A decade later and that ending still slays me. #OTP



First read in 2006

God, I'd forgotten how much better this one was than the second one.

a) Suze really needed to give Sleepy a break
b) Gina is cool as heck
c) OTP OTP OTP

First read in 2006

All hail Queen Fiona Staples and her ability to make you feel all the things with her expressive artwork.

Like the first one, this was great. Still the gang I remember, just plonked into modern times.

Also, Ronnie looks fly as hell.

Oh look. Another comic series that's going to ruin me. Never thought I'd see the day, Riverdale gang. Tch.

Love the way the story is progressing, and I'm digging Veronica Fish's artwork. A step up from the previous issue, I thought. (No offense in any way to Annie Wu.)

3.5 stars

Shoutout to Lola for basically telling me not to DNF this

I can tell you the exact moment this gained momentum, for me.

The part where the cutthroat wanders into the pleasure house

Yes, that slow.

But was this my only issue with the book? Sadly, no.

The writing, for the most part, was unattached. It tried hard, it must be said, to make me connect with the characters emotionally. But the wording constantly came across as detached and, behind-a-wall-ish. You know, like someone was narrating the story from behind the safety of a one-way mirror or something. Like the narrator was, at best, guessing what the characters were feeling and had no personal connection to any of them to be convincing enough.

Sure, I liked Kell. He was a sweetie. He was righteous, honorable and a little bit of a brat. But I don’t know much more about him than that. Except that I guess he loves his brother? ???

I liked Rhys too. Not a huge surprise considering the fact that I tend to have a soft spot for flirty little shits. But, like Kell, I don’t know much about him. Good prince. Caring prince. A little frustrated by his powerlessness. Sure. But not much else.

Delilah was a little more problematic for me. I love tough heroines. I love heroines that don’t have time to moan and swoon over the hot guys they inexplicably get tangled up with. But… it’s just… Lila’s toughness was very wooden. If that makes sense. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me here, but it wasn’t even like she was a vulnerable, sensitive girl only pretending to be tough and cold-blooded. That I could have handled, because that would have meant she had layers. But really, her character felt really robotic. Like someone had programmed her toughness into her and she was just following the code.

My favorite kinds of characters are the ones that are so multifaceted that I can connect random things to their personalities. For instance, I can tell you that Kaz Brekker’s character is like light rain on cobblestones. Sturdy, dark, slick and glistening. I can tell you that Charley Davidson’s personality is like accidental peppermint in coffee.

Can I even try to do the same things with Kell, Delilah et al? Nope.

And if you know me AT ALL, you know that this usually gets me to DNF a book. If I can’t connect with the characters, if I can’t care about them, I just don’t see the point.

So, yeah, this had its problems. But you know what? The story was good. Time-traveling magicians? Good. Plural Londons? Good. Evil villains and a not-so evil henchman? Good. MAGICAL COAT WITH MULTIPLE SIDES? SO. VERY. GOOD.

I enjoyed all of this. I’m not so sure how this could work as a series, since the story felt pretty much done by the end of this book. But the fact that the story picked up towards the end has me intrigued. I will be reading the sequel.

Slightly different version of this review here

Dick move, Mantel. Dick move.

I'm still finding it incredibly hard to believe that Richelle Mead wrote this book.

When this book was first announced, I was super excited about it. A Deaf community? Chinese folklore? A fantasy stand-alone by someone whose books I really enjoy? How could I not be excited?

But then the book came out and reviewers whose opinions I trust were giving it... less than favourable reviews. And still I decided to give it a shot. Because a) Richelle Mead and b) Tastes are subjective. Maybe this will be one of those books I love but they hate.

Aaaaaand this is why I gave up on blind optimism a looong time ago.

I mean, this book was so bad, that I don't think I can even give it a full review. I'm pretty sure the only reason I even finished it was because I was hoping it would get better. And even then, I skim-read after I hit 53%. That's it - hope. That was my only motivation. I wasn't even curious about the big mystery.

And on that note, here's the best review I can give you guys.

THE PREMISE:
Great on paper. Great in theory. In execution, not so much. But this is also a writing issue, so I'll get back to this.

THE PLOT:
Boring. They climbed down a mountain, discovered The Big Thing, and then climbed back up the mountain. There was also some junk about

magical, flying, glittery kitties

. More on this later.

THE CHARACTERS:
Again, boring. I've seen cardboard cereal boxes with more personality than these characters. Honestly, I don't even remember their names. And I remember shit, okay? That's, like, my thing. I remember stuff. And if I can't remember something as simple as the main characters' names, you know you have a problem.

THE WORLD-BUILDING:
Nonexistent. Pull up a map of the world. Close your eyes. Point to some random place on the map. Even if you point to a spot somewhere in the middle of the pacific ocean, it could still be the setting for this story. There was nothing remotely Chinese about this place, or the people in it. There was nothing Chinese about the culture. At one point the MC even walked around the school while sipping a cup of tea, and it seemed so... rude. Like, I've never seen anyone do that. And the only reason I even remember this was because I texted a friend to ask if I was crazy for finding that weird.

