essjay's Reviews (635)

Fuuuuuck me. This is decidedly NOT going to work for a lot of people (if you need to like the characters you read about, you're going to have a bad time with this one), but it really worked for me. Kinda want to read it again already, but I'm not going to. When I do read it again, I'll probably bump it up to a 5. 

The one thing this book has going for it is how readable it is. The problems with it are numerous, and led to me frequently scoffing and muttering "are you fucking kidding me" and "oh, for fuck's sake" under my breath. And one note that just said "omg, wtf with the monologuing, NOBODY CARES."

I really expected her to find out Cal was a Pater, am genuinely disappointed he wasn't, and am not sure why the whole Cal subplot was even a thing? Also, howtf does she end up on house arrest after decapitating a dude in front of federal agents?!

Heed the content warnings. 

Gripping and easy to read, but ultimately didn't have a whole lot new to say. Not sorry I read it, and might check out more of Greer's work in the future. 

Will probably come back to this at some point, but am just really not in the mood for it right now. 

I guess one of the biggest problems with being well-versed in genre conventions is how predictable it makes things. Is it just bc I read a lot of zombie fiction that I knew exactly how this story was going to go down by the end of the first chapter? Or was it glaringly obvious to other readers, as well? 

Idk. 

I loved this until I didn't, and then I loved it again. 

It was easily close to five stars for the majority of the book, super creepy, dug the Appalachian Gothic vibes, ties to local magic and rural folklore. And then the thing happened that made me say "oh, for FUCK'S sake" out loud...and then the last few pages bumped it back up. 

Read this aloud to the 13y/o. The last time I read it, I was about their age and Miyazaki had since replaced all of my memories of the book. I saw someone say once that the book is primarily Sophie's truer perspective, and the movie is Howl's version of events, which helps make sense of the differences. Anyway, this is delightful and I hope the kid is interested in us reading more DWJ, but I guess I have to wait til tomorrow to find out. 

I continue to be surprised that I am actually enjoying these, after the weird-ass clusterfuck the Hollows has become. Looking forward to seeing if she sticks the landing. 

I knew literally nothing about this book other than that the cover was fuckin gorgeous before I started it. Was surprised and delighted to learn that it was an entire novel told in verse. But not just ONE form, there are four different narrators, all with a v distinctive style (and one of the narrators has multiple styles for a very specific reason). I'm so glad being shallow and liking pink brought me to this book, bc goddamn. 

I do feel like this is the sort of thing that is either going to REALLY work for you, or REALLY not, but am legit stoked to be in the former category. 

I guess third person present doesn't really work for me. I thought maybe it was just the prologue, but it continued into the first chapter and I just found it incredibly distracting.