nerdinthelibrary's Reviews (926)

I love Rick Riordan books with all my heart and soul and the MCGA series has been no exception. But when reading both PJO and HOO, I've found myself disappointed with the concluding book.

Thankfully, I can say that this book defied all my expectations and is now my favourite in the series!!

(note: I will be using she/her pronouns for Alex because those are the pronouns used at the end of the book)

Without going into spoilers, there's not much that can be said about the plot other than it's a fun and exciting quest as all Rick Riordan books are. I doubt there will be many people disappointed with this particular quest. The final act in particular is absolutely incredible and I cried for the entirety of it.

There's nothing that can be said about the writing, it's the classic, hilarious first person POV writing Rick Riordan is known for. Magnus is honestly such a fun voice to read from and I'm really going to miss having his point of view.

I think Magnus has become my favourite Riordan protagonist?? [EDIT: he definitely is!] I know, I know, I still love Percy with all my heart and soul, but there's just something about Magnus that makes me fall in love with him so unconditionally. I think a large part of this love is that he's not really a very fight-y character, something which is really refreshing in a middle grade adventure series.

If you already thought Sam was the ultimate badass, she gets even cooler in this book because she's just as badass but she's also in the middle of Ramadan. I love that this book looked deeper into her faith and has established it as an important part of her character, but not the only important part of her character.

I can't talk about Hearth and Blitz separately. These two take a bit more of a backseat in this book for the first half or so but it gave opportunities for other characters to step into the forefront, which was nice. They continue to be amazing and the scene at the end of chapter twenty-six with them was honestly the best thing I've ever read.

Alex continues to be my favourite character. You learn much more about her past, especially in regards to family of hers that she doesn't hate, which I loved. You also get to see a slightly softer side to her, something that is always my favourite part of reading about an emotionally closed-off character. Also, her outfits continue to be incredible.

You learn so much more about T.J., Mallory & Halfborn in here, including the details of their deaths, their families and the way the world was when they died. T.J. is probably my favourite out of the three of them, but I genuinely love all of them.

Jack falls in love and gets his heart broken, all in the space of under 50 pages, and it's hilarious. He is still the ultimate comic relief while also showing a bit of a more sensitive side at the very end.

Percy & Annabeth aren't in it for very long (something I was very thankful for) but just enough for me to appreciate their characters just that little bit more. Although Annabeth at the end makes me really worried for TOA 3.

I'm not going to mention the main romance because that's a spoiler (even though you all probably already know who it is and yes, it was done beautifully) but oh my god, the friendship in this book is honestly amazing!!! Magnus gets a chance to connect with each main character, usually multiple times, and the final scene with Loki brought me to tears because of how beautiful it was.

This book is perfect, go buy it and love it right now!

1) Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda ★★★★★
2) The Upside of Unrequited ★★★★★

This book was so bittersweet for me because I read it all in one sitting (as I do with all of Becky's books) and it was incredible, but this is apparently going to be the final book in the Simonverse and I don't want to let these characters go.

A rundown of everything I love about this book:
- Leah, my wife Leah!! She was one of my favourites in Simon vs. and she's now my number 1 favourite. A girl with resting bitch face who is actually super Soft will always be my favourite thing.
- D I V E R S I T Y! Leah is fat and bi, which is already amazing, but then there are: two main Jewish characters, at least half the mains are women, (including Leah) three main bi characters, two main gay characters, two main black characters and one main Chinese-American character. Then you've got side characters who include: someone who uses they/them pronouns and the Peskin-Susos (my fave queer family). TL;DR SJM is quaking
- This book has the best f/f relationship of the year, don't @ me
- The dialogue is so funny (probably Becky's funniest book so far), especially Leah's inner monologue. And even better, all of it sounds like dialogue that could be realistically said by a teenager. Every other author aspires to write as realistic teenagers as Becky Albertalli tbh.
- The other relationships were so good. Leah & Simon, Leah & her mum, Simon/

Spoiler

Bram

, Leah & Nora & Taylor & Morgan & Anna, Leah & Wells. Leah and her mum's was a personal favourite of mine because it reminded me a lot of my relationship with my mum.
- Fandom references galore! This means the book is going to get really dated really fast but I don't care. An (incomplete) list of all the references I can remember: Harry Potter, Gilmore Girls, Six of Crows, Percy Jackson, Hamilton, Sailor Moon, Love Actually, Troye Sivan, Fruits Basket, Star Wars, Reece King & Sufjan Stevens. And they all feel organic, not remotely forced!
- As I said, there are multiple mentions of the Peskin-Susos and my heart leaped literally every time Abby would talk about them.

In conclusion, I am a mess and this is definitely going to be one of my favourite books of the year.

I read this entire book in only a few hours. I bought it, got home, and immediately started reading even though I'm currently in the middle of reading another book. I was kind of worried about this book because I knew it would make-or-break John Green books for me. Thankfully, I can honestly say I will probably pick up whatever he writes next and I have this book to thank for that.

Trigger warnings for the book: Self-harm and lots of intrusive thoughts due to anxiety and OCD.

There isn't so much a plot in this book despite how the synopsis seems. It's more just Aza's life over the span of a few months and the things that happen. The different events that occur in this book are mostly to further develop Aza's character and her relationships with other characters and I think it worked very well, particularly one event that happens towards the end of the book.

Even when I don't like a John Green book I still always love the writing and this was no exception. But this book felt slightly different than the others because we spend a lot of time inside Aza's head and the language that's used is so well thought-out and constructed beautifully in a way that meant I was physically incapable of not reading more.

