3.5 stars.

The Justice League/DC are the literal superheroes from my childhood, so it’s always interesting to see that cartoonish binary and simplicity made more nuanced and realistic.

I wasn’t a total fan of the romance between Selina and Luke, even though I love the Mr & Mrs Smith setup and the hero/villain duality; we know it’s going to happen, so it’s kind of excessive to make a huge deal out of it — even keeping in mind the teenage hormones that have gotten the better of the best of us. But it was balanced out by Selina’s fierce protectiveness of her sister and the female friendship between her, Ivy, and (to some extent) Harley, so I can let it go. The added sci-fi aspect of

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the Lazarus Pit

was well-integrated and made the plot really work, and overall I enjoyed the story.

I enjoyed this book, but I felt like there were too many facts and book summaries packed in — from Dante’s Divine Comedy to natural history to climate change to evolutionary theory. It’s well-written, though it meanders much in the same way the protagonists meander through their journey to catch the shark, and clearly well-researched; still, I didn’t need or really want to know every musing that crossed the narrator’s mind while he was in Norway.

This book basically did a 180 from the previous book in terms of things I liked (minimal romance, straghtforwardness all gone) and things I didn’t (flat characters, awkward writing, aggressive heteronormativity).

First things first, Ceony in this book is just really annoying. She’s arrogant and entitled —

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running away to confront Grath because the adults clearly can’t handle it, if they haven’t managed it yet; then deflating and praying for rescue when things go wrong

, and the ending only exacerbates the situation ... yet she’s also a “perfect” exhibit of femininity, with her culinary talent and makeup and barrettes and full-length skirts. (Of course Lira’s prettier than Ceony, and more mature in a womanly way, but she’s evil and she probably can’t even cook.) Ceony is also very judgmental, even regarding strangers like Langston’s sister, whose clothes she borrows briefly, and Langston, whom she concludes should get married to the nearest available female (Delilah, who he doesn’t even know) since he can’t cook. She also spends more than half her time “mooning” over Emery from the first page. (Minor points for acknowledging that simply being a foreigner shouldn’t make someone a sketchy character, and for token PoC representation, I guess? Greatly undermined by all the other issues going on.)

I’m just having a hard time buying the events of the previous page as justification for the literal insta-love between Ceony and Emery; at least he has some moral hesitations, though apparently Ceony’s only concern (beyond her angst over her feelings being possibly unrequited) is that it’s against some rules, and unwritten ones at that.

The ending isn’t super compelling, and apparently we’re giving Ceony credit for

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Grath’s discovery of how to reverse the Bonding process and re-bond to a new Material; she might have set everything in motion, but he’s the one who actually figured it out

.

I don’t think I’ll be finishing the trilogy; I’ve already spent two days being disappointed.

It's very much an allegory, and also very much a children's book. The morality is binary and explicit; the plot is straightforward (with more than a few too-convenient developments) and the characters incredibly simple. Lina is incredibly naive and reckless; Doon's main personality trait seems to thinking all the time. I couldn't relate to either of them, but I did manage some sympathy. That said, with so many more books to read I don't feel invested enough to finish the series, though I might at least consider it if my TBR wasn't so long.

Personally I thought the references to our world were a little too contrived - for example, the list of Mysterious Words From the Past - and the process of figuring "ancient" things out (

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ie, candles, matches, boats

) was either too drawn out or so abrupt as to stretch disbelief.

It felt like the author either tried too hard or not hard enough with the protagonist; I thought Celaena was too perfect. (Fighting AND reading/music? Give me a break.) The love triangle was pretty boring, though the actual plot wasn't too bad.

I thought it was kind of obvious that

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Nick would beat her boyfriend

. Travis is a textbook example of out-of-control adolescent; I have absolutely no idea what Celeste ever saw in him.

Like Roxane Gay, I am ambivalent about feminism and the opinions of “louder”/high-profile feminists. Some essays were stronger than others, but none were super impactful to me personally. To be fair, this collection lives up to its title: it is deeply personal, from the pop-culture interests to the anecdotes and specific experiences. She does acknowledge her own privilege and the non-universality of her position, but it still feels like she’s trying to make proclamations about the Female Experience and feminism in general — with lots of contradictions regarding whether something is a “good” contribution to the conversation (ie, problematic or pure, yikes) and whether any media/individual has the responsibility to “be everything” for the group of people it addresses or represents. Sometimes it felt like she was listing viewpoints rather than coming to conclusions, which didn’t help.

Part of my issue with these essays is not that I disagree with the themes of her essays (though I do), but that I don’t think they’re analyzed or even conveyed as effectively as they can be. This might be an eye-opening read for some people, but for the most part she covers well-trodden ground and doesn’t add much to the conversation. I feel that these essays are outdated, and I don’t just mean the court cases and legislature referenced; the concept of intersectionality is only briefly, imperfectly touched upon and never named. (Honestly, until she mentioned sex with men I was under the vague impression that Gay was a “Black lesbian” — an example of my own preconceptions and biases, in part influenced by the readings assigned in my Women & Gender Studies intro class — because those are the two main groups she seems to focus on, to the point where she glosses over or fails altogether to mention the issues faced by Latinx, Asian, bisexual, and to some degree transgender people. It’s not that I expect her to address every possible intersectional topic, but erasure is real and important and underrecognized.)

More like 2.5 stars, if I'm being completely honest, but given the intent and subject matter I can justify rounding up.

Some really interesting points that I didn't know, but at times the writing was clumsy — some of the anecdotes read like cheap romance novellas, and sometimes I had to reread a phrase several times to understand its meaning. Also, a lot of her comments relating to other aspects of psychology and/or society (i.e., autism) were at worst ableist and at best ignorant; I also disliked the way she generalized women's experiences.

Still, this is a pretty good overview of what the female brain does and how it differs from its male counterpart over the course of a lifetime, and I learned quite a bit.

Truthfully I did not learn very much from this book, but that's more kudos to my AP Gov & Politics teacher (also the current political climate behooves me to pay attention since I just reached legal voting age) than any reflection of the American [public] education system/curriculum. Nonetheless, all good information presented in an unbiased (!!!) way while offering commentary on the system and its flaws/strengths.

The writing itself was clear and coherent, but not exceptional. Maybe it's because I read the eBook, but the formatting on some of those sidebar tables made them hard to read/understand. I also would've liked a wider variety of visuals: give me all the charts and graphs, that's how I best process information. That said, the anecdotes and other concrete examples are well chosen for illustrating each point.

Playful and funny, with all the quirkiness evident in Anna Kendrick's interviews and tweets.