Angela

I should probably give this a three but I can't be objective cause I love the tv series

i love this but probably not going to continue
i looked up where the two characters i care about end up by the end of the story and... let's just say, it was a big no for me. so now i don't want to read it. I'd rather remember it as a fun anime i like
(if you're curious, I'm talking about Sitri and Baalberith)

there is nothing I can say to express what I'm feeling right now

oh my poor Hatter

this book...

me: omg, it's an “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” retelling, I LOVE “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!!”
also me: ~annoyed at every retold detail of the original Alice~

the only things I liked about this are Cheshire and Hatter
everything else annoyed me
as a retelling, it explained things from the original story that, I feel, were never meant to be explained
I texted a friend while reading this: “and I keep thinking “you are missing the point of wonderland” cause the author is trying to explain all the nonsensical things, not understanding that the point is that there is no point
she explained and “solved” the mad hatter's riddle
the “why is a raven like a writing desk”
when the point was that there is no answer, it's just nonsense
there is no reason why a raven is like a writing desk
nothing in Wonderland should be explained. that's the whole point of wonderland. it's not a fucking Narnia with its own laws. it's Wonderland. Wonderland is mad. you can't explain smth that's mad, at least not if it's Wonderland
also, I have a feeling we are venturing into the “chosen one” territory, with future queen of hearts being the chosen one and I swear to god, I better be wrong [i was not wrong btw]
plus the plot so far is like it's a standard fantasy: “oh hey, my mum wants me to marry cause I'm a lady and stuff but I like baking and I want to open a bakery and run my own business”
she and her maid even talked about how they should start gaining profit in less than a year cause they made all the calculations and stuff
can you sense my annoyance yet?”

this thing is, even the retelling point aside, it didn't work for me as a fantasy book also. the mystery of the Jabberwocky was ridiculous. it was so obvious.
the whole marriage plot was annoying and the way the main character behaved about it was not in line with everything else she did character-wise
I did like Chess, or rather what we heard of Chess
I liked the three sisters and their prophecies
I liked the idea of the maze and that whole sequence

and again, my poor poor Hatter, my heart breaks for you

i really enjoyed this
i liked how the personal stories intertwined with bird watching

i loved everything except for the sabbath. i fucking hated the whole sabbath scene. no, not even the sabbath but the trance, the “initiation”, and from that point on till the end of the book. it really irked me the wrong way. i cannot even explain why, but it made me almost.. angry? truly, i don't know. but still, i loved the rest of this book

i feel i must say though, this is my third attempt at this book. i started it two times before this, and even though i loved it each time previously too, it would always take me so long to read. i would read a couple of pages and then not pick up the book for weeks until finally giving up on it. and i feel that if it wasn't for the audiobook, i wouldn't have managed to get through it this time also. take it for whatever you want, but it is what i believe.

i am still not convinced that Seimei is the bad guy of the story
yes, my heart hurts for Sobi and Ritska but I am just not convinced. it's too easy, too obvious, there's got to be smth more to it

i feel like smth bad is about to happen very soon and I just... i don't want Ritska to suffer anymore
also, Sobi, can you fucking made up your mind already! (meaning, forget about Seimei and be on Ritska's side wholeheartedly)

yes, I do know it's just wishful thinking on my part, at least at this point in the story

this was okay but very annoying sometimes and very eyeroll inducing

I don't know, maybe it's because I'm older and my mindset is completely different (and this is all I'm going to comment on the whole “parents” situation)
but the main character irritated me so fucking much
though I don't really consider that to be one of the faults of the book. cause this type of person would piss me off in real life too
the book was way too preachy for my taste and very black and white. there is no depth to any of the characters. there is a very clear distinction between characters you're supposed to root for and those you are supposed to despise and it's just... questionable and unrealistic. ppl are usually grey. shocker, I know
a lot of plot or character points felt heavy-handed. almost as if the author came up with a good way to show smth and then is so happy about it and desperately wants you to acknowledge how clever it was
it reminded me of those ppl who make a dumb (pun) joke and they look at you like “you get it? you get it, right? aren't I clever?”
and I just turn into Damon Salvatore at this point


and don't even get me started on how predictable this was. which, yes, I realise, this is a ya contemporary but still, this is so basic
and in the end, everything is tied in a nice little bow and the evil parents are just forgotten cause they apparently never tried to contact with their child again (because that's what their personality tells us they would do, absolutely =__=)
and everything just worked out perfectly and here you go a sweet happy ending, cause you know that's how life works
I don't know what I wanted from this but not... this
maybe this would work better for me if it was a bit more mature, I don't know. this read like a fairy tale (with the therapist as a fairy godmother xDD) or like a parable of sorts

btw, the whole concept (excluding the queer factor) reminded me of a Sarah Dessen book I liked as a teen. Lock and Key. the situation is fairly similar. the neglectful/abusive parent, the estranged sister with a new family, the hard teen who learns to accept themselves and help from others. I liked that one more but then again, I DID read that one as a teen so take it as you wish

