Amy

I love this series. Seriously, everything about it works for me. The characters are all great, (main characters, secondary characters, side characters, I love them all and would love to read a book about any of them) the plot is definitely stronger in this one than the second one and I just...honestly, think I love everything about this whole series.

I'd also like to mention that I wound up listening to the audiobook for the second and third books in this series (as that was the only way my library had them, but I do plan on buying the ebooks because I know I'll want to reread this series!) and I love the narrator. He does a great job on making all the characters sound different, without making any of them sound annoying. Also, I don't know accents, but he does an amazing job of them to my ears.

More like 3.5 stars, but I willingly rounded up because I actually liked it (as opposed to most of the other books I've been attempting to/actually reading this month).

Murder crew forever.

(Do they need a better name? No. No, they do not.)

Didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, mostly because I like the trapped together with a murderer on the loose storyline better than whatever this was.

But also because this was a very Orchid centric story and...pretty sure she's my least favorite. And, being honest, I was feed up with half the main characters in this book.

I hope this is the conclusion of Orchid and Green's drama. I also do kind of hope that Peacock actually could be relevant for the next story, but I do doubt it.

(And do hope that Scarlet, Mustard and Plum keep being awesome, because I am here for those three.)

The more I read of this book, the less I liked it. Before the last two hundred pages, I was mentally writing a very different review.

First of all, I don't like horror and I don't like thriller and I don't like suspense. These are things that I know I don't like - except, sometimes, the type of horror doesn't bother me. (Example: Whyborne & Griffin series by Jordan L. Hawk, which is a Lovecraftian inspired horror series. That works for me, somehow.)

This book started out delightfully creepy and atmospheric, took a sharp turn to ‘too much for me' around the third/fourth death (probably didn't help that I was reading it at night, after everyone else had already gone to bed) and then took a strong leap with both feet to the realm of ‘I physically cannot care anymore/bored now' when Jericho told about his past. It was like my level of macabre and horror had been filled and now all the stress and tension was just draining out. I literally couldn't care anymore and during the final confrontation, I was bored. There had been so much terrible up to that point, whatever new stuff was going on just didn't register for me.

(Also, up until that point, I wasn't sure if I would be continuing this series or not. I won't be, partially because of the problems that I had with this book, but also because I read the synopsis of the next three and...there are too many things I dislike just in the synopsis. For my own happiness, I need to stop here.)

Of the things I did like, at the top is the setting. Manhattan in the 1920's, how cool is that? Look, I love anything from the 20's, 30's and, possibly, the 40's. Hard work has to be put into any story like that to make me dislike it. And the research that the author did was obvious and amazing.

I also mostly like the characters, even when they aren't being exactly likable - though I wanted them to all meet up and defeat the big bad together. Because they didn't, this leaves me feeling like this is one long, (super long) extended (super extended) prologue. I mean, for me, groups are very important and in horror, non-solo is the most important. Also, the fact that, really, only Evie's group dealt with the coming anti-Christ...it kind of left the other people's stories bland.

Finally, I just think this book was too long. I thought that even when I was enjoying it, because everything moves so slow.

This is a very uneven book for me.

I love the characters and think they are all well written. I would love if all the siblings would get their own story and I would totally read them. (Kest and Garrett and Isa and I don't know who I adore more.) I love the real affection that these siblings have for each other. It's gorgeous stuff.

I don't like the whole ‘magic is evil' stuff in the story. I am thoroughly sick of it and the only reason I didn't drop the book the second it cropped up was that I liked Tal enough to stay interested. The magic problem only improves a little at the end of the book - and even then, it will be a long time before this society/world views magic as anything other than inherently evil. (I am so tired of this. Cheap, crappy copout, magic is evil, yeah, okay, we get it, you played Dragon Age.) (I'm bitter. Move on.)

I discovered while reading the acknowledgments at the end: the author conceived the idea as a ‘high fantasy fairy tale' and that's what it feels like. (This knowledge would have at least tempered my excitement for the story.)

The pacing of this story feels like it's at high speed once the second third starts (the prince-napping) and little through the story is expounded.

(But the siblings and their dynamic and how awesome they all are! And, yeah, that's what gives it an extra star.) (Yes, I said an extra star, because the whole ‘evil magic is evil' thing single-handedly knocked the rating down to two stars. Yay for evil magic.)

