See review here: https://athroughzbooks.wordpress.com/2017/05/22/book-review-the-wrath-and-the-dawn/

Honestly, I don’t remember much. For a character who is supposedly so masterful at telling stories that others become almost enchanted Shahrzad’s (Shazi) stories fell flat. After reading her three tales I immediately forgot what they were about, and what the book was about. It certainly wasn’t the retelling I was promised. Following along the terrible lines that A Court of Thorns and Roses did, I found myself believing that preschoolers could have done a better job coloring in this story. At least they try for the lines. What I got from this novel instead was a poorly thought out love story with little character development, a breakneck fast pace that left me wondering if anything happened, and a cliff hanger that did anything but leave me hanging.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

First of all, the romance between Shazi and Khalid lacked any all and sense of spark and drive. I didn’t believe their development as a couple, mostly because I didn’t see them grow as characters. Everything Shazi did seemed random to me, and her motivation was weak. Yes, Kahlid killed her best friend, but that somehow didn’t translate from the story. She had no fire, no drive to me. So, watching her fall in love was like watching a bad 90s movie on fast-forward, easily forgettable. Second of all, one of the things I hate the most is watching a soap opera about characters I don’t care about. There isn’t a single person in this story who stood out to me. Despina was annoying honestly, and her’s and Shazi’s banter fell flat again and again. Their friendship had no logical procession, so their relationship made no sense to me. There was the appearance of a magical negro with Musa, what with showing up and spouting off information about the mysterious prince and providing insight and the possibility of magical training, something we should really move beyond in literature. Shazi served at the Sassy/Sarcastic™ character, running her mouth and acting out in ways that would have either exposed her or gotten her killed in this situation. Maybe that was part of the problem for me, since there was no one to challenge her challenges it made the story much more low stakes than it should have been. Third of all, the pacing left me without much of an idea of what happened.

There was so much jumping from character to character, from the palace to the other romantic interest, to Shazi’s father that I was left confused a lot of the time. It didn’t make sense for these other characters to be here, and their part in the story never seemed to be fully explained. For starters the readers are never let into this apparent plot to kill the prince that Shazi and Tariq have, and his motivation to save her seems rather bland to me. Yes, we’re told they have a history as friends but it just doesn’t show in the writing. Furthermore, there is a presence of magic in this story. There is a flying carpet given to Shazi by Muse, her father can make roses bloom and steals a book with black magic, the prince is under a curse. As amazing as this all sounds, that’s literally all that we know. Instead of acting as a mystery I want to solve the magic served more as an annoyance, as only the curse holds any relevance to the plot and nothing is explained to us in any way that would make magic remotely possible or important to these characters. Honestly.

All in all, my disappointment with this book is showing, and honestly I wanted to expect so much more from it but I was left without much to go on. I certainly will not be picking up the sequel, so I should be spared a little frustration with these characters and the lack on engaging story.

See review here: https://athroughzbooks.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/review-hero/

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community I feel like I’ve failed myself in a way by not exposing myself to more queer YA and literature. So for the month of May I did my best to pull from the lists of recommendations friends have given me over the years and finally read some. That being said, I wish I had skipped over Hero.

A Lambda award winner (which did nothing to impress me as the Lambda awards did not include a Bisexual category until 2006, after they had made two bisexual works to compete in the Lesbian category, and also allowed a highly transphobic work to become a finalist in the Transgender category in 2003. Gay exclusivist much?), this book did anything but appeal to me. This book was one of the campiest books I’ve ever read, with annoying characters, an unbelievable plot line, and a lovely heaping of gaslighting.

First of all, this book can only be considered humor, which I expected when I went in. However, a lot of what I assume was supposed to be funny actually fell flat for me. Thom was a complete idiot who never seemed to think, let alone do anything that made sense. He, along with every other character in this book (except for Ruth, she managed to not annoy me every other page) did nothing interesting for the entirety of the story. The characters themselves did not even seem to be fleshed out. Scarlet (the most basic name for the angry, sassy white girl with *gasp* red hair and fire powers. Groundbreaking.) existed solely for Golden Boy (Goldmember?) to want over, provide some angry female firepower, and later have a disease that would suddenly make her a likable character. Golden Boy, another gaslighter when it came to Thom, really just wanted to bone Scarlet and run the whole show. Annoying. Typhoid Larry was honestly forgettable, since I don’t remember him doing much or really being present. Ruth, the only likable character in my opinion, dies because of Thom’s lack of first aide knowledge. Amazing.

