THIS. BOOK. IS. INCREDIBLE.

Definitely my favourite so far of the series.

I'm still in shock and I can't believe what happened (even though I sort of knew it was heading there).

The ending...I am so sad. And mad. But mostly sad. And worried. Honestly, poor Gregor never gets break. He has to struggle just to get by in the real world, and then he's constantly being dragged into the Underland. Everyone is suffering. His poor dad, his sister Lizzie, and his mom. Only Boots is happy and oblivious and saying hi to cockroaches in her spare time and playing with poisonous frogs. She's so precious and innocent and I want to protect her. She is also three years old now and like my child has grown so much, she's not a baby anymore 😭

This book. This series. I just...I'm so glad I decided to pick the first book up on a whim.

Wow. I can’t believe these books keep getting darker and darker. We’re sort of left on a cliffhanger and I’m concerned because so many have died already and the last book sounds ominous cause of this prophecy that no one will explain to Gregor. Also...MOUSES (as Boots would say). My whole Merlin vs Mordred theory seems to be coming to fruition. I feel so sorry for Luxa cause no one can really understand what it’s like for her and her anger feels more justified by the end. Yes, she takes it out on Gregor a lot (and Gregor isn’t perfect), but she’s in pain and stressed out and definitely keeping a lot of her feelings in. Howard is the best and I swear if something happens to him I will riot. He’s the dad of the group and loves to drug everyone which I do not recommend but he’s adorable and soft and so understanding and he cries it’s just perfect okay I love him.

Gregor is totally getting grounded after this. For the rest of his life

3.75/5 stars

A pretty good book overall, though I had issues with the pacing and plot. The chapters can be super long, and along with page-length paragraphs, it felt like the story was dragging at parts. It did start off pretty well, but at about the midway point I started to get bored because I felt like nothing was really happening that I cared about.

It was amazing reading a book with an aroace main character though. I really loved those parts of the book where Felicity talks about how she feels because it was just so relatable. I don’t know if I loved her character though. She was annoying at times and the little pep talks she gave to herself became kind of repetitive? I did like how she was forced to confront her internalize misogyny eventually though.

Johanna was probably my favourite character. I related to her in some ways that I wasn’t expecting. I love how she confronted Felicity and showed her how wrong it was to think the way she was thinking. She’s also so bubbly and happy and likes to dress nicely—she just made me smile a lot.

I feel like I have to talk about Sim since I’m Muslim and wear the hijab and in a way I’m obligated to discuss my opinions about her. The problem is that I don’t have much to say about her. I guess she wasn’t the Muslim rep I was looking for. Her character seemed to flip constantly between being all suspicious and dangerous to all of a sudden nice and caring. I just don’t know what to feel or think about her. She wasn’t my favourite but I also don’t hate her or anything.

Overall, the book was interesting. I did like seeing how much all three girls struggle in this world that’s controlled my men and how they end up paving their own paths. It would be interesting to see what they end up doing next.

My only question: what animal is the dragon supposed to be?

This is THE best middle grade series I have ever read. I am literally at a loss for words. I don't think I have ever read something so profound and thought-provoking and real in my entire life. I just need everyone to read this. Like I mean everyone. All of you reading this, this series better be on your tbr.

I don't even know where to start. This book is the darkest, saddest, most depressing book in the series. It takes the whole "main character is the hero of the story" and makes it realistic. I find a lot of books don't delve much into the emotional and mental aspect of a character's development. Considering everything Gregor has gone through, his thought process, his reactions, his anxiety, his PTSD...just everything, felt right, realistic, and true to not just his character but the situation as a whole. How many times have we read a book where a character goes through all these horrible things and then the book ends with "and they lived happily ever after"? This series doesn't do that. It not only shows the difficult decisions and choices that need to be made, but it also leaves the reader thinking at the end.

The last half of the book was a series of stabs to my chest. Everything was a mess, there were so many sad and precious moments, so many deaths. I'm still not over the words "I'm okay", not just because Gregor is only 13 years old and has had to go through so much, but also because they're the same words I find myself repeating sometimes when things are really ba. The last chapter itself was classics Suzanne Collins. I love perfectly resolved happy endings, but in reality, those don't happen so frequently. And just like in the Hunger Games, we're left wanting more closure, wanting to know what will happen next, how the characters are going to cope, etc. etc. That last chapter was worse than death. I swear if I had it in me, I would have been bawling my eyes out on the bus. I even contemplated writing fanfic. It affected me that much.