I actually really enjoyed this book - much to my surprise. I almost gave it a pass - even though I got it for free through Kindle Unlimited - because, judging from the tags and how it's shelved here on Goodreads, I thought it was going to be very different than it is.

What I was expecting was a romance story that was only barely fantasy and...I usually really don't care for those stories, because what often happens is the stories focus on romance and doesn't even attempt to flesh out a fantasy world and, as a fantasy reader, I am left disappointed.

This book, however, is a fantasy book with romance in it. In fact, I would say that the book would appeal much more to the LGBT+ fantasy crowd than the M/M romance crowd. (I do tend to enjoy both, but I have been desperately searching for some good LGBT+ fantasy, so this was awesome.)

We have six narrators (plus a surprise) and I actually really adore all six of them. (My favorites are probably Tristam and Gillian, but Hafgan is a total sweetheart.) I love that, unusual for a fantasy world, absolutely nothing seems to be made of the fact that several characters prefer their own gender. The world building is very interesting as well, with the use of dragons being inventive.

The only slight complaint I've got - and what knocked this down from a probable five star read - is that I wish nearly everyone hadn't been so obsessed with sex and romance and kissing. For me, that really wasn't what I wanted the book to focus on. (But it seldom is.)

To me, there's different levels of one star ratings. There's the ‘I hate everything about this book and want to burn it with fire' one stars and then there's the ‘I can objectively see why other people liked it but it just very much isn't for me' one stars. This is the second one.

I could sort of, almost not mind the first book because there was enough interesting stuff going on and enough secondary characters that I liked. This book spends so long setting up the story, focusing on Murderbot's existential crisis that I had completely lost interest in this short novella before I even reached the halfway point.

I continued reading because I told myself to, because I was forcing myself to give this series a real, decent chance. (And I think after reading three hundred unenjoyable pages, that I am well within my rights to say this is not a series for me.)

To be blunt, I don't like Murderbot and, pun intended, they killed the series for me. To focus so exclusively on one character and literally no one else, I have to like the character. (I don't have to relate to them.) Murderbot is misanthropic, with a heavy dose of surly and capped off with laziness. Relatable, yes. Enjoyable to read about, no.

Low drama, lots of secrets and murder.



Plum, young science genius, Scarlet, Machiavellian plotting to rule the school, Green, scholarship kid, Orchid, hiding a whole other life, Peacock, tennis star, Mustard, used to go to a military school, Mrs. White, dorm mother, Rusty Naylor, maintenance worker, students Silverman and Gould and headmaster Brian Boddy are trapped at a remote boarding school, during a blizzard. The bridge to the mainland is washed out, the school is flooded, electricity is out and Mr. Boddy is found dead in the conservatory, knife sticking out of his chest.

Who killed headmaster Boddy and why?



Honestly, this was so much fun. Clue was my favorite board game growing up and the author obviously holds affection for both the game and the movie from the eighties.

I was worried this book was going to be too ‘teen' for me - that there was going to be a lot of drama and, basically, that it would be like every teen drama that I've avoided. It wasn't, which was such a relief to me.

There were several red-herrings, but the mystery was...well, to be honest, not why I was reading the book. (Which is good, because I was vacillating between two suspects the entire book (even before the murder) and I wasn't wrong.)

I did really love the author's own take on these pop culture icons, but there's a couple small nitpicks that makes me not give this a five stars.

The first is that these characters are never described (except Orchid, who I honestly thought was a rather strange addition the the story anyway). This left me imagining a strange mixture of the younger versions of 1) the movie characters 2) the original board game characters and 3) characters from one of the computer games. That being said shrug.

The other problem I had was the dangling plot thread. A big thing is made of one of the secondary characters possibly being dead - and we never find out what actually happened to them. ??? Not even a line ‘yeah, they're alright. Nothing.

Anyway, over all a fun story, several weak motives to go with a handful of red-herrings and I am super looking forward to the sequel.

(Also, side note, just when I thing YA, especially contemporary YA isn't for me, I read a book like this!)

I don't know what this is beside such a disappointment because I like Cornwell's books - so I don't know what happened to this book. It was dark and dreary and just generally so unrelievedly depressing with characters that I just wanted to reach my hands around the necks of and squeeze and claw their faces and oh my gosh, I don't think I've hated characters this badly in a very, very long time.

