lailams's reviews
106 reviews

Not my favorite audiobook narrators, and I've been reading too many YA's recently for my own liking, so I'm taking a pause on the genre until I'm in the mood for it again. It has promise though! The story and characters are interesting. 

5 stars because I'm pretty sure this book was made just for me. I was a little wary about the storyteller omniscient presence but decided to lean into the silliness of it, and I absolutely loved their little inputs by the middle of it. The romance was so sweet it'll give you a tooth ache. It's a true fairy tale, and made me extremely nostalgic for my childhood when I would read fairy tales and desperately, obsessively hope that they were real. Loved everything about this book. It ended wonderfully, and I'm happy if the story ends here, but if there's another book and this turns into a series, you bet your bottom dollar that I'll be reading it as soon as physically possible.

Extremely trope-y, extremely YA, follows the 2016 era dystopian fiction (i.e. the Divergent Series) emotional plot points a little too closely. But oh my god there's something in this book. I could not put it down. It consumed an entire weekend that I was supposed to be unpacking my new apartment, and this just took over my life. and THEN it got tragic at the end (like I knew it would, re: the dystopian YA emotional plot points) and I put it down for a while because I didn't want it to end. It's so fast paced, and the lore is cooler than I thought it would be. The inclusion of dragons slap every single time. The romance is absolutely everything, built up super well.  The characterization of the main character was  little wishy-washy for a while. First she was a fragile, weak girl who was made for the stacks of the archives, and then she's suddenly extremely fast and good with knives? But it balanced out somewhere near the end, so it's whatever, honestly.  Is it a good book from a literary perspective? probably not. Did I enjoy the hell out of it? absolutely. If you know you're a fan of YA romantasy (like ACOTAR), this will be a slam dunk for you. The booktok girlies know whats up. Plot twist at the end has me so excited for the next book!

DNF - The buildup of the first book was cute, but maybe not extremely robust. They went from sort-of-strangers/employee-boss to suddenly caring about each other very much and I sort of get it, but I wish there was more build-up.  To take the words from my sister, the book is very indulgent, and loves it's tropes. I generally don't have a problem with that, but the romance feels somewhat shallow and lacking substance. The reason the book was written was to fulfill the 'who hurt you' trope, and I generally want more out of my books than that. The plot is interesting but it lingers much more on the romance than it does that plot intrigue. Since the romance is more central to the book than the outside conflict, I just feel like there needs to be more gravity in their feelings. The general tone of the book is flippant at best. 

Sometimes I just need to ramble until I figure out how to put my feelings into words, and I don't know if I succeeded. Either way, I'm not invested enough to continue.

I knew I would rate this book close to 5 stars by the time I was less than halfway through.

This is the only content I have ever consumed that involved time travel that I liked, and in fact, I loved it. 

Plot aside, the vibes of the book are so so so good -- Main character Cassie finds a book of doors and goes traveling across the world every day after work, but other people want the book (and have other magic books) and are willing to do anything it takes to get to it. Cassie and the other characters never lose their wonder and joy when using the magic books even when things are tense.  It gets extremely dark at times, really graphic with the violence, but it's balanced by these moments of tenderness towards humanity as Cassie uses the door to explore the world around her (and her friends') grief. There's a section in the middle where Cassie ends up spending a lot of time with an elderly man, just waiting for a plot point to happen, and while it could have been spun as a tragic string of events, it was filled with contentment and happiness as they enjoyed each others company in their wait. The tragedy was there, but the author chose to linger on Cassie appreciating the present and relishing the time she had with her companion. It was wholesome and made me feel so many things. The book as a whole has a lot of trauma bonding, a smidgen of romance, and little found family (especially towards the end), so this is the perfect book for me. 

I was absolutely astounded at how neat and tidy each little thread of the interweaving stories was tied up. I had an entire laundry list of questions on why and how things happened at 60% of the way through the book, and by the end, nearly every one was addressed. The book is an awesome example of a well-written mystery unfolding. 

