”Having passed by a river full of water,
I’m longing now for an empty mirage.”

Beautiful prose for the more whimsical and poetic sections wherein the connection between human beings and nature was developed. Love at first sight, king of a palace and sage’s daughter of a hermitage, a curse, the following misunderstandings, and a happy ending!

A heartrending sound!
Underneath the helmet,
the cricket.

I cannot help but feel that I am only experiencing a fraction of what there stands to receive from Basho's observations during his travels, for I do not have prior understanding or emotional recognition of any of the many, many allusions he makes to various things that influence him on his journey, as an individual, and his writings.

That said, I still found this to be very interesting and beautiful in its simplicity. I honestly preferred the haikus of his disciple, Sora, to Basho himself, though. The immortalization of the natural world and artistic interpretations within poetry throughout the continuity of time is an amazing thing.

The sorrow of the one who departed and the unhappiness of the one who remained resembled the feelings of a lapwing wandering lost in the clouds, separated from its friend.

”We have a world full of women who are unable to exhale fully because they have for so long been conditioned to fold themselves into shapes to make themselves likable.”

4.5 rounding up.

I loved all the points brought up in this letter, and I feel that they cumulatively create a solid idea of what feminism is in the face of implicit and explicit sexism. I specifically enjoyed the suggestion about unlinking female sexuality and shame, and the one about refusing to cater towards likability because those are two aspects of my own womanhood that I struggle with.

Adichie has a way of conveying complex issues in a concise, no-nonsense manner, making this letter a great introduction to feminist works due to the relative ease readers can digest the essence of the problem within the gender issues outlined in these 15 suggestions. However, because of this—along with the short text length as a whole—I find myself wishing for an expansion on some of the points brought up since I think there is much remaining to be said.

All in all, an amazing and important read for women who may have thought themselves alone or confused in their experiences and opinions, and for men who wish to take a more active role in dismantling patriarchic institutions by acknowledging their own place in the system.

“A friend need not be kept either within sight or within reach. A friend must be allowed the freedom to find and follow his own path.

If one is fortunate, those paths will for a time join. But if the paths separate, it is comforting to know that a friend still graces the universe with his skills, and his viewpoint, and his presence.

For if one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone.”

This was amazing. I would highly recommend the audiobook! The narrator does an amazing job, his voices for Thrawn, Palpatine, and even

Spoiler

Vader

are very, very well done. Plus, the added sound effects of explosions and blasts in the midst of battle, or other ambient noise, truly make reading this book an experience in which you can lay back, close your eyes, and just imagine it all playing out right in front of you, its own Star Wars series starring the rise of Thrawn.

Onto the actual content, I cannot say enough how much I love Thrawn’s mind, and even more his moral compass, however gray. He has debuted as #3 in my top Star Wars characters, behind only Captain Rex and Ahsoka Tano. I loved getting his tactical insight at the start of every chapter, and I felt that added a lot to our understanding of his character. Though I usually root for the rebels, I wanted nothing more than for Thrawn to succeed, even if that meant squandering early waves of rebellion against a tyrannical Empire. But, knowing Thrawn’s own motives by the end, and his thoughts on true evils, we grow to appreciate even more the multifaceted nature of this character who is a wise and patient warrior.

Furthermore, I think what I enjoyed the most was seeing his relationship with Eli Vanto develop organically. The “side-quest” type feel was an excellent way of both timelining the relatively rapid rise in ranks of Thrawn from a non-human who faced discrimination and had little standing to a non-human who faces discrimination and has one of the largest standings, and how a character we can relate more to (i.e. Eli) grows to love working beside someone so once-in-a-lifetime, even if he is overshadowed by Thrawn’s greatness. I just love the two of them together, so I hope to get to see them interact in the future again.

I kind of touched on it briefly above, but I also found it fascinating the alien-human and inner rim-outer rim politics with regards to hierarchy, discrimination, and thus Thrawn’s progression in the navy. Another element I thought was brilliantly done was the fact that throughout the novel, we the audience knows something our characters do not regarding the

Spoiler

increase in the Empire accumulating special ores and metals and the subsequent increase in the smuggling of those materials

. It makes everything Thrawn does in the book feel all the more important and tragic.

I fucking hate Arihnda Pryce. That’s all I’ll say about that coldhearted snake. Politicians.

A nice read that is essential if you're an Ahsoka fan. Kind of sad that a bit of it has been retconned in Season 7 of The Clone Wars (and likely further in The Bad Batch depending on how the show continues), but a lot of it is still canon!

The insight we get about Ahsoka's internal journey post-Order 66 in which she's trying to rediscover who she is with respect to the galaxy was great. This character has come such a long way from the 2008 movie, and I believe this novel does a fantastic job of staying in character. It probably helps that I listened to the audiobook as voiced by Ashley Eckstein herself, so I truly felt like I was right there with Ahsoka!

I especially enjoyed seeing how she got her new lightsabers and took on the mantle of Fulcrum! Didn't really care for any of the characters on Raada except for Selda, who we do not see much of.

”’Where are the men?’ finally continued the little prince. ‘We are a bit alone in the desert.’

‘We are also alone among men,’ said the snake.”

Just such a great compilation of letters that depict the really beautiful and pure connection between book buyer and book seller, friend and friend. I found myself muttering at least twice “That’s so cute!” at particularly wholesome parts of the book.

Did I cry at the end? Yes, a few tears did try their best. Life is so sudden and never predictable. It isn’t hard to imagine that these people were real. Watching Helene and those connected to Marks & Co. gradually get closer was a balm for the soul. It is so sad to think they did not get to meet, but their friendship was beautiful, and to have a companion like that in life is surely a gift.

3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this quick little adventure of sorts. The strongest part of this novella is definitely the characters rather than the plot, and I found myself loving murder bot very quickly and very strongly. Murder bot’s dynamics with the whole crew is also something I want to read more of! The worldbuilding is intriguing, and I will definitely continue with the series.

A nice read to try to get me back into the swing of things this year.

I think this book offers a really raw depiction of what its like for people on the spectrum or who do not fit into the mold of society. I really enjoyed the depiction of how Keiko and Shiraha respectively come to terms with the fact that they must choose to either conform to the whims of what everyone else says makes them valued, “normal” members of society or remain their most authentic selves despite the pushback from others.

Rooting for Keiko was easy, I wish that everyone would just let her be happy, dammit. She was far more happy than anyone else living the lives society told them they should live. Shiraha was a solid foil to Keiko, and the author did a good job juxtaposing their reactions and decisions in the face of scrutiny. But god, I really couldn’t stand Shiraha.

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but while I enjoyed this, I preferred the second book overall (ART is one of a kind, truly). Still having an absolute blast, though!

Seeing Murderbot get emotional over Miki by the end…me too, buddy. God, just give me entire pages filled with Murderbot interacting with other bots and units, ‘cause that’s clearly what I love the most. We saw some character development with regards to Murderbot witnessing a human-non human dynamic as something more than transactional and power-imbalanced, and that warmed my heart.

The plots are fine, but I never really care a whole ton, save for book two and whenever we are reunited with Mensah again, I presume.