(Except Alana Dale. She's such a minor, unimportant character, but at least she is fun. ... No one else is fun.)

Silvie: I don't know what I'm doing. I'm useless.
Bird: Silvie, you don't know what you're doing. You're useless.
Silvie: I know more than you, though, Bird.
Bird: sigh No, Silvie, you really don't.
(Pretty much every conversation between these two, ever.)

Okay, let's just say I hate Silvie, she's arrogant when she shouldn't be and insecure when she shouldn't be and is one of the most obnoxious YA female protagonists ever. (Shrill and sharp. She's also quite determined that love means giving up freedom, which, I think, is a terrible message, as you shouldn't choose to be with someone that would make you give up your freedom.) Bird (and I truly hate his nickname) is condescending. I hate both of them separately as characters and I really, really hate them as love interests.

Besides the characters, the book loads us up on rape, graphic animal death, attempted suicide, implied incestuous feelings, abuse, ect. It's like let's just makes things as crappy as possible and I dislike that to begin with, but I've been dealing with so much media that seems to think everything has to be as crappy as possible that I just don't want to deal with any of it anymore.

The dichotomy between the gritty, graphic subject matter and Cornwell's somewhat lyrical writing is especially jarring.

The idea of a gender switched Robin Hood is interesting enough but, minus the names of a few people/places, you wouldn't even guess that this was a Robin Hood retelling because there is nothing of Robin in Silvie.

Also, the author was quite adamant that her reason for not including a Maid Marian character in the story is because she didn't exist in the earliest tellings. So, instead we get Bird - who, as far as I can tell, has absolutely no correlation to the tale and is invented whole cloth. Yay.

And on the note of the original tale... Where's the thieving? I mean, Silvie pretty much only steals from her own family - and that only after being convinced that she's only taking what she'd be eating if she still lived there, anyway. And the big, bad Sheriff? The only reason Silvie even is interested in fighting against him is because he's her brother. If he'd been anyone else, she wouldn't care.

(Side note: I've shelved this book as ‘adult' on my spreadsheet, because if I had read it as a teen, with all the trigger warnings that I feel it should have, plus what I feel is a very graphic birth scene, I would have been mentally scared by it. So, yeah, YMMV.)

I am quite pleased that my unequivocal enjoyment of this book means that my previous reads this month were just not very good - not that I'm having trouble enjoying anything.

I like the story, very much just the kind of sci-fi I've been looking for with actual good aliens. (There's some bad ones, too, but it's not the humans = good & aliens = bad that I've come across way too often lately in sci-fi.)

My only real problems are a couple of minor, super nitpicky things and a couple scenes that I really, really hated. (But, look, Xandri hated those scenes too, so I'm in good company.)

Side note: I feel a slow building, bisexual, poly triad in the works. I am here for this.

More like a 2.5 barely rounded up. (Mostly because I still liked it more than Mark of Athena.)

While I am never as impressed with Riordan's books as I want to be, I always find something about the books to like and make me go ‘that was fun'. With this book it was the bond of friendship I could feel between our main four.

It's a good thing I actually cared about the friendship, because, for the most part, I couldn't shake the feeling that I read this book before, only then it was called The Lightning Thief.

So many plot points were, if not downright the same, suspiciously similar and the voice of the two respective leads is much the same.

Just barely ekes out a four star instead of a three - mostly because I do still like Arthur and Rory and I love that Arthur's ex wasn't used as a wedge to drive between them. Characters are still great and I could read about them hanging out at the speakeasy and be happy.

However, after how much I liked the balance between plot and romance/characters in the first book, I was disappointed that the plot in this book was barely there. The plot took forever to get moving, and then barely dribbled through the pages.

I would have liked to see more plot though I was happy that Arthur and Rory didn't spend the entire book lost in miscommunications or break up

Weak four stars, but something I don't regret reading and I do hope that the final in the series will be more plotty again.

Still as compulsively readable as ever - though it is starting to get very difficult keeping track of three different versions each of Martin and Jacob as well as two versions of Charles.

The real problem though with this book, and something that I would have liked to been aware of (say, Goodreads actually listing page count) is this book is only 108 pages long - about 20 of that not even story. Before I started it, I thought this book was going to be the 300-ish pages of the rest of the series.

