gxuosi's Reviews (390)

i wanted soooo badly to like this. i just felt annoyed and disappointed by the time i finished it.

every single minister, general, princess, and king was a blundering idiot in the way where none of their decisions aligned with the previous ones they’ve made. their politics were circular talk with no consistency. and i don’t know if that was the point, that they’re all asshats, or that the author neglected the overarching plot so horribly. the princess was completely void of characterization except for her inexplicable desire to play a game where she tries to murder her own son. the only relief was alizeh who had a moral code and goals which she stood by as her character grew in the world.

dnf'd at 34%. it just really wasn't for me. i like the greek classics well enough and i love a retelling from a different perspective. but the only part of this that was feminist is that circe is a woman, it's her pov, and she has autonomy. she has spent a third of the book vying for the love of men and hating women for doing the same. the writing itself was also so stilted and distant that it didn't feel like circe was an active participant in her own life, even on the aeaea island where she has autonomy. just really not for me.

i don’t think tinsley really needed or deserved a redemption arc. we can know she’s done the right thing without placing the focus on her because giving her that redemption arc fully overshadowed what this was supposed to be about: justice for nova, processing grief for duchess. tinsley became the main character in a story about black girls in the south seeking equality, right to life, and justice. the ending felt like it was written for white people to absolve their guilt, which the novel had already previously criticized. idk man.

i think this was probably the worst book i’ve ever read in my life. the author made a herculean effort to use the most asinine language possible, boot licking a thesaurus. the complete lack of characterization along side rambling plot that went absolutely nowhere, speckled with moments that actually mattered, was astoundingly handled. i’ve never known an author to be able to write 400+ pages where only 100 or less mattered.

why does no one take accountability for anything they’ve done !!!!

grief and guilt and grief and guilt and the indomitable desire to live anyways

sort of enraging just how fucking stupid everyone was even when they weren’t supernaturally ill; juliette at the doctors, harrie in the house, richard before the doctor’s appointment. and the end was a disappointing limp out of what had been incredible plot and tension building for half the book.

…. huh. *edit okay i’m back with thoughts. i had to sit with this one for like 20min. no one in that whole fucking town deserved may. she was the best of them condemned to live with their worst. and if it weren’t enough, she gave and gave and worked harder than anyone in her position ought to as so someone might be delivered “justice.” *plays paris paloma’s labour*

2.5, bumped up cause i generally like m.a. phipps. cool concept but just completely undeveloped. at no point did i ever know what the state’s authoritarian laws were, in what way the state controls the citizens, how society in the state functions on a day to day level, what phoenix’s goals are, why phoenix is considered a terrorist group, when phoenix was founded or by who, how much time was passing at any given moment. i also totally was blindsided by the romance plot given i thought wynter had only spent 36 conscious hours with anyone in phoenix before the confession happens.

to be clear: i did not like this book. but i think that's the point. it was cold, deeply detached, and cruel at times; lacking emotional depth in some points and in others i was drowning in grief. maybe because that's what the soldiers were in gwangju. or maybe because that's the only way the author and her characters can handle their grief; store it away in a root cellar until they can't anymore. i did not like this book, but i don't regret having read it.