I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

One of the most important things that books and comics can provide is glances into lives and parts of the world that we might not otherwise be able to see or understand. This comic focuses generally on climate change and its effects, but does so by focusing on people and areas of the world that are currently being heavily impacted. I feel like a lot of media focusing on climate change often focuses on the future, of the impacts that the Western world will see in the next years, decades, or centuries. This comic ends by explaining how everything in the comic is actually happening right now, caused by humanity and our lack of care for our planet. It gives more urgency to the problem, highlighting the struggles of people currently struggling, not just explaining what might happen in the future if we don’t do anything. It also humanizes these people, showing us the viewpoint of kids (as this is a comic aimed at kids), and makes it easier to relate to and connect with their struggles. Often when it comes to difficult events and horrible things happening around the world, the humanity of those suffering often gets lost in the sheer number of people suffering and the statistics behind the event. Narrowing down to a single person or two, and sharing their specific experiences, can often make stories like this hit harder, because you connect with those people individually, and feel their pain and struggles more deeply because of it.

Overall, I thought that this comic did exactly what it set out to do, and it’s a great introduction to the issue for those that might not know that much about it. Even for people who have been learning about climate change for years will also benefit from this comic, and a reminder of the people themselves that are suffering, and not just the suffering itself.

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I’ve always been a big fan of dragons, so I’m always automatically interested in any book involving them. Despite this, there aren’t actually all that many dragon books I actually really love, because I feel like dragon books often expect to be carried by the fact they have dragons, and the rest of the story can easily fall flat. Luckily, that’s not the case at all for Fourth Wing.

I went into this book with the same sort of expectations I go into for every dragon book, and had honestly forgotten about the magic school aspect of all of it. Needless to say, I was very quickly reminded that there was going to be so much more to this story and world than just dragons, and my excitement shot up. While it did take me about 10-20% to be super into the book, once I’d gotten into it, there was no escaping. I read 52% of this book in a single sitting, and probably would’ve finished it had it not been 2 am, with at least 4 hours in my audiobook still. I often make bad decisions when it comes to reading, but no part of me could justify skipping the entire night (even though I desperately wanted to!)

If I had to compare Fourth Wing based on how it felt to read it, I’d say the following: the dragons and bonds of Fireborne, the deadly atmosphere and survival elements of A Deadly Education, the training and tension of the beginning of The Poppy War (the classes and learning aspect of it, done under the shadow of impending war), and a romance that’s as addictive as From Blood and Ash (with better communication and more depth). It’s an odd mix for sure, but it’s honestly the best way I can describe this book. It’s entirely unique, and yet hits those same feelings that these other books gave me.

I also absolutely adore the audiobook, and I’m still forever grateful I was approved for an advanced copy of it. Something about the narrator truly brought the book to life, and it made the already strong narration even stronger. Violet in general is quite a strong narrator, so she needed someone that could truly carry the weight of her character. I felt like the narrator did a fantastic job of truly bringing to life all of Violet’s emotions, and it made some tough scenes hit even harder. I will definitely be continuing this series as audiobooks!

Overall, though, this book’s main strength is how genuine it felt. Often, I can be invested in a book but not feel the emotions of the main character quite as strongly as they seem to be feeling them. I’ll feel sad or scared, but I won’t feel miserable or terrified. Fourth Wing is an exception here, and I loved how strong a connection I was able to create with the characters, especially Violet. I felt such utter joy during some scenes, and utter despair in others, and I’ve rarely been as terrified while reading a book as I was during moments in this one. Violet just had so much depth, and it has me so excited (and scared if I’m honest) for the next books in this series and world.

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

If you’re looking for a short and sweet queer YA romance, look no further! This book honestly feels exactly like a cupcake (I’d compare it to a mooncake, but I have yet to try one, unfortunately!) It’s just a few small bites of fluff and sweetness, and honestly a perfect book when you’re in that kind of mood.

While the book definitely touches on some heavier topics, like grief and loss, it does so in a way that manages to still keep the book light. This does mean that some people might find it a bit shallow at moments, but that means it’s also good for when you just want something softer to read too!

I think my main complaint is that it just sometimes felt too shallow, a problem worsened by the fact that there’s also just a lot of drama. Again, the drama is generally kept quite light, even if what happens can actually be considered quite intense, but it also means that the book feels as if it flits from one disaster to the next sometimes, and not always in a good way. While I’m glad we didn’t get too bogged down with some of those events, I also wish we’d sometimes slowed down a bit, and got to see some calmer and sweeter moments between the MCs again, especially near the end.

Overall though, I think a lot of people will like and enjoy this book, if not love it, and I hope it finds plenty of readers when it releases soon!

It’s honestly been a while since I’ve read a purely dystopian book in this kind of sense, one that’s close enough still to our recognizable world to read differently than a fantasy book does. I also just wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this book, due to its focus on a serial killer on top of everything else that was just going on in the book. In the end, I actually really enjoyed this, even though it just wasn’t what I thought it would be at all!