I feel a little taken advantage of, for forking over $4 for what amounts to a novella and have actually not started series that have this sort of pay/page that this book did. That being said, I do enjoy the series, this book is likely necessary for understanding the fifth and final book and I don't really regret buying it.

(At least the story that was there was enjoyable.)

I thought this was a perfectly serviceable, average historical romance.


Things I liked:

I love when a guy that likes men and a girl that likes women marry, fully aware that they will never share the marriage bed, but are close friends and confidantes.

Reginald is sweet and very patient and never pushes William.

Catherine and Sarah. ... And, in fact, most of the supporting cast.


Things I'm merely meh about:

William. While I like his general character - and don't think he's half as naive as the other reviewers seem to think - he does cause my biggest problem with the story. (Also, I think, as an fairly sheltered second son of a country family, the naiveté that he does have is perfectly understandable.)


Things I disliked:

William is a horny, lust-filled thirsty thing. My gosh, the sex and masturbation and fantasizing scenes are early and often. As I'm someone that loves a slow burn so slow it wouldn't be incorrect to call it a glacial burn, this displeases me. Also, considering the fact that William is inexperienced, sheltered, a virgin and never even been kissed at the start of the story... He went from first kiss to felching without a second thought remarkably quick.

(Don't call someone's cock ‘Sir William' nor someone's asshole a ‘portal.' Seriously, the sex scenes were already a little eye-rolling anyway, but that's just cringe-y.)


Supremely average historical romance. If you're looking for anything new, don't look here, but if you're like me and enjoy the typical tropes and beats of a historical romance, you could certainly do worse. (I sure have.) (In truth, if the sex scenes hadn't been so intrusive, this book might have gotten a four stars, so if you like sex in your romance more than I do, (most people do) this book might just work out for you.)

Look, if you've read the last three books, this is pretty much more of the same - only now with the door slammed firmly shut on any chance of learning who the Maess are, what they want, why they're attacking humanity. You know, the pesky little details that make up a good villain, enemy, sci-fi story or book in general.

I really, really liked the first book, found books 2-5 cheaper and bought them all together. Because I thought that the series would be better because the first book showed so much promise and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars upon a reread was because I wanted to save it for later books in the series.

Yeah.

(And also a reminder why I shouldn't buy books without reading the previous one in the series.)

I don't know if this book is actually worse than the second and third ones (both which I rated 2 stars) or if I'm just fed up. (Though, to be fair, I would like to note that the last thirty or so pages is probably the best this series has turned out since Gyrfalcon.)

But this book is a culmination of disappointing sci-fi. The Maess are faceless, named only because that's what humans call them, and we, really, know nothing more of them at the end of the series than we did at the beginning. And you know the impetus for the big final battle? The Maess finally getting tired of playing with their food.

Taken all together, as a series, I do not feel it's a very good sci-fi series, beyond my personal preferences. There's no real resolution, the ending is disappointing in the extreme and I, truly, would rather have had this be book two and the rest of the series resolve the events that this book set up. (Then it would have been a fun sci-fi, though I'm not sure the author could do the idea justice, because I don't feel justice was done to the story we did get.)

There's a lot I like about this book, even though it turned out very different than I was expecting. I was expecting a standard light historical romance and what I got was:

An examination of class differences
As well as the complications of a romance between those of class differences
A virgin hero
Two smart young men falling in love
An engagement of convenience
(That totally isn't but I could easily see turning into a poly relationship)
Queer supporting cast
Lots of drama
But little drama from the couple
In fact, they usually face the drama side-by-side
Not a slow burn (except in the length of time that actually passes in the book)
But a slowly built romance, with a lot happening between the couple besides just sex

Wow. Okay. This was so not the book for me.

There were things I liked. I like the characters. I like Yadriel and Julian together.

And...that was about all I liked. I liked the rep in the book - it seemed like it was good and I am happy for such a diverse book getting as much love as it is, but, really, it was the wrong book for me.

I find the writing somewhat clunky and plodding. I have no complaints about the dialogue, but the rest of the writing (descriptions and action (that's a laugh) scenes) don't flow smoothly to me. It is a debut, after all, so I'm more than willing to give some leniency to that, but my problems don't stop there. (Honestly, I found the opening two chapters super weak and didn't encourage me to keep reading at all.)

The plot is...predictable. I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I knew both who and why. I mean, it's a good thing (I guess) that the plot is only tangentially important, (with the wacky ghost boyfriend hijinks taking over handily) because to me what was happening was so obvious as to who was doing the things as well as why that person was doing the things.

