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inkandplasma
Full review: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/06/04/the-binding-by-bridget-collins-review/
4.5 stars.
I'm glad I was pre-warned that this book was dark (thanks Lucy) because I think it would have taken me by surprise otherwise. But I love dark books and this book was incredible. I also had no idea that it was a queer book until I got into part two and I started to Get Suspicious and start hurling conspiracies at my best friend. I was delighted to be right, even if this isn't the kind of happy go lucky gay book I usually read.
The writing in this book is astonishingly good, which I'm sure everybody knew from how popular it was. It's put Bridget Collins tentatively on my insta-buy list after one book which is rare, and I've already preordered the equally beautiful looking The Betrayals. I ended up reading The Binding in one sitting because once I'd started digging into Emmett's story, I couldn't look away. Though the ending is hopeful, I reiterate that this is not really a happy story. There are happy moments and beautiful moments, and there's a whole middle section that reads like a hell of a rom-com, but there's a lot of darkness entangled in the premise of this book.
In this alternate world, books are bound memories. If you have something you want to forget, or if you just need the money badly enough, you can visit a binder and tell your story. The binder will listen and once you're finished they'll bind a book with your memories trapped inside and you can forget all about them. By its very nature, the book binding makes this book sad. There's stories of incest, rape, abuse all drawn out of the heads of people who are desperate to forget - or who don't have a choice. When Emmett finds a book with his name on it, he wants to know what it is that he chose to forget. The book is split into three sections of a sort. Before Emmett remembers, the remembering and the aftermath. By virtue of the binding itself I knew that the middle section was going to be sad, because nothing ends well when it ends with someone losing their memories, but despite the sad moments I adored this book and the characters in it.
The Binding is a story about memory and about power dynamics and families and the darker sides of each, and there's a lot to be cautious about here. If you want a dark story that's gloriously well written, you can't go wrong with the Binding and I'm sure I'll find myself wandering back to it to have my feelings hurt again soon.
4.5 stars.
I'm glad I was pre-warned that this book was dark (thanks Lucy) because I think it would have taken me by surprise otherwise. But I love dark books and this book was incredible. I also had no idea that it was a queer book until I got into part two and I started to Get Suspicious and start hurling conspiracies at my best friend. I was delighted to be right, even if this isn't the kind of happy go lucky gay book I usually read.
The writing in this book is astonishingly good, which I'm sure everybody knew from how popular it was. It's put Bridget Collins tentatively on my insta-buy list after one book which is rare, and I've already preordered the equally beautiful looking The Betrayals. I ended up reading The Binding in one sitting because once I'd started digging into Emmett's story, I couldn't look away. Though the ending is hopeful, I reiterate that this is not really a happy story. There are happy moments and beautiful moments, and there's a whole middle section that reads like a hell of a rom-com, but there's a lot of darkness entangled in the premise of this book.
In this alternate world, books are bound memories. If you have something you want to forget, or if you just need the money badly enough, you can visit a binder and tell your story. The binder will listen and once you're finished they'll bind a book with your memories trapped inside and you can forget all about them. By its very nature, the book binding makes this book sad. There's stories of incest, rape, abuse all drawn out of the heads of people who are desperate to forget - or who don't have a choice. When Emmett finds a book with his name on it, he wants to know what it is that he chose to forget. The book is split into three sections of a sort. Before Emmett remembers, the remembering and the aftermath. By virtue of the binding itself I knew that the middle section was going to be sad, because nothing ends well when it ends with someone losing their memories, but despite the sad moments I adored this book and the characters in it.
The Binding is a story about memory and about power dynamics and families and the darker sides of each, and there's a lot to be cautious about here. If you want a dark story that's gloriously well written, you can't go wrong with the Binding and I'm sure I'll find myself wandering back to it to have my feelings hurt again soon.
DNF @ 64%
The writing itself is fine in this, Emily Skrutskie is clearly a talented writer. I just have concerns about pretty much this entire book. I actually won this copy in a giveaway, not through requests, but am reviewing on Netgalley as that was how the copy was sent to me.
