This book was part of my "creepy fantasy" kick and it did not disappoint. The book was less about the narrative twists, most of which hit with fairy tale predictability, but the negotiation with the idea of narrative inevitability within the story itself. And the atmosphere was awesome.

I'm still not entirely sold on the premise of her argument because I don't really buy her argument about what exactly skepticism is - that is, her definition of skepticism seems to have more to do with...how happily ever after things are and I think she's reading it out of Tolkien and I'm not sure I see it there.
Having said that, the way she traces the role of faith and hope - the consolation of pre-evangelium, as Tolkien would put it - makes a lot of sense and her larger argument that fantasy takes some of the role of religion in giving up hope for the future is compelling.

Nghi Vo is a spectacular storyteller and her genius lies in the her incredible understanding of how stories are told differently by different people or objects or animals. The debate about the myth at the center of the story here is perfectly done and the way that stories are the nexus point where we negotiate morality and culture shines through even though that's not the point of the book. She's SO good!

This was really well done - Thakrar takes a number of familiar YA tropes and drops them into a gorgeous story and world where both alter and change based on the mythologies she draws on. And it's delightful.

I remember this book from when I was like 10, when I read it MULTIPLE times because it was candy to my younger self in all the ways that 1990s fantasy aimed at teenaged girls was.
And, in many ways, it holds up.
And in so many other ways, it's such a period piece and I see all the tropes that were so popular in the mid-nineties about girls: the singularity of her, the way that SO many men find her attractive for some reason, the way that internal motivation and drive is enough to overcome hundreds of years of oppression.
I'm glad I reread it even if it altered my memory of the book. 
(I also have so many questions about some of the minor naming choices, but here we are.)

I tried to read this very short book quickly and I could not. It needed time. I needed to slow down and take it section by section and just let it sit and be a part of me. It's a beautiful story and the way that Lemberg quietly investigates what it means to age, to change, to lose, and to continue hoping is just perfectly done. 
And I enjoyed the extra little treats for people familiar with Hebrew. It doesn't change the story, but it does make it feel even richer.

This was really cute. It did take a while to grow on me because I am not strictly a fan of "this guy is a dick but he's also the love interest", but Atwater...more or less justifies his behavior by the end and it works out very satisfactorily and, really, what else can you ask from a book?

This book was gorgeous. From the story to the world it created to the way Little Badger wove Lipan Apache culture into the world, all of it was just so good.
The moment with the vampire was stellar, the villains were awesome, and the whole thing was just so well done.

Novik has a gift for voice and it really shows in this book.
And I could write about what I enjoyed about this book, which was a lot, or pour out my electrons attempting to talk about how uses fiction to critique specifically the Harry Potter books and the wizarding school that just kinda murders kids and no one seems to care...and also the neoliberal politics of the protagonists who are, overall, more invested in the wizarding world as such than the people on the margins in it.
There's an article to be written on writers who got their start in fanfic now writing books that are both inspired by and deconstructions of Harry Potter.
Someone else writer it plz.

Ursula Vernon is a QUEEN among authors and this book is glorious.
And I could talk about that, but if this is remotely your thing, you should check it out.
Also, she makes me want to talk about faith and observance and reaching a better and more ethical relationships with God through the models she offers in her books.
Which...I'm not sure if that's what Vernon is going for, but it's absolutely what she achieves.