Finally, there are two things that piss me off in stories. This book did one of the two. Major climax spoilers!!!

This book literally resurrects people from the dead. Not recently deceased dead, either. We are talking days later. Brought back to life. Like that's a good thing without repercussions.

Hardcore not pleased.

ReRead January 2023

There's really a lot to be said for reading the right book at the right time. While I keep thinking I want a good, super queer spec fiction read, this was actually exactly what I was looking for right now to read. If I changed my rating upon a reread, this would be a total five star book for me.

I really got involved with the characters, the romance and even the mystery this time around and couldn't be a happier with everything.


Original Review

I don't really have strong feelings towards this book. Part of that is my fault because I picked it to read when this wasn't the type of book I wanted then I promptly got distracted by fanfiction for four days.

That being said, I enjoyed the characters and the romance - and the writing because it is Cat Sebastian. What I didn't enjoy as much was the mystery itself. I will probably like this book more upon a reread (which we all know is going to happen, probably before I read the not-yet-published sequel) but for now it is a solid middle-of-the-road read that I don't regret, nor was I blown away by.

Of all the books on my TBR for this month, I was least certain about this one. It's by an author I don't know, it's been on my TBR since it was first released, and I never hear any talk about it. But it was so much fun.

The plot/world-building is great. It's got these people with powers (think X-Men) and these Relics that cause trouble (think Warehouse 13/The Librarians) and it exactly the kind of setup I love.

The cast of characters are great. My favorites are Arthur and his best friend Jade, but Rory, Zhang and Mrs. B. are all such great characters. (I do hope Zhang and especially Jade will have a little more development in the sequels, but, even if not, they are fun characters.) And that's pretty much the best thing about this book: it's fun, fun, fun.

I support the romance (and I love that it's a pretty slow burn that's fade to black) but...it took me awhile to warm to them as a couple because it's just a type of romance that isn't a favorite. (Sweetheart that's a bit physically intimidating with a shorter, thinner one that is described as a ‘firebrand'.) Not a favorite, but the two guys are delightfully vulnerable and really lonely and the relationship is a nice one.

Honestly, this book reminded me a lot of Jordan L. Hawk's work - which is a huge complement.

More like 3.5 rounded up.

I personally found the first two more fun. I think there's just something about ‘everyone else is time traveling to change the future so we might as well too' that just doesn't sit well with me. And that's what the plot is starting to feel like. Also, there's this mysterious person that talks about 'humans' as though he's separate from them, so...not sure if we will be dealing with aliens or not, but that's a bit of a disappointment because one of the reasons I loved the first book in the series was because of how there weren't aliens - or, really, anything besides humans.

On the other hand, certain bits from iteration one is super interesting, seeing how things have changed, and it's confusing to no end when we get three of the same person running around. And, unfortunately for my personal preference, everyone is going wedding crazy.

And, save the epilogue, much like the ending of the second book, the story could totally end here and have a happy ending. (So, no cliffhangers for those that dislike them.)

Oh, this book is so much fun and so inventive. Look, I loved Mechanica, so if you disliked that book, don't expect this one to be different. Not really.

So I didn't know anything about Snow White and Rose Red until I did a bit of quick research 3/4 of the way through the book. As it is, I'm glad I didn't know anything because there is this awesome, amazing plot twist that you will totally see coming if you know the fairy tale.

But, so I don't gush for dozens of pages, a quick overview of what I loved herein.

Sisters carry the book. They don't always understand each other, but they always love each other and have one another's backs.

Unique writing. This book is told from Ivory and Rosie's povs. You will never get them mixed up.

Ivory. I adore this girl. She's quiet, rational and prefers working backstage to under the lime lights.

Diversity. When this book is billed as a ‘queer retelling' it is. And, as it takes place in the same world as the amazing Mechanica, poly relationships are totally a thing. (Racial diversity, too, but to be honest, my brain shorted out when there was a dual partnered marriage proposal.)

The circus as family. They even say it. Often.

Finally, I have to add, I adore the fact that our dancing group in the circus is comprised of all males. Males that dress up and challenge the status quo by being someone the women can find sexy and the men, for possibly the first time, can also find sexy.

(Side note: does it say something about me that I love when religious zealots are villains in stories?)

