forevermorepages's Reviews (811)

Consider me pleasantly surprised.

PROS:

- ambiguous ending. I do love myself those.
- beautiful writing, despite the disturbing.
- interesting perspective and story-telling. definitely unique, even for a story that's not all that unique itself. would be a lot worse if it weren't told this way.
- good discussion of the things a young girl would miss if she died. sad.

CONS:

- weird sexual relationship at the end

between Susie and Ray while she's like...in her other friend's (Ruth's) body and while I get the point of it (to show her finally experiencing something she never thought she would, both intimacy and "gentle sex") Ruth did not really consent to her body being used that way...

- I'm confused about Ruth's sexuality and think the way it was handled is lowkey biphobic because it assumes she's a lesbian, but then she's interested in Ray...it's so weird. Anyway.
- the middle was boring-ish

Probably seems like I have too many cons, but I think the pros outweigh them right now. This book was really, really powerful, and one I certainly won't forget anytime soon.

Thanks for the copy, Mom :)

-Book Hugger

Changing my rating to 3 stars because I'm feeling lukewarm about it now that I'm done. Still a good book, but not as impactful as it could be.

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This is certainly a book I'll have to sit with for awhile. I can't decide if the ending was hopeful or depressing, but maybe that's the point; we're supposed to sit with it and decide for ourselves whether the end was right for them or not. It's not whether the ending was right for us, it's whether the ending was right for them, coming from a place with much less privilege.

I definitely recommend this novel, especially for fans of Little Fires Everywhere which has similar suburban drama feelings as well as social and political commentary.

-Book Hugger

I don't have words. Absolutely fricking incredible.

Everyone needs to read this.

And what a valuable book to read on the first day of pride month amidst protesting about the horrifying death of George Floyd because not only does this book tackle police brutality, but how people treat those with HIV/AIDS. It is by and about Danez Smith's experiences as a queer Black person.

Remember: we wouldn't have pride without POC. Don't you dare take that for granted.

-Book Hugger

I think ultimately this book was missing a few things and definitely could have been longer with just some added depth for the characters and a few more scenes. While I'm disappointed that we didn't see the trial on page, I recognize that that wasn't the purpose of the book. We know just reading it that it was murder, that the police officer should be convicted. We don't need the book to tell us that through a trial, we don't need the recognition that it was wrong justified by the trial's decision.

This is an incredibly important book, one that I highly recommend everyone picking up. I think it's important to note that while it deals with similar topics to The Hate U Give they still offer different perspectives and shouldn't be considered mutually exclusive. Read as much as you can of these books. Celebrate Black voices.

-Book Hugger

wait a damn minute...I just realized I live in the same city as the author omg

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wow that was incredible. not flawless, but pretty damn good. maybe a 4.5 rounded up. i'm sad, i'm angry, i want the next book. i want revenge on all the characters who did zelie wrong. i want to hug her. i want inan, even if he's problematic oof.

-Book Hugger

this was...really, really good, 10/10 recommend. a few things made me feel emotionally distant from it, so i'm going with 4/5 instead of 5/5 but i did really love it!! i just felt like the romance was too insta-lovey and hard to connect with via poetry. but honestly? some of the best poetry i've read in awhile that's been published now.

review to come

-Book Hugger

Really interesting, but I think it comes down to which stories captured my interest and which didn't! Definitely recommend though!

I wrote mini reviews for every story in here that I'll be posting later today, but I just woke up, so I don't have the energy to do it now haha

But despite the rating, I would like to say that I do recommend this collection and gave three of the stories 5 stars!

-Book Hugger

OKAY! So I should acknowledge that the fact I even read Red Rising in the year of our lord 2020 is an achievement in and of itself. However, comma, I hated it. Well, correction...I hated the last 300 pages of it.

The first 100 pages of Red Rising get a 5 out of 5 from me. I loved the politics, the caste system, the characters, the building of a Gold from a Red, and the world-building/space setting. The rest of Red Rising was disappointing primarily because none of the characters from the beginning reappeared except for Darrow and because we lost all of the world-building to a confined, Hunger Games-esque arena. It's not even obvious later that it's set on Mars, which makes the setting seem too irrelevant for my liking.

I still loved Darrow as a character; he's a fascinating exploration of what power does to a person, especially someone previously disenfranchised. I also do have a surprising soft-spot for Sevro, which shouldn't be surprising considering all of the Internet is obsessed with him, but whatever. As I read, I found myself liking most the political discussions and quotes about male power. This felt very Lord of the Flies, even though I've never actually read it, which contrasted against the power-structure vibes of The Hunger Games. 

Honestly, it's hard to articulate why I didn't enjoy it when I can say easily that it's a very well-written and objectively good book. However, once we hit the part where the students are put in this arena competing against each other for the role of primus, I lost interest. One of the things I know about my reading taste is that I struggle to enjoy books with a rich world-building that lose all of it past the introduction. I had the same issue with The Bone Season, which was set in a fascinating world and then moved to a castle where the main character was essentially locked for the rest of the novel. 

I feel like Pierce Brown lost the impact of this classist world by shoving all these Golds in an arena and having them fight to the death. It also seemed like a bit of a rip off of The Hunger Games except, somehow, more brutal (which I appreciated). 

I've been told that I might enjoy Golden Son more because it explores the politics and world more, so I might actually try it (wow!). 

Honestly, I expected to love Red Rising. I thought it would be a five star read and I felt so let down by how boring the rest of the novel was. I couldn't pick apart the characters; there were too many. I trudged through the fight scenes, the descriptions of the houses which will literally never matter again, and the intricate yet boring relationships between each and every character. Also the romance...snore. I much preferred it whenever Darrow was crying about Eo. Oops.

In short, I much preferred the themes of the novel rather than the execution. 

But anyway. I might try Golden Son, so stay tuned for that eventually. But otherwise, I'm so sad about this and obviously I still recommend it because I know that it's a good book and I'm just picky about things that most people aren't haha. So many people love it! And most people usually find the first 100 pages boring whereas I found it the opposite. So...if you think it looks good, I highly recommend trying it!

-Book Hugger

For more reviews, check out my blog at bookhuggerreviews.com