amelianotthepilot's reviews
739 reviews

Illuminating stories of forgotten women throughout medieval history. The case studies were extremely interesting particularly chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 ,8 IMO. It showcased a variety of European locations with differing women.

The middle chapters were a bit slow and didn't focus on specific women as much. But really well written and informative. 

The last chapter seemed like a bit of a rushed attempt to be more inclusive but also perhaps Ramirez felt it wasn't her place to discuss things not in her identity.

i can’t tell if it’s just the way french literature is or if the translation was a bit off but it read a bit strange. it was a bit difficult to understand at times because the magic and world building were explained but i think that’s due to the translation.
 
The plot follows a girl named Ophelia who is living in this futuristic world where the people in each city are all descendants from one 'being' and each 'family'/town has a specific power. Her familial powers is that they can touch an object and know its whole history so she wears gloves all the time. But some people also have extra powers like her uncle can also fix broken things by touching them, and some people can make inanimate objects move, and she can teleport through mirrors for some reason. The society is very steampunk 1800s- prim and proper with women being oppressed and married off. The main character bothered me a bit at first because she has no autonomy but also doesn't try to do anything about it and just lets everything happen but she did eventually do things. She's also the generic meek, unpretty, quirky heroine which I feel like is so overdone at this point. The plot revolves around her being married off to a different family/town in the north pole so she has to leave her city and family and never see them again and go live in the ‘barbaric’ poles with her new husband, Thorn. But thorn is cold and distant and wants nothing to do with her. But does he secretly care for her but not show it? Is this just a pride and prejudice retelling?

The first half was a bit slow but around half way through it really picks up and is full of court drama and intrigue. 

I hate the oppression and situation she’s in and she never really acknowledges it just sorta accepts her lot in life but at the same time she never lets go of herself.

I thought it was gonna b a fun little trope filled queer fantasy but ugh honestly wished it was more tropey i dunno how we didn’t get a 1 bed scenario in this

The dialogue (which almost the whole book) was so tiresome and boring. Klune tends to use a jokey childish playground smack talk sex pun style of dialogue in all his books but this book was even more so. It’s clear this is one of his early books. A lot of dialogue scenes were so lengthy but with no purpose and i found myself bored and skimming a lot. Also his characters lacked distinct voices so they all end up sounding the same.

I thought the plot and characters were fun but the chapters are very disjointed and the plot doesn’t flow very well. It’s more like a series or short adventures all strung together leading up to nothing. The stakes were never big and the villains were always not that evil. 

do like the adhd and ace representation tho. but i dislike how he somehow manages to not include any female important characters and somehow every character is a gay man. no intersecting identities pretty flat

and yet again he’s managed to have a vaguely teen YA romance vibe but then lots of butt sex (not as intense as green creek) it’s an odd vibe

What a beautifully written book ugh. 
A dark academia fantasy set in Oxford. It's quite long and a bit dense and heavy but so worth it. The author has done a lot of intense research for this so it's quite scholarly and even has footnotes. (which i thought was fun and nerdy) I also felt like I learned a lot about language and etymology. It also has this beautiful way of addressing issues of class and racism in really subtle ways and varied characters. I love the really nuanced ways she had her diverse cast of characters experience racism and micro aggressions in every day life from different ways. It was really comprehensive and I feel like everyone should read this book. But also honestly just a downright fun dark academia adventure fantasy.
 

a wonderful little love story of castles and cadavers set in 18th century edinburgh 

Truly every chapter is wilder than the last and it's all read by him. I do not fathom how these stories made it past editors but also past his wife. Most of the memoir is a jarring juxtaposition of a deeply mentally unwell child who craves empathy from his family while being delusional about his mother's death contrasted with him talking about his "todger". I really don't know why he talks about it so much but so far it has made an appearance at least 7 times in the first 03:30 hours. Certainly an iconic read.

The audiobook is also unnecessarily 15.5 hours long but honestly all due to the fact that this man reads at a snails pace with a breath in between every other word. 

It’s a psychiatrists playground with not only generational trauma but also family trauma but also war PTSD but also stalker trauma but also maternal death trauma topped off with royal trauma. Truly a wild time. I’m sorry to this man.

It was sooooo long and they were still introducing characters and doing set up 400 pages into the 700 page book! 0/10 I honestly don't know why I even bother with long fantasies cause I've never read a good one. I truly don't believe books ever need to be that long. There's always definitely a spot where it could have been split up or there's so many extra irrelevant things that could've been edited out. I'm honestly disappointed because the concept is cool and the vibes are good but and the writing wasn't bad per se but the plot was soooo sloww and also I didn't particularly feel anything for the characters. I dunno a disappointing read overall. The cover was really cool and it was very hyped online so I'm a bit bummed.

only the last 50 pages were exciting i appreciate that the wrap up was quick and not too drawn out

i thought this was gonna be a halloween hallmark book….it was not…