Rhui Jin
Contains spoilers
R.F. Kuang is an interesting author to me - for one, I identify as a fan of her writing, starting with her Poppy War series and essentially following her career from there, through Babel, Yellowface, and now Katabasis.
When I first read The Poppy War series back in 2020, I was still exploring my taste in adult fantasy (I read Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Seth Dickinson, Becky Chambers, Tamsyn Muir, Samantha Shannon, and many other standalone stuff that year) whilst also coping with lockdown with random BookTube and Goodreads recommended selections. The general consensus on those two platforms for that series was generally positive, and it wasn’t until perhaps a few years later (and many Reddit posts on the r/Fantasy subreddit) that I started to learn that Kuang is… sort of disliked)...?
There have been some convincing arguments that suggest Kuang writes in a straightforward way (she doesn’t toy with prose much, with the exception of Babel) and makes it clear what her core ideologies are. I’ve been honestly sort of taking these comments with a grain of salt, as I had a perfectly decent time reading all her past books and found them to be entertaining enough and thematically interesting as well to sustain my interest.
In a more biased way, I did enjoy seeing a Chinese Asian woman make waves in the reading community. Just take a look at the number of ratings on Goodreads for her books, her presence on social media, all the conversations (good and bad) on the net, and you can see that she is an anomaly in the fantasy genre. And I mostly thought (and still do think) that that’s a good thing.
Now, for Katabasis specifically, we have such a stunning premise. We get Alice, the main character of the story - a graduate Magician student under the wings of Professor Grimes, who in this universe is some top-shot professor who had to climb the ranks to get to his position. The book starts off with an introduction of Alice and how she was going to “Magick” her way into Hell. And not just any hell, it was specifically Dante’s nine levels of hell.
That in itself hooked me in well. But… we also get Peter, who is introduced as Alice’s academic rival, one who Grimes has pitted them both with one another. He is the charming, popular, and mysterious love interest, and he ends up inviting himself to this trip to Hell with Alice.
So far, so good? Now I would say the book had a pretty promising start, perhaps the first 15% was building up the plot, and though I found the MC slightly less likable than all the other characters (with the exception of Yellowface, probably, but that was probably intentional from Kuang’s end), I had thought that there would be growth in that department.
Boy, I was wrong. This was one of the messiest books plot-wise (and also characters) I’ve read this year. From the wishy-washy relationship scenes to the repetitiveness of Alice’s actions, and a very weak plot-thread.
More MAJOR spoilers:
From the beginning of the book, we are told that Alice was visiting Hell to get Grimes back. Okay, we aren’t super sure why, but that’s fine, it’ll probably be revealed. Alice eventually reveals that she not only wants to bring him back, but she also wants to bring him back mutilated. Then, the book ends with Alice finding Grimes and deciding that he should just be permanently banished without much resolution on what happened between her and Grimes (with the exception of a short back-and-forth conversation) and getting Peter back from the dead. Not much conversation aside from a confession of love between them both happens, and the book ends there.
If it were only the lackluster conclusion to the main plot line, I would be okay as long as the other aspects, such as characterizations and the world itself, were good. Unfortunately, I did not like Alice much, and Peter was just fine. I do understand that sometimes characters are just meant to be unlikable, but it did feel at times that there were inconsistencies in Alice’s characterization, repetition in similar thought patterns with no conclusion, and that she does things that are just random (thinking of the scenes where she ate the cat/leopard) and have no good reasoning. The Hell concept, though interesting, ended up falling flat. Descriptions of the environment were sparse, and aside from knowing which section of Hell they were at, and scenes where some architecture was described, you don’t really know why it’s Hell at all, aside from the author telling you it’s supposed to be Hell.
I would say that the side characters in this book were good. This is where I find myself wishing that Kuang had focused more on them! Elspeth had great humor, and I just know that Kuang has it in her to write amazing dialogue, and that perhaps this has been more of a passion project where she’s self-inserting herself and her partner rather than focusing on what could make the story better.
And for that, I can’t blame her too much. I understand that sometimes books are just meant to be for the author and their loved ones. I can see her passion for the many philosophical texts references that flew over my head and her questioning these, and her love (and hate) for academia.