THE WRITING:
Flat. Boring. Monotonous. Tell-not-show. Boring. Dry. Boring. Did I say boring? When you write a book about Deaf people, you have the opportunity to go crazy with the other senses. Mead did none of that. Everything, from the MC's thoughts, to the movements and actions of the people around her, was so lifeless and robotic. There was almost no use of scent, and she barely scratched the surface with sight. I am not joking when I tell you that I can't believe Richelle Mead wrote this. I've seen 14 year old fanfic writers who've written more compelling, believable stories than this.

THE FANTASY:
Ridiculous. I mean, can you even call this fantasy? The whole thing with whats-her-face regaining her hearing was weak. There was just one or two breadcrumbs leading up the big reveal at the end. The entire fantasy element

(the giant, glittery, flying kitty cats)

was so random and dumb, it felt like it had just been tacked on to the end of the book at the last minute because the author couldn't think of anything else.

Bottom line? This book was an utter disappointment and a bloody waste of my time. I would not recommend it to anyone. If I could go back in time and stop myself from reading it, I would. Save myself from feeling as upset as I am right now.

Richelle Mead. What happened?

4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for giving me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Let me paint you a picture.

It’s a nice, balmy, Tuesday morning in the tropics. You’re sitting on your doorstep sipping your coffee, your toes gently poking at your dog’s soft tummy. And then, it happens – your phone beeps. You’ve received an email. You fish your phone out of your pocket lazily. It’s either a Marvel newsletter, or an email from the boss-man, wanting to know if you’ve got those designs done yet. But no! It’s NetGalley informing you that you’ve been approved for an arc of Fire Touched – a book you’ve been waiting an entire year for! You’re thrilled. You squeal with joy. Your dog wakes up and stares at you with disgust. You don’t care, you get to read the new Mercy Thompson book a whole two months before it’s due to be published. Life is good.

Yeah… You guys probably know me well enough by now to know that none of that story was made up. Of course, I may have downplayed the amount of squealing I did, but that’s beside the point. I’ve read the new Mercy Thompson book. I don’t care. I’m happy as pie. (People say that. People totally say that)

ANYWAY, Fire Touched was, like all the other Mercy Thompson books, a delight to read. We pick up a few months after the incidents of the previous book, Night Broken. Mercy’s finally recovered from all those horrible injuries she received from a certain volcano god, and she’s smack in the middle of putting her life back together. The shop needs to be rebuilt, her husband’s ex needs to be dealt with, the pack needs to be put in their place, etc, etc… Basically, it’s another day in the life of Mercy Thompson-Hauptman.

Until the fae set a troll loose on a bridge and Mercy, Adam, and the rest of the pack are called in to help stop it. (Which, alright, is STILL another day in the life of Mercy. But you get what I mean.) Without giving too much away, I can tell you guys that the troll is just the beginning of a dastardly fae-problem that Mercy, Adam and Co. have to take care of. Because the fae have absolutely no chill.

Fire Touched is paced pretty much like all the previous books. Mercy tackles her issues at her regular ol’ Mercy Pace, somehow finding time for all the little, everyday problems that pop-up in between the giant disaster. Which just so happens to be one of my favorite things about these books. It doesn’t matter how much she’s got on her plate, Mercy still has to deal with the every day things.

Crazy witch-magic causing trouble for everyone? Mercy still has to go to work.

Werewolf husband’s been kidnapped by rogue federal agents? Mercy still has to make sure her step-daughter isn’t being bullied at school.

Volcano god running round town? Mercy has cars to fix and bills to pay.

I’d continue, but you get the idea. The pacing isn’t rushed. The story plays out in a way that doesn’t allow the normal, mundane matters to be drowned out by the giant supernatural problems. It’s not something you see in most adult UF novels, so that’s great.

As always, this books is centered around the characters. The characters are absolutely the driving force, the heart, of this series. Which brings me to one of the few problems I had with this book. The characters were great, don’t get me wrong, it’s just… there was a little too much going on. Too many characters involved this time around. Some of them got lost in the crowd.

Mercy, I’m glad to report, is still unapologetically Mercy. Same goes for Adam. They’ve both grown so much in the course of these past nine books, and have still managed to stay true to themselves. But the others? Zee and Tad and Ben and Warren? We don’t get to see enough of them.

I’d like to imagine myself at sixty, still reading new Mercy Thompson books. It’s a nice dream, even though it’s completely ridiculous. This series has to end SOME TIME. Maybe not anytime soon, but eventually, lest it become played out and stale. I don’t know when we’ll have to say our bittersweet farewells to Mercy and Co., but what I do know is that one thing definitely needs to happen before her tales come to a natural end – She needs to come to terms with who she is. Not just as a member of the pack, but in the world in general.

And who knows? It may be a little while longer before that happens, so yay. We’ve got more books to look forward to.

This review and more here