You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
chronicallybookish's Reviews (1.53k)
Quick Stats
Age Rating:
Overall: 4 stars
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
A special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of Devil in the Device! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
This review covers the series as a whole and does not contain any spoilers for either book!
I really enjoyed this series and I think more people need to read it!
When Andra wakes up in her cryotank almost 1000 years later than she was supposed to, everything is absolutely crazy. Everyone she had ever known is gone, and the people who are there think she’s some kind of goddess—and if she doesn’t manage to convince them that she is one, they’ll kill her.
The premise and plot of this series sounded SO GOOD and I was so excited to pick it up. At first, it was hard for me to get into the first book. I was really interested in what was going on, but the writing threw me off, and I worried that I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the book because of that.
Because this book takes place some 1200 years in the future, the author decided to give the native people a new dialect. Now I read a decent bit of fantasy and scifi. I’m used to a bit of new slang thrown around. This was not that. The grammar rules changed. Not a single sentence written in Zhade’s POV was in correct modern day english, and any time anyone other than Andra spoke, it was in this fictive dialect. It was an interesting choice. I was able to get over it, but it took me the majority of the first book to get to that point. When I was about 1/3 of the way through I had a small crisis because I couldn’t remember how real English worked for a second.
An example of the dialect:
Instead of the words “okay/right/etc” the Erensedians used the term “evens”.
Many words were shortened, letters were changed so that words still sounded similar enough but were spelled differently, and some words were combined.
Any word ending in “ly” was replaced with “ish”. For example, “she laughed loudly” would be “she laughed loudish.” Merely = mereish. Quietly = quietish.
Any word ending in “ous” instead ended in “ful”. Ie: dangerous = dangerful.
There was a change to the suffix of words ending in “ful” too but I forget.
There were other changes to grammar structures of sentences, word makeup, and more that I can’t even get into.
It was a lot, and definitely an interesting choice. I can’t say it was my favorite. But, because the premise sounded so good, I pushed through and eventually was able to be mostly immune to the writing, and I’m very glad that was the case, because this series was really good. I loved Andra, Zhade, Lew-Eaden,Doon, Lilibet, and Kiv. I loved the plot and every plot twist had me shocked and excited and was executed so well. The books were so great once you get past the weird dialect of the Erensedians, but I know for a lot of people, that’s going to be a deal breaker and I find that unfortunate, because truly, it is otherwise a great book.
There is great plus-sized rep, which is rare in YA, but especially in the SFF genres. Andra is also 1/2 South East Asian. I’m not sure if the author is half Asian as well. I couldn’t find anything that says she is, but I can’t be sure. In the second book we are also introduced to a d/Deaf character. He is good rep in general, but objectively speaking, I’m not sure how adequately one can be a guard if you can’t hear anything? Wouldn’t that cause you to miss some things much easier than your hearing counterparts? I’m not sure, but I still absolutely adored his character as well as the handling of disability and/or d/Deaf representation. (Some d/Deaf people consider themselves a part of the disability community and some do not).
Zhade and Andra’s relationship, at first, felt a little unnatural to me. I didn’t feel any chemistry between them, and it felt like it was just there because “YA books need romance to be marketable” or something, but I did become invested in their relationship and could sense the chemistry between them in book two.
I definitely recommend this book, and I recommend that you at least try to push through the awkward language choice if it throws you off at first—the story is worth it.
Age Rating:
Overall: 4 stars
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
A special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of Devil in the Device! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
This review covers the series as a whole and does not contain any spoilers for either book!
I really enjoyed this series and I think more people need to read it!
When Andra wakes up in her cryotank almost 1000 years later than she was supposed to, everything is absolutely crazy. Everyone she had ever known is gone, and the people who are there think she’s some kind of goddess—and if she doesn’t manage to convince them that she is one, they’ll kill her.
The premise and plot of this series sounded SO GOOD and I was so excited to pick it up. At first, it was hard for me to get into the first book. I was really interested in what was going on, but the writing threw me off, and I worried that I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the book because of that.
Because this book takes place some 1200 years in the future, the author decided to give the native people a new dialect. Now I read a decent bit of fantasy and scifi. I’m used to a bit of new slang thrown around. This was not that. The grammar rules changed. Not a single sentence written in Zhade’s POV was in correct modern day english, and any time anyone other than Andra spoke, it was in this fictive dialect. It was an interesting choice. I was able to get over it, but it took me the majority of the first book to get to that point. When I was about 1/3 of the way through I had a small crisis because I couldn’t remember how real English worked for a second.