Although I can’t say I enjoyed this one as much as her other works, I can see her love for the knowledge, the academic world, her partner, and maybe that just doesn’t work for me this time around, but perhaps it can with another person. Until the next R.F. Kuang book comes out, and I try that out, I’ll have to still recommend Yellowface as an entry point to her work. A lot more of a popcorn-ish type of story to read, but so so readable.. That one’s about how a Caucasian author steals the work of her Chinese best friend and tries to sell it as her own, and all the effects that come with that.
Until then, unfortunately, this one is a 2-star read that I probably won’t revisit anytime soon :/
If you’re interested in trying out the book, you can check it out here: https://bookshop.org/a/117995/9780063021495. If you’re interested in Yellowface, you can see: https://bookshop.org/a/117995/9780063250840. I earn a small commission if you purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you.
Originally posted at rhuijin.cc.
The co-founder of Chess.com puts out an autobiography - one would assume it would be about his journey into creating the world's largest online Chess platform (and a large contributor to how large online chess has become, professional and non-professional wise), perhaps following the standard high-school-dropout finds an incredible idea and makes big bucks getting a startup with no VC funding, etc.
But this wasn't quite like those stories, and I had a great time with it. This follows Danny's journey in a cult called "Church of Immortal Consciousness" and how he essentially grew up being passed around the community members within the cult, was manipulated into thinking that his "purpose" was chess, and emotionally (and physically) abused by the adults around him.
Apart from the recounts of his experience within the cult, I found his account of the Hans Niemann scandal particularly interesting. With my very limited (and perhaps biased) knowledge of the scandals recounted by a few chess YouTube personalities, it seems that Danny is very firm in his stance that Hans did indeed cheat and has a history of cheating.
In light of the recent death of Daniel Naroditsky, I kind of hoped that the book could've touched on that topic as well. Especially that Daniel has been outspoken about being selected to be proctored by Chess.com and has mentioned how some of these playing conditions had led him to unfair playing conditions. It really does seem like cheating is going to be dominating the conversations within chess communities for the foreseeable future, and frankly, I don't really know how the issues could be resolved.
Overall, I recommend this book, but I did wrongly assume that it would've been more focused on Chess.com's formation. It definitely did touch on that but the majority of the book is centered on Danny's journey (understandably so), and even when he was focusing on Chess.com matters, the Niemann v. Carlsen scandal took up the majority of the word count.
If you’re interested in the book, you can check it out here: https://bookshop.org/a/117995/9781541703308. I earn a small commission if you purchase through this link, at no extra cost to you.
If you'd like to see some of the references for the above, visit my blog linked with this post!
Originally posted at rhuijin.cc.
I wanted to like this story, but the characterizations were pretty poor. I listened to the audiobook version of this, and when the main character describes her husband, she frames it in a way that sounds like it's supposed to be a green flag, but in actuality, it felt like she didn't really know him at all, and any sane person would start firing questions.
The plot revolves around Tricia and Ethan, who recently married and are looking to purchase a new house. They got stranded in one of the properties their agent was supposed to showcase due to the weather, and decided to stay in for shelter. After some peeking around, they realized that it was home to Adrienne, a psychiatrist who had disappeared mysteriously.
Although I did appreciate the case transcripts Adrienne's POV provided, I felt that the twists were predictable and sometimes non-sensical. The writing style was also not my cup-of-tea, and to be frank, it did feel pretty cliched at times too. If I would to compliment the author, I would say that I think she did a good job in showcasing the unreliable narrator, as she was very unreliable. Sometimes Tricia would provide very clear clues that she is aware of whatever is in front of her, and sometimes she is sort of 'faking' her inner monologues.
This was an easy listen overall, and I can see how it could be entertaining for some readers. The pacing was smooth, and one could probably finish it in 1-2 sittings! Not my taste, but perhaps someone else's...
I’m sorry, P, I think this might not be my genre...
If you’d like to read the book yourself, you can find it here: https://bookshop.org/a/117995/9781728296166. By purchasing through this link, I’ll earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you), and you’ll be helping support independent bookstores. You can read more about how Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores on their website!
Originally posted at rhuijin.cc.
I had this sitting on my Kindle for a good few months and I can't believe I just only read it. I loved the entirety of this book. From the simple yet beautiful writing which made me want to continue reading at the end of each chapter to the fleshed out characters and world building. I do not have any faults for this book and it's definitely one of the best I've read this year. I'm not going to give away much because reading this with the bare minimum context allowed me to fully immerse in the beautiful world that K.Ancrum had crafted. The slow burn was perfectly paced and it was nice that the romance wasn't exactly the main plot of everything but played a large part in the story. The ending was also great. I didn't expect it to go that way and I'm glad that the two main characters were able to break the chain that made them friends in the first place.