Initially I was worried to start with, as the book is written from the perspective of a gay/bisexual Black man with a gay/bisexual Latinx love interest, but written by a white woman. I was worried about how well the POV would be portrayed, and unfortunately in my opinion I was proved correct. From here on out, there be spoilers. Be warned.
So our main character Ettian was born and raised on Rana. The Umber empire colonised Rana and built a military academy on the planet in the rubble of the destroyed world that they /invaded and colonised/ seven years ago. Ettian watched the public execution of the leaders of his planet and lived in the rubble of his destroyed city for five years, then spent two years at the military academy before the story started. I have no issues with any of this, and if the story that followed was Ettian fighting off the Umber empire with the Rana rebels, it would have been a fun space romp. But it wasn't. Instead, Ettian finds out that his best friend of two years is the heir to the Umber empire and proceeds to turn against the Rana rebels and do everything he can to help Gal get on the throne. He says this is because Gal will be a better leader than his parents, because Gal is such a nice guy. I couldn't show you ONE scene where Gal is a nice guy. Ettian turns him down and he keeps telling everyone he's Ettian's boyfriend anyway, he wants to destroy the rebels even though he apparently doesn't agree with war, and in a spectacular moment of assholery he sends a girl back to the planet where an abuser put a bounty on her head - literally sentencing her to death without a qualm. He's NOT a nice guy.
The point where I noped the fuck out of this book was when Ettian literally thought about the fact that he could have escaped as a refugee and joined the rebellion and, in his own words, not been worn down by Umber propaganda, but decides that he wouldn't choose that because he wouldn't have met Gal. Not for nothing, but 'I wuv him' isn't a good enough reason to excuse and enable genocide. I haven't read the last forty percent of the book, but I have talked to someone who did who explained it to me, so I admit that this is secondhand information but apparently he continues to go against the rebellion until outside forces make his plan fail, and THEN he decides to join them. So he's fine with the genocide of his people up until that point.
Ettian just lacks ALL character agency, and every time he makes a choice it's the worst possible one? I love characters that are awful, I love bad characters doing bad things, but the constant implication that Ettian is right to protect Gal no matter what is so irritating. Their relationship is pre-established before the book starts, so we just get told that they're friends - we don't learn to care about them - and I just think they lack all personality. I don't think a white woman should ever have been writing this book, and I think that white POV is shining through in this gross as hell coloniser-oppressed romance story. This book was marketed with so much fluffy language and cheerful ao3 tags that I was expecting something fun and fluffy and all about the space battles. I wasn't expecting a book that half-assedly criticises genocide while acting like the power of love can fix the murder of Ettian's people (and if I've been informed right, of his FAMILY).
The writing itself is fine in this, Emily Skrutskie is clearly a talented writer. I just have concerns about pretty much this entire book. I actually won this copy in a giveaway, not through requests, but am reviewing on Netgalley as that was how the copy was sent to me.
Initially I was worried to start with, as the book is written from the perspective of a gay/bisexual Black man with a gay/bisexual Latinx love interest, but written by a white woman. I was worried about how well the POV would be portrayed, and unfortunately in my opinion I was proved correct. From here on out, there be spoilers. Be warned.
So our main character Ettian was born and raised on Rana. The Umber empire colonised Rana and built a military academy on the planet in the rubble of the destroyed world that they /invaded and colonised/ seven years ago. Ettian watched the public execution of the leaders of his planet and lived in the rubble of his destroyed city for five years, then spent two years at the military academy before the story started. I have no issues with any of this, and if the story that followed was Ettian fighting off the Umber empire with the Rana rebels, it would have been a fun space romp. But it wasn't. Instead, Ettian finds out that his best friend of two years is the heir to the Umber empire and proceeds to turn against the Rana rebels and do everything he can to help Gal get on the throne. He says this is because Gal will be a better leader than his parents, because Gal is such a nice guy. I couldn't show you ONE scene where Gal is a nice guy. Ettian turns him down and he keeps telling everyone he's Ettian's boyfriend anyway, he wants to destroy the rebels even though he apparently doesn't agree with war, and in a spectacular moment of assholery he sends a girl back to the planet where an abuser put a bounty on her head - literally sentencing her to death without a qualm. He's NOT a nice guy.
