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nerdinthelibrary's Reviews (926)
I think I have approximately five cavities after reading this because that's how damn cute it was!! The art style, the characters, the relationship, the dialogue, all of it was so sweet that I nearly died.
1) This Savage Song ★★★
content warnings: violence, gore, manipulation, death, loss of a loved one
representation: side non-binary character, side mlm characters
Before writing this review, I checked to see what the ratings were and... apparently my opinion is very unpopular. Sorry guys, I genuinely don't get why this duology is so beloved ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's nothing aggressively terrible about this book, the characters, plot, writing, settings, everything is fine, but that didn't stop me from being bored from the first page until the very end. I can't really put my finger on what was missing for me but this book just didn't click.
My main praise of the previous book was the characters and I still stand by that... sort of. Kate and August are good main characters, but as with many SFF books I read I found myself caring more about the major side characters than them.
Ilsa remained my favourite character,, as did Henry. I also liked the addition of Soro (props to Victoria Schwab for including a character who uses they/them pronouns and is never misgendered), but literally every other side character who was introduced in this book I couldn't give two shits about.
The plot was very meh for me, as with the last book. I'm not going to lie, towards the latter third I just straight-up started skimming because I wasn't enjoying it so I probably missed some pretty important stuff but I can't really bring myself to care.
The writing was good, but there was one thing that annoyed me almost as much as SJM's punctuation problem: the constant use of the word "kiss" in contexts where there was no actually kissing occurring. I didn't mark any of them down unfortunately, but there was a lot of talk of metal kissing Kate's spine and stuff like that.
The world building improved but I still feel like we only got a narrow view of the world as a whole and what was happening.
All in all, I don't really understand the hype around this duology other than the fact that Victoria Schwab wrote it. Don't worry, though, I'm still definitely planning on picking up both Vicious and Shades of Magic.
content warnings: violence, gore, manipulation, death, loss of a loved one
representation: side non-binary character, side mlm characters
Before writing this review, I checked to see what the ratings were and... apparently my opinion is very unpopular. Sorry guys, I genuinely don't get why this duology is so beloved ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's nothing aggressively terrible about this book, the characters, plot, writing, settings, everything is fine, but that didn't stop me from being bored from the first page until the very end. I can't really put my finger on what was missing for me but this book just didn't click.
My main praise of the previous book was the characters and I still stand by that... sort of. Kate and August are good main characters, but as with many SFF books I read I found myself caring more about the major side characters than them.
Spoiler
This wasn't really helped by the weird out of nowhere and never brought up again kiss they had, something which turned me off a lot. The fact I didn't care about them that much meant that Kate's fate didn't effect me in the slightest.Ilsa remained my favourite character,
Spoiler
making her fate the only moment when I felt genuinely emotionalSpoiler
Sloan having a POV annoyed me to no end as it almost always felt unnecessary and I groaned every time one of his chapters came up.The plot was very meh for me, as with the last book. I'm not going to lie, towards the latter third I just straight-up started skimming because I wasn't enjoying it so I probably missed some pretty important stuff but I can't really bring myself to care.
The writing was good, but there was one thing that annoyed me almost as much as SJM's punctuation problem: the constant use of the word "kiss" in contexts where there was no actually kissing occurring. I didn't mark any of them down unfortunately, but there was a lot of talk of metal kissing Kate's spine and stuff like that.
The world building improved but I still feel like we only got a narrow view of the world as a whole and what was happening.
All in all, I don't really understand the hype around this duology other than the fact that Victoria Schwab wrote it. Don't worry, though, I'm still definitely planning on picking up both Vicious and Shades of Magic.
*3.5
content warnings: child abuse (emotional), child endangerment, manipulation, bullying
representation: latina main character, biracial main character, arabic main character
It's no secret that I love Disney Channel Original Movies, and the Descendants movies are my second favourite (they would be first but no other work of film can top the brilliance that is the High School Musical trilogy). So I was excited to pick up the trilogy of tie-in novels Melissa de la Cruz wrote, while also being a bit scared that they would be garbage and ruin the movies.
Thankfully, they're not. Or at least, the first one isn't.
This book is set literally days before the first movie starts and it follows the four VK's as well as Ben. I'm not going to lie, for the first two-thirds of the book I was annoyed that Ben was getting a POV because his chapters, despite infrequent, always felt disjointed from the rest of the plot. They continued to feel disjointed after, I just happened to like the way that his character was approached later on.
