heartbrekker's Reviews (797)

The Apartment: ☆ 3
A Faithful but Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed: ☆ 3.5
Sibling Rivalry: ☆ 3.5
In the Event: ☆ 2
Rubberdust: ☆ 4
The Nine-Tailed Fox Explains: ☆ 4
The Hands of Dirty Children: ☆ 3.5
Kennedy: ☆ 3

Note: While I’m saying this novel is read, I will continue to read the short stories at my own leisure. I just don’t want to have it in my currently reading for so long. Hopefully, I’ll update the other stories as I read them.

Read for fantasy/ folklore class.

I had to put this on the back burner for quite a lot of time. I feel like a disconnect built between my full enjoyment, and while the ending is SO SWEET and powerful, I just couldn’t give it a five.

3.5

“Reading without true understanding is only wading in the shallows without a care for the monsters that lurk beneath.”
WOW. Y’ALL. HUZZAH.
I’ve found one of my favorite books of 2020, and it’s name is The Bone Shard Daughter.
Wow. WOw. WOW.
If you’re looking for a book that’s going to stump you while also ticking your theorizing capacities then choose this book ASAP! I thought I knew so much that my intuition was leading me in the truth direction, but I was soooo wrong. There’s so much we don’t know, and Andrea is a gem at unraveling this crazy and unforgettable tale.
Lin and Sand are my favorites. Lin is an obvious choice because her POV was definitely the most surprising of the bunch. I kept pulling at my hair and gnawing on my bottom lip. I’m too stressed to handle her perspective in any other form. On the flip side though- Sand is a true enigma. We may question Lin about her role, actions, and intentions, but Sand’s identity is thrown to the wind. She’s the POV with the least amount of screen time, and just imagine me now shaking my fist in a fake fury at Andrea. I wanted MORE. But I understand completely why she chose to withhold so much screen time for her.
To be honest, as I always say, go into this book blind. I assumed there would only be 1 POV, and when I was faced with 5, it truly became such a pleasant surprise. You’ll enjoy this book with the same measure as unraveling a secret, putting a puzzle together, or even trying to leave an Escape Room. It’s amazing. I urge you all to dive in!!
And of course thank you to Orbit Books for gifting me a finished copy to review. It was such a bright light in an otherwise slumpy point to my reading year.

I've read this book the most of the PJATO series and just books in general throughout my lifetime, and it still doesn't let me down. Zoë still makes me emotional. Annabeth leaves me screaming. Grover is always my emotionally hysterical comedic relief. Thalia makes my spine straighten, and Percy is my pure bean that deserves everything.
Last time I read this I was 12 going on 13, driving to a new life in a new state. It helped me then as it helps me now in quarantine. Rick Riordan is incredible.

Reread: 3.5 or 3.75
“A hero who has never had a bad thing happen to him isn’t a hero- he’s just spoiled.”
I had a lot of mixed thoughts throughout this novel.
I think the part that really hurt it for me personally was the narration. It jumps back and forth between present time (first person) and flashbacks (third person), and I always have a rougher time reading novels involving heavy uses of flashbacks. Kihrin’s POV during the present part of the novel was my favorite hands down. Moreover, both stories were incredibly interesting (I mean it’s high fantasy- it’s obviously intriguing!), but it was overwhelming at times with all the high fantasy information and names.
The names. Ohhh they are so similar, especially in this specific group in the world, and it only makes it harder to keep all the facts straight. I mean it makes sense because of the culture those people have, but I used the glossary as if it was my best friend.
I was honestly confused most of the time in the first 200ish pages, and it really took away my enjoyment.
Now you may be wondering.. what was my favorite part?
THE HUMOR.
OHHHHH I loved Kihrin because he was quite frankly me if I was ever put in a high fantasy world. I just wanted to pat his head and console him nearly the entire time because his life is a MESS. No, his life truly SUCKS, and he has MANY lows in this novel. His journey physically and mentally as a person was just fascinating to delve into. Though for real, his sass, commentary, and jokes legit made this book shine so bright. I'd honestly compare his humor and sarcasm to Mia Corvere from Nevernight. I got so many similar vibes between the two. There's even footnotes! AH!
The politics also were a big 10/10. From family drama to impending war to hysterical gods, I was living my best political intrigue life.
Now I do not know if it was my confusion resurfacing at the end, but I started to pull away from enjoying the politics after 450ish pages. Like I said before, it became a real hassle to follow the plot when a thousand things, names, and issues are thrown at you at one time. I usually am very good with staying on track when it comes to complex plots, but this was a doozy.
At the end of the day, I think I would have really benefitted in taking notes while reading this novel, and I 100% recommend that for any of you thinking about picking this up.

