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nerdinthelibrary's Reviews (926)
3.5/5
A perfect example of how a perfectly good book can be adapted into a fantastic movie.
A perfect example of how a perfectly good book can be adapted into a fantastic movie.
10/08/19: Reread for the #aliceosemanreadathon. Two new thoughts:
1. I love how Tori’s depression is depicted and the fact that everyone just keeps telling her to “stop being such a pessimist” and “just smile more”.
2. Spoiler Lucas not being the love interest is a breath of fresh air. Usually the guy who’s obsessively “in love” with the main girl ends up getting rewarded because she then falls in love with him too, but in this Tori calls him out for being a creep and ultimately forgives him but doesn’t end up having romantic feelings for him.
27/10/18: First read.
content warnings: violence, injuries, self-harm, discussions of the effects of having an eating disorder, homophobia, ableist and sexist slurs
representation: main character with depression, main gay character with an eating disorder, main bisexual character, side m/m relationship, side mlm character
1. I love how Tori’s depression is depicted and the fact that everyone just keeps telling her to “stop being such a pessimist” and “just smile more”.
2. Spoiler Lucas not being the love interest is a breath of fresh air. Usually the guy who’s obsessively “in love” with the main girl ends up getting rewarded because she then falls in love with him too, but in this Tori calls him out for being a creep and ultimately forgives him but doesn’t end up having romantic feelings for him.
27/10/18: First read.
content warnings: violence, injuries, self-harm, discussions of the effects of having an eating disorder, homophobia, ableist and sexist slurs
representation: main character with depression, main gay character with an eating disorder, main bisexual character, side m/m relationship, side mlm character
“You look like you're having a midlife crisis.”
“It's not a midlife crisis. It's just a life crisis.”
I'll start this by saying that this is Alice Oseman's weakest book, but I genuinely think that's a good thing. It means that she's developed as a writer, something which you can definitely tell as you read her books. And this is by no means a bad book; in fact, if I had read this a few years ago it probably would have been one of my favourite books.
This book follows Tori Spring as a person/group known as Solitaire starts playing harmless pranks on her school that become not-so-harmless as time goes on. This book impressively managed to have a compelling mystery and good character drama, something I'm discovering is rarely a given with contemporary-mysteries.
Even if I didn't like all of the characters as people, I still thought all of them were interesting. Tori is sometimes incredibly unlikable, particularly at the start, but even when you hate her she's still interesting which I'll take any day over a boring protagonist. I loved Nick and Charlie, though that may be because I read Heartstopper first so take that with a grain of salt. Becky, Lucas and Michael all took a little longer to warm up to me, but I ended up really enjoying reading about all of them.
Alice Oseman has this great theme throughout all of her books of school being important, but also not being for everyone. She's aware that all of her characters are privileged in that they get to attend good schools while always allowing them to hate school if they want because school just doesn't gel with some people. I particularly loved Michael describing that no matter how hard he tries he just can't do well on tests and the way that teachers treat him like he's an idiot who doesn't give a shit because of that.
I thought the ending was a bit abrupt. The book ends pretty quickly after you find out who Solitaire is, which makes narrative sense, but also leaves a lot of character-threads hanging. On the one hand, it felt very real to not have everything tied up neatly, but I also wish it were a bit longer so we could have had a bit more resolution to some things.
I really liked this and would recommend reading it, but if you've read Alice Oseman's other books then I wouldn't go in with the expectation that this will be the best of them all.
1) Shadow & Bone ★★★½
I actually loved this! Like, I didn't just have a fun time with a mediocre book like I did with S&B, I actually had a great time with a great book. The political intrigue was so interesting, the pacing was fantastic and all the new characters were incredible. Nikolai, Tamar, Tolya... I would lay down my life for all of them. And Zoya oh my fucking god what a queen I adore her. I still absolutely love Genya but Zoya might be my new favourite. Alina's arc over the course of this book also made me appreciate her so much more in the first book, seeing how far she's come. The conflict within her is so interesting and heartbreaking. There were several scenes that almost made me scream and isn't that a great feeling.
I became so much more interested in the Darkling with this book. I wouldn't say I'm a simp for him or Darklina anymore like I was with the first book, but I do still adore him as a villain and Darklina's dynamic, even if I don't actively ship it.
