Olivia Rose
With a bit of a slow start for me, I fell in love with this story as it progressed. The ending sealed it's fate as a book I enjoyed immensely. Richard Kadrey's world is perfectly told in a way that you only know what you need to about the world. Bits and pieces are revealed, but there is no unnecessary world prose. We see the world through Largo's eyes as he experiences them. The flashbacks to his younger years are brief. As if, you were standing there, experiencing the moment and having it float from your mind when the next thoughts becomes apparent. The mixture of fantastical elements with pieces of our world make the world feel real, tangible. For war is always a looming force to be reckoned with.
The idea of lost is so prevalent in literature, but the way Evie Woods weaves this theme into the story of a bookshop with history as deep as the roots of a tree brought me to a place of childhood wonder. I loved the story told in parallel between our two main characters Opaline and Martha. To feel the sadness when they felt sad and to feel the joy when they were ecstatic was a journey I was happy to be on.
Though there were aspects of this story that brought me to a place of anger and upset, it was not with the literature, but with what the book said to us and showed us in the way women were treated in their pursuit of something bigger. To be bigger and better than their family name or the role assigned to them by their fathers or the men in their lives. This aspect of reaching and climbing to something grander than what we had or could have.
The three women who's lives we spend the book with are all relatable in their own ways and at different parts of their lives as we see their stories weave in and out of each other. One moment we are in Dublin in the past, chasing down rare books. The next, we are in Dublin in the future, solving the mystery of stories, The final, we are in Dublin, searching for the next person who would fill the void.
This book will live on, rent free, in my head for quite awhile and I am happy for it to do so.
Contains spoilers
While I can say for certainty I loved the writing style Hendrix uses, I can't say I loved the content of the novel. There were a few times I found myself unable to put the book down and a few times that I couldn't wait to put the book down. It should be noted that there are graphic depictions of SA and implied SA due to lack of consent. Read with caution.
What started as a tame novel about house wives reading murder mystery and true crime novels turned quickly into a book filled with secondhand embarrassment, true disgust at the men who were in their lives, and wanting to throw up at the idea of nestling myself into a space with cockroach eggs, spiders crawling along my skin, and a cockroach trying to burrow itself in an ear. I have a new fear, as someone who lives in Florida, of insects crawling to my orifices and of rats banding together to rip their way through my lower intestines. I was appalled by how much this book made me feel at the worst moments. While I find myself upset with Patricia as a character, I enjoyed the refreshing aspect of a flawed character. Carter can eat dirt.
I will look for another Grady Hendrix book because I do find myself enamored with his writing style. This might not have been the place to start, but I am not mad I read the book. As a fan of Twilight and Vampire literature in my youth, this was a nice change of pace to a nightwalker who creates more damage than just punctures in someone's epidermis.
I never thought I would find myself so invested in the lives of drama twisted into dragons, but here I am. I sobbed multiple times in this book for the emotional turmoil that I underwent watching two very in love people not trust each other as well as the numerous other times this book took me by the throat and held on. This is definitely five stars for the vibes, the characters, and the way they all now live permanently in my heart. Can’t wait for book 3.
From the time I first read Ender's Game at the age of 7, until today, this book has remained my favorite of all time. Something about being Ender's age while reading the book drew me into his world, his viewpoint. I saw myself as Ender, battling feeling like an outsider while having two siblings where one understands you, and the other can't stand you. I return to Ender's Game every few years and it means everything to me every time I put myself back into Ender's shoes and take on the battle room each time with new personal experiences under my belt.