oh! I almost forgot. the diversity. it felt so forced. the art teacher is supposed to be chinese-american and one of love interest's friends is supposed to be korean-american (i think). and, first of all, this never comes up again, so what was the point? second, this is the first characteristic we are given when we are introduced to these characters. and not out loud but through the main character's thoughts. and if you can distinguish a chinese-american from a korean-american by the first glance then kudos to you but to me, this is wildly unrealistic (just as it is unrealistic to say what country exactly is any white or black person from. like, I'm sorry, if I give you a set of ten pictures from European countries, I doubt you can tell me what countries which person is from. same with African countries. or Asian countries). wouldn't it be much cooler if Mrs Liu had a conversation with Ben about how she is chinese-american and that's when we learn that that's who she is? it could've been a real bonding moment for them and then the scene at the end where they hug wouldn't be as out of nowhere as it felt to me that is was. cause why exactly did that happen again? cause she was an art teacher who appreciated the fact that Ben was good at... you guessed it, art? come on!
oh, and I think the love interest is supposed to be black? judging by the cover. because just from reading the book I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you if he is. I think there was one throwaway line about it in the beginning but I am not even sure

OH, AND BTW
you cannot convince me Ben didn't have an eating disorder! which was never addressed. every time smb would offer food to Ben, they would hear: “no, I'm not hungry”. and we as a reader KNOW Ben wasn't eating anything. so... are we just NOT going to talk about how Ben's coping mechanism is not eating? cause it is.

okay
i finally made myself read up to the point where the anime stops. I'm a bit scared to read further cause I know shit is going to go down from now on but I think I'm finally ready

this was fucking adorable

The fact that this was set in the Dominican republic gave me too much anxiety to be able to enjoy it fully
Plus it felt like the author wanted it to be a much longer book. Some things were mentioned that to me at least were clearly fforeshadowing bigger plot points but in the end were left as nothing more than passing remarks.
The scene with Michael, Dylan's ex, came out of nowhere simply, it seems, cause we needed a conflict in the end. Which we actually did not need, thank you very much.
And don't even get me started on the whole insta love thing. I understand this is short but wow, just wow. And usually I don't give a fuck but this was way too cheesy and cringy so yeah... thanks but no thanks

i liked the first bit, about magic but the rest was underwhelming

never again
this was even worse than the first one. the first one at least had SOME kind of a story

i don't know. i love manga so i thought “what's the difference?” but maybe comics are just not my thing. i was so bored and i skimmed some parts (which is never a good sign)

this was cute and adorable. a little bit heartbreaking. absolutely hilarious. and completely unsatisfying. in other words – i loved it xD

I can't believe this but I think I'm actually giving this book a one star
I had... issues
I think I want to sleep on it but wow was this unexpected

update 17.03

okay, this book
wow, where do i begin
it's been a month now
immediately after i finished this book (not even that, more like at half-point) i knew i wanted to write a review for this.

let's start with the positives? i mean, there are positives, right? right?
...
i liked cash
here, that's your positive
yes, i did like cash (until maybe the last part, the reveal part and the will part).
so, i liked the manic pixie dream gi- ... actor? character of the book. yay me?
this really doesn't make a good case for the book now, does it? not that i'm trying to. cause i'm not.
should i feel bad for telling ppl not to read this? cause i don't. i don't think you should read this.
i don't know, i'm out of positives. if you have smth to add, let me know? or not? i don't think anything can change my mind

negatives
oh hey, look. this list is bigger
(at least in my head, cause i'm lazy and gonna summarise most of it)
umm... every other character? yeah, that's good. that's a good start. let's start here.
they are all horrible. not in a “you are a horrible person” kind of way, more like “wow, i don't give a fuck about what happens to you” (oh yeah, i curse, don't come at me)
i think the fact that i liked cash and he basically had the sole purpose of solving these kids' problems in this books made me hate the kids' even more than i would have otherwise.
cash deserves a hug, fight me
and the plot was predictable af. which is not smth i complain about often cause that's not smth i care about too much. like i more often than not seek out spoilers rather than avoid them so knowing what's to come is not a problem for me but this was so formulaic. and then the same plot basically happens four times and then the other person whose problems aren't solved SPOILER dies, and then his death basically solves the rest of these kids' problems and i was like “fuck this”

i'm not even gonna go into the fact that oh hey, another book that poorly portraits fan culture. cause we don't have enough of those.
~sigh~
i don't know what to tell you. i was so mad when i finished this book but right now i honestly don't care anymore. i don't even remember anyone's name except for cash. oh, poor cash. he didn't deserve any of what's happened to him.