Unfortunately, I still don't like Mal. In fact, I like Mal even less. He just has so little empathy for all of Alina's responsibilities and trauma. The fact that he can't seem to understand how traumatic her relationship with the Darkling is and instead just bitches pettily about Alina still being hot for him is just so disgusting. You would think based on this hatred for Mal that I'm all about Alina/Nikolai, but I actually prefer their relationship as a platonic one. The only person I ship Alina with is Genya, but truthfully I would be much happier if the series ended with her being single and just best friends with Mal once again and she and Nikolai have a friendship where they constantly flirt but it never goes anywhere.
I'll be honest, I'm not super excited for the next book. I think I'm just going to hate Mal even more and I have a feeling the ending will infuriate me. I don't think I'm going to dislike it, just be,,, underwhelmed. Who knows when I get to it. Hopefully it'll be before the end of the year.
I actually loved this! Like, I didn't just have a fun time with a mediocre book like I did with S&B, I actually had a great time with a great book. The political intrigue was so interesting, the pacing was fantastic and all the new characters were incredible. Nikolai, Tamar, Tolya... I would lay down my life for all of them. And Zoya oh my fucking god what a queen I adore her. I still absolutely love Genya but Zoya might be my new favourite. Alina's arc over the course of this book also made me appreciate her so much more in the first book, seeing how far she's come. The conflict within her is so interesting and heartbreaking. There were several scenes that almost made me scream and isn't that a great feeling.
I became so much more interested in the Darkling with this book. I wouldn't say I'm a simp for him or Darklina anymore like I was with the first book, but I do still adore him as a villain and Darklina's dynamic, even if I don't actively ship it.
Unfortunately, I still don't like Mal. In fact, I like Mal even less. He just has so little empathy for all of Alina's responsibilities and trauma. The fact that he can't seem to understand how traumatic her relationship with the Darkling is and instead just bitches pettily about Alina still being hot for him is just so disgusting. You would think based on this hatred for Mal that I'm all about Alina/Nikolai, but I actually prefer their relationship as a platonic one. The only person I ship Alina with is Genya, but truthfully I would be much happier if the series ended with her being single and just best friends with Mal once again and she and Nikolai have a friendship where they constantly flirt but it never goes anywhere.
I'll be honest, I'm not super excited for the next book. I think I'm just going to hate Mal even more and I have a feeling the ending will infuriate me. I don't think I'm going to dislike it, just be,,, underwhelmed. Who knows when I get to it. Hopefully it'll be before the end of the year.
Oh my god, it has been way too long since I've read a YA romantic contemporary (apparently the last one I read was 10 Things I Hate About Pinky which I read News Years Eve 2020, wth). I didn't realise how much I've missed it until I was reading this perfect little book. The thing is, this isn't perfect. The writing is sometimes quite repetitive, with certain mundane phrases being used multiple times. But I don't care. Hani and Ishu are literally my children and their romance makes me want to gently weep. This book has one of the most beautiful, tender first kiss scenes I've ever read. Also, both the narrators for the audiobook were wonderful, would absolutely recommend reading it that way. I simultaneously want to read The Henna Wars right this second and put it off so I don't have to wait until next year to read another Adiba Jaigirdar book. I'm not going to declare anything after reading only one book, but I can absolutely imagine Adiba Jaigirdar becoming an all-time favourite author of mine.
1) The Raven Boys ★★★★
2) The Dream Thieves ★★★★★
3) Blue Lily, Lily Blue ★★★★★
4) The Raven King ★★★★★
content warnings: death
I've been putting off reading Call Down the Hawk ever since my preorder came in, but finally reading this short story has made me not only want to read that but also reread the whole series. That's the power of Maggie Stiefvater's writing.
Opal is a short story that was included in some of The Raven King paperbacks and has since been released in ebook and audiobook format by itself. I had a couple Audible credits lying around so I decided to spend one of them on this because I was always so peeved that I had bought the hardcover and wasn't able to read it.
This is set after The Raven King and is told from the perspective of Opal, one of Ronan's dream creatures. Opal was an unexpectedly lovely perspective to view this world through because she's effectively a child and is not bogged down with the issues our other characters have. She's curious and stubborn and affectionate, and that's about it, and reading about different events through the eyes of a character like that puts a new perspective on a lot of things. Ronan, his and Adam's relationship, the Barns, magic, dreams, everything changes much more drastically than you would think all because we're seeing them all through Opal.
