Not my favorite John Green book. Of course I loved the boarding school camaraderie and pranks, but Podge didn't have a very distinct personality and Alaska pales in comparison to, say, Margo Roth Spiegelman.

"You are only here for one moment and it lasts exactly one lifetime."

Maybe I'm just not in the right headspace for this collection. Some of these were emotionally-resonant, much-needed reminders that the world is not a trashfire and it's okay to hurt and be uncertain; others, I couldn't make sense of or just disagreed with them. The photography was a similar story (pun intended): I really liked some of it and not so much the rest.

So an ambivalent 3 stars.

I never connected to any of the characters, and the initially promising parallel-universe setup felt more like a typical YA dystopian, barely more original than the mainstream.

EDIT 2019: I had considered finally finishing this series sometime, but I don't support TERFs.

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[original review]
Loved the purposeful use of second person as a hook, and Part One was fascinatingly cryptic. But I think reverting back to second person was a little much, disorienting - in my opinion, it's not really meant for extended storytelling. I really appreciated the normal names - Nathan, Marcus, Jessica; it let their vivid personalities and motivations shine.

I received a review copy of this book from Edelweiss. This does not affect my rating or opinions.

1. [b:Son of the Black Sword|27217864|Son of the Black Sword (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, #1)|Larry Correia|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445018935s/27217864.jpg|44804710] | 🔥🔥🔥

I try not to compare books, especially not to super-popular franchises, but I kept thinking that this is what I'd hoped Game of Thrones would be. (Except that Saga of the Forgotten Warrior has demons instead of dragons, but that's okay.) There's political intrigue, lots of swordfighting, both magic and science, even religion based on old gods.

I actually cared about most of the characters whose POV we follow — including the ones who were introduced early on in this book or late in the previous book. Ashok's single-minded devotion to his oath is challenged frequently and nuanced enough not to be too annoying; Thera is the Warrior my younger self would've loved to emulate; Rada is the antisocial reader and reluctant adventurer my present self identifies with. ("People made her uncomfortable. She much preferred the company of a book" — this is me!)

The rich worldbuilding from the first book continues, and we get to peek at the workings and traditions of the different Orders (not to be confused with castes): Protectors, Inquisitors, Archivists, Historians ... and, outside the system, the House of Assassins. Correia brings us an immersive world without overwhelming the reader, greatly improving on the infodumps that bothered me in the first book.

The plot also manages a balance, between boring and overcomplicated. Though I wasn't really surprised at any point — not even by the big "twists" — and I did skim the fighting scenes because they're quite detailed, there wasn't a dull moment in this adventure.

I only picked this up because I accidentally downloaded an Edelweiss ARC of the second book, and the beginning was a bit of a struggle but in the end I'm not mad that I finished this. (Though I am slightly disappointed that it's the only book I managed to read on my 6 hour red-eye flight.) I know three stars looks lukewarm, but all things considered it feels right.

There are some repetitive infodumps and a general lack of long-term plot at the start, but the world is pretty well thought-out: complex, but it all makes sense if you can roll with it until you figure it out. Everyone has a role to play, even if they're still figuring out what exactly that role is, and the combination of political and religious conflicts were fascinating.

Ashok and his allies really grew on me — they're genuinely good people, even if they do morally dubious things sometimes, and although the character development is not at all subtle I still enjoyed watching the progression. I know "seemingly-undefeatable warrior discovers his super-special real identity" sounds like the epitome of a trope, but despite recognizable narrative twists and worldbuilding structures the plot was original enough to be entertaining. Admittedly there was a shortage of female characters, but the ones we did get to know (Rada and Thera) were incredible: independent, clever, powerful in their own ways. And the villains — I really loved to hate them!

And it's a funny book too, which I definitely didn't expect. For example, they use "saltwater" as a curse because the demons have taken over the oceans, and I love seeing recognizable innocuous words unapologetically repurposed. The juxtaposition with our world is sometimes overused for arguably only slight comedic effect (e.g.,

Spoiler

Jagdish's marvel at the pocket watch he wins betting on Ashok

), but there's also great banter and some objectively ridiculous situations.

While this series will never become my new favorite, it's a good time. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

(I received a free eARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.)

This was lots of fun! Enough tension to be interesting, but not so much that it was stressful or super suspenseful to read. Admittedly the plot was a bit heteronormative, as many romcoms tend to be, but I wouldn’t call it problematic per se: there weren’t any queerphobic jokes that I noticed, and while not quite “enough” to qualify as real representation, there was mention of a single gay relationship.

Daphne is a relatable protagonist, and Jeremy is deliciously dreamy; Geneva is a bit of a caricature, but it works for comedic value. I loved the themes of personal history, interpersonal relationships (platonic and romantic alike), public vs private and the role of media in that distinction. Also great fun: modern references (Riverdale!), mentions of cute doggos, chocolatier homework, the NYC lifestyle.