Besides everything that happens in the last chapter, we're given a lot of moments when Gregor reflects on what he's gone through and how that is going to affect him afterwards. He applies everything he's learned to the Overland, and we sort of get an idea where we might see his character in the future. That being said, there were so many questions I had. And while I can totally imagine what might have happened, I wish Suzanne would continue this series. It is better than anything I have ever read and I can't stress enough how important this book is.

I don't really want to go into the plot or the other characters too much. Luxa has grown a lot throughout the book and I'm really happy with how things ended. Ripred is my man. I love him so much. THE DEATHS. Will always pain me for the rest of my life. Except for one

Spoiler

aka Solovet can choke, I don't care what her intentions, and the couple good things she did in her life, I'm just glad she wasn't redeemed in the end and forgiven for everything and reinstated as the head of the military. Her death was deserved and a good end for her character

.

Also, Suzanne has a way with poems and riddles. I don't know how she does it, but it's amazing. And the whole Code of Claw too.

The last couple sentences in the final chapter were so precious and pure and I absolutely love Boots and she can now say Gregor properly and I seriously just want to die cause it was too good

When Sensei realizes Naru needs him in her life 😩😭

Almost caught up to the anime!

I don't really know what to think about this book...

I loved the asexuality rep. It's something that's so rare to see in books and to see it defined and explained and accepted was wonderful. I also liked how Alice is constantly on this journey of trying to understand herself and being confused and unsure. It felt so realistic, and while I couldn't relate to everything Alice felt, I did relate to a lot of it.

I loved her relationship with Takumi. They have such a playful, fun, and intimate friendship. Takumi is a pure soul. He's honestly the best and I doubt anyone like that exists in our world. His reactions to Alice telling him she's asexual and later them discussing their relationship felt so great. I love when characters communicate and discuss things no matter how hard/uncomfortable it is to talk about. Also he is so good with children omg, why don't we see more male characters playing with kids. Cause that warms my cold heart.

I did at one point put this book down because it became a bit too much for me. Alice's relationship with her family. Her mother and sister were borderline abusive. Some of the things her sister would say to her just made me so angry. And her mother's violation of Alice's privacy and the threats were just frustrating to read about. The scene when her mom practically disowns her...while I knew it was coming, it still shocked me. I had to put the book down when that happened. And while we do end with things seeming to be better, it isn't really resolved. Alice is lucky to have such great support, especially from her dad and her friends, cause otherwise that's a lot to go through on your own.

The one thing that bothered me more than Alice's relationship with her family, was Feenie. I really hated her. Feenie is not the kind of person I would feel safe around. She's violent and emotionally abusive and manipulative. And I did not like how this was "resolved" at the end. I was actually hoping Alice would learn something from Takumi's break up with his ex and cut Feenie out of her life. Feenie and Ryan literally left Alice all alone at a house party just to hook up, and for them to get mad and give her the silent treatment and say that she's at fault for leaving with Takumi was messed up. And Ryan wasn't much better? He seems to live his life by Feenie's mood swings and I can't see this working out forever. On top of that, when she starts to spend time with Takumi–who is actually nice and listens to Alice and makes her feel happy–they blame it on Alice again for not spending time with them, when they're the ones treating her so terribly she doesn't feel like coming home.

I didn't like how the whole Feenie and Alice situation was resolved. Feenie never apologized for her behaviour, and the fact that it took so much for Alice to stand up for herself, and then it was sort of brushed off, made me really angry. Alice deserves better than Feenie. Honestly, I wish we saw more of that barista girl instead. She seemed waaay better.

Overall 3 stars.

I saw this and had to read it cause Curious George was a favourite of mine when I was a kid. I love my little monkey so much. This was such a cute children’s book. George taking all the shoes at the mosque made me cry inside. So precious.

I’ve caught up to the anime 😭