The point where I noped the fuck out of this book was when Ettian literally thought about the fact that he could have escaped as a refugee and joined the rebellion and, in his own words, not been worn down by Umber propaganda, but decides that he wouldn't choose that because he wouldn't have met Gal. Not for nothing, but 'I wuv him' isn't a good enough reason to excuse and enable genocide. I haven't read the last forty percent of the book, but I have talked to someone who did who explained it to me, so I admit that this is secondhand information but apparently he continues to go against the rebellion until outside forces make his plan fail, and THEN he decides to join them. So he's fine with the genocide of his people up until that point.
Ettian just lacks ALL character agency, and every time he makes a choice it's the worst possible one? I love characters that are awful, I love bad characters doing bad things, but the constant implication that Ettian is right to protect Gal no matter what is so irritating. Their relationship is pre-established before the book starts, so we just get told that they're friends - we don't learn to care about them - and I just think they lack all personality. I don't think a white woman should ever have been writing this book, and I think that white POV is shining through in this gross as hell coloniser-oppressed romance story. This book was marketed with so much fluffy language and cheerful ao3 tags that I was expecting something fun and fluffy and all about the space battles. I wasn't expecting a book that half-assedly criticises genocide while acting like the power of love can fix the murder of Ettian's people (and if I've been informed right, of his FAMILY).
This is kind of more of a 2.5 but 2 is way too low. Give me half stars ffs.
Review probably to come
Review probably to come
Full review: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/05/01/wilder-girls-by-rory-power-(review)/
The way that Rory Power writes is addictive. I knew without hesitation that I was going to want to read more from her. The prose is lyrical and beautiful, and it draws you in, even when discussing gore and body horror. Everything was so vivid, and it made every chapter and twist emotive as hell. I felt like I was on the island with them, looking out at the woods and hearing footsteps down the halls of the school.
The book focuses on three main girls: Hetty, Byatt and Reece. They were nothing like I expected, and I loved them more for that. All three of them were ‘flawed’, and who the hell wouldn’t be? I think we can all identify a little right now with being stuck in a quarantine, no idea when it might end, and imagining being stuck away from any communication, information or food? I wouldn’t be worrying about manners. The flaws they faced, one passive, one violent and the last impulsive and dishonest. They’re real, human flaws, and it made me feel like those characters were real. I also loved that their decision making wasn’t based on heroism. At no point were these girls trying to save the world, or their island, or even their fellow students. They were out to save each other, a team that included only Hetty, Byatt and Reece. It felt selfish and true that after all the hell they’ve been through, they would be so defensive. The romance between Hetty and Reece was subtle but lovely, and I liked that it wasn’t prioritised over everything else happening.
The plot was ridiculously engaging. From the start you suspect that something isn’t quite right, but it wasn’t until a good two-thirds of the way through that the book let you put the clues you had together and find the right answer. It made me feel even more connected with the characters, like I was on the island with them and trying furiously to work out who I could trust – and no wonder they decided they could only trust each other.
The way that Rory Power writes is addictive. I knew without hesitation that I was going to want to read more from her. The prose is lyrical and beautiful, and it draws you in, even when discussing gore and body horror. Everything was so vivid, and it made every chapter and twist emotive as hell. I felt like I was on the island with them, looking out at the woods and hearing footsteps down the halls of the school.
The book focuses on three main girls: Hetty, Byatt and Reece. They were nothing like I expected, and I loved them more for that. All three of them were ‘flawed’, and who the hell wouldn’t be? I think we can all identify a little right now with being stuck in a quarantine, no idea when it might end, and imagining being stuck away from any communication, information or food? I wouldn’t be worrying about manners. The flaws they faced, one passive, one violent and the last impulsive and dishonest. They’re real, human flaws, and it made me feel like those characters were real. I also loved that their decision making wasn’t based on heroism. At no point were these girls trying to save the world, or their island, or even their fellow students. They were out to save each other, a team that included only Hetty, Byatt and Reece. It felt selfish and true that after all the hell they’ve been through, they would be so defensive. The romance between Hetty and Reece was subtle but lovely, and I liked that it wasn’t prioritised over everything else happening.