The plot is a fun adventure and the writing makes me want to read more of Melissa de la Cruz's work, but the characters and their relationships are the real stand-out of the book.
The book addresses something that had always bothered me about the first movie, which is why the VK's sometimes seemed like they trusted one another but also as if they barely knew each other. Turns out, when they were six-years-old Evie had a birthday party that every other child in the Isle was invited to other than Mal, causing Maleficent to curse Evie and her mother to stay in their castle forever. Mal and Evie became "enemies" due to this, though as you can probably guess it doesn't stay that way.
Mal and Jay have a brother-sister relationship in the book, though they would still betray each other at the drop of a hat, and I was really glad to see that because they're friendship was one of my favourite things about the second movie. Carlos is easily the most removed from the other three characters at the start of the book, just being a scrawny nerd Mal and Jay occasionally pick on.
The four going on their quest meant that they became sort-of friends who sort-of trusted each other, explaining their strange relationship in the movie. It's also continually established that the four of them have nothing but platonic feelings for each other which was also a relief due to the media's tendency to turn male and female friendships into love.
I also really liked that this book explored the abuse the VK's face a little more, as that was one of my favourite aspects of the film. It shows the verbal abuse they all suffer from and how neglectful the villains are of their children, particularly Cruella.
The book also added depth to Audrey and Ben in the few chapters they appeared in. I always thought Audrey was underrated because she actually had legitimate reasons for hating and being wary of the VK's, and this book further establishes how much what happened to her parents in their fairy tale has affected her. As I mentioned, Ben's chapters did annoy me at first, but then later in the book he becomes the character we see more of in the movies as he decides to essentially reject toxic masculinity and realises that it's okay for him to be more soft and kind like his mother. From that point on, his chapters annoyed me significantly less.
A massive downfall of this book is the continuity errors it invites, such as why Maleficent and the Evil Queen are so chummy in the movie even though it's set shortly after the book.
Other than that, this was an enjoyable book that I would definitely recommend to those who like the Descendants franchise.
content warnings: child abuse (emotional), child endangerment, manipulation, bullying
representation: latina main character, biracial main character, arabic main character
It's no secret that I love Disney Channel Original Movies, and the Descendants movies are my second favourite (they would be first but no other work of film can top the brilliance that is the High School Musical trilogy). So I was excited to pick up the trilogy of tie-in novels Melissa de la Cruz wrote, while also being a bit scared that they would be garbage and ruin the movies.
Thankfully, they're not. Or at least, the first one isn't.
This book is set literally days before the first movie starts and it follows the four VK's as well as Ben. I'm not going to lie, for the first two-thirds of the book I was annoyed that Ben was getting a POV because his chapters, despite infrequent, always felt disjointed from the rest of the plot. They continued to feel disjointed after, I just happened to like the way that his character was approached later on.
The plot is a fun adventure and the writing makes me want to read more of Melissa de la Cruz's work, but the characters and their relationships are the real stand-out of the book.
The book addresses something that had always bothered me about the first movie, which is why the VK's sometimes seemed like they trusted one another but also as if they barely knew each other. Turns out, when they were six-years-old Evie had a birthday party that every other child in the Isle was invited to other than Mal, causing Maleficent to curse Evie and her mother to stay in their castle forever. Mal and Evie became "enemies" due to this, though as you can probably guess it doesn't stay that way.
Mal and Jay have a brother-sister relationship in the book, though they would still betray each other at the drop of a hat, and I was really glad to see that because they're friendship was one of my favourite things about the second movie. Carlos is easily the most removed from the other three characters at the start of the book, just being a scrawny nerd Mal and Jay occasionally pick on.
The four going on their quest meant that they became sort-of friends who sort-of trusted each other, explaining their strange relationship in the movie. It's also continually established that the four of them have nothing but platonic feelings for each other which was also a relief due to the media's tendency to turn male and female friendships into love.
I also really liked that this book explored the abuse the VK's face a little more, as that was one of my favourite aspects of the film. It shows the verbal abuse they all suffer from and how neglectful the villains are of their children, particularly Cruella.
The book also added depth to Audrey and Ben in the few chapters they appeared in. I always thought Audrey was underrated because she actually had legitimate reasons for hating and being wary of the VK's, and this book further establishes how much what happened to her parents in their fairy tale has affected her. As I mentioned, Ben's chapters did annoy me at first, but then later in the book he becomes the character we see more of in the movies as he decides to essentially reject toxic masculinity and realises that it's okay for him to be more soft and kind like his mother. From that point on, his chapters annoyed me significantly less.