There are a little bit of time travel-y plot quirks that make at least one or two of my questions unanswerable - that's normally why I despise time travel stories - but the storytelling was just so masterful that I don't care at all about  how the books were made (since I don't know if I fully believe that Cassie made the books? or at the very least don't like the turn of events), who is the man with the broad chest that was mentioned when she went to the Nothing and Nowhere, why the whole cycle even started when the books are what caused the conflict that leads to her creating the books in the first place, etc. Funky time shenanigans for sure, but

I'm completely able to overlook all of my small gripes with the book because of how amazingly this story is told. 

I know this is a vague review, it's so hard to give any real details in a story like this without giving it away outside of the spoiler tag. But the important bit is that this book made me feel all the emotions. Nearly had me bawling my eyes out (in happiness) in the last few pages while I was at work. God it's so good. 

I did enjoy this book! But I also struggled to get through it. Here's my thoughts. 
1) I absolutely adore the lore and fantasy setting that the series takes place in. This second book expands on the the gods-born lore immensely, and we meet so many more characters with so many different powers that just enriched the story.  The dancing guys are my favorite - I love how the author used mythology to inspire how each god-born person uses their magic. The magic system is so cool, I can't think of a single other book I've read recently that has such a unique vibe. That being said, there were so many names and gods to keep track of that I definitely just started glancing over them by the midway point. It was hard to follow while listening to the audiobook without a little glossary, so I sort of just trusted the book to explain what each power did as it became relevant. For the most part, it worked out, so I appreciate that. It did make the book drag on a little, and this is what made it difficult for me to get through.
2) The mystery elements! I was so glad that the second book had just as much sleuthing and problem-solving as the first one. The mystery about what exactly Thais got herself wrapped up in and how exactly the death of the Nine came to pass was interesting and for the most part kept my attention. Again, the lore was so deep at times that I had difficulty following the plot and their reasonings, which made it a little more difficult to get though. It picked up so fast near the middle/end though! I was THRILLED at the plot twist, and the tension leading up to it had me bouncing my leg through the last two or three hours of the audiobook. I'm not sure if other people thought it was predictable, but I certainly didn't see it coming. I'm really excited to see how the whole gang is going to tackle this next big problem together in the next book.
3) Romance. Several thoughts! I had the same gripe with the first book, but it feels like there wasn't a lot of time devoted to building up the main relationship. By this second book, Io is already completely devoted to Edei, and he is so aware of her that he tracks her several times through their bond alone. Their closeness doesn't feel quite earned to me. That being said, it didn't make their little moments any less cute. I am super intrigued by the idea of their fate bond holding them back from choosing one another as opposed to being the thing that draws them together - love that choice of conflict. Edei's concerns about the fate thread from the first book were expanded on in this one, and I was happy to see it. They had a few miscommunication moments but honestly, so much of the focus of the book was on the mystery and not on the romance that it made sense whenever Io decided to just worry about other things instead. In other books, the romance is normally what gets me through the drudge-y parts, but this one didn't have that pull. Either way, the payoff is worth it - I have a feeling the next book is going to be better about it. 

I went through so many emotions throughout this book, and that alone is what makes me give it 4.5 stars. The main character is a 'handler' at the Ministry of Time, who is in charge of acclimating a man from 1847 (I think) to modern culture and civilization (who is referred to as an 'expat' from his own timeline). I normally really don't like time travel shenanigans as plot devices, but I absolutely loved the little group of handlers and expats that centered the book. Their dynamics were wonderful. Each character is so distinct and unique, some unlikeable, and some incredibly loveable. Romance ensues, but honestly, even though that normally draws me in like no other, I don't even think it was the most interesting part of the story, just upped the stakes.  I was at a 5/5 stars until about 80% of the way through the book when time-traveling caught up to them, but again, that's personal preference on my end. The plot twist at the end was super surprising!

(mega props to the audiobook narrator who really sold it, I had no idea two of the characters were the same person.)

  I went from so happy, to kind of stressed, to extremely stressed, to heartbroken and drowning in existential sadness the characters ruining the lives they could have had, to hopeful/optimistic. It's a crazy roller coaster, and I highly recommend it. The writing was incredible too, and had so many banger lines that I'm almost certainly going to buy a physical copy of the book and a highlighter. Oh my god, some of those lines had me reeling with how poignant and visceral they were. Highlighted line for me that I can remember off the top of my head was something like "Before you judge my actions, please remember that love is a form of blunt force trauma."

