.
Original, now defunct, review below.
I love high fantasy books, but for me there's just always something unexpectedly fun about magic where you least expect it - like in a cotton mill where girls decided to use magic to unionize for 1: no increase of boardinghouse cost without relevant increase in pay; 2: limited working hours to only 10 per 24 hours; 3: safe and proper ventilation; and 4: women getting equal wages to men.
Over all, I thought this book was fun and sweet and the weakest link was actually the romance. I wouldn't mind if it had been longer and I can definitely see a sequel as being worthwhile. (I think I'm a little in love with Lydia, honestly.)
tl;dr
Dreary and depressing. Dreary characters, depressing world building and setting/story.
This book was something I tried to read a couple years ago and - within a hundred pages - dropped it. I can tell you exactly why I did: Because the previous book I read was such a foul miasma of cruel and disturbing happenings (the book in question, for those curious, is The Diviners by Libba Bray, the single book that I truly regret reading as the more distance I get from it, the more I realize it was absolutely atrocious and has no redeeming qualities at all as far as I am concerned) that I was fresh out of author trust. And, as this book started mentioning things I find morally repugnant (mind control, possession, ect) I realized that I had no confidence that this author wouldn't go down the same disgusting road as the previous book I read did and I literally couldn't stomach another book like that one.
...
And also, Lila. I am so sick of girls like her.
So, this book kept being recommended to me, though. And it started lurking in my mind as an option of something I should maybe try again with. So, I did.
I don't regret it - but this is also four hundred pages when I could have been reading something better than this. (Honestly, this book reminds me so much of Mistborn that it's not even funny.)
The world building is about the only thing that even halfway interesting, with the four London's and a decent magic system. (I think? I mean, we don't really know how people that don't use blood magic does perform magic, but it seems okay. After all, usually when a book is this heavy in the ‘look at all the world building I did' the world building itself isn't the problem.)
The problem for me is the characters are people I really don't care much about.
I don't like Lila. First impression of her was terrible and it never improved. (I actively dislike girls like her in books.) The only time she was okay - vaguely tolerable - was when she was with Barron. Which was very, very little.
I feel nothing for Kell. He's as dry as a desert and about as likable. When he's around Rhy he's ... almost likable. This is not often enough. (Really, Rhy is the only character I even halfway like, as he is the only one that is not dreary and depressing.)
Kell and Lila together is the most unlikable, boring duo I think I've read about in a very, very long time. Because that's the thing, they are both so boring and standard. (Honestly, the characters in here are a paint-by-numbers: none of them are unique, instead interchangeable with so many other fantasy casts.)
The entire book is dreary. There is nothing to liven up the story and make me want to read it, to make me feel drawn to continue reading it, to dread putting it down. Instead, reading it feels almost like a chore, something I'm doing simply to be done with.
(Side note: While we do have at least one character under the quiltbag umbrella, the one that has been confirmed... Look, I'm sick of the only non-straight character being written as a total slut. Not everyone that is attracted to more than one gender is that way and I am feed up with it. Also, it's even more glaring in that we never get a section from their POV and we know they are attracted to more than one gender - when as much time as we spend in Lila and Kell's heads, we know absolutely nothing about who they might or might not be attracted to - which leads me to believe they are straight because this books seems to be written with the ‘straight is the default' mindset.)
Now, all that being said, I honestly might (probably will) continue this series. My library has the other two books and I am just curious enough about Black London to subject myself to two more books just like this one. Besides, even if the book wasn't very good, it was a quick enough read.
Original DNF Review
DNF - PG 93
Why?
...Because I do not like the world building of White London and if actually forcing my way through The Diviners taught me anything it was that when a book starts making you that kind of uncomfortable, quit reading. It's not going to get better.
Also, because everything that isn't Kell interacting with Rhy bores me.
Also, because we already had to have the main female character (yes, praise me, I did that much research) first put down other ‘ladies' because they're pretty and use their feminine wiles (but she's not like other girls) and then nearly get raped.
Also, I think Schwab's writing just isn't for me, because I didn't like Vicious, either.
Also, it took me ten days to read less than one hundred pages. And I wasn't reading anything else for most of that time. (The reading slump is partially this book's fault but, if I'm being fair, mostly the fault of The Diviners.)
Well. That happened. Honestly, with my favorite character in the book finding themselves in more than a spot of trouble at the end - ending on a cliffhanger - I am just a little...befuddled on what I wanted to say.
Okay, first of all, I love these characters. Every single one of the point of view characters. ... Except Jilssan. I've never quite got myself over to liking her. Everyone else? Adore. Completely adore.
And for me, the best thing about this series is how love is such a focus - but not the typical, boring in love of romantic relationships. Nope, this series instead brings the love of friends to the forefront. Now, don't get me wrong, some romantic relationships are being built (and I totally ship them) - but there's so much attention to the love of friends instead of romance being the be-all-end-all that is prevalent in pretty much all media.
And don't even get me started on the quiltbag rep. I mean, we have confirmed asexual, aromantic, demiromantic rep - as well as what I am pretty sure would be called a queer-platonic relationship that one asked the other involved if they were exclusive. I just... As someone that has always valued friendship and family love over romantic, this book makes me want to hug it and everyone. Just scoop them up and hug them. So...yup.
Pre-release ‘review'
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, ohmygosh!
What a lovely announcement to see in my inbox today. And it releases the day before my birthday!
I like getting a chance to see one of Griffin's cases when it's not a ‘the world is going to end' case. But, more than that, I just really, really love that all these early short stories is from Griffin's POV. I mean, we already got Whyborne's from most of the books, so it's really nice to see why he's so into Whyborne and that he's just as big a bundle of neurosis as we all know Whyborne is.