essjay's Reviews (635)

I definitely remember reading this a lot as a kid (my copy had illustrations, the one I read today did not), but I had somehow forgotten all about everything with Mr Markham's

suicide attempt and also gross behaviour towards Dawn? Wtf.

Make no mistake, I think three stars is being generous as fuck and is entirely motivated by nostalgia. 

This used to be one of my favourite books, and if you'd asked me a month ago, I would have told you that this was the best thing Anne had written. Maybe it is? Idk it's so hard to tell now bc I'm always interrogating the text from the wrong perspective. 

A few years ago (that's a lie, I think it was actually around 8) a good friend of mine came to visit for the weekend and we watched Interview with the Vampire while playing drinking games with other friends in IRC. After that, we continued drinking and decided to put on the adaptation of this movie (which I had only seen once and tried to get my money back bc it made me so mad). I spent the entirety of the film drunkenly ranting about the shit they'd gotten wrong bc they LEFT OUT ALL THE BEST BITS! Re-reading, I was shocked to realize that what I thought were the best bits really didn't take up all that much of the book. Instead I was bored to fucking tears with all of the Lestat x Akasha bullshit. I do still love the Legend of the Twins and the Devil's Minion portions of the book, but the rest of it is incredibly mid and I'm glad I never have to read it again. 

[eta] 3 was an impulsive star rating, I used my review rubric and it was actually a 2½ on my personal scale. Letting the 3 stand. For now. 

Honestly don't even remember why I originally wanted to read this. Did not enjoy the first two issues and decided it could go back to the library. 

I really liked this, but also kind of didn't? Somehow keep picking up things with ambiguous endings, and this one (more than most) could have used something definitive. 

14y/o: You don't need to ask. It's 4¾. 

Me: Because it's Antsy and we love her?

14y/o: Yup! Have you noticed that Sumi's personality has evolved a lot from the first book?

Me: Well, yeah. I mean, she DID die and knows too much of her future now. Still needs to be bonked with the horny stick, tho. 

14y/o: Okay, but she was like that before so that isn't all that different. 

Anyway, what I love about this one is how well it shows that abuse can age children beyond their years. Maybe it's a little too literal for adult readers, but for youth that aren't jaded and not as well read, I think it's an incredibly apt way of getting that across. 

This is the sort of five-minutes-into-the-motherfucking-future-horrifying-in-its-abject-mundanity SpecFic that I am one billion percent here for. Small stakes that loom at a personal level. I can't wait for this to be published so I can argue with people about it. 

Rubric says 3.375, so rounding up.

I definitely enjoyed Full Speed to a Crash Landing more than this one, but it's difficult to put my finger on why. Ada is always transparent with her plans and motivations, so I'm not sure that it's that. Part of it may be that the entire thing takes place in about the amount of time it took me to read (3½ hours with distractions and a nap break), but it wasn't as fast-paced as that would lead you to believe. Regardless, I love Ada and am looking forward to Last Chance to Save the World in April (or sooner, if Daw will keep approving me for ARCs [thanks, Daw!]). 

I just re-read the first volume last year and still kind of struggled to follow along with everything, but it was fun and ultimately kind of sweet? In the hypersexualized way the original run was, ofc. 

Me: Sooooo...five stars?

14y/o: Uh, yeah. 

Me: Any particular reason why?

14y/o: Because it's the best. And Antsy deserves five stars. 

Me: Yeah. 

Okay, no, I hate this. Why did I think I could just read it without wanting to rip my hair out?