Along with Maggie Stiefvater's stunning writing, another thing that makes me want to reread the whole series is the audiobook. At first I was skeptical because I saw it was being narrated by Will Patton, an actor I quite enjoy (he was fantastic in the one season of Swamp Thing we got) but was worried wouldn't fit for a story being told by Opal. But to my surprise, he worked perfectly and I now really want to listen to other audiobooks he's narrated. The production in general was really good, with great sound effects and moody music.
I doubt she will, but I really hope that Maggie Stiefvater writes more of these one-offs from not only the perspectives of characters we don't normally get but from perspectives that actively change the way we as readers perceive this wonderful world she's created. This was exactly what I wanted and I'm now very excited to start reading the Dreamer trilogy.
2) The Dream Thieves ★★★★★
3) Blue Lily, Lily Blue ★★★★★
4) The Raven King ★★★★★
content warnings: death
“Her love him so hard that she felt sad because one day he would get old and die because that was what things with animalness did.”
I've been putting off reading Call Down the Hawk ever since my preorder came in, but finally reading this short story has made me not only want to read that but also reread the whole series. That's the power of Maggie Stiefvater's writing.
Opal is a short story that was included in some of The Raven King paperbacks and has since been released in ebook and audiobook format by itself. I had a couple Audible credits lying around so I decided to spend one of them on this because I was always so peeved that I had bought the hardcover and wasn't able to read it.
This is set after The Raven King and is told from the perspective of Opal, one of Ronan's dream creatures. Opal was an unexpectedly lovely perspective to view this world through because she's effectively a child and is not bogged down with the issues our other characters have. She's curious and stubborn and affectionate, and that's about it, and reading about different events through the eyes of a character like that puts a new perspective on a lot of things. Ronan, his and Adam's relationship, the Barns, magic, dreams, everything changes much more drastically than you would think all because we're seeing them all through Opal.
Along with Maggie Stiefvater's stunning writing, another thing that makes me want to reread the whole series is the audiobook. At first I was skeptical because I saw it was being narrated by Will Patton, an actor I quite enjoy (he was fantastic in the one season of Swamp Thing we got) but was worried wouldn't fit for a story being told by Opal. But to my surprise, he worked perfectly and I now really want to listen to other audiobooks he's narrated. The production in general was really good, with great sound effects and moody music.
I doubt she will, but I really hope that Maggie Stiefvater writes more of these one-offs from not only the perspectives of characters we don't normally get but from perspectives that actively change the way we as readers perceive this wonderful world she's created. This was exactly what I wanted and I'm now very excited to start reading the Dreamer trilogy.
January 2025 Reread: obviously i've always loved this, but this time around in particular it really hit for me.
1) Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★
2) Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★
3) Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★★
4) In an Absent Dream ★★★★★
content warnings: violence, death, necromancy, transphobia
representation: lesbian main character with OCD, fat sapphic main character, f/f main relationship, transgender main character, Mexican-American main character, fat main character, Japanese main character
1) Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★
2) Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★
3) Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★★
4) In an Absent Dream ★★★★★
content warnings: violence, death, necromancy, transphobia
representation: lesbian main character with OCD, fat sapphic main character, f/f main relationship, transgender main character, Mexican-American main character, fat main character, Japanese main character
“No one should have to sit and suffer and pretend to be someone they’re not because it’s easier, or because no one wants to help them fix it.”
I don't know what it is about the Moors as a setting that I don't like but my two least favourite books of the series happen to be the ones predominantly set there so there must be something going on. In saying that, I still really like this book, as I do all of Seanan McGuire's work.
Set in the main timeline, Come Tumbling Down follows Christopher, Cora, Kade and Sumi as they travel to the Moors with Jack, who has switched bodies with her sister, and Alexis, Jack's girlfriend who has been recently resurrected.
While this is one of my least favourite books of the series, it does explore maybe my favourite theme its had thus far: bodily autonomy. Jack loathes being in Jill's body, her OCD unable to handle the disgusting things the body has done over time, from needless murder to submitting to a vampire, and she needs to get out of it as soon as possible for her own sanity. But many people initially don't see the problem. "They're twins, their bodies are practically the same, why would it matter?" they say while Jack is slowly dying being forced into a body not her own. The quote I used for this review is one Kade says when Eleanor asks this exact question, a sentiment that I think wouldn't have meant as much if it had come from any character other than Kade.