The plot was ridiculously engaging. From the start you suspect that something isn’t quite right, but it wasn’t until a good two-thirds of the way through that the book let you put the clues you had together and find the right answer. It made me feel even more connected with the characters, like I was on the island with them and trying furiously to work out who I could trust – and no wonder they decided they could only trust each other.
Full review: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/08/20/the-mermaid-the-witch-and-the-sea-by-maggie-tokuda-hall-review/
Trigger Warnings: homophobia, off-screen rape, slavery, violence, loss of limb, death.
Thanks to Walker Books for the review copy of this book, it hasn’t affected my honest review.
Reading this book was a genuinely stressful experience. Every single chapter I read, something new and terrifying happened to Evelyn and Flora. I would have thought I’d get sick of constant plot twists, but they’re executed so artfully that I just couldn’t look away from it. Stopping at our buddy read chapters each day was torture. The balance between emotional moments and exciting plot moments was perfect, honestly, and the POV characters were really well split. Each jump had me eager to find out happened to them next, and I adored the interludes from the sea herself. A lot happens in this book, which makes me think that this will be even better on the reread, and I’ll definitely come back to it in a few months to give it another read and it’ll probably emotionally wreck me even more than it did the first time.
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is gloriously queer. I read a lot of queer books but I was still giddy at this one just because so many characters were non-cis. I was curious how a genderfluid main character would be portrayed without seeming gimmicky, but it felt very authentic to me and the moment where Flora realised that they could be Flora and Florian both was incredibly satisfying. However, I will point out that as a cis-woman, this isn’t my expertise and I hope that genderfluid and non-binary reviewers were also given the opportunity to read this book as I’d love to read their opinions on the rep. The sapphic romance was just perfection and I loved the way that Evelyn felt towards Flora/Florian. Their relationship felt so authentic and I’m so glad that we didn’t have to have any kind of gender/sexuality crisis from Evelyn as a response to Flora’s coming out.
The aesthetic of this book is just incredible and I’m obsessed with it. I would literally die for the Pirate Supreme without any hesitation. Xenobia is cool as all hell. The Sea herself might be my favourite character in the book. The characters in The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea are all heavily flawed and I cannot stress enough how that’s my favourite thing in books. Perfection is boring and overrated. Maggie Tokuda-Hall created a full cast of complex characters and I went through the emotional wringer falling in and out of love with them from page to page as their actions and motivations were exposed. I honestly cannot wait to see what she writes next because her character work is everything I’ve been looking for.
Trigger Warnings: homophobia, off-screen rape, slavery, violence, loss of limb, death.
Thanks to Walker Books for the review copy of this book, it hasn’t affected my honest review.
Reading this book was a genuinely stressful experience. Every single chapter I read, something new and terrifying happened to Evelyn and Flora. I would have thought I’d get sick of constant plot twists, but they’re executed so artfully that I just couldn’t look away from it. Stopping at our buddy read chapters each day was torture. The balance between emotional moments and exciting plot moments was perfect, honestly, and the POV characters were really well split. Each jump had me eager to find out happened to them next, and I adored the interludes from the sea herself. A lot happens in this book, which makes me think that this will be even better on the reread, and I’ll definitely come back to it in a few months to give it another read and it’ll probably emotionally wreck me even more than it did the first time.
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is gloriously queer. I read a lot of queer books but I was still giddy at this one just because so many characters were non-cis. I was curious how a genderfluid main character would be portrayed without seeming gimmicky, but it felt very authentic to me and the moment where Flora realised that they could be Flora and Florian both was incredibly satisfying. However, I will point out that as a cis-woman, this isn’t my expertise and I hope that genderfluid and non-binary reviewers were also given the opportunity to read this book as I’d love to read their opinions on the rep. The sapphic romance was just perfection and I loved the way that Evelyn felt towards Flora/Florian. Their relationship felt so authentic and I’m so glad that we didn’t have to have any kind of gender/sexuality crisis from Evelyn as a response to Flora’s coming out.
