zilver
3 - 3.5 didn???t work as much for me as sadie did. this plays with different povs during different times as well, but it lacks the definitive shape sadie had. i also found some parts to be rushed, especially during the second half of the book. i would???ve liked a longer resolution that would have put a little bit more meat on these bones.
3.5 (rounded up) at times cheesy and desperately trying to invoke millennial humor - though that is to be expected, i suppose, considering the subject matter - and at times warm and heartfelt and comforting. since on many levels i don???t relate to dolly???s teenage years and early twenties, the first half of the book especially could cross into the contrived for me. the email interludes in particular fell flat and didn???t add much. over the course of the second part this book really opened up to me more. i guess because i like the idea of character growth even in real people and i like watching it happen (or reading about it) because it makes me feel a bit more hopeful about my own person. the fact that maybe it isn???t so crazy insane desperate lost to not know who you are or what you want when you???re 24. the searing importance of friendship felt like a solid, reassuring cornerstone. the focus drawing solace out of simple things felt less forced, more genuine. a good read for when you feel like you???re existing in between time for a bit (like, perhaps, while you???re on holiday)
enjoyed this a lot more than the first book, actually! i think that one lacked some depth to the characterisation and relationships that this book provided. it also felt like the plot in the first book was just there to Be Plot and Be Conflict but otherwise sort of unclearly linked to the rest of what the book was doing. this one felt a lot more cohesive, each character playing their own part in a larger story.
it also really highlighted each character???s sort of??? core being and allowed that part of them to shine through. i???m thinking thaniel???s steadfastness (the way he trusts mori but also never just let???s his own vision of things be swept under the rug (except for One Particular Thing)) and mori???s dedication (it???s sort of killing him to have this ability but he???ll use it anyway).
it was also a lot more achey than the first book. very ???i???ve seen you die in the future and am actively feeling that grief you while you???re still alive but also trying to prevent it from happening but every time i see you i see a ghost.??? love me a book that aches. love me a book that uses ghosts to ache.
i love love love pulley's way of developing the relationships between her main characters, which happens quietly, without grandeur and dramatics, but with a heart-achy truth to it. even after reading only two of her books it's clear there's a style to it, but she pulls it off. and valery is a wonderfully compelling character. honest and real and kind and so dedicated to reducing suffering despite all he's been put through. you just want to hug him through all of it (carefully).
the issue i take, which is something i also noticed in the kingdoms, is the sudden... disappearance of women from the narrative. Spoilerin this book in particular i don't think i can really make a good case for why anna and the kids had to be left behind. we did not get to spend nearly enough time with valery and shenkov afterwards to process the meaning of that decision and the impact it must have had on shenkov, and because of that it feels just a little bit too easy to whisk the woman away. i appreciate pulley's dedication to giving her queer characters a somewhat safe and happy ending. i just don't think that has to be nor should it be at the cost of the women.
i spent yesterday reading the last half of this book and felt like i was going a little bit insane with how much i was ACHING. i love a time travel plot, i love an amnesia plot, i love yearning, i love how painful and harrowing and touching this story was. every minute i have spent thinking about this book since finishing it has made me want to start a reread immediately. so good
i wanted to read this book after coming across a quote from it that really struck me, and i'm so very glad that i did. it's really quite something - quite something quiet at that. a very unconventional book, in some senses. the arc is sort of wobbly, but that feels specifically appropriate for a book that is about grief. it's about a woman who just lost her mother. it's about a writer who's desperate and full of dread and drive at the same time. the quote i read was:
“I'm both the sad person and the person wanting to comfort the sad person. And then I feel sad for that person who has so much compassion because she's clearly been through the same thing, too. And the cycle keeps repeating. It's like when you go into a dressing room with a three-paneled mirror and line them up just right to see the long narrowing hallway of yourselves diminishing into infinity. It feels like that, like I'm sad for an infinite number of my selves.”