An example of the dialect:
Instead of the words “okay/right/etc” the Erensedians used the term “evens”.
Many words were shortened, letters were changed so that words still sounded similar enough but were spelled differently, and some words were combined.
Any word ending in “ly” was replaced with “ish”. For example, “she laughed loudly” would be “she laughed loudish.” Merely = mereish. Quietly = quietish.
Any word ending in “ous” instead ended in “ful”. Ie: dangerous = dangerful.
There was a change to the suffix of words ending in “ful” too but I forget.
There were other changes to grammar structures of sentences, word makeup, and more that I can’t even get into.
It was a lot, and definitely an interesting choice. I can’t say it was my favorite. But, because the premise sounded so good, I pushed through and eventually was able to be mostly immune to the writing, and I’m very glad that was the case, because this series was really good. I loved Andra, Zhade, Lew-Eaden,Doon, Lilibet, and Kiv. I loved the plot and every plot twist had me shocked and excited and was executed so well. The books were so great once you get past the weird dialect of the Erensedians, but I know for a lot of people, that’s going to be a deal breaker and I find that unfortunate, because truly, it is otherwise a great book.
There is great plus-sized rep, which is rare in YA, but especially in the SFF genres. Andra is also 1/2 South East Asian. I’m not sure if the author is half Asian as well. I couldn’t find anything that says she is, but I can’t be sure. In the second book we are also introduced to a d/Deaf character. He is good rep in general, but objectively speaking, I’m not sure how adequately one can be a guard if you can’t hear anything? Wouldn’t that cause you to miss some things much easier than your hearing counterparts? I’m not sure, but I still absolutely adored his character as well as the handling of disability and/or d/Deaf representation. (Some d/Deaf people consider themselves a part of the disability community and some do not).
Zhade and Andra’s relationship, at first, felt a little unnatural to me. I didn’t feel any chemistry between them, and it felt like it was just there because “YA books need romance to be marketable” or something, but I did become invested in their relationship and could sense the chemistry between them in book two.
I definitely recommend this book, and I recommend that you at least try to push through the awkward language choice if it throws you off at first—the story is worth it.
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 14+
Overall: 4 stars
Characters: 3.5/5
Plot: 3.5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
A special thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I think I need to stop reading horror. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the book, but it’s been like two weeks and I still feel unsettled whenever I think about it. I read and loved Erin A. Craig’s debut, House of Salt and Sorrow, when it first came out, and I remember it being a bit creepy, but I think this book creeped me out a bit more. I’m not sure if it’s objectively creepier or if I’m misremembering the first book, or what.
One thing I will say, is that the synopsis for this book? Not at all what the book is about. Technically it’s not wrong, but it gives a very incorrect idea of what is going to happen. The first paragraph is correct, but everything about strangers and favors? You don’t hear anything about that until the last 15% of the book. So that was weird.
The book itself was really good. I loved the writing, the plot, the characters. I was on the edge of my seat and couldn’t put it down. I loved Ellerie and her sisters. All of their characters wormed their way into my heart immediately. Sam infuriated the hell out of me, and just about nothing that he did made any sense to me when contrasted with Ellerie’s perception of him prior to that year. Ellerie is constantly saying he’s acting out of character, but we never actually get much of an explanation as to why he’s such a jerk when he didn’t used to be.
I loved Whittaker and his and Ellerie’ relationship. I guessed his secret from the start though, which did make some—a lot?—of their interactions a little infuriating at times. But they had really good chemistry and despite that, I enjoyed their scenes together.
Was the book perfect? No. But it was a fun, creepy, atmospheric read, and if it seems like something you’re interested in, you should pick it up.
Age Rating: 14+
Overall: 4 stars
Characters: 3.5/5
Plot: 3.5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
A special thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I think I need to stop reading horror. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the book, but it’s been like two weeks and I still feel unsettled whenever I think about it. I read and loved Erin A. Craig’s debut, House of Salt and Sorrow, when it first came out, and I remember it being a bit creepy, but I think this book creeped me out a bit more. I’m not sure if it’s objectively creepier or if I’m misremembering the first book, or what.
One thing I will say, is that the synopsis for this book? Not at all what the book is about. Technically it’s not wrong, but it gives a very incorrect idea of what is going to happen. The first paragraph is correct, but everything about strangers and favors? You don’t hear anything about that until the last 15% of the book. So that was weird.
