I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book as soon as it was announced even though I knew it would depress me, and I was not disappointed in the least.

I think this is better than They Both Die At The End (it’s entirely possible to attribute this to Adam having written several books in between and having had time to think all those what-if questions about this universe).

I rather enjoyed this.

I did feel weird about the thruple sometimes because of the way that they interacted with all the soft emotions directed at the female (she’s so pretty and gentle and nice) and all the enemies-to-lovers sexual tension between the males (ugh he’s so hot but he pisses me off and drives me crazy).

My main objection to the plot is that there was a whole thing about the importance of communication but by the end Remy still hasn’t told his partners  that <spoiler>His father made the rot. Also so much would’ve been solved if Remy just <spoiler>killed his father when they were in the secret lab. He’s supposed to be the kind of person who puts the people before everything so his inability to do it in this situation really stuck out to me.

Meet Cute Diaries but rich and artsy.

The main character, Micah, is the most unlikeable of all the characters. He’s tolerable at first but he fails to learn anything, or rather he has realizations and then they’re promptly forgotten.

For example he gets told not to throw money/status at his problems to solve them but at the end it’s his status that allow him to chase the boy he loves and get him back. Or how he realizes that he’s been acting like everything’s a fairytale but it’s actually real but then hires a Cinderella carriage and gets a happily ever after.

Really, Micah isn’t ready for a relationship at the end of the book. He has some maturing to do, and they should’ve started back as friends and maybe have gotten together in the epilogue. My only condolence is that people rarely end up with their high school partner so eventually his partner will be free of him.

Also Grant isn’t a good person either but I can’t believe that Micah dumps him right before his big day, leaves him to deal with the media after, and then has the audacity to be like “I hope he finds a boyfriend one day” like Grant needs self confidence and maybe therapy, not a freaking boyfriend.  Elliot is basically a Gary Stu, so Grant is the most real of the three main boys, and the end just really did him dirty.

I’m just so angry lol

Hunger Games but make it Aztec.

This really was a fun read, and the world was lush and vibrant.

Much of the time it feels strange that Teo is the main character. Instead of the protagonist he feels like the most important secondary character a lot of the time (if that makes sense).  The end escpecially makes it feel like he’s not the one with the quest but is along for the hot guy. I expect the second book will actually give him character development instead of the the character loop he had in this one.

Additionally, this book reads young. If it weren’t for the occasional ogling of abs, I would place this book as middle grade despite Teo being 17. Thankfully this book emphasizes friendship because the romantic tension is more often lukewarm than hot.

As you can tell, I have a lot of gripes, but that just says how amazing this book is that despite all that I still think this is one of the best books I’ve read all year (and this year is inching towards over).

 Yu-Gi-Oh with Chinese culture and instead of a card game they play Pokemon GO. 

Being both Chinese and Muslim, Zach spends a lot of his time trying to fit into his American school, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for him to connect with his cultural heritage. This never seemed like a problem until Zach is attacked on the playground, and the ghost of his ancestor, the First Emperor of China, tries to possess him. The possession fails, but Zach finds himself battling against historical and mythic figures across China in order to save the mortal realm. 

Zachary Ying is an entertaining fast-paced middle grade novel in which Zach learns about himself, in both the sense of his culture and the type of person he wants to be. Author Xiran Jay Zhao is a master at keeping the stakes high while keeping the story fun, and I adore the way they handed adding in the cultural stories (I would love to see the attacks animated). This is a perfect book for anyone who loves Percy Jackson, Amari Peters, or Aru Shah.  I eagerly await the next book.