Reread 3/1/21 : 4.5 Stars! I reread this in audiobook format and I found it a much better experience compared to my first read. I still love the letters between Red and Blue but I found the world much more interesting this time around. The narrator does a good job and this is also probably one of the best sci-fi romances I've read too! This feels like a book worth rereading from time-to-time and you'll probably notice much more things on the subsequent reads because boy, I forgot/missed out on many smaller details.
2019: 3 Stars. A good book but the flowery writing was confusing for me but the letters between the characters were really enjoyable! I'll have to reread this again soon and attempt to understand it better.
Heather Walter writes great retellings. I was introduced to her writing through her Malice Duology, a Maleficient retelling. She seems to be exploring these retellings through the lens of the 'villain' instead of the stereotypical hero/princess as the main character trope.
In this series (it is a duology, something I did not know till I was bout 2/3 into the book haha), Walter decided to go with a Snow White retelling, with a focus on the evil queen instead. As I only have the Disney cartoon movie as a reference, I don't think I'm qualified to speak on how it compares to the OG story. However, compared to the Disney movie, I would say that it is very different from it and you shouldn't be reading this if you're looking for an almost 1:1 plot.
The main character is Alycent, the second daughter of the current ruling witch of a coven. In the story, we learn that being a witch is illegal and when outside of the coven areas, witches try to blend in as much so they don't get burned. In the quest to bring back her elder sister who passed away, Alycent had to venture into the King's castles disguised as a sort of handmaiden.
Throughout the series, we also have a romance subplot. Jacquetta, Alycent's childhood romantic partner, turns up with suspicious motives. An event happens that causes Jacquetta to invite herself to join Alycent on her journey to the castle, and we get to see the two banter and explore their pasts (in not-so-pleasant ways).
I would say that the politick-ing in this one is better than the previous books from Walter. I just felt like it was less frustrating and had more depth and twists that I didn't see coming. Though I'm not much of someone who would constantly guess or try to connect the lines on purpose. The mystery of Jacquetta's *true* intentions being around Alycent as well as some of the other characters like the King and Alycent's mother was plenty enough to keep me intrigued.
Although I felt like the book was trying to push for an enemies-to-lover vibe between Alycent and Jacquetta at first, it turned into quite a tame and chill reconciliation.
Overall, I had a good time with this one. I do think the ending felt a tad rushed? The time between the climax of everything and when Alycent becomes the 'evil witch' is super short. However, I liked how dramatically the author ended it (there's a whole scene where she says the infamous line: mirror mirror in the wall, who is the fairest of them all).
I will be reading the second one as I'm quite curious to see how this will go!
If you’re interested in the book, you can check it out here: https://bookshop.org/a/117995/9780593598375. I earn a small commission if you purchase through this link, at no extra cost to you.
Originally posted at www.rhuijin.cc.
This was a fun little heartwarming book - it reminded me a lot of "A Man on the Inside", which I watched shortly before I started this one. And perhaps even A Man Called Otto movie (which is also based on a book).
The story is pretty character-focused, where we alternate between a widowed man, Frank, and a kid (I think 7-8 years old) who is the child of a new neighbour that moved in. I would say that in terms of emotional impact it didn't quite get me, perhaps because I've already seen similar themes and plot from A Man Called Otto (replace the kid with an adult woman haha) which was still fresh in my mind.
What I did find interesting was how the author wrote Red's perspective as well - I don't think I've read from a POV of someone this young, and it was nice to see it done here.
A quick summary of the plot, if it could be something you might want to read:
Frank is depressed and recently widowed, and has a barely there relationship with his son, Michael. Red and his mother moved in next to him - and turns out Red's mother used to be Frank's wife's caretaker when she was sick. Frank can't stand Red's constant questions or him playing on his trampoline, but things start to change when Frank had no choice but to look after Red.
I think I would've enjoyed this a lot better if I had read it before I watched the previous stuff I mentioned earlier - it just didn't hit as hard as those, but it was still a great read nonetheless.
If you’re interested in the book, you can check it out here: https://bookshop.org/a/117995/9781472297433. I earn a small commission if you purchase through this link, at no extra cost to you.