I actually kinda liked it surprisingly

when you suddenly remember you wanted to write a review
and forgot
oops?

i'm not gonna write a review
(i know, i'm confusing, i'm a mess)

what i'm gonna do instead is tell you about smth you might find interesting (especially if you love will and jem and think tessa was a completely unnecessary addition to this whole situation. i know i do think that way)

so one of my updates while reading this book is this: “oh god, i just realised smth.
so will and jem, their dynamic and their situation, i couldn't shake the feeling they remind me of smb. i finally got it. i know who.
there's this anime called Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru (The Betrayal Knows My Name) and there are these two guys as side characters: Hotsuma as Will and Shūsei as Jem. i'll talk more about it in my review”

so, for that 1 person out of a 1.000 who sees this and knows what i'm talking about — hi.. let's talk about this and why this works better there than it does here (spoiler alert, cause they don't need a girl between them just cause a weird parabatai rule says they can't be together)

(when you want to insert pictures but are way too lazy to actually figure out how to do that)
so, as mentioned earlier there's this manga (and later anime) called The Betrayal Knows My Name the premise of which is fairly similar to the whole shadowhunter verse but it's not like it's a super original premise so whatever

lore:
in this world, you have demons and those who fight demons. demons are of different class and can be summoned if you have the right power/book/knowledge/blood/lineage whatever you want to call it. ppl who fight said demons are called zweilt guardians.
and so this war has been going on for like centuries now and each time the guardian dies they are reincarnated unless they are killed by a demon, in which case sucks to be you. all guardians fight in pairs and you have your pair for forever basically. like you can't really change them (not that anyone would want to). the only time the change happens is when one of the pair dies and the other is forced to find smb else or fight solo (which we don't care about right now)

so, one of the main characters is this pair of Hotsuma and Shūsei.
so Hotsuma is Will. he has a destructive power based on the flames. he has a troubled past and a family problem. he keeps everyone at the distance cause he is a jackass who doesn't give a fuck about anyone, which is totally not true cause actually he is scared of hurting ppl and is a cinnamon roll. he is short-tempered and impulsive.
Shūsei is the sensible one. he is not exactly “weak” like jem but he does have the same complexity and the same mindset of “i'm not important” and the same sacrificing nature. you can claim he has like an eating disorder cause he doesn't eat much for he supposedly doesn't have the appetite too. so there is a case to be made for his sickly nature.
the two of them are completely engulfed in one another to the point of only caring about one another. in the flashbacks we see that when Hotsuma tried to protect a kid (he himself still being a kid) he accidentally attacked other kids. by burning them basically. afterwards, he was seen as a monster by others, even his own parents, to the point that he himself thought so and tried to kill himself by basically burning himself — enveloping himself in a ball of fire. while that was happening Shūsei forced him to stop by running into the ball of fire Hotsuma surrounded himself with so he would be forced to cease it (which he did). still, Shūsei has got burns all over his body still which creates a lot of angst for the whole relationship.
the other interesting point is that sometimes you get reincarnated into the other gender and we know that there was an instance when Shūsei was reincarnated as a woman and in that time the two of them got married.
we don't know if they have this kind of relationship in this time (but i mean come on, they probably do, plus that what shipping is for)

so, why does this works better in my opinion than the TID thing? the thing is, there is a third person there also. the tessa person. who is the main character of the whole story. and a lot of things happen with the three of them. and a lot of stuff with the angst fest that is these two gets resolved through the tessa character. but! and i can't fully explain it, the end result feels more earned. i never got the feeling that will and jem would do anything for one another because it was always tessa who would need saving and one of them would abandon the other in order to do so. i never got the feel of their bond and still, i believed in it more than in the love either of them supposedly had for tessa.
god, i probably don't make any sense

i'm gonna stop here. just... if you want a better portrayed similar dynamic maybe check the anime out. this to me almost felt like will and jem were fine until tessa and then they lost one another and i'm just... not okay with that

this was very wholesome

this was fine. like literally, that all i can say. i bought this years ago. if i haven't actually had a physical copy i wouldn't have read it cause this is not smth i'm into anymore. but for what this is – it did its job perfectly fine and was quite enjoyable to read

i read this by accident. i thought it was yaoi. it's not. i'm dumb

i mean... i liked this more than the movie if that's smth anyone is interested in
i like nick more than norah
but overall not a bad book. i say if it sounds interesting to you – check it out. i'm not regretting reading it: even though i already don't remember much, i remember enjoying it fine

(i should get into the habit of writing reviews right when i finish a book and not two and a half months later)

i liked it a lot
it has similar vibe to the clockwork orange but i liked this one more
and obviously tom hiddleston's narration is perfect

i enjoyed the first half far more than the second. towards the end, i even started skimming. i think i would've enjoyed the book more if ray and andy became a couple in the last chapter or smth. because reading them lusting over each other was interesting. reading them being a lovey-dovey couple – was not.

i don't know, it's not that i expected more (cause i didn't) but for some reason, this just didn't do it for me. not the mystery nor the romance.