The aesthetic of this book is just incredible and I’m obsessed with it. I would literally die for the Pirate Supreme without any hesitation. Xenobia is cool as all hell. The Sea herself might be my favourite character in the book. The characters in The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea are all heavily flawed and I cannot stress enough how that’s my favourite thing in books. Perfection is boring and overrated. Maggie Tokuda-Hall created a full cast of complex characters and I went through the emotional wringer falling in and out of love with them from page to page as their actions and motivations were exposed. I honestly cannot wait to see what she writes next because her character work is everything I’ve been looking for.
Full Review: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/05/07/dangerous-remedy-by-kat-dunn-(review)/
Dangerous Remedy was one of my top anticipated 2020 releases, so when Zephyr sent me a review copy I was so excited. A f/f romance, a band of rebels, the French revolution? These are all things I love. I ended up a little conflicted over my rating, for reasons I'll discuss below, but this a very good read and I settled at 3.75 rounded up to 4 stars.
The biggest thing that had me conflicted about this book was Camille. Camille is the main character and she’s fierce and strong and incredibly brave, fighting a hard battle to try and save innocents from the guillotine. I also… really disliked her. I can’t put a fine point on what it is that I disliked about her, she just never clicked with me. I usually love female characters that are a little rough around the edges, and I’m always shouting about how much I like characters that show ‘dislikeable’ traits, but usually that’s because I love to find the development behind them that explains their actions. Camille was rude and harsh with her makeshift family, cruel at times with Al especially, but when her backstory and ‘explanation’ was uncovered it didn’t seem to justify the way she acted. She still seemed like a cruel person to me. Because of that, the f/f romance between Camilla and Ada just did not click with me (Ada should be with Olympe, I’m saying that now), and the fact that three separate characters are in love with Camille in this story? Why? It made me disengage with the love triangle, and the romance, which lowered the stakes a little.
Fortunately, the rest of the ensemble cast; Olympe, Guil, Ada and Al, my beloved Al, were excellent. They were well-characterised and each was well-developed. There were moments when I felt like we weren’t hearing much about particular characters, but then discovered that there were well plotted reasons that they were keeping their secrets to their chests. Between the ensemble cast, and the extremely twisty and interesting plot, I was able to thoroughly enjoy this book despite the fact that I wouldn’t have flinched if Camille had been put up for the guillotine. My notes just said ‘Olympe, the coolest bitch’, and I stand by it. Olympe has been through hell. Human experimentation, torture, and she’s got powers that nobody can explain – least of all her. But she’s empathetic and I love her to pieces. I loved that her powers were rooted in science, but because this book is set in the 1700s, that science seems more magical than anything we have today.
The setting feels very authentically 1700s, and I love that Kat Dunn has clearly put the research in to make this land. Ada is a scientist, so she had some vague knowledge of the early research around electricity, but it all seems like magic to them still. There were mentions of believing the sun to orbit the earth, and other appropriate scientific principles, and I love that Kat Dunn showed us these characters without bringing in modern beliefs that didn’t make sense – a thing that really bugs me in historical YA. Their beliefs were era appropriate, and that’s impressively done with a cast of LGBTQ+ characters, and I was glad that this was done without bringing too much heavy homophobia into it. It was present, and realistic, but it was never the focus of the book.
The plot really was very twisty, and I had a rug-pull moment so good that I sat bolt upright where I was reading this in bed, which I adore. The stakes were high the whole way through, and it felt like the characters really were out of their depth. They had to make sacrifices to win the ground they did, and it felt constantly like they might suffer in very real ways. I can’t wait for the next book, to find out how they handle the events at the end of DANGEROUS REMEDY, and to hopefully see certain people get their just deserts.
