StephanieRidiculous
This is a weird book in that I highlighted A LOT but also found this wildly underwhelming. Snyder has some good reminders/thoughts on how to identify and resist tyranny for sure, but his whole politic is underdeveloped and anemic. His offered action items barely scratch the surface and largely require you to be a wealthy white person with an abundance of leisure time. It's just not practical. At one point he literally says most of us can afford to make monthly donations to our organization of choice. Brosef, what world are you living in? A very white privileged echo chamber is where.
Anyway, he glories some pretty awful people, cherry picks actions of resistance, and mostly is focused on white people and struggles. I understand this is meant to be a quick easy guide, and it is for sure - it could be a one day read - but I really really wish he had looked deeper into what make resistance movements successful. No meaningful mention of community support/mutual aid, no mention of the power of economic boycotting, nothing about unionizing/workforce power.
Simultaneously a read full of good reminders on how to be intentional with your personal action and a woefully inadequate book on how to successfully fight off fascism.
Tragically this was just not that good. It's great fan service for Haymitch, I loved getting to know more about him, but virtually every other part of this book is a tragedy. Collin's really phoned in the writing this time around, mostly relying on things established in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and our nostalgia/love for the OG trilogy characters to carry the book. I would say it worked fine for the first 25%, but quickly dissolved into not enough substance. The ending was sloppy and lazy, spending more time rehashing things we did firmly already know (like, please, trust us to understand the discrepancy between what Haymitch just told us and what Katniss and Peeta watch in Catching Fire, we did not need you to spell it out for us!) instead of establishing or facilitating the transition between the 25th games and the 74th. I would have far preferred more post games content to make Haymitch's indifference to one of the mentors make more sense for when we get to the OG trilogy, instead of retaining affection for one but total indifference to the other.
Edited after a reread 4 years later:
Bumping this up to 5 stars. Its true that this starts slow and meanders in the middle, but I was entirely captivated this time. Knowing where things were going allowed me to settle in and just enjoy rhe ride. I love how just simply good Thorn is. She is entirely relatable while also being a role model. She learns from her experiences, is humble, and does the best with what she has. I also deeply appreciate the accurate portrayal of how abuse and trauma causes us to perceive the world through the lens of survival, and how that often makes life harder for us. And how healing it is to see her begin to learn how to set that aside. I do wish Falada was handled differently, and there werent 3 SA scenes (2 attempts, and the graphic aftermath of the 3rd that happened off page.) While I think they were handled well, there was plenty of other injustices going on that could have spurred the plot instead, which would make this a less triggering read. All in all a great book that makes me wish the rest of the series wasnt entirely about Rae (as much as I love her, I want more of this, too!)
Original review:
Started slow but got unexpectedly engaging about 40% through. While there is quite a bit of heavy handed writing (forcing an understanding instead of trusting us to see things), I found myself quite drawn to the characters and the world building at large.
I particularly appreciated the ending finding the perfect balance between a natural pause in the story, satisfied with the main plot being addressed, while also leaving so many questions waiting to be answered. Excited to read the rest of the series!
3/5 stars for how long it took to really get going and how often I was beaten over the head with the characterizations instead of showing and trusting we would come to the same conclusion about the heroine.
This was not it. It was way too long and not nearly enough happened to justify that. Book 3 is entirely too late to start introducing multiple POV, and it wasn't even utilized well. I did not enjoy the vast majority of the tropes, plot devices, and results of those things. This was a step back for Bree, not a progression. This absolutely was just a filler to get you to book 4 and I just don't understand why that was necessary.
This fell short for me in a lot of ways. It started super strong, but the middle sure dragged and there were a lot of annoying tropes that occupied the middle/endish portion. There's also a big reveal toward the end that should have been cool but I found boring because not enough was done ahead of time to set the stage for it. Also lots of convenient developments.
This was a reread for me, like 5 years later. It's fine. There are several very weak plot points, but heists are fun and I enjoy some plot twists mixed in. If my husband didn't want to listen to the second book together I still wouldn't care enough to find out what happens to the crew. I understand the hype, but it's not my train.
Super interesting. It took me a little while to settle into the format and to see how these essays are connected to each other, but once in it I was in it. I also feel the translator did a great job - often times word choices in translated works give me pause/pull me out of the narrative while I wonder if that was really the best word choice. No such qualms here, it felt really streamlined and smooth.
I learned quite a few things from this short little collection, and that's the best. I will be seeking out more form Oliver.
Unfortunately the translation into English is awful. I wish I could review the book separate from the translation effort, because it really seems like the book itself is much better than the translator made it in English, but the translation issues are too much to look past. The story itself is wholesome, sweet, cozy, and uplifting, but there was a lot of wading through incorrect English idioms, stilted and awkward dialogue, and bizarre word choices to get there.
Definitely an interesting concept, and definitely love this Green Lantern. Most of why it wasn't a higher rating has to do with the art - very often I absolutely could not track what was being done. I'm not new to comics, so it was particularly frustrating for me to not be able to discern how exactly a power was working or what precisely in the action was happening. Would totally read more from this part of the galaxy!
This labors a bit under the weight of how tricky it is to write established characters in a fantasy world, and attempting to put a spin on every myth and legend seemingly ever, but it's still fun. I do wish women played more important roles, and that Jack's obsession with Aven was more explicitly called out/challenged, though.
You can absolutely tell this is a debut novel published off of Bindery. Full shade.
S. Hati had a very interesting idea/premise/world but unfortunately lacks the skill necessary to pull it off. And The Sky Bled attempts to be edgy, clever, and plot twisty but is instead cringe, painfully obvious, and underdeveloped. The core of the book IS interesting and worth pursuing, but Hati needed a lot more editing and work shopping before rolling this out.
Originally read this back roughly around the time it came out, rereading in 2025. It doesn't hold up quite as well to an older Stephanie, but for me this is the equivalent to one of those silly action adventure moves you put on because it's fun not because it's good. The most frustrating part is Aven, who we're supposed to believe is a BA pirate queen but Owen for some obnoxious reason keeps pretty firmly locked into feminine duties. We only see her actually engage in battle once, and it's interrupted by other male characters pretty quickly. Otherwise she is the object of male desire, serves tea, cooks dinner, gossips, and gathers torches. Wildly disappointing.
The 4 stars here strictly reflects my enjoyment, it does not reflect the actual quality of writing. I think this book does it's job of being fun and whimsical, even if there are things that I would have differently.