lailams's reviews
106 reviews

I mean this from the bottom of my heart when I say that no one waxes poetic like the gays. Definitely NOT a book you should read after a breakup like me but at any other time it is truly astounding and wonderful (and spicy!) And heartwarming and challenging but ultimately triumphant. Some of those quotes.... God damn. Makes me feel like maybe love is real Lol. It also, as a side note, makes me a little sad going into the 2024 election year knowing we don't have any candidates like President Mom tho :(

Trope where one person lies to the other to get what they want/need and ends up falling in love -- not a bad book, I don't think, I just personally don't like the trope and the inevitable conflict that goes with it. 

3.5 Stars, and every bit of the stars deserves an explanation because oddly, I find that I agree with all of the 1-star reviews and the 5-star reviews. 

I look back on how much I loved the characters in the first two books, watching their characters develop through the introduction of the society which promises them a huge amount of power and influence, and I feel nostalgic, and a sense of loss. I was excited to see them all again, but none of those characters are in the final book of the trilogy. They've been irreparably changed by the society, by their individual pursuits of power, that they are just completely different people. Normally I would love this! Character development win! But it's painful to look back on the people that they will never be again. That's part of the appeal of the book, I think. They're all extremely unlikeable but just absolutely intriguing.

This entire series is an exploration of how the pursuit of power corrupts. The Atlas Six (and to an extent the Ezra Six) been initiated into the Alexandrian Society now and have been given access to a different level of societal privileges, but really, that's not what changed post-induction. Each individual character reacted to the Society drastically differently and each and every one of them came out of it maniacal and power-obsessed in their own ways, more confident in their abilities than ever, and absolutely irreparably /unhinged/.  Reina might be the only one who started talking like she was a god, but they all act like it now. I'm convinced that Dalton embodied their unavoidable futures. He was a warning tale that none of them even really paid attention to.

A lot of the plot was pointless - necessarily so. That's part of the point of the book. By the end, they've all realized in their own way that the terrible things they've done in pursuit of some kind of power/influence weren't actually for anything at all. It's infuriating to read a book with that kind of moral! But also interesting to think on. Lots to chew on.

The elephant in the room is how rambly this book is. It's 20 hours and it needed to be maybe 12 hours, but really no more than that. There's a huge chunk of the book (mostly the first half) where very little happens. I normally don't like reviews that chide a book where 'people are just standing around having conversations', because normally I love those conversations! But there were many events in the book where the characters came out of the conversations completely unchanged, and it hardly moved the plot forward at all. I guess that contributes to the hopelessness theme - we are all stardust, nothing we do will ever matter, etc. etc... Blake walks you through every little train of thought that every character has to get them to the end, and it just slogs. Especially because there are so many characters! When you get to one interesting part, inexplicably, Blake will yank you out of that POV to a different character POV that has significantly less tension and action. It was kind of annoying to read. However, Blake does have a gift for putting very poignant observations and insight of the workings of the world into words. She has some really banger lines! But they're almost buried by dredges and dredges of rambling. So much so that I don't think I even want to go back into the book and find those banger lines to excerpt here. Ironically, I think her ramblings also fit the ~dark academia~ vibe, but it's a different side of academia than the other two books. It's the side of academia where sometimes you /do/ have to sludge through a paper or theory that was written by a person who doesn't have the word 'brevity' in their vocabulary. Probably my least favorite part of academia, but it is true to form, I have to give her that.

The voice actors, as always, were extremely good and gave life to each character that I adore, so plus a good amount of points for the audiobook cast, too. I do recommend the audiobook if you're willing to put the 20 hours in to finish the book.

I don't think I could call this book a great one, but I did absolutely love it and devoured it in less than 24 hours. The writing is a little cheesy and fanfiction-y (which makes sense), the third act conflict was pretty predictable, and it was very indulgent, but I absolutely did indulge! Cute romp, nothing was truly cringe, enjoyed my time reading it.

I don't know what possessed me to pick up this book about a woman trying to keep her family alive in the dust bowl and great depression -- I don't normally like extremely sad books, and I feel like I already had a good sense of how horrific those events were. It was really difficult to get through, and I felt terrible while reading almost all of it. But I'll also say that it's one of the first books I've read in a long time that made me want to sob like a child. I think it just came at the perfect time in my life to create that storm. It's a well-written book, respectful and honest to the subjects, with extremely human/relatable characters, and that in itself deserves a recommendation.  Be warned: it'll cause a lot of heartbreak and hopelessness before it'll let you peek any hope. If you read it, read it to the end.

I found it cheesy. It opened with a cliche 'Here's me in the middle of the action, but wait, let's back up so you have some context'. The main character acts a little too juvenile. It has promise -- if you don't mind either of those things, you should probably give it a shot.

The descriptions/narrations are written as basically status reports where objectivity reigns. Not bad by any means, but if you're in the mood for fiction where the main character talks about their emotions in a non-scientific, non-objective/distant/observatory way, then probably don't read this one. 

Sagan has such a unique outlook on life, secular/religious practices, and philosophy, and it truly was incredible going through this book and learning about her life. It had me tearing up at some parts, for sure.  This book is extremely inspiring, and it's making me think more about the beauty of life and time and other people than any other self-help book I've read. I jive with her philosophy so much!! I've only been in the nine-to-five drudgery for a few years now, and I think this was a perfect time to read this book.  I feel motivated to revitalize the way I think about the passage of time and want to intentionally celebrate what's come to pass/what will inevitably pass. 

Extremely cute enemies-to-lovers, had me giggling and kicking my feet for the first 60%. The miscommunication trope is the bane of my existence, though, which made getting through the entire last section a little bit excruciating. Normally, the books I read with the unnecessary miscommunication trope don't get rated above a 3 for me, but I really love both of the main characters, and the vibes were largely wholesome through the entire book and I came out of the book feeling happy and satisfied with the story. I'd recommend it for a fun romp (that has a twinge of tragedy in it). And the world-building is so interesting!! I loved the world it was set in, and I think Bannen did a great job at introducing it without overwhelming the main plot.