emilyusuallyreading's reviews
746 reviews

What I Liked
Octavia Butler is a phenomenal writer. She creates worlds and races and ideas that have never entered my mind until reading her works. The Xenogenesis series has impacted me and caused me to think about the human Contradiction. Are Butler's observations of humanity's flaws true? Can we actually continue without destroying each other as we create bigger and more lethal weapons?

Akin as a character was interesting. I found myself struggling to become absorbed in his character, as he was so different, but his humanity is very evident. He was the perfect protagonist for Butler to write after Lilith.

What I Didn't Like
I struggled with Akin's physical appearance throughout this story, which I suppose makes me succumb to the xenophobia that plagues all of the humans in the book. But reading a story from the eyes of a human-looking child who is only a few months old and cannot yet walk but can reason as clearly as an adult? I was distracted and struggled to picture seriously what it would be like to hold a young infant and reason with him maturely. It was easier for me to envision Akin after his metamorphosis than I could when he was a super intelligent baby.

The plot became a little slow for me. Towards the final sections of the story, I found myself putting down the book and moving onto other things. Adulthood Rites spans over a couple of decades and covers a lot of territory. Something that bored me was that Akin's entire life seemed so predestined. In the beginning of the story, even though his age was strange to accept, there was uncertainty and tension. But towards the end, everyone knew and repeated again and again Akin's fate and even how his emotions and personhood would change. Since I already knew what to expect, my attention began to wander.

The reason I'm giving this book five stars is because it was one of my all-time favorites when I was about twelve. Re-reading ten years later, I certainly see some flaws, but Deep sparked so much creativity within me as a child that I have to give it credit today.

What I Liked
Both protagonists are vivid and lovable. Birdie is a little whiny and spoiled ("I am so awesome!"), but she is bright with the colors of life and fight. The relationship she has with her parents is precious to read, as many YA novels make the parents basically nonexistent. Morgan's story is heartbreaking and empowering. This girl is fierce.

I love the narration in this book. "I imagined the Nu-Way teachers and Mrs. Kimball taking turns flyswatting at her honeybee spirit until it turned waspy and mean." Deep is written for the younger end of the YA spectrum, as Birdie is only thirteen. Birdie captures the spirit of a thirteen-year-old, and Morgan captures the spirit of the wild adventurer with an itching wanderlust, someone that every young reader has inside of them.

Nicholas is a fantastic villain. Handsome, cunning, ever-changing appearance, and even more rapidly changing moods. A book with striking similarity is Stolen by Lucy Christopher (a book that I did not like for its depiction of a sexy, mysterious, 100% sympathetic, self-sacrificing captor). Unlike Stolen, Deep offers an antagonist that is both compelling and chillingly ominous. His manipulation and mind games cause the reader to hate and love him at the same time, and Birdie's confusion is entirely understandable.

What I Didn't Like
I realize that this is closer to middle grade than young adult, but everything turned out

Spoiler

so darn perfectly. No PTSD for Birdie, after all of the horrendous trauma she's been through. No more asthma. Only fame, happiness, a publishing contract, and a brand new orange cell phone. No real contemplation about what happened to Nicholas and the other missing girls

.

Things weren't wrapped up quite as tightly as I would have liked. What about all of the other "princesses" Nicholas talked about? For that matter, what happened to Nicholas? What was his sentencing?

At times, Birdie's perky personality made me laugh. Other times, it made me roll my eyes and sigh. At one point, she and Morgan are struggling to escape an extremely harrowing, dangerous, and painful situation, and Birdie manages to do something she didn't think she could do, and she exclaimed, "I am so awesome!"

Spoiler

Meanwhile, she had just fallen next to a dead body, who was currently rotting below her as she climbed to the top of the well.

If you're about to read Under the Never Sky with the intention of reading dystopian fiction, I'll caution you to change your perspective. This is paranormal, a little post-apocalyptic, very sci-fi, and not very dystopian, in my opinion.

My review is three stars, but once I could get over the weirdness of the book (and its surprising me by not being what I intended to read when I saw the genre of dystopia), I enjoyed Rossi's writing.

What I Liked
Both Aria and Perry are likable. They are both independent, a little angsty but not overbearingly so, and distinct enough to have recognizable personalities and voices.

The new words made me think a little too much of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld at first, but I eventually grew to like the adaptation into slightly futuristic speech.

There is slow progression into romance in this book, which I appreciated. No love at first sight (more like love at an awkward moment, but I discuss that more below). The gradual connection between Aria and Perry made me root for them more.

I loved the way that Rossi writes. Her descriptions and metaphors are lovely, especially when she describes the gifts that Aria and Perry have.

What I Didn't Like
I'm not a big fan of a lot of sci-fi and paranormal, and I was startled to find both of those in the book. If you like things like Seers and Scires, then you'll love Under the Never Sky, but it was a struggle for me to get into Perry's world and tribe.

