liking this book is so hard prose will make fun of you characters will embarass you worldbuilding and infodumps will ESPECIALLY fuck you over. but bitch when the harrow the ninth comes on

By which I mean there are glaring flaws in this book, and I mean GLARING, but it made me insane in a specific way only few books have ever managed to. I'm  still thinking about it and I know i will keep thinking about it long after i read it and dissecting it both positively and negatively. I cannot exactly say this is just meh. It's so good when it's good, I just wish it was good a bit more.

Christian mythos are so cool when they aren't trying to be associated with the church.

Haters will say I don't like thrillers because I'm a snob. Haters will be correct. I am a snob. But sometimes thrillers are made for snobs. This was made for me.

This book traverses multiple timelines, and follows a bunch of character, during which the narrative makes sure to pause the main mystery and make you understand where each and every one of these characters come from.

Normally this wouldn’t work, especially for this genre, but it's so satisfying to see it pay off at the end. The twists are surprising, but feel plausible, which is another reason I get deterred from thrillers.

I flew through this book and I have to applaud the writing in part for that. It’s unpretentiously gorgeous. You feel distant and close to these characters all at once. You feel their losses, but you are very aware of the fact that you are passive observer in this narrative. It helps set the tension up really well.

The characters are all great, and I love the focus on the women in here, the themes of friendship teetering on romances, and motherhood. Oof. 

Sidenote: Judy & Sluiter really felt like a riff on Silence of the Lambs, so now I want to read that book too. Great, more books to add to the list.

Overall, really great slowburn of a book on the disconnect of the rich and the solidarity of the working class.

On one hand I did like the discussions had in this book about abuse and trauma at the hand of a parent, and the fact that

it wasn't ever clear what the haunting was, or even if it was a haunting.

On the other hand, the book was too blunt with how it went about the topic, the characters, while good enough to carry the book were nothing to write home about, and the villain was a bit too over the top. Maybe it was because the POV character knew all the tricks the villain had up their sleeve, but it got grating after a while. There was little nuance in how the topic was handled.

The prose was my least favorite part of the book. It started out weak, though it did get better as it went on. Sort of. We got "[character] wrapped [their] arms around themselves" an upward of fifty times and by the fifth I was exhausted. 

The author is good at creating tension, but at points it felt like that tension just went nowhere. The chapter would end on something scary starting to happen, and the very next page we would be in a different location completely removed from the situation.

All in all, a fine book for a quick read, a plot that is executed fine. This book overall is just. Fine.

This book is split into three separate stories masquerading as one, all of whom were varying in quality. The only common theme is that Elric is on a ship, and he is sailing without knowing what awaits him.

The shortness of all three parts of the story seem to work in its favour most of the time, since as soon as one part seemed to run out of its steam, we could almost reset to the next part. The pacing is slim, which is much appreciated.

Part 1 was the weakest link for me. Its has the weird in the multiverse, and some intriguing bits apart from that, but it seemed the least motivated. Like the epitome of Elric going "What the hell, sure." 

There seemed to be a lack of stakes, despite quite a few deaths, but it served its purpose in further dooming our hero to his fate and confirming his inability to escape it.

The second part was much more interesting, and I found the lore to be gripping in the way it was woven into the story. 

And the villain had the most substance out of all the three, because he was actually given speaking parts here and wasn't just some eldritch threat on the horizon with no specifications. His character stood out more than any other Elric encountered in the entire book for sure. 

This part was a fairytale retelling in the fashion of The Brothers Grimm, and it really seemed to benefit from that.

Sailing to the past, the third part, was the most insight we get into Elric's own state of mind at last, and the glimpses we got were great! Elric is a tragic figure, but here most of his decisions are very proactive, and he makes some bad ones! Hooray for that! We love gradual corruption!

I wish they were delved into further, but I'm satisfied with where it ended up, and once again intrigued enough to continue on this weird, weird little journey.

If I were to pitch this series to someone, it would be something like: imagine the lovechild of The Raven Cycle and Six of Crows, the sprawling city setting of the latter combined with the sort of unknowable magic system of the former, with the common theme of found family permeating throughout both.

Given the lovable bunch of hooligans you follow throughout this trilogy is just as memorable as both of its parents (both of which were fundamental to the reviewer's teenage years), I loved these fucking books.

There were flaws, some plots were resolved too quickly, some characters disappeared by the end never to be seen, but those were minor complaints. Almost everything came together seamlessly, making me cry like, three times in the process.

Mission accomplished, I would say.

This is a story about belonging, and found family at its core. It is a tad too hopeful at times with its messaging, but I can forgive that. I love it despite its occasional cheesiness. And sometimes because of it. 

I will have to consider it for a larger amount of time, but this might be one of my new favorite series with time. Who the fuck knew.

Edit: changing my rating because the endings of two major plotlines irk me the more I think about them. Still love this series though.

This was such a romp. Kind of uneven in the middle but when the weird of the worldbuilding hit, it HIT.

Elric as a character is extremely intriguing to me, and the course he has been set upon for his character arc in this book seems fascinating to me. Corruption arcs are awesome and I can't wait to see where his goes.

The other characters are... there? They serve their respective tropes and roles well enough for me to ignore their lack of development.

The plot is simple, but since this feels very much like a set up book for further entries I can forgive it. There are a lot of players introduced who are definitely coming back later so excited for that! I love stories about immortals meddling with humans where their endgame is indefinable for mortal minds and this scratched that itch well.

Also the worldbuilding. Goddamn. I love this weird, weird world with nightmares at every corner.

If this is what peak pulp fantasy is, I cannot wait to dive deeper into the genre.

Another banger from this author iktr. Might fuck around and read her entire bibliography this year if this trend continues. No one has written stories about fables and their circular nature in a fashion that was specifically catered TO ME as much as Alix E. Harrow has. She gets me fr.

romance and tragedy and folktales and the cyclical nature of stories at the end of the world. tailor-made for me i fear.

I think the format in which this book is told is both it's biggest strength and weakness. 

The interview/epistolary style with the interviews and logs and diaries are pretty great at giving you an overall view of the situation from all perspectives, but they also prevent you from connecting to any of the characters outright.

The characters themselves I found to be pretty one-note at times, especially two of the main women, but they served their purpose enough, I suppose, apart from annoying me to hell at times.

The plot was fun and a breeze to get through, like c'mon, who doesn't like giant sci-fi mecha with a dash of political thriller? I loved watching the strings being pulled by Him behind the scenes, and I'm curious enough to know more about Him that I'll probably grab the next book.

It's a good setup, with some pretty interesting themes and ideas, though not the best characterisation maybe. Still had fun enough to try the next one though.