Originally posted at www.rhuijin.cc.
Quest to Figuring Out My Thesis Topic: Book 1
I've been feeling anxious about my upcoming FYP. If you're in an undergraduate psychology program, you know that the broadness of the subject is both a blessing and... not a blessing, especially when you have to choose a niche to focus on in your final year. That's where I'm at, at least.
Aside from reading journal articles, I've made it a goal to dive into psychology books—or psychology-adjacent ones—for 2-3 months during my free time from university and work, until I really have to narrow down what I want to spend three entire semesters on. No pressure at all.
The first book is this. It's brilliantly narrated, although I've already been a fairly consistent viewer of the author's YouTube content. Child development psychology isn't my cup of tea, but I've taken my fair share of electives and core subjects on the topic. However, at the level I'm at, we mainly focus on stages of growth, biological and environmental influences, maladaptive behaviors, etc. The topic of addiction in children practically doesn't exist in the syllabi.
I found the book to be well-written overall, and although it focuses specifically on video games, I think it can be applied to technology use in general. With social media and overconsumption often going hand-in-hand with addiction, especially among kids nowadays, this book empathetically tackles both the child and the parent's perspectives.
Certain parts are anecdotal—like when the author shares his experience as a monk in India. That experience comes up fairly frequently, which I found interesting, though I'm not sure how scientifically backed those sections are. But that's due to my own ignorance, and I've yet to dive into the research on that topic.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in addiction, particularly technology-related addictions. Some of the insights are also applicable to adults or people around us who might struggle with addiction. The prompts on reflective listening and the resources provided are surprisingly dense for such a short book.
As always with books like this, it's worth going through some of the references or reading other articles from trusted sources, as it's not a definitive guide.
Looking forward to more books in a similar realm from this author!
It is the Lunar New Year season and because my mom, unfortunately, caught COVID, our family has been quarantining throughout the week, a week where we would usually be visiting family, celebrating with food and drinks and gossip! This is in part why I could finish an additional 3-4 books (pretty short ones though) and also the Chinese in me wanted to read something closer to my culture.
This has been a book that I've been putting off, with the knowledge of how gruesome the content would be, I decided against reading this multiple times. I mostly listened to this as I was spring cleaning my home, a ritual that most families would do here in Malaysia, right before Chinese New Year, as it is considered ‘unlucky' if you were to do so during the day itself. I washed the toilet, scrubbed surfaces, and reorganized my room whilst listening to the history of one of the most horrid acts that have resulted from imperialism.
The author does a great job of presenting the background and incident itself in an organized and accessible way, weaving through interviews, documents, and archived pieces in a non-awkward way, with everything interwoven well. I can't help but compare to a popular podcast that has attempted to cover this topic, Hardcore History which is good in itself, but I struggled to finish listening to it because of how it felt like it was going everywhere yet by the end of the episodes I felt like I barely understood anything.
My favorite part while I was listening to this (if there is anything close to something okay while reading such atrocities described in the book), are the chapters where Chang talks about the stories of resilience seen in the Chinese even when fighting against the cruelness of the then Japanese soldiers. Another section of the book that touches, quite in-depth, is the kind of Samaritans that used their status as western foreigners in Nanking to help those in need. The persona of John Rabe, a German Nazi, in particular, caught my interest.
It was a difficult listen, but honestly a very well-written book on this topic. I highly recommend this if you're interested but make sure you're in a decent headspace for it, there are a lot of gory and horrifying, though needed, descriptions.
Note: The audiobook is just okay for me. A lot of the pronunciations for the Chinese names in here were pretty butchered but besides that, very listenable and didn't pose any problems to my comprehension of the material.
Fun read by one of my new favourite authors! If you listened to The Locked Tomb series and love those, I can't see a reason why you wouldn't love this short and sweet little novella that is narrated by Moira Quirk, a versatile and seriously excellent voice actor. There is not much going on in the story besides the journey of Princess Floralinda attempting escape from the tower she has been locked in, since no prince has been successful enough in their own attempts. I always love the humour that Muir brings into her stories, and this one is no exception. Must read if you are a fan of the author.