Perry only becoming attracted to Aria after smelling her period blood destroyed me. It was weirder than (Twilight spoiler, if you care about spoiling Twilight):

Spoiler

Renesmee and Jacob being a couple

. I was already struggling to accept that a futuristic world could have mutations like mind-reading and smelling emotions, but after Aria's period smelled like violets, I shut down. The super powers were too strange.

There was almost no background to this world. Or world building. There's a dome run by consuls and split into pods. There are tribes of mutants that run the rest of the world. There's a crazy, stormy aether that swirls around magically in the sky. But whys and hows don't exist. I enjoyed the characterization and relationships in the book quite a lot, but I struggled to understand how the earth possibly got to that point.

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book, but I could hardly put it down until I had read the last page.

Marie Rutkoski's writing is strikingly beautiful. She is a wordsmith, and I was captivated by every single sentence.

Kestrel is an amazing YA female protagonist. She is strong, but not a fighter. Likable and distinct from the crowd of young female protags. She has believable relationships with parental figures, both male and female friends, and the fact that her bond with Arin is rooted in friendship before romance makes my heart sing with happiness. I also enjoyed Kestrel's talent with people. Perception isn't the typical character strength I have seen in YA fiction.

I was worried that there would be the instant love when Kestrel first brings Arin home from the auction, but there wasn't.

The cultures in this book are so realistic that I wouldn't be phased at all if I were to discover that they existed alongside ancient Rome. I struggle to become immersed into fantasy, but I fell headfirst into this world and into the knotted relationship between the Valorians and the Herrani. Rutkoski's creation of the Bite and Sting game, her war tactics, and even the use of language between Arin and Kestrel are all stunning and well-done.

I adored this book, much more than I thought I would, and I will be the first in line to buy the next one.

What I Liked
I seriously had no idea this was a historical fiction novel, based on the cover and the description on the back. I ended up being pleasantly surprised by the genre. It is unusual enough that I enjoyed the disruption from what I typically see in YA fiction and also from what I would usually pick up to read.

There is no question that All the Truth That's in Me is extremely compelling. I had no idea what would happen until the last few pages, and I was fascinated by the concept of this story. There is so much judgment present in this village towards a young girl who was only a victim of trauma and kidnapping. In some ways, the setting reminds me of The Scarlet Letter, but it's also eerily similar to judgment and condescension present in today's society.

The strength in Judith is beautiful. She exemplifies empowerment and courage for women who have experienced abuse and victimization. I so appreciated reading Judith's story and seeing how she was able to find her voice.

What I Didn't Like
The story is told largely in second person, written as a mental letter to Judith's secret love. I'm not a big fan of second person, and I often found myself struggling to embrace the romance. "You met my eyes" or "You reached out and stroked my cheek" only bothered and frustrated me, because I am not in love with Judith. I know she was mentally writing to Lucas, but reading the second person narrative was awkward to me.

All the Truth That's in Me is written in a fragmented format, split into disjointed memories of the past and moments of present tense that are sometimes only a few lines long before a new section begins. While I appreciate Berry's step into originality, it was difficult to become absorbed in the story when I was constantly pausing to adjust to a new section and remind myself of the tense.

What I Liked
The magical realism present in this book is fantastical. Storms of yellow flowers. The most beautiful woman imaginable ascending into heaven while folding laundry. An old man madly speaking Latin while tied to a tree in the backyard for twenty years. Although I didn't enjoy this novel, it was certainly memorable. I won't forget some of the wilder moments of One Hundred Years of Solitude, not for a long time.

What I Didn't Like
This story wrung out my brain like a dishrag. I appreciate books that make me think, but I'm not certain this one is worth it. I may remember the weirdness of this book, but not with the fondness that causes me to love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. By the end, I felt like I had run a marathon for no reason at all. This book did not carry a message that changed or impacted me. It was only exhausting.

One Hundred Years of Solitude follows six generations of a family who all share the same few names (Boys: Aureliano, Arcadio, Jose, Girls: Remedios, Amaranta, Ursula...) that cycle over and over again, from generation to generation. There are far too many main characters to keep track of them all, especially since almost every single one is named Aureliano.

Because of the huge expanse of time present in this novel, there is no opportunity to get to know an individual character (which I suppose contributes to their solitude). There was so much detail and brilliant lines and interesting magical moments, but I found myself drifting off into sleep while reading (which never happens).

If you truly (and are not lying, but you truly) enjoyed reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, then you must be a better reader than I, because I was only relieved to finish the last page and move on with my life.

I've heard so much about the Percy Jackson books, but I haven't taken the time to sit down and read one until my YA Lit class that I'm currently taking for university.

