kirisuna

This book entirely lived up to, and possibly surpassed, the hype. The writing was superb — Barker has an eerie ability to make even the most gruesome scenes almost beautiful in the description. I could see the entire narrative playing out behind my eyes like a movie, which at times was shocking and disgusting. I loved the completeness of each time period’s version of their world. I loved that the turtles were woven throughout, that we were given tastes of the reality behind the illusion as the characters themselves became more aware. I appreciated that the relationship built between the two MCs wasn’t romantic but almost like a soul bond. It was fascinating to me that both of their mothers attempted to murder them at least once. And with the final chapter’s explanation everything became so clear, with the breadcrumbs appropriately placed throughout to not make it feel like the rug was ripped from underneath you.

That being said, my only criticism is that final twist. If the turtle loved the children so much, why would she try to kill Sen to protect Lee? Even if she was losing them to each other, there was no clear reason she’d have that favoritism. And it made sense that she was able to save Sen when she was slain by her father — she was super close by the house. But assuming, based on the fact that she whispered to Lee’s father to go to the house behind the sword ferns implying that the actual location of the house in Japan mattered and her admission that with the tide going out her magic waned, how did she save Lee when he overdosed? I understand that he supposedly fell over the stairs, or was meant to originally. Which makes me think that maybe Matt wasn’t a person at all but was her stepping in to save him. But that wasn’t explicitly implied, so how could her reach extend so far to America when she can’t even stabilize the house when the tide goes out? This was the only weak link in this story, and the only thing knocking it down from a 5. But it is not a small thing, unfortunately.

Regardless, this story was a win. I will absolutely be reading the rest of her work and know I will be thinking about this novel for a long time.

2.75 stars. This was super mid for me. I did enjoy the alternating chapter pov and that each section was one year later.

I liked the intertwining of the stories. I did not see the twists coming but I also wasn't very impacted by them. Probably wouldn't recommend.

2.25 stars overall

1.25⭐️ WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WORSHIP? BY AUGUST LAMM I have no idea what the point was here. And I couldn’t tell why she seemed afraid at the end.

3.5⭐️ THE TABLOID MAN BY YIGIT TURHAN This was actually well written and interesting, if a little rushed. We needed more time for CJ’s terror to build. But other wise, good.

1.25⭐️ TERROR AND REGRET BY AMBER LATER The beginning/end and middle stories felt totally disconnected. They didn’t inform each other at all. Whatever was being attempted here was not successful, and there was a continuity error midway that pulled me out.

2⭐️ MARLITA BY NICOLE SELLEW This was written in a frenetic way the felt distinctly stylized. It was definitely a creative choice and I think was successful for the character, I just didn’t really enjoy it.

1.25⭐️ OBEDIENCE BY RYAN D. PETERSEN This guy definitely fucked his dog. The writing was actually good but the slips the character experienced weren’t fleshed out enough for me to understand the weight of it.

4⭐️PRINCESS BY ERIN SATTERTHWAITE This was definitely the best out of the bunch. I thought it was a successful satire on essentially hipster-like people who think they’re too cool and interesting for normal people, but are just as vapid and boring themselves. I really enjoyed this one, but I wanted the ending to be that she was finally with her own people, but they didn’t like her.

This was an interesting read that I received from TBR, which is a now-defunct book subscription service that chooses books for you based on your Goodreads history.

It was very interesting to read from the perspective of a gay Indian woman for a lot of this book. It made me realize that being a multi-minority is truly all-consuming. It's something that that individual has to think of all the time, experience all the time. It colors all of their interactions and tragedies and successes and every part of their life in a way that those without those aspects don't have to think about. That was a really interesting and enlightening perspective that am not privy to often.

I thought the point of view shifts were good. They're frequent but they were successful. I thought it was interesting seeing the before, middle, and after of this traumatic experience that they went through. I thought it was very interesting to have all this play out during the time period of COVID. Overall I thought this was a good read.

This was a puzzling read. The writing style was great, the narrative was definitely interesting. I don’t feel like there really was a concrete ending. I’m not totally sure I got the point. But I didn’t hate it. Really unique writing style.