A massive downfall of this book is the continuity errors it invites, such as why Maleficent and the Evil Queen are so chummy in the movie even though it's set shortly after the book.
Other than that, this was an enjoyable book that I would definitely recommend to those who like the Descendants franchise.
*3.75
Idk, I just don't feel like this is a 4-star graphic novel so I'm giving it a slightly lower rating.
This was a really cute witchy graphic novel that has some good stuff about heteronormativity, and what seemed to me to be a very obvious metaphor for being trans even if the characters themselves weren't.
Idk, I just don't feel like this is a 4-star graphic novel so I'm giving it a slightly lower rating.
This was a really cute witchy graphic novel that has some good stuff about heteronormativity, and what seemed to me to be a very obvious metaphor for being trans even if the characters themselves weren't.
This book was full of surprisingly deep and realistic themes of racism in Australia, and it made it a real contender for my new favourite Our Australian Girl series. There was discussion of refugees, refugee camps, racism, ignorance, there was even a comment from the main character about all the Asian characters on tv being "kung fu masters, villains or criminals." I really hope my sisters library gets the rest of these so I can read the next book!
1) The Invasion ★★★★
2) The Visitor ★★★★★
3) The Encounter ★★★★★
4) The Message ★★★★★
5) The Predator ★★★★★
This will only make sense if you've read the book, but this book nearly made me say "hello there" aloud on the train.
2) The Visitor ★★★★★
3) The Encounter ★★★★★
4) The Message ★★★★★
5) The Predator ★★★★★
This will only make sense if you've read the book, but this book nearly made me say "hello there" aloud on the train.
Ugh, I wish I had liked this more.
I really liked the characters, relationship dynamics and the writing, but that was about it.
The book is split into four parts, and I thought the first two parts were really solid but the third and fourth were... not boring but just not interesting. The most enjoyment I got from those parts were when the characters would just be sitting around talking, which is a testament to both how good the characters were and how weak the plot was. It was only in the last 40 or so pages that the plot picked up again.
Also, the world feels kind of underdeveloped, which I'm normally fine with in my fantasy series, but considering that this is only a duology I feel like I should have a better grasp on it by now.
I'm definitely going to be reading the sequel but, to be honest, if I didn't already have a copy my friend loaned me I'm not sure if I would continue or not.
I really liked the characters, relationship dynamics and the writing, but that was about it.
The book is split into four parts, and I thought the first two parts were really solid but the third and fourth were... not boring but just not interesting. The most enjoyment I got from those parts were when the characters would just be sitting around talking, which is a testament to both how good the characters were and how weak the plot was. It was only in the last 40 or so pages that the plot picked up again.
Also, the world feels kind of underdeveloped, which I'm normally fine with in my fantasy series, but considering that this is only a duology I feel like I should have a better grasp on it by now.
I'm definitely going to be reading the sequel but, to be honest, if I didn't already have a copy my friend loaned me I'm not sure if I would continue or not.
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, Volume 1: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women
Francesca Cavallo, Elena Favilli, Rebel Girls
2018 pride reads #10
lgbt+ rep: lesbian featured, trans girl featured
*3.5
A fun, if simplistic, collection of stories about 100 different women. I was happily surprised at the diversity, including black women, latina women, asian women, trans women, gay women, blind women, deaf women, mentally ill women, scientists, writers, artists, athletes, and so many more. I'm genuinely excited to read the second one and the boys equivalent :)
lgbt+ rep: lesbian featured, trans girl featured
*3.5
A fun, if simplistic, collection of stories about 100 different women. I was happily surprised at the diversity, including black women, latina women, asian women, trans women, gay women, blind women, deaf women, mentally ill women, scientists, writers, artists, athletes, and so many more. I'm genuinely excited to read the second one and the boys equivalent :)
2018 pride reads #11
lgbt+ rep: gay mc, main m/m romance
I love these two murderous boys so freaking much! This is more or less a continuation of the Midnighter series (which I also really loved) but with some major midpollo feels, and god it was amazing.
lgbt+ rep: gay mc, main m/m romance
I love these two murderous boys so freaking much! This is more or less a continuation of the Midnighter series (which I also really loved) but with some major midpollo feels, and god it was amazing.