Second of all, the whole premise, while interesting I suppose, did not meet any kind of expectations I might of had. There is a rule in writing that I was taught early on that has to do with magic. When magic is involved in a story there are two things to keep in mind; if magic is being used against your main character it can be shrouded in mystery. Your reader doesn’t need to understand it because it is working against the protagonist. However, should your protagonist have magic, and be using it for themselves, then the reader must understand the magic. We need to know everything. In the case of Thom’s magic (i.e. his superpower) we are left in the dark as much as he is for the entire novel. Thom just stumbles upon how to use and control his power. There is no effort for any powers to be explained, besides Typhoid Larry I guess. Furthermore, Thom’s powers are not put into a scope that makes sense. He can just always heal himself and other people. Suddenly when he needs it most he learns to turn his energy into combat skills. When Larry splatters all over the ground Thom can just put Humpty Dumpty back together again. No explanation. No limitations. Good thing he’s such a Great Guy™, and only wants to use is endless power for good.

Thirdly, I feel like I was supposed to you know, feel something when both of Thom’s parents die in the final battle. I was supposed to feel betrayal when his mother revealed that she left his father for Justice. I was supposed to I guess, sympathize with the family somehow. Honestly I hated Thom’s father. He spent the entire book basically gaslighting Thom and invalidating his emotions. Perhaps it’s a realistic representation of how some parents react to their children’s coming out and maybe I’m being too harsh, but I saw him as a shitty father and person. Also, if he was so important to Thom it didn’t really show after he died, since Thom seemed to be just fine moving on to making out with Goran or whatever his name was.

Fourth of all, who names a character Goran? His and Thom’s entire relationship made no sense, and the fact that they ended up together kinda was mostly just unrealistic and annoying. They talked all of, three times I think? Their relationship was about as well thought out as a typical white m/f romance that packed the shelves of our middle school libraries.

Honestly, when it comes to LGBTQ+ literature this novel has reminded me why I have avoided it for so long. Since Hero represents the early efforts of the genre, it still appeals to a majority heterosexual audience. One LGBTQ+ (usually gay and white) as the protagonist. And plenty of hetero romance to spare. Exhausting. Where are the Afro-Latinx bisexual trans pirates we all deserve?

For full review: https://athroughzbooks.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/review-flame-in-the-mist/

It’s no secret that I didn’t enjoy Ahdieh’s previous work The Wrath and the Dawn. So naturally I came to this book with some trepidation. The summary was really what drew me in, because I’m a sucker for anything to do with East Asian cultures in modern literature, cinema, or music. So I took a gamble. It mostly paid off.

First off, I’ll begin with what I did enjoy. Mariko, for the majority of the novel, was a great protagonist to have. She’s smart, an inventor, and has a certain amount of pluck in her that I can admire. My favorite heroines are always the ones that overcome their self-doubt and turn themselves into heroes, which she does. The backdrop to the story is also overflowing with magic, wild landscape, and fascinating places that I found myself easily immersed in. Also, that supporting cast though! Yoshi easily became my favorite character, with the others of the Black Clan shinning from time to time. But that was the root issue I had, they only shinned from time to time.

While I did rate this book higher than Ahdieh’s other novel, I have at least a paragraph of vices to get out, so hold with me. Primarily, I did not feel a strong connection with the characters, Yoshi not withstanding. Characters like Okami, Kenshin, and Ranmaru were all interesting enough, but lacked any real depth to make me connect with them. I’ll save Okami for a harsher rant later on in this post, so for now I’ll only speak on the others. Kenshin, Ranmaru, and the other not named or non-important Black Clan members all blended together for me. There were a few things to set them apart, Kenshin is leader of the Black Clan, Ranmaru has some serious sociopathic tendencies and is Mariko’s twin, but that was it. Their relationship to Mariko seemed so superficial that I almost didn’t believe she had alliance like feelings for them.

Katie Alendar doesn't disappoint when it comes to B grade teen horror. Famous Last Words is slightly more enticing than The Girls of Hysteria Hall, what with the Hollywood aesthetic and serial killer aspect. Ghosts make another, if less important appearance. Alendar's female characters are each seemingly static, but thankfully price to be made of tougher stock the deeper you make it into the book. A good go to for easy horror nights.

A truly awful teen horror book that I couldn't put down. Isn't the best written book, but that isn't what I wanted from it. It provides all the joy of a B grade horror film in book form, perfect for those stormy nights you want a little, easy to read spook.