(I received a free e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

I love that mythologies besides Greco-Roman are on the rise (Norse, APIDA: Asian/Pacific Islander/Desi - in this case Hawaiian, etc), but it also means the market is starting to become oversaturated and I need to stop leaping for books because of their premise. (Plus, the diversity is limited to "bronze-skinned" characters on the Hawaiian side and "inhumanly pale and attractive" on the Norse side.) I especially appreciated the strong female relationships, particularly since they took precedence over the too-convenient heterosexual romances.

This one had an interesting idea, but I found it generally underdeveloped. I wasn't quite sure what was going on in terms of worldbuilding - it's implied that all the mythologies are true, a la Riordanverse, but besides a couple of exceptions it's limited to the Norse pantheon and Hawaiian deities - and the Fate Cipher role itself seemed to be defined as "whatever keeps the plot on track," with far too many instances of perfectly-timed divine intervention and frankly illogical developments, leaning heavily on the "main character doesn't know her own strength but will somehow manage to save the world through good intentions and sheer force of will and convenient magical abilities" trope. In addition to the unnatural progression of Ives' powers, the plot development seemed a little contrived, hinging on offhand comments and random remembrances, and it was far too easy to figure out what was happening because the POV jumps gave the reader much more information than the characters could know - the villain and their plot were completely obvious.

While I've found that excellent prose can make up for a formulaic plot, that unfortunately wasn't the case here. The action was bogged down by an excess of description, ominous statements, and a lot of cliched turns of phrase; the characters were pretty archetypical and lacked nuance. I also found the attempts at modernization a little jarring, and not altogether relevant to the story.

So with all that said, it definitely wasn't for me, but if you like modern mythology with strong female leads and you're less nitpicky than me, it's probably still worth a try.

(Won through a Goodreads giveaway! Thank you to author Michael Sorensen for providing me a free e-copy.)

The introduction was a little off-putting; it’s very clear that, as Sorensen himself states, he doesn’t have much experience as a writer: overly descriptive language, cliches, excessive italics, and multiple grammatical errors (whose/whose, their/there/they’re). Most relevantly, the suggested lines and dialogue samples don’t quite read as natural, which doesn’t help his point about using them to replace the standard platitudes (“It could be worse,” etc).

But he’s clearly done some research — and admits upfront that the book is primarily based on personal experience rather than scientific backing, which doesn’t completely invalidate his advice but does make it less credible, especially since the majority of his example conversations are completely theoretical.

Not that I’m an expert either, but I had some fundamental disagreements with some of his suggestions. Explaining that you relate to the other person’s experience is all well and good, but not enough emphasis was given to how easy it is to make it about yourself (and I thought his examples did fall on that side, even if he does “redirect” to his conversational partner at the end). And as I understand “I statements,” the point isn’t to preface exactly what you were going to say otherwise — “I feel that you never take out the trash,” for example, will probably still put the addressee on the defensive — but rather to reframe the situation: “I feel like my time isn’t valued because I end up having to do most of the chores. If you could take out the trash earlier, it would help.”

Thankfully this book was a short one, the kind you can get through in a single sitting. Which is intentional, so you can “immediately start applying” his Four-Step Method in real life — a little presumptuous, but I guess it’s a fair assumption that you picked up this book because you wanted to read what he had to say.

(Dec 2018/inaugural pick for Howl's Moving Book Club.)

2.5 stars.

I thought the premise was really interesting, but I got a little bored along the way due to the novel’s structure: basically Polly realizes her memories have been altered, then we jump back to the day she meets Thomas Lynn and Seb and Laurel and the rest, then follow her ensuing adventures chronologically. It felt more like indulging nostalgia than putting together a puzzle, which isn’t inherently bad but wasn’t what I was expecting; I had hoped for the more fantastical elements to be introduced early on, but they’re really just blips in an otherwise very normal coming-of-age story (where the seemingly only good thing in Polly’s life is her correspondence with Mr. Lynn, who sends her books and harshly criticizes the hero stories she writes).

I also felt like most of the characters get shortchanged, where they’re nice and/or “interesting” but don’t really have much going on outside of the larger plot — which is possibly a failing of Polly’s limited worldview/narration, since she’s pretty self-centered and doesn’t really grow out of it. And that’s disappointing, because Granny and Ann and Fiona all seem terrific and I would’ve loved to get to know them better. Also, I had trouble getting past my concerns about Polly and Tom’s relationship, because it seems coded as romantic despite the huge age gap.

Basically, I wanted to like this but found it more mundane than magical, and problematic in a handful of ways that were hard to overlook.