(BTW: This book caused me to have to create a new shelf, because I have to make mention of the fact that one of the sisters is involved in a romance with a non-binary character - ergo, a new f/x shelf. That I will probably be adding more books to, now that I have an idea how to do it! (Or, rather, probably be creating another, similar but different shelf.))

There's something Lee thinks at a point in this book that explains probably better than I could why I don't care for it.

‘Circle of drama.'

He's thinking about all the stuff that's going on in his life and, yes, it's a lot of drama. Unfortunately, Dean also has a lot of drama in his life and when the two smoosh together, it's just way too much drama for me.

The good news is (and the only reason it's not a one star read is) that the guys are good together, and show every sign of having a healthy relationship.

Truthfully, not as good as the first one, not as bad as the second and third - probably because Bennet spends a lot of time around Caeden, Flynn and Cruz, which is where he's the best.

Though, to be fair, Bennet also has a very skewed idea of building a healthy relationship. (I blame Joss. Though to be fair here, as well, I'd blame Joss for the Maess if I could find a reasonable way to do that.)

I am reading this series mostly because I bought all the books, but I have also gotten very curious as to how the Maess are going to be explained because we are no closer to knowing who or what they are than we were in the first book.

Theo could have tossed them out with nothing but the clothes on their backs if he'd truly wanted to.

I don't read much in the way of straight historical romances anymore - mostly for the reason indicated in that quote. I like romances between equals, and seldom is there any way in straight historical romances for a man and a woman to be equal in the eyes of the law - regardless of anything else.

I did like the book - more of a 3 ½ stars, rounded up because it was fun - and I like Annabel and Theo both as characters and their romance. There's good banter and great secondary characters (super excited to get the other Townsends' stories). And I am oddly happy that they are basically the same height.

I do wish the lust had been toned down at the beginning - but I feel that about 97% of the romance novels I read - and I think they jumped into the ‘madly in love' part way too quick - but this was enjoyable enough.

This book isn't perfect, not even for me, but it is sweet and soft.

My favorite things are how comfortable the best friends are with each other before and after romance starts happening, and how adult they are. There is some outside drama, but they are good at talking things through and behave like rational adults.

My least favorite thing is that there is mutual crushing before the start of the story. I would love to find a friends to lovers where the friends don't have any romantic feelings at the start of the story and it slowly builds to it with a slow burn.

That being said, sweet, some times overly sappy, short little tropical romance.

To be fair, I was warned about the book. I mean, just look at the average rating here at Goodreads. This comic anthology has not been well received. I willfully chose to ignore all the people that said this wasn't a very good book. Also, to be fair, the most commonly stated problem - the writing - was, probably, the least of my problems.

(Yeah, the writing is goofy and kind of stupid at times, but, as much as I love comics, that's kind of ... not unusual.)

Problem #1: The Art
The first four volumes have one artist, the next two have a different artist. I didn't like either. The first artist was okay, barely. The faces are often really off putting: the eyes are nothing but black circles for irises, the noses are...not quite right, and the artist has absolutely no idea how lipstick works. None at all. The second artist had a much more scribble-y art style that kind of reminds me of old Archie comics - only I think the hair in those comics look better than it does here, because here it's nothing more than a stringy, wet looking mess.

Problem #2: The Plot
For the first four volumes (I wonder if this had anything to do with the artist change...) the plot is on crack. Or LSD. Or something. Look, I don't like trippy sci-fi and this was trippy sci-fi. (If you liked the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie, you could probably disregard this.) The last two volumes ... were like a slice of life, girl gets blackmailed and possible (lesbian) love interest has to save the dad. I mean day. Also, I do not understand the college that America is going to. ... At all.

Problem #3: America Chavez.
(Interesting how the reason I read the book can be a major problem when not done... how I expected.) I was first introduced to America Chavez in A-force. (She didn't really stand out for me there, I was too busy being taken by Lady Loki. And She-Hulk. But mostly Lady Loki.) Then, in my quest for diverse comics, I really feel like I met her in Young Avengers. And sort of fell in love with her. She was badass and take no prisoners and would sooner kick you than hug you. ... That America is not this America. That's fine. People grow, develop, change. But when everything that made me love her is taken out and replaced to make her more weepy female hero (TM) ... I am not happy.

Which, kind of sums this whole thing up: I am not happy.