To say that I read a book purely (almost) because it was mentioned in 1-2 sentences in a movie, is the epitome of how I get my recommendations, aside from Goodreads and Youtube of course. The aforementioned movie is The Half of It. It is a completely unrelated movie to this story, but two of the main characters' first interactions revolved around one of them dropping The Remains of the Day on the floor. A character in this movie described this novel along the lines of “all that barely repressed longing”, and honestly, I think that is a great sentence to sum this novel up.
In a story where we follow Mr Stevens, a butler in the age of Nazis and fancy English homes with dozens of people required to upkeep them, we are brought around flashbacks of his memories within his previous Lord, Lord Darlington. Mr Stevens has loyalty like no other when it comes to Darlington. The way so many of his actions revolved around serving him, even when they weren't professionally related made me sigh with disappointment whilst reading on my Kindle. His relationship with Ms Kenton, a housemaid in the same building is what furred my interest in this story. Their interactions, though little, were filled with so many of the unsaid. You don't know if Mr Stevens is someone who actively holds back, or if he is genuinely someone that doesn't act on things. I read a journal article where the author pointed out and provided evidence of how Mr Stevens here practices self-deception. He actively tells himself or convinces himself that the things he does or does not do are for the greater good. His act of service for Mr Darlington, which in turn caused the relationship between himself and Ms Kenton to deteriorate over the course of the story made me question my own life choices; what have I not done because I believed that should be the way?
We all have those moments where we regret or think about the lost lives we could have had if only we made certain choices. This book, though it made me feel sad for the characters and their own lost opportunities, relationships, and conversations, the ultimate lesson I got from this is that: we shouldn't waste our time feeling contrition about what we could've done or what we could've been. It's a simple lesson that is repeated over and over but put in this short 200+ page with beautifully written prose, is one I will be remembering for some time.
After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished?
I'm glad I got curious and picked this book up after watching that movie (if you haven't, please do!) I would probably never have pushed Ishiguro up my TBR considering these types of novels are not something I usually read, but I would love to read more of his works after reading this. If you're up for something that doesn't have a very large scope, is character-focused, and is extremely well-written, this isn't something you want to miss.
I've been seeing this particular work of Le Guin lauded by readers on social media and because I did enjoy reading her book, The Left Hand of Darkness, I didn't quite enjoy this on the same level. Perhaps this is because it was written to target younger audiences but I didn't find myself immersed in Earthsea and found the characters not much engaging either. I think for me at least, this boiled down to the short page count, and how it's very much a work where it's more of ‘explaining' rather than ‘doing', which is what I prefer in fantasy stories. Although I generally just found this book decent, I did like reading about Ged's friendships as well as the resolve of ‘Shadow', a mysterious figure that was chasing him throughout the latter half of the novel. Another thing which I found intriguing in this series, which is the significance of ‘true' names in the culture of this world. I'm curious to see how this specific segment of the book plays out in this series. If you're interested in reading another modern fantasy novel that shines light on the importance of names, one that I enjoyed was [b: Night Shine 50892207 Night Shine Tessa Gratton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581095077l/50892207.SY75.jpg 74725178] by Tessa Gratton. I enjoyed the almost lyrical prose in this book too, it definitely lifted the books' impact on me at times, and is one of its strong points. There isn't a passage written by Le Guin that doesn't show she's not a great writer. Even though I wasn't impressed by the first book of this series, I am hoping to continue on with this series and hopefully finish it by 2023-2024!
I loved this! The first 1/4 of the book felt a bit slow for me personally but this is fairly normal for the genre it belongs in, but when the book picks up after that, it really does. Woven into this world that has many parallels of our own is the coolest magic system I've read this year. I love that the art of translation is in every nook and cranny of this novel, and it exposed me to the technicalities of language that I have never been too privy to learn on my own before.
The plot is somewhat predictable at many points of the story. I also feel like there were certain similarities between the character of Robin and Rin in Kuang's previous series, The Poppy War; this made the ending something I expected, though I would say understandably so, considering the historical context and the vision Kuang seemed to be striving for. One thing that I do believe this book didn't satisfy me as well as the other books from Kuang is definitely the characters. Perhaps this is the product of the lack of interaction between the characters and internal monologues. Oh, and one thing that I did find quite fun were the footnotes! I thought they were a clever way to add in information in the book regarding the world, historical contexts, and the sly comments the author wanted the readers to know of! Though if you are trying to skim through the book, the footnotes are probably skippable.