Dangerous Remedy was one of my top anticipated 2020 releases, so when Zephyr sent me a review copy I was so excited. A f/f romance, a band of rebels, the French revolution? These are all things I love. I ended up a little conflicted over my rating, for reasons I'll discuss below, but this a very good read and I settled at 3.75 rounded up to 4 stars.
The biggest thing that had me conflicted about this book was Camille. Camille is the main character and she’s fierce and strong and incredibly brave, fighting a hard battle to try and save innocents from the guillotine. I also… really disliked her. I can’t put a fine point on what it is that I disliked about her, she just never clicked with me. I usually love female characters that are a little rough around the edges, and I’m always shouting about how much I like characters that show ‘dislikeable’ traits, but usually that’s because I love to find the development behind them that explains their actions. Camille was rude and harsh with her makeshift family, cruel at times with Al especially, but when her backstory and ‘explanation’ was uncovered it didn’t seem to justify the way she acted. She still seemed like a cruel person to me. Because of that, the f/f romance between Camilla and Ada just did not click with me (Ada should be with Olympe, I’m saying that now), and the fact that three separate characters are in love with Camille in this story? Why? It made me disengage with the love triangle, and the romance, which lowered the stakes a little.
Fortunately, the rest of the ensemble cast; Olympe, Guil, Ada and Al, my beloved Al, were excellent. They were well-characterised and each was well-developed. There were moments when I felt like we weren’t hearing much about particular characters, but then discovered that there were well plotted reasons that they were keeping their secrets to their chests. Between the ensemble cast, and the extremely twisty and interesting plot, I was able to thoroughly enjoy this book despite the fact that I wouldn’t have flinched if Camille had been put up for the guillotine. My notes just said ‘Olympe, the coolest bitch’, and I stand by it. Olympe has been through hell. Human experimentation, torture, and she’s got powers that nobody can explain – least of all her. But she’s empathetic and I love her to pieces. I loved that her powers were rooted in science, but because this book is set in the 1700s, that science seems more magical than anything we have today.
The setting feels very authentically 1700s, and I love that Kat Dunn has clearly put the research in to make this land. Ada is a scientist, so she had some vague knowledge of the early research around electricity, but it all seems like magic to them still. There were mentions of believing the sun to orbit the earth, and other appropriate scientific principles, and I love that Kat Dunn showed us these characters without bringing in modern beliefs that didn’t make sense – a thing that really bugs me in historical YA. Their beliefs were era appropriate, and that’s impressively done with a cast of LGBTQ+ characters, and I was glad that this was done without bringing too much heavy homophobia into it. It was present, and realistic, but it was never the focus of the book.
The plot really was very twisty, and I had a rug-pull moment so good that I sat bolt upright where I was reading this in bed, which I adore. The stakes were high the whole way through, and it felt like the characters really were out of their depth. They had to make sacrifices to win the ground they did, and it felt constantly like they might suffer in very real ways. I can’t wait for the next book, to find out how they handle the events at the end of DANGEROUS REMEDY, and to hopefully see certain people get their just deserts.
I'm a complete sucker for a Red Riding Hood retelling and a friend of mine loves Aster Glenn Gray's work, so when I saw The Wolf and the Girl, I had to pick it up. It was a quick read at 84 pages and perfectly formed. It's set in pre-revolutionary Tsarist Russia and 1911 France, and especially at the beginning of the novella the setting was a lush and beautiful snowy forest that just completely drew me in. The writing was very atmospheric, and drew in elements of Baba Yaga along with the Red Riding Hood legends.
I would have loved to see this extended to be longer, just because there's so much interesting stuff to see. Raisa's trip to St. Petersburg and how that ended up with her joining the Anarchists and getting turned into a wolf, and I would love to see Raisa and Masha after the fight was over, learning each other as girl and girl instead of girl and wolf.
I would have loved to see this extended to be longer, just because there's so much interesting stuff to see. Raisa's trip to St. Petersburg and how that ended up with her joining the Anarchists and getting turned into a wolf, and I would love to see Raisa and Masha after the fight was over, learning each other as girl and girl instead of girl and wolf.