I really loved all of the characters in this book, at least to some degree. Aza was a fascinating and infuriating and loveable protagonist who was written in such a raw and realistic way it was sometimes hard to read. Her best friend, Daisy, is a talkative Star Wars nerd who tries to understand Aza and oftentimes fails but continues to try. Davis is someone from Aza's past who she reconnects with and starts to be attracted to, and he was never shown as this incredibly hot guy; instead, he's pretty scrawny and average looking, and loves talking about space. Aza's mum will probably be the most underrated character of this book. She spends the entire time caring about her daughter and trying to protect her, whether its needed or not, and the scenes with her towards the end broke my heart.

There are many other characters but those are the four that I think deserve to be talked about.

The relationship between Aza and Davis was quite well done and never felt too forced, but they're easily the relationship I cared about the least. The ones I enjoyed reading about the most were between Aza and Daisy, and Aza and her mum.

Aza and Daisy are pretty much polar opposites: Aza is constantly stuck inside her mind and barely ever talks, whereas Daisy is a complete extrovert who never shuts up. Despite this, they're best friends and throughout the entire book you never once doubt how much they care about and love each together, even when they're fighting.

Aza and her mum have a fine relationship but its somewhat tense. Aza's mum just wants her daughter to be safe and healthy but Aza's mind doesn't want to let her be either of those things. There are many scenes with them that are tense and awkward and heartfelt and tear jerking, and they're some of my favourites in the book.

My favourite book of John Green's thus far, full of raw emotion and real characters. I would highly recommend reading it.

I'm so proud of my children and so sad to be leaving them 😭😭😭

content warnings: homophobia, racism, misogyny, slut shaming, religious hatred, hate crimes, emotional manipulation, paedophilia, incest, sexual assault, complications during childbirth, infanticide, loss of a loved one, murder, violence, terrorism, abduction, mutilation, child abuse, depictions of aids/hiv, depictions of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
representation: gay main character who becomes physically disabled, side gay/bi characters, main and side m/m relationships


“Maybe there were no villains in my mother’s story at all. Just men and women, trying to do their best by each other. And failing.”


You would think that if it took me a month and a half to finish a book that would mean that I didn't enjoy it very much, but in this case it was entirely the opposite. The reason why this took me so long is because it's over 600 pages and (especially towards the start) very depressing, not because I wasn't enjoying it.

This book is about Cyril Avery, a boy born in 1945 in Ireland to an unmarried teenage girl who immediately puts him up for adoption. He's adopted by Maude and Charles Avery and is reminded every day of his childhood that he's not a real Avery. Then the book follows him every 7 years through his life, from birth until he's 70.

I loved, loved, loved this book so much. John Boyne is one of my favourite authors, he wrote The Absolutist which is one of my favourite books of all-time, and The Heart's Invisible Furies definitely did not disappoint.

In typical John Boyne fashion, no one is too likable in this, and that includes the protagonist. Everyone's kind of a dick and has foot-in-mouth syndrome, but that only serves to make the story feel more realistic and particularly to make it seem like Cyril is a real person whose life we're following. In fact, out of all the characters, Cyril is up there with doing some of the worse things, but even if you don't agree with what he's doing or saying, you understand why he's doing or saying it.

I need to warn you before you go into this that John Boyne is physically incapable of writing happy stories and this book features some extremely heavy shit as outlined in the content warnings, and for majority of this book Cyril is more or less miserable. Surprisingly, though, this is probably one of the most hopeful books he's ever written.

Spoiler

After reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Absolutist I was 100% expecting Cyril to die at the end, but no, he was just two months away from death.

Honestly, there's not much else left to say. I don't think this book is for everyone, but if you're a fan of John Boyne's adult work then I definitely think you'll like this one.

content warnings: neglectful parents, codependent relationship, hallucinations, violence, depression
representation: main m/m romance, bi main character, bi love interest, latina side character, minor korean-american character

I completely understand how this book couldn't be for some people, but god I absolutely loved it. K. Ancrum has constructed this beautiful world full of beautiful characters and I already can't wait for her next book.

One of my favourite aspects was the codependent relationship between Jack and August, and specifically the way it is treated within the narrative. The author never condones their relationship, but always understands it, something which I don't think we get a lot of in books. Their reliance on one another is toxic and we're told this multiple times, but we also empathise with the characters and we understand why their relationship is the way it is.

I loved the painfully slow burn that is the romance. It's so subtle and beautiful, which is exactly what I would want from a book with a tone like this one. August would sometimes give me real Aristotle Mendoza vibes with how oblivious he was to his own feelings and to other people telling him his feelings, and I loved every second of it.

Also, the writing, my god the writing. It was so wonderfully atmospheric and draws you into the world instantly, and yet it's also so simple and never feels pretentious. That's a hard balance to strike, and K. Ancrum did it beautifully.

If you're going to read this book, you need to read the physical copy. The mixed-media format is used to its full advantage, giving you both important plot threads as well as small character things, and there's never a time when the graphics feel unnecessary.

The one negative I have is through no fault of the book. Every time the titular Wicker King was mentioned, my brain would immediately connect it with Nicolas Cage being attacked by bees. Not the books fault, just thought I would mention it.

I cannot wait for K. Ancrum's next book, especially as it's going to include August, Jack and Rina plus space lesbians (also, you should follow K. Ancrum on twitter because she's incredible)