laurelthebooks's Reviews (662)

 

In Mammoths at the Gates Cleric Chih is headed home to the Singing Hills abbey, a place we’ve only had mentions of before. And of course, Almost Brilliant is back for this entry.

Just like the previous three books I am amazed at how much can be packed into such a small package. Themes such as grief, old friends, recognizing change, coming home, and the complexity of memory suffuse this bite sized story. I recognize my own bias here, but this whole series makes me soft and mushy inside 💖

“I would be honored to hear your story . . . Whether it is long or short, broken or whole, sad or joyful or angry or strange.”

 Ballet brings to mind the ephemeral, the elite, and the kind of soft beauty that is backed by absolute iron discipline. In Shea’s novel, Laurence Mesny strives to become the best ballerina amongst the competitive Parisian ballet. After being constantly overlooked despite her skill she strikes a deal with an unknown power to bring her to the top. As she drives forward she discovers that she isn’t the only monster here though.

The book covers obsession, insecurity, pettiness, power balances, and the slowly dawning realization that the validation we are told to strive for might not even exist. I adored the setting and characters in this novel, and I definitely can see this appealing to ballet lovers and those who adore a good young adult villain origin story.

This book fascinates and intrigues, although the execution fell a tad flat to me I still adored so many parts of this. It has some gore descriptions, but it falls surprisingly low on the creepiness factor. I’d love to know what you thought of you’ve read this!

“What kind of person becomes a monster only to embrace their curse and build a sanctuary with it?” 

 This book is full of bad decisions, various descriptions of personhood, corrupted AI deities, unexplained shady governments, mechas, and oddly appealing random food descriptions. No, seriously - it’s a wild ride. Think of smashing the tone of Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb Series and Neon Yang's The Genesis of Misery together and you’ll have a decent grasp on the tone of the entire book.

To give the main character, Sunai, at least some credit they are self-aware to identify that they are making bad decisions they just continue on with them anyways. Despite being character driven this is a book with plenty of overlapping perspectives (especially near the end) that I definitely expect to be confusing for people! If you got through Harrow though I have faith in you.

 

There were some gems in this book hidden among some of the conversations, but overall it was a very mediocre read for me. I didn’t appreciate any of the characters, but if you enjoy first contact novels, this may be something you enjoy.