This was my most anticipated read of 2022 and though I thought I would've had a ‘larger' impact upon reading it, I still think it is well worth all the praises it has been getting recently. Go read this if like me, you enjoy Kuang's straightforward and elegant prose, or if you enjoy dark academia, or if you just want to see what this is all about! Selfishly I hope that this book catches even more attention than what it has already been receiving so someone would decide that this story gets a television/movie adaptation; when that day arrives, I shall die a happy woman. Happy reading!
This was good, but not as great as what I usually get when I read a Nina LaCour book. I think the book starts off well; however, as it progresses I couldn't really see myself connecting with either of the characters. Emilie and Sara doesn't feel distinct enough for me, and the whole energy of the book felt as though it was veering off the edge of something amazing but that feeling never came. I did like that the story bookended with both of the characters dealing with their individual traumas and though there were things that came between them, they managed to look pass them to enjoy the present moments.
In terms of the romance, I definitely do not think it's explored enough here. It is a very instalove situation, where their relationship essentially forms within a few pages and it might be something to take note of if you're not into that. The other side characters like Grant and Colette were alright, but the focus never veers far from the two mains.
Overall, this is for sure a character > plot type of book, usual to LaCour's style but for me at least, lacking in the emotional intensities found in her better works: We Are Okay and Hold Still. I liked this book enough to finish reading it but found that aside from the heartwarming ending, I didn't connect with the story enough like I would've wanted to. I'll still be awaiting to read more of this author's work though!
A great introduction to the topic and it has very straightforward step-by-step guides to learn some of the teachings of stoicism (which might be the best part of the book) but I also felt that it can get a tad repetitive at times. For example, the author repeats in several parts of the book that the stoics are not ‘emotionless' as people say and provide evidence that felt redundant. Decent read overall, but it can feel preachy at times.
This is the best 500+ page interlude book in a fantasy series I have ever read. I was surprised that Muir had changed her planned trilogy at the beginning of the year, and I was honestly really excited about it! I mean, more books in The Locked Tomb, who could complain? I understand the criticisms where people might want to move on from the series but hear me (and many others) out, this book is crucial and not crucial, both at the same time.
Right out of the bat, we are plopped back into the same scenario as the previous entry— A confusing perspective and an unreliable narrator to navigate the ins and outs of the plot. Nona, the character that we follow for most of the book brings so much to the table! Her naivety and innocence as well as her lack of understanding of what was happening around her kept me on my toes, wondering how Muir would tie everything together. If you've read this far into the series and enjoy it, you probably trust the author to reveal what is required to be revealed by the end of the story; however, the author brings in even more questions which leaves you wanting more.
As you can tell, the characters are one of the biggest reasons why I love this, and honestly this entire series so much. The charisma and distinction from each of them are so well done; even characters that I should hate, like Ianthe and John, felt so fresh in this landscape of SFF books. The found family trope is able to work well here, even if it's one of the most bonkers scenarios I could think of. Pyrhha, Camilla, Palamedes, and Nona are beautiful together, and I just loved reading their interactions, even if they got slice-of-lifey at times.
"Camilla and Palamedes were loved by Nona," said Paul. "Pyrhha was loved by Nona. It's finished, it's done. You can't take love away. We loved you too. Palamedes and Camilla loved you."It's not all just that though, there are a lot more answers that are given to the readers about the world compared to the other books. I found the way Muir did this incredibly smart: interludes between chapters to carefully weave and provide the narrative of John's fucked up way of becoming God helped build the context that readers needed. What I would say that might be something that some readers may dislike is the pacing. The first 60-70% of the book didn't feel like it contributed much to the overall plot of the story (aside from the interludes) and felt mostly character focused. Stick to it though, because I think the payoff was very much worth that wait! Ehem, I mean, certain characters came back in a way or another, so that's got to worth something, no? In conclusion, I really enjoyed this! Sure, I think Tamsyn Muir could have somehow managed to write this into Alecto, but I'm glad this exists. Nona is a character that I never knew I wanted to read, but I'm glad I got to meet her. Excited to see how this series wraps up, can't wait for Fall of 2023!
Jade City was on my TBR for some time now, and I finally got around to it! I came into it essentially only knowing that there it's heavily based on martial-art-type-movies, involves some kind of Jade magic, and that familial connections are emphasized a lot. Finishing this book gave me the impression that this, the first of 3 books in the series is more of a ‘introduction' type story. Sure, there is plot advancements, plenty of it to keep you invested, but I think the author truly shines when it came to showing how well thought out Janloon and its people, magic system, and hierarchy works out.