To be honest, I just didn't click with The Lightning Thief. Every trial seemed so easy to defeat that it was almost laughable. I never doubted for a second that Percy could defeat a monster. I never wondered if he would be able to get his mom back. And it was pretty clear from the beginning the identity of his true father. There was never a "edge of my seat" moment.

The most problematic part of this book for me was meshing the ancient Greek gods with modern times. Having Ares be a motorcycle-driving thug and Zeus be a tough-looking man in a pinstriped business suit just didn't work for me. The Underworld's similarities to a Toll Booth? Sorry, I just wasn't awed or frightened.

Perhaps if I read this book for the first time when I was twelve, I would have enjoyed it more. I'm happy to see Rick Riordan encouraging kids to embrace their differences, like dyslexia and ADHD, and to learn more about history, but I personally had trouble connecting to this book.

I had never read the fairytale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," so East felt like a sturdy mixture of Beauty and the Beast and Frozen.

What I Liked
Rose as a female protagonist is strong and inventive. She echoes quite well Valerie Frankel's The Heroine's Journey. Rose is likable, admirable, and a character to root for unconditionally. Her patience and self-revelation throughout the novel is beautiful.

I learned about the Norwegian culture through reading this book, without even realizing that I was learning.

I also appreciated the way that the book was split into the parts of the Compass. Pattou divided the segments appropriately and they helped to fit into the book's flow.

What I Didn't Like
At times, I couldn't help but feel like Rose's journey was endless. It made me feel cold just imagining her trekking through the cold wilderness for so long. I suppose that is to share her virtue of patience with the reader and perhaps I am along impatient, but instead of Rose meeting friend after friend, I preferred her to experience more in the main plot instead of the many subplots.

What I Liked
Juliette has a strong voice. She's quickly likable. Her affliction (being unable to touch anyone without causing them extreme pain or even death) is fascinating. The story begins with Juliette living in total isolation in a mental asylum, and for those first few chapters I was hooked.

What I Didn't Like
Angst. So much teenage angst. Every single character has horribly abusive parents and has seen terrible things. Everyone is lonely and afraid and guilty about things that aren't their fault. In a world where everyone is anguished all of the time, personal tragedies become much less compelling.

Take this scene (that could potentially be a spoiler) from p.206:

Spoiler

"'Juliette,' he whispers, and I realize just how close he is. I'm not sure why I haven't evaporated into nothingness. 'It's been me and you against the world forever,' he says. 'It's always been that way. It's my fault I took so long to do something about it.' 'No.' I'm shaking my head. 'It's not your fault-' 'It is. I fell in love with you a long time ago. I just never had the guts to act on it.' 'Because I could have killed you.' He laughs a quiet laugh. 'Because I didn't think I deserved you.'"

So much self blame for things that don't make sense. So much angst when angst is not needed.

So many metaphors and similes. Tahereh Mafi's writing style is unique and recognizable, but the constant use of metaphor becomes distracting from the actual storyline. Take this paragraph from p. 147:
"My heart is a field of lilies blooming under a pane of glass, pitter-pattering to life like a rush of raindrops. His jaw is as tight as his eyes as tight as his fists as tight as the strain in his arms."
It's like this every single page, every single paragraph. Missing punctuation. Constantly crossing out sentences. Metaphor after metaphor after metaphor. Similar to how tragic stories become less tragic when everybody has one, flowery sentences become less striking when every sentence is flowery and over-elaborate.

The book transforms into X-Men. And just as quickly as my interest was piqued, it was lost.

What I Liked
Octavia Butler's writing always captivates me. I'm not a big fan of extreme science fiction, but Butler manages to weave worlds that compel me to turn pages until I've devoured the entirety of her stories. I read Imago in a single sitting.

I appreciated how this final installment to the Xenogenesis trilogy revealed realistic xenophobia in humans among each other. The humans with tumors and visible deformations are treated as outcasts from one another, even though they all have the same identities as people with value.

This is the only book of the trilogy written in third person, and I am thankful that it is. Because Jodahs is an ooloi, I would have had more trouble relating to a character whose pronouns are constantly "it." For such an alien creature, first person point of view is helpful in exploring its mind a little more.

What I Didn't Like
Things just get too weird. Again, I'm not big on aliens and sci-fi, so perhaps some people enjoy the escapism. But three sexes? Alien bondings of five? Sending humans off to Mars? Sensory tentacles? Desire so strong that the body will self-destruct without finding mates?

Reading about sexual coercion is extremely uncomfortable to me. Although Butler is never explicit in her eroticism, so many lines of permission and consent are blurred.

I was disappointed in the editing of this book, at least my copy. I found four spelling errors.

Finally, and this is based on my own conviction, but the dismissal of God in Imago bothered me and isn't something I personally enjoy reading.