niseag's Reviews (316)

 

I am not sure how I feel about the setup on this one. It sets of Torak and Renn as a couple which I am sure a lot of people would expect, but I have no memories of from the other books and comes across as rather jarring. I imagine Paver has tried to age up the characters to a more mature standard, as this book came out a good few years after the rest of the series, but I just feel like we missed a lot of these beloved peoples lives in the time that was skipped. I was also not a fan of the use of jealousy as  character conflict. I don't like this as a character trait on the main character, I'm all for character flaws, don't get me wrong, but this particular one just grinds my gears. It reflects a possessive characteristic that I felt did not fit the usually more rational Torak.

But it was great to come back to this world! it was nice to see how Paver makes the world varied, with each clan having it's own customs that fit with their environment and the lifestyle they might have to lead. that said, the narwal clan was definitely a jarring experience. It was well established that Torak's experience was a lot different from Renn's, which was interesting, and I would definitely like to have seen that explored. Though, then again this is a children's book, so perhaps this was just enough.

The twist does make this book, I think. It really spurred it into gear, flips expectations and, to me, reminded me why I loved this series as a child. I have one question though, and without spoiling too much.... Did Torak not kill his bone-kin in the end? how does that work?

Regardless, delighted to see this series not dead and worth the read. 

just...YIKES. zo praat je niet over mensen, en laat alsjeblieft die vierde muur heel. en daar bovenop is het "hello fellow kids" gehalte super hoog.

"How to be a Trans Man" was an odd read for me, bouncing between painfully relatable, to beyond my scope of understanding. I am, of course, nonbinary rather than a man, which could have caused this dichotimy, but I think part of it is also that the lives of influencers tend to feel less relatable to average people. I do like that the people represented in this book are from all kinds of different backgrounds and stances, giving various perspectives which are quite interesting.
The interview style writing feels clunky, but works well for the purposes of this book. All in all a solid read that I would recommend to not just transmasculine people, but also cis queer guys looking at their own masculinity. 

Maybe I am too demisexual for this book. I really wanted to like it, and adored the characters and setting and how it all played together. Actual historic research seems to have gone into this and I love that, edinburgh felt alive and real I could imagine its hills and streets stretching out in this novel, familiar but yet different. Very good indeed.
Lindsay was an interesting character, I liked seeing his duality and his pretence to the outer world, and I liked seeing his bonds and approaches with the people around him. I also liked Drew, the stoic silent type can be done quite appealingly: still waters run deep, after all. However, when it came to their interaction, lust on first sight is such a strange concept to me. It does not feel real. I have been told by friends of different sexualities that this actually happens, but this is a personal review after all... this continues with Drews constant hesitation to be intimate, which made me feel rather uncomfortable through most of the sexual encounters. That said, thank you so much for making sure that consent was never in a position to be questioned. This is something many romance books just skip over and I am so glad that this situation is clarified by the characters. Had this not happened, that would probably have been a dealbreaker for me reading the relationship that is sketched out.
I also want to mention that the depiction of a deep platonic bond with one of the side character's relationship was such a wonderful surprise! The idea that a "mate" can be nonsexual/nonromantic is great and something I think is important to be highlighted.

Then...the ending. This was not what I was expecting, and I am not happy with the turn it took. It feels like it largely undoes the story I had been reading up till this point and it was really unsatisfying. It has put me off of wanting to read the next book, because I am none too pleased with the dynamic shift that was suggested in this ending.

 I love Gaelic poetry, and I am very thankful for this book for introducing me to Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair who quickly became one of my favourite poets. But I must address something: These translations make no sense! It is as if the author did not expect anyone to be able to read the origional poems and just provided a different poem for a translation, leaving only the central message but leaving out any nuances. This quite frankly ruined the experience. 

