Pom

> Be Bolanle

> Enter new household as fourth wife

> Try your best to just exist

> Everything surrounding the family goes to shit

> Leave

This book peaks. Prose is amazing (to be expected since it's Nigerian), characters are well fleshed out and flawed, covers dark but important topics.

Idk what else to say really, just read it :)

God I wish Artemis were real (even though she'd mutilate me)

NEVER KILL YOURSELF

I really liked this book, despite the heavy topics it covered I thought it was a really cozy read. I think it was predictable in where the story was heading but I also don't think the author was going for a massive plot twist or anything and I think that's good.

Most of the main paths that Nora chose were again pretty predictable but still enjoyable to experience nonetheless. I liked that there were no truly perfect lives out there and even the one that was as close to perfect as possible (in my opinion) had its flaws due to Nora not really working for it. I feel the Nora at the start of the book may not have acknowledged this fact, so it does real character development. I do wish there were more paths chosen that messed around with the butterfly effect though that's a minor nit.

Overall it was a really good read :)

I really REALLY like this book.

Like in the midnight library I really like how messily human the main character is, makes it feel much more real. I feel like Matt Haig does a really good job in conveying Tom's feeling of being kind of trapped, never being able to truly live his life, making the resolution of him finally reclaiming his freedom towards the end feel so rewarding - especially the final chapter.

I give it a 4.5 and not a five because of a couple things at the end. I feel like the twist of Marion working with Hendrich kind of came out of nowhere, sure twists are meant to be shocking and maybe I'm missing something but it really did feel out of the blue. Despite this, I think the whole idea of her being manipulated by Hendrich works well, and suits his character. On top of that, we never hear anything about Agnes, she was close to Hendrich so I'd expect her to have some kind of reaction to him dying in the end but there's nothing.

That being said I thoroughly enjoyed this book and, like with the midnight library, I felt a sense of hopefulness upon finishing if. Would recommend :)

Good book 👍

I especially liked the science surrounding the whole adventure, it goes into a nice amount of detail and the new concepts introduced seem somewhat realistic while still being interesting. Using Grace's memories slowly coming back to him as a narrative device was also really clever and really well done. The book is also kinda funny, I do think it tries a little too hard but I can chalk that off to the personality of Grace who we find out early is a school teacher which I suppose also explains his self censoring.

Spoilers Ahead

I REALLY liked the entire concept of astrophage and all the biological interactions surrounding it. The testing around their predators (I've already forgotten their name oops) was a super fun part of the book and kept me reading despite in reality it probably not being an interesting process. Once the correct mutation had finally been bred I could feel the joy of the characters - that entire section was really well written.

I'm glad they didn't force a romantic relationship between Grace and Stratt - I think it's good that it was played into a little bit, but I much preferred the reveal that Stratt forced Grace to go on the trip and that he did not volunteer himself like we were lead to believe. I do think that it would have been nice for this to have been a point of conversation with Rocky, in fact I think it would've been cool to have Grace and Rocky talk about the fact that Grace has lost his memory.

Speaking of Rocky, he is easily the best character in my book. Friendly, lonely alien who is just good at building shit. I'm not too sure why but I really grew attached to him throughout the book and was genuinely pretty sad when the pair eventually had to part ways (temporarily). I liked the fact that humans were more technologically advanced than the Eridians, most of the time the Aliens are the more advanced ones so this was a nice change. Also their whole design of super dense rock spider thing that communicates through music is really unique, good job Andy :)

Ending was pretty satisfying, but I think it would've been nice to know more about the earth and how the fallout was during project hail mary.