The two clans, No Peak and the Mountain are both morally-ambiguous in their ambitions and actions, which makes them more intriguing to read about. The characters Hilo, Lan, Shae, Wen, and even Ayt were all fantastic as well, especially the first three. Similarly to The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang or even The First Law by Joe Abercrombie, you can't help but root for the characters, even if whatever they're doing or thinking is fucked up. I definitely recommend this to those who are entertained by family drama, politicking, cool magic system involving Jade (honestly one of the most interesting systems I've read about this year), and excellent character work, do yourself a favor to pick this up!
I can see people who value a lot of action to be put off by the way this book plays out though! There are a handful of action scenes that are written well (something about how direct and quick these were made them great to read) but aside from those, this is one where you mostly immerse yourself in the conversations of the Kekonese to learn more about the world the author has built.
Well deserving of the Booker Prize back in 2020, Shuggie Bain brings the reader into the lives of Agnes Bain and her son, Hugh, or ‘Shuggie'. Alcoholism, rape, abuse and poverty are themes that are touched most, and in a manner where it doesn't feel like there's much hope at the end of the tunnel.
It's hard to say you've enjoyed a book when for the most part, it felt pretty grim. As the story progresses, we are shown in many ways how Agnes Bain falls back into her old habits, bringing chaos to herself and her family. Speaking of family, though ultimately a dysfunctional one, I really liked and admired Shuggie and Leek's character. Leek with his seemingly disinterest in his mother's habits but cares a whole lot and Shuggie's rose-coloured tinted glasses perspective of his mum's condition who for the majority of the book had an optimism in him like no other for her condition to improve. Of course, as the pages are flipped we can see that Agnes's problems don't go away just with hoping that it'll all get better, or by moving homes. I felt incredibly immersed in the setting that the author had introduced. I'm from SEA and the dialogue, descriptions of buildings and people were all great in helping me conjure the Scottish ambiance of the story.
Though I didn't feel much joy while reading this, I liked the story. I liked the realism, I liked the characters, and I like that it felt incredibly honest. It's definitely not a light read, but there is a tinge of happiness at the end which might satisfy readers, at least a little bit.
This was actually a rather memorable romance read! I have the tendency to forget the plot of romance books, especially when it's set in the contemporary world but oh my, this one's going to stay for a bit. The whole throwing off the typical person A meets person B at a small town faraway from the city trope and person A breaking up with their cold-hearted partner over the phone trope and INSTEAD focusing on that ‘cold-hearted' partner was the big sell for me here.
Nora, being the career-driven person she is struggles to connect with her partners, siblings, and the people around her. Along with her sister, she travels to a small town which there, she finds her sort-of nemesis, Charlie. I loved the dynamics between Nora and her sister, I think though this book is centred around romance, the author paid sufficient attention to their relationship which made me enjoy the story a lot more. Past family trauma is surfaced, and tough conversations are had.
Of course, the relationship between Nora and Charlie would be what makes or breaks the story. Luckily for me at least, I loved how feisty both the characters are. They are similar yet distinct from one another, and I liked how it never overplays the cliche tropes typically attached to straight romance novels. I especially liked that both Nora and Charlie are very focused on their jobs as book agents, and them never giving up their love for their job for anything/anyone here. A lot of times stories like these may end up writing either of the characters' giving up their own passion, or suddenly having a 180give degree flip in their personality as a way for the romance plot to move forward.
I will admit I would've loved to read more on Charlie's end of the story because though we got a lot of Nora (considering the book is from her perspective), we don't get much on Charlie, besides from the conversations the two have. That's just a small nitpick though, I enjoyed this a lot! Definitely would recommend even if you're not the typical romance reader, it's a light read/listen and has a satisfying and realistic end to it too.
Cozy cozy read! Perfect if you want to just have a no-stakes comfy read/listen (the audiobook version is wonderfully narrated by the author) or if you want a palette cleanser between your denser books. Loved the coffee descriptions and just following Viv and her journey in making her coffee shop dream successful. Will definitely reread this sometime in the future and am excited to see what else this author has to offer! If you've read this and are looking for something in a similar vein (cozy feels and has a less emphasis on plot and more on character), check out the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers or even Murderbot by Martha Wells!