the inspiration for this book is very clear, in that it's trying to sound like a victorian novel. And in a way, it does accomplish that, somewhat, but it takes a lot of the enjoyment out of reading, as sentences don't flow naturally. It is clear that this isn't the authors natural way of writing, which is a strain passed on onto the reader quite unfortunately. 
It is only for the characters that I did not put this book aside, and by characters I mean mainly Tom. It is hard to describe how delighted I was to find someone who is kind of like me as an intregal part of this fantastical world, and he was a great character that I wish I could be like. That is not to say he was the only character I felt for, Abel was an interesting one as well. And I really enjoyed murray until... I feel like his betrayal falls into a category of trope that I am not entirely comfortable with, in the casting of an (at this time in history) rather opressed and disadvantaged group of people, and depicting the one member of said people as a rogue. I was so disappointed, because the believe in the second sight is such an intergral part of scottish culture it could have led to so much more. I was hoping the author would go into this at all, and felt robbed when it wasn't.
As to Zachary himself.... my opinions are varied expecially in the early book, I was really annoyed with him, with this perfect little student that had powers and knew about everything. then i realised some parts of his character reminded me of a person with autism, and I really appreciate that bit of representation. as he grew up he became less annoying to read about, as he was seemingly depicted as less perfect, which saved the book for me.
you might notice I am mostly reviewing character writing, this is because the story did not stand out to me as anything special. it was not bad, but not particularly new or refreshing either. Zachary's future sight also took some of the stakes away, as we knew going in that he and his father would survive. The ending being somewhat spoiled is something often seen in victorian novels, so I understand the inspiration, but I am not sure it works particularly well here.

All in all, enjoyable enough read, would recommend, but understanding the caviat that the writing style is rather dry.

let's get something out of the way. Would this book have helped me when I was younger and struggling with who I were? Yes. I would have been able to pull hope and reassurance from this, an explanation of why everything seemed wrong in a time i could not accept myself. However, it would also have confused me. Remembering myself as the confused child I was, a lot of the terms here would have left me only more confused. I would have needed more explanation, apart from just statements, and I feel like that may be this books downfall. 
It does not seem to know what it wants to be, a beacon of explanation and information? If that is the case, I would have loved to see the authors dive into that more, truly explain what is going on, but that leaves wanting. Does it want to be a self help book? it gives exercises and thoughts that could indicate this, but it never commits to this either. it is possible to combine these two concepts, but not in a book as short as this. 

I don't want to rag on this book too much because it clearly tries hard to cover its grounds, and it does a decent job, but something else I want to bring up is that it falls into some traps that books written by adults for bullied/critisised youths tend to fall in. The examples it gives are fine, but if this was me, an autistic person to booth, would try to follow the advice on what to say when someone is disrespectful, the examples given would leave me with a massive "now what" situation, that I would not have been equipped to deal with at the time (and would still struggle to, to be honest!). 

Regardless of this, I think this is the kind of book any library ought to have. A resource for those struggling to find their footing in the world. It plays that job well, and this is something we desperately need more off. I commend this book for that, and will recommend it too.

I appologise, I am going to be very harsh on this book. Due to no real issue of the book itself, it was near unreadable to me. I trust this book can help a lot of people, but I feel like I am beyond it's scope, and the author is speaking from a position of privilege far beyond the experiences I had hoped to find advice for. It's hard to hear someone tell you they struggled having to wear a size 12, when you yourself wear a 19 and can only shop in specialty stores. In the same vein, is it hard to read about someone's experience being sexualised when you live in a body that is considered beyond sexual appeal. I am unsure if the author realises that the body described as the one they had to learn to live with is the body others envy. I think this sense of awareness was lacking in the writing, if I am honest. This, is what made reading this book very hard on me, as it just caused so much mental distortion that i put it away on the verge of crying various times. 
On a related note, I was happy to see the book mention gender dysphoria, but it did nothing to give any advice on dealing with it other than "learn to accept yourself"... this may be helpful for some, but it doesnt reflect the experiences of many. Sometimes, bodies need to be changed to be a home for those living in them, with hormones or surgery, and I feel this aspect of the queer community is very overshadowed here. 

Ultimately, I think the match between me and the book may not have been ideal, and I would prefer not to give it a star rating at all. But I think my view needs to be out here as well, for people to be able to make an educated decision on wether or not this book is for them.

an endearing visual novel that, while I was sceptical about it at first, managed to pull a few heartstrings. It has a fun cast of characters with varying designs and personalities. while most of the side characters don't get a lot of "screen" time, the reader still gets a sense of what kind of people they are and what their relation to the others is. I liked that a lot about it.
I do feel like the story was slightly choppy at times, pun not intended, where story elements were just sprang onto me. It reminded me a bit of the way some people tell stories. "so he was cooking, and then his parents came in, and they got angry" kind of storytelling. I understand this might be a stylistic choice in order to deal with the visual format, but I would be amiss not to point out that it bothered me occasionally. I would have liked a wee bit more dept, and smoother transitions.
But in the end, the author managed to create a story i found myself caring about, with characters I wanted to see succeed, and I think that is the most important part of a novel like this.

PS, not a remark on writing, but some of the panels appear to have been scaled a bit weirdly, and get a bit pixelated on my screen