Just not my style, I think. McBride's prose is wonderful, and he crafts such a rich and life-like community, so if you enjoy books that bounce around different perspectives to explore a group of people and the problems they face, then you'll love this. Just didn't hold my interest. 

I have no idea how to rate this book because I have so many mixed feelings about it.

On one hand, 'girl dies so man has a reason to fight' is such a terrible trope. On the other hand, the way that Darrow speaks about how much he loves, respects, and trusts his wife is so nice. Coming from a culture of singing, dancing, unbreakable familial bonds, and living your entire life in a selfless pursuit of your community's wellbeing? How ideal and wonderful. At its core, with Darrow being lofted as this perfect and ideal specimen, those aren't bad qualities to have in someone that readers might look up to, especially given that this series is advertised towards men. That being said, Darrow is extremely flawed, reckless with his life and loved ones, has a huge ego and only begins to learn humility after many people die. I stuck through the entire first section of the book because even though I hated Darrow, I'm really hoping that his ego will be part of his big character development throughout the series. They did make him superhumanly strong and handsome though, and everyone constantly comments on how perfect he is, so I don't have extremely high hopes.  I struggled to finish the book because of his characterization. 

 

The class commentary is unmatched. This book is much, much less accessible/generally appealing than something like the Hunger Games, but has the same vibes, just much more raw and explicitly violent. That is not to my personal taste but also not a bad thing at all! You can tell that each major lesson he learns brings him one step closer to becoming the figurehead and leader of a great revolution. Stakes are high and the book does not shy away from that at all. However, he is so stupid, and makes a ton of terrible decisions that do result in people dying. I feel like the only way he actually learns is when someone dies. There's a pretty inconspicuous cycle that he repeats several times throughout the book, and I suspect it will persist throughout the series, and it's this: 1) Darrow gets put in a situation where a struggle for power/influence is involved, 2) Darrow makes a stupid decision based off of anger or rashness 3) someone close to him dies because of his decision 4) Darrow learns his lesson.  I was getting real annoyed with him by the end of it. There's something to be said about making a flawed character act out his flaws, but 16 hours is a very long audiobook. Darrow's flaws (his ego, his anger) I think are meant to reflect the fact that he isn't so different from a real Gold, so he has the means to either free his people from their chains or just become the Gold tyrant that he always hated. I get that. But 16 hours of that cycle killed me a little. 

I have also never read a book where I have felt the impact of each and every move that the main character makes in such a tense way. Every single tiny little decision that he is faced with is like a yawning cavern of uncertainty in front of him. Whichever fork in the road he makes will permanently affect his ability to proceed with his goal, and permanently block off the path of the decision that he /didn't/ make. It's a war of minds as much as it is a war of strength and resilience, and I love that.  

Final verdict: cool lore, love the underdog-struggling-against-his-chains narrative, I'm looking forward to seeing the revolution play out, but Darrow is enough of an asshole that I struggled to get through most of the book. 3.5 star. 

Side note: the audiobook version has a clip of Eo singing her song at the end. If you have access to a library, def check out the book and listen to the last couple mins of it. It's incredible. 

Very pleasantly surprised at the series as a whole. The third book was just as good as the second, which was just as good as the first. No degradation of quality at all! I love that this book leaned into the found-family vibes of the Murder Club, and it was just a really nice journey (murders aside) watching all the characters grow from distant strangers to loving friends. The mystery was really well executed, just like it was in the previous books, and it surprised me at every other turn. It wasn't a book of coincidences - these teens did real actual sleuthing to figure out the suspects, and it was gratifying to watch. Real moral dilemmas were brought up in this book with Pheobe's situation, and I think it was handled very realistically. Under normal circumstances, I'm someone who really wants to like YA, but most of the time, the characters end up acting too childish for me to enjoy it -- that wasn't a problem at all with this series! They are high schoolers, but the author very much treats them like young adults trying to figure out how to grow up around traumatic situations, and I appreciate that so much. I'm not sure if it's going to leave a lasting impact on me, but I thoroughly had a good time reading them, so this is an easy 4 stars. This last book wrapped up the series really well (the extra POVs were really cool!), and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes a good murder mystery and likes YA. This book is a great example of both.