castella_and_novellas's Reviews (480)

I liked the first half of the book and the love story subplot that was created, but the second half felt like such a change.

Hunting down Nevertheless was fun, until the end where the readers were supposed to support the group. It was hard for me to justify why we should be supportive at the end, and the ending wasn't fulfilling as I would like it to be. But I loved Raf, he made the story for me. Jillian ended up growing on me.

Overall, interesting book that examined feminism in a way I haven't looked at before. 

I have always seen the identification of being a "feminist"

in a bad light like how she mentions in the beginning of her speech. Angry women.

But I think this helped to frame the problem in a way that's more approachable and I can agree with for the most part. Short and sweet.

As a middle grade fantasy, I think I would have enjoyed it if I was of the younger demographic. Though because

Arianwyn and Gimma were so childish,

it made it hard for me to completely love the story. I have always appreciated the underdog story, but

Arianwyn had so many problems at the beginning of the book, it was hard to keep cheering for her when nothing was going right. Towards the end, I was happy to see that she was learning and becoming a bit more confident in herself, but by that point I was then annoyed with Gimma's interactions with Arianwyn.

  I don't plan on reading the next instalments, but again, a younger version of me might have loved the world-building and magic Arianwyn was in. 

Interesting book I read for class.

I think the CLA test used and the group they examined was limited and affected the reliability of the study. I'm not sure why you would only examine students from their first semester to their second year: it should reflect the whole 4 year experience if they plan to make claims that pertain to a whole 4 years. Though I thought their findings, even though they were limited, to be interesting.

I loved learning about the Oracles and their experience in the US, but

the way the main character acted was so heartbreaking to me. How she was so resentful of her roots, and happily rebelled against it until she got older was terrible. I appreciate seeing this perspective though, but I certainly had no good feelings towards her even at the end of the book when she had grown up. I would have loved to learn more about the lives the Oracles lived instead, but I understand this was all in the perspective of the main character.

Maybe I'm just not in the stage of my life for heartbreak, but even so the poems weren't captivating. Felt like a chore to go through the book.