Like every other book in the Wayward Children series, though, the focus is obviously on plot and characters, all of which I enjoyed well enough. I genuinely don't understand what it is about this that disappointed me. Maybe that the last two books are my favourite in the series, maybe that I want to love the Moors so badly, I have no idea.
Something that certainly didn't disappoint me was the romance we got between Jack and Alexis. Their romance was already incredible in Down Among the Sticks and Bones but this book just amps it up to an eleven. There are so many beautiful quotes about the ways they understand each other in ways others don't and the impact they've had on each other that made me want to scream while listening to my audiobook.
This review is extremely scattered because that's lowkey how I'm feeling right now. I feel like this sounded kind of negative but I swear I did really enjoy this. I think I felt the way about this that a lot of people did about Beneath the Sugar Sky, i.e. really enjoying it but not caring much after finishing reading. This series is still incredible, I still think everyone should read it, and I'm still going to pre-order book six.
January 2025 Reread: With every reread I become even more of a Jill apologist, she did all that and I don't care <3
1) Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★
content warnings: violence, death, gore, necromancy
representation: sapphic main character, main f/f relationship, sapphic side character
This! Was! So! Good! Despite giving it the same rating, I enjoyed it more than the first book, mostly just because the atmospheric world of DAtSaB appealed to me more than the school-for-strange-children setting of the first book. Honestly, after reading this I want to go back and re-read EHaD so I can have more context for the character's of both Jack and Jill.
Jill especially was given so much more character in this, and though I don't sympathise with her or even really like her as a person, as a character I find her fascinating and this book puts her actions in EHaD into perspective. Also, Jack is my wife and I love her a whole ton. Her relationship with Dr. Beaker was so interesting in a way I didn't expect, and I loved her romance with Alexis. SpoilerI actually don't mind that she died, because first of all it's not bury your gays, STOP USING THAT PHRASE EVERY TIME A QUEER CHARACTER DIES, THAT'S NOT WHAT IT MEANS. But also I thought it worked really well within the narrative, being impactful but also not feeling cheap or like shock value. Jack and Jill's relationship and the way it develops from them as children until the end of the book was so interesting and one of my favourite aspects of the book. I loved the emphasis that their parents forcing them to be a certain way and almost pitting them against each other was incredibly damaging to them as individuals and twins.
The creepy and unsettling atmosphere of this book was so well done, and I'm going to partially credit this to the audiobook. Seanan McGuire narrates it herself, and while authors narrating their own fictional works usually ends really badly, here it's absolutely perfect. There's this real feeling of unease as you read most of the book, and it made this fantastical setting with vampires and necromancy feel like something that could exist in real life.
I can't wait until I finally get my hands on Beneath the Sugar Sky because this is shaping up to be one of my favourite series.
1) Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★
content warnings: violence, death, gore, necromancy
representation: sapphic main character, main f/f relationship, sapphic side character
This! Was! So! Good! Despite giving it the same rating, I enjoyed it more than the first book, mostly just because the atmospheric world of DAtSaB appealed to me more than the school-for-strange-children setting of the first book. Honestly, after reading this I want to go back and re-read EHaD so I can have more context for the character's of both Jack and Jill.
Jill especially was given so much more character in this, and though I don't sympathise with her or even really like her as a person, as a character I find her fascinating and this book puts her actions in EHaD into perspective. Also, Jack is my wife and I love her a whole ton. Her relationship with Dr. Beaker was so interesting in a way I didn't expect, and I loved her romance with Alexis. SpoilerI actually don't mind that she died, because first of all it's not bury your gays, STOP USING THAT PHRASE EVERY TIME A QUEER CHARACTER DIES, THAT'S NOT WHAT IT MEANS. But also I thought it worked really well within the narrative, being impactful but also not feeling cheap or like shock value. Jack and Jill's relationship and the way it develops from them as children until the end of the book was so interesting and one of my favourite aspects of the book. I loved the emphasis that their parents forcing them to be a certain way and almost pitting them against each other was incredibly damaging to them as individuals and twins.
The creepy and unsettling atmosphere of this book was so well done, and I'm going to partially credit this to the audiobook. Seanan McGuire narrates it herself, and while authors narrating their own fictional works usually ends really badly, here it's absolutely perfect. There's this real feeling of unease as you read most of the book, and it made this fantastical setting with vampires and necromancy feel like something that could exist in real life.
I can't wait until I finally get my hands on Beneath the Sugar Sky because this is shaping up to be one of my favourite series.