i think something else that really touched me throughout the book is how kind casey (the main character) remains. it's like she loses sight of herself but not of the world around her. she remains kind to the people that deserve it, and holds her own around the people who don't. i appreciate a lack of drama. things that in other books would have been dragged out or overdone remain tangible and manageable.
and the sadness does get overwhelming at times. but writers & lovers captures so well that even that is a wave. at times it overwhelms entirely, and the next morning the sun rises, and the breeze is cold, and it's a memory as well as a reminder.
second read five stars i fucking love this book, man. love how you can really empathise with a lobotomised harrow because it feels like you, too, have been lobotomised by muir right when you started this. the ballsy choice to use a SECOND PERSON NARRATOR is [chefs kiss]. it makes this book once again different than anything else i???ve ever read. muir is so dedicated to her story that she doesn???t let up until she has to which is always the right moment (you realise in retrospect and upon reread). i love that she never goes easy on you. also. pain. pain!!!! oh harrow. my necromancing genius insane child. everything she does and does to herself is just so [unable to specify without spoiling so you???ll just have to believe me]. she???s simply a soup-plot inventing legend. girlie go some sleep. gotta go scour the reddit now before STARTING NONA!!!first read five stars what the FUCK did i just read
4.5 a grim fairy tale as neil gaiman loves to write. i've read his american gods and enjoyed it, but this book definitely brought back more feelings and memories of reading the graveyard book as a kid. it's really fascinating how good he is at making a tale that is definitely for grown ups sound so much like it is a tale for a child. or by a kid. or both? i love how subtly the theme of memories and what we want or should remember was woven into it. and i'll say - it wasn't until the epilogue that the book really got to me. i really enjoyed it before that, but the epilogue was when it really hit. Spoilerthe image of the main character returning to the hempstock farm throughout his life to remember and find solace and courage to return home, and to forget again was just really beautiful to me.and, VERY important to mention: the illustrated version is absolutely gorgeous. i know everyone is raving about the audiobook because it's read by gaiman himself (and i can't say i'm not curious) but to hold this book in your hands and see the images spread out before you is an Experience as well.
second read 5 stars this book makes me feel INSANE in the best possible way. it???s a fantastic and rewarding reread, especially after harrow the ninth. everything is that much more interesting and painful when you feel like you actually sort of might have an idea of what???s going on. gideon simply SHINES. her voice is crystal clear, sharp, hilarious as we follow her on the wildest fantasy sci-fi post-apocalyptic (???) ride. tamsyn muir manages to go from deliciously modern and snappy dialogue to harrowing (ha ha) necromantic sequences so elegantly. as someone who gets hives from books that include pop culture references this somehow manages to never feel contrived. it walks the line by using contemporary language to describe things that aren???t, and cannot be, and won???t be part of our universe. and i genuinely delight in a story of which you can FEEL the scope because no one explains anything that they wouldn???t. this book is an onion, a very big lettuce, me when winter starts - so so layered. and every part that muir unwraps adds density and intrigue. she???s so clever!!! i want to open her up and study her!!! anyway. if you haven???t read this: let it wash over you during the first read. get you a friend who will take notes during her reread so you can use them to aid your sieve-like memory. read it again and delight and cry, both dreading and looking forward to starting harrow. -first read 4.5 love a book that doesn???t explain shit to me!
think i read the entire second part with tears in my eyes.
a kid i knew died earlier this year and it struck me how much of those final chapters i recognised almost verbatim from conversations with the kid???s parents, and my own parents at the time. now, i know maggie o???farrell wrote this book just a couple of years ago, but nevertheless, while reading this i had this feeling growing in my chest at the thought that centuries upon centuries people feel things the same way. that some things are universal and stretch out across time.
highly recommended - and for people who think they need to have any affinity with mr. shakspr for this: you don???t. the man???s name isn???t mentioned once!
last book in the series and arguably the smallest one at that, scope-wise. it takes place in just about a single dome with a small array of characters, all from vastly different spaces (haha because they???re in space. get it?) i think all in all nice way to structure a series of books about the immensity of the universe.