The book itself was really good. I loved the writing, the plot, the characters. I was on the edge of my seat and couldn’t put it down. I loved Ellerie and her sisters. All of their characters wormed their way into my heart immediately. Sam infuriated the hell out of me, and just about nothing that he did made any sense to me when contrasted with Ellerie’s perception of him prior to that year. Ellerie is constantly saying he’s acting out of character, but we never actually get much of an explanation as to why he’s such a jerk when he didn’t used to be.
I loved Whittaker and his and Ellerie’ relationship. I guessed his secret from the start though, which did make some—a lot?—of their interactions a little infuriating at times. But they had really good chemistry and despite that, I enjoyed their scenes together.
Was the book perfect? No. But it was a fun, creepy, atmospheric read, and if it seems like something you’re interested in, you should pick it up.
Dark and Shallow Lies
by Ginny Myers Sain
Quick Stats
Age Rating:
Overall: 5 stars (I rounded up because it’s so good.)
Characters: 4.5/5
Plot: 4/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
A special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I loved this book! I’m not always the biggest fan of thrillers—I’m squeamish and when books dip into disturbed and graphic, my enjoyment level tends to dip—but I adored Dark and Shallow Lies. It was the perfect mix of creepy and atmospheric with such an incredible backdrop and characters. I felt fully immersed in the lush world of La Cachette. I could never decide if I liked the romance, and yet I was still swept up into every touch and flirtation and kiss.
I had a bit of a gut feeling about “whodunnit” but Grey’s theories and the things she kept uncovering distracted me from it so that when the person behind Elora’s disappearance was revealed, I felt like simultaneously screaming “I knew it!” and “What the hell?!?!?!?!” in the best way possible.
All of the characters were well written and interesting. I grew to care about each and every one, but Grey was by far the strongest character, with Hart also being a much more well rounded character than any of the other side characters. Most of the rest of the Summer Kids could have used a bit more time on page and characterization. What I saw of them was well done, but there were so many of them, that it was impossible to feel the full effect of them that I wanted to.
Zale was a bit hard for me to connect with. His back story was interesting, and his characterizations were all well and good, but I just couldn’t get behind him. I think he was simply too otherworldly. He didn’t feel real within the context of the story. He didn’t fit.
What made this book truly special, however, was the setting and atmosphere. Ginny Myers Sain is an incredible writer when it comes to creating a world that encapsulates the essence of the story so completely. The town was wonderfully dark and crooked and yet homely in many ways as well. The execution of that aspect of the story was masterful.
I’ve seen a lot of hype around the book from others who received ARCs, and I can honestly say, it was well deserved and I’d definitely recommend it.
by Ginny Myers Sain
Quick Stats
Age Rating:
Overall: 5 stars (I rounded up because it’s so good.)
Characters: 4.5/5
Plot: 4/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
A special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I loved this book! I’m not always the biggest fan of thrillers—I’m squeamish and when books dip into disturbed and graphic, my enjoyment level tends to dip—but I adored Dark and Shallow Lies. It was the perfect mix of creepy and atmospheric with such an incredible backdrop and characters. I felt fully immersed in the lush world of La Cachette. I could never decide if I liked the romance, and yet I was still swept up into every touch and flirtation and kiss.
I had a bit of a gut feeling about “whodunnit” but Grey’s theories and the things she kept uncovering distracted me from it so that when the person behind Elora’s disappearance was revealed, I felt like simultaneously screaming “I knew it!” and “What the hell?!?!?!?!” in the best way possible.
All of the characters were well written and interesting. I grew to care about each and every one, but Grey was by far the strongest character, with Hart also being a much more well rounded character than any of the other side characters. Most of the rest of the Summer Kids could have used a bit more time on page and characterization. What I saw of them was well done, but there were so many of them, that it was impossible to feel the full effect of them that I wanted to.
Zale was a bit hard for me to connect with. His back story was interesting, and his characterizations were all well and good, but I just couldn’t get behind him. I think he was simply too otherworldly. He didn’t feel real within the context of the story. He didn’t fit.
What made this book truly special, however, was the setting and atmosphere. Ginny Myers Sain is an incredible writer when it comes to creating a world that encapsulates the essence of the story so completely. The town was wonderfully dark and crooked and yet homely in many ways as well. The execution of that aspect of the story was masterful.
I’ve seen a lot of hype around the book from others who received ARCs, and I can honestly say, it was well deserved and I’d definitely recommend it.