I want to start off this review by stating that they’re trigger warnings for rape, self harm, genocide, grotesque violence/ war themes, child/ fetal abuse, general abuse, and racism within this story. It is detailed extensively too.
THIS BOOK IS HARD TO READ.
I’m not going to lie about that. It truly tears down all senses of censorship to show the actual brutality of war. The back of the ARC claims to be inspired by 20th century Chinese history, and I agree with that statement because they’re so many correlations. I’m not going to go into all of them, but some scenes are similar to historical events like The Rape of Nanjing and other events in Chinese history.
Now back to TPW.
The main character is Rin, and she is a war orphan forced to work (basically enslaved) for her adopted family’s shop aka opium business. When it becomes known that she’s to be married off to an old man and forced to have children, she decides to take the Keju, which is a test to determine those working in the government (fantastical version of the Civil Service Exam).
The story is separated into three sections and follows her journey from the results of that test to inevitable war. I’d recommend going in knowing nothing personally.
Anyway, I want to also state that this book is not for those accustomed to the YA genre. It is an dark fantasy adult book for a reason, and Rin actually makes a lot of decisions that are very complex and brutal. As I said before, the story holds nothing back in terms of the brutality of mankind.
On a completely separate note, the magic weaved within the story was EXCELLENT. I loved how Kuang describes the system and the inner workings of it. It wasn’t info dumpy or anything remotely close. I felt like I was learning at the same pace as Rin, which was expected and wonderfully realistic.
The best part. THE BEST PART.
Jiang.
He is my FAVORITE. His and Rin’s relationship and just him in general were the best aspects to this story. I have NEVER laughed more out loud in MY LIFE. I loved him and his antics, and the complete fact that he gives no qualms about anyone was truly remarkable. He’s just living his life with his own values. Iconic.
For how long the story was I have to give props to Kuang for writing a well-paced story. It was the perfect medium between fast and slow. The latter half of the novel shows intense scenes of war, and it is definitely hard to read. If you’d like to read this novel and skip the worst parts- just don’t read Chapter 21. I had to set the novel down to recuperate after finishing those pages.
Overall, this book was amazing, and I CANNOT wait for the sequel.

My favorite book of 2018.
I can’t say much about this sequel due to spoilers, but I will say that I felt emotions I’ve never experienced before when reading. I cried. I laughed. I screamed.
It brought everything and more.
I’m STILL not over it, and it has been over a month.
As always, the politics shine through this series starkly and intelligently. Everyone is dancing around each other trying to keep the peace, get their own wishes, and just not die. You really start to see the inner workings of Daevabad, and it’s phenomenal .
Now something that surprised me in TKOC was the familial relationships as well as friendships. You don’t see strong parental-children relationships in books much these days because usually parents are dead, but there’s a few great scenes in TKOC. I started crying a little during some of them. It was heartfelt, and I really appreciated each one of them. Lastly, the sibling dynamic was ON POINT. They were some of my favorite scenes because I thought of my own brother and my own experiences.
Like TCOB, the writing was smooth, lyrical, and as always hysterical because Nahri is the funniest narrator. Her sass is like no other.
WARNING: Be prepared for allll the feels when reading this story. Be prepared for the ride of a lifetime. Be prepared for a beautiful, politically captivating sequel.