I guess in the end I did expect a dystopian book alongside what I’m used to, with a strong focus on the injustices of the world, with the main character trying to somehow fix it, either willingly or not. Instead, there was a stronger focus on how people themselves might change after an apocalypse, and adjust to this new society, if they can manage to adjust at all. It was interesting to see how, in this world, people so quickly reverted to similar habits once the life-or-death aspects of the crisis disappeared. People went right back to wanting the prettiest house or the best stuff, just now within the limits that the climate crisis allowed them (though also already trying to push them, of course). However, what was most intriguing, was seeing the effect of a serial killer on a world setting like this. This community, and humans in general, only just barely managed to survive the dangerous pollen, so to then see someone decide to kill even more people was horrifying to this society. It was really fascinating to see through the perspective of our main character as well, who lost her mother to the pollen and suffers a near-death experience due to it right at the beginning of the book as well. She becomes obsessive over the man who is behind it, writing to him and constantly thinking about him. She just wants to understand why someone could think to take a life, when every life that still remains was so hard fought for. I think the act of violence added to this as well. There was no physical violence, just the act of cutting open the safety net that everyone needed to survive, and letting the pollen in. However, the way it's written, this slicing of plastic feels just as gruesome as if the killer took the knife directly to the throats of these people, and it just felt really well done.

There are also some magical/mystical elements to all of this, almost adding a layer of magical realism to all of it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a magical realism dystopian genre crossover, and I honestly didn’t even realize it was something that could work this well! I loved the blend of these mystical elements with the harsh reality of the world, and it only worked to further explore that human element at the core of every dystopian novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read, and I think it’s one that will stick with me for a while! It just led to lots of thinking and reflecting, and honestly, that’s always the best part of dystopians like this!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I’ve read quite a few T.J. Klune books at this point, and if you’ve been a fan of his books, you’ll be a fan of this one! It fits right in with his other books he’s published with similar covers, like Under the Whispering Door; a book set in an interesting world but where the focus remains on the characters and their relationships with one another. In the Lives of Puppets is another one of those internal stories, where the external world is exciting and intriguing and mysterious, but the true focus of the book still lies in the internal journey of the main character. There’s also the same, soft relationship and eccentric cast of side characters, and together it all just continues to work!

Despite how similar its pieces are to Klune’s other books, though, In the Lives of Puppets also just stands strongly on its own. It’s still very much its own story, and the similarities to his past works stop at those similar tropes/building blocks of the story. Victor’s troubles are entirely unlike those of the MCs of his other books, and he’s also much younger than those characters as well. There’s a stronger sense of isolation throughout the entire book too, tempered by how fiercely all the characters love each other, but it remains there all the same. Very few post-apocalyptic books manage to truly capture the sheer isolation that comes with being one of the few remaining of your species, but Klune does it really well here, and it becomes a driving force in many aspects of the book. It’s also fascinating to see here, because in some ways the robots that surround Victor are extremely human-like. However, we always end up seeing how not-human they truly are, despite their relationships with Victor being so close to normal human ones. It’s an interesting concept to see play out, made even more so by how much focus there is on these internal aspects of the characters as well! Usually these sorts of end-of-the-world books focus so much more on the action, and solving whatever ruined the world, and we almost never get to spend this much time actually thinking about what it all actually means with the characters that are going through it.

I also really liked how this book centered on familial relationships more as well. The MCs of Klune’s other books like Puppets are often very isolated: no friends, no family, no anything really. Victor is extremely different in that regard, all he has is family and friends, and his desire to create. We really get to explore what those relationships mean to Victor, and what happens when something threatens them. We also get to see what happens when secrets come out, and how even the most close of bonds can still suffer when one person realizes the other was keeping so much from you. And most interesting of all, there’s this constant thread of starting over, of trying again, and what that actually really means when it comes to both relationships with others and finding a home for yourself. There’s a lot of loss in this book, but in forms that aren’t often tackled in the fiction I’ve read, and it makes for such an interesting book, with so many threads to continue thinking about long after the book is done.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and the way it kept my head spinning in a more reflective way. It makes for a calmer, slower book, but those sorts of stories are often the best breaks from the world anyway!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

As I’m reading more and more fantasy, especially YA fantasy, I’m finding myself becoming more and more critical of what I read. Books that may have been favorites years ago may not even stand out now, and that’s just because I’ve read so many books at this point, that I need more from a book before it stands out for me. This book is an example of one I might have loved years ago, but just didn’t entirely work for me now (even though I do have plans to read the sequel, and I’m excited to see where the story goes from the ending!)

I was given the audio ARC for this book, and I’m honestly really happy I was! I really enjoyed the narrator, and it felt like there was an emphasis on properly pronouncing Korean words and people, which I always love in audiobooks. I’m always one to get a word wrong the first 50 times, especially if it’s from a language I don’t know, so I always appreciate when books like this get audiobook narrators that seem to know what they’re talking about, and I feel like I get to learn a bit about the language while reading! I also thought the narrator did a good job of bringing the story to life and keeping it interesting, and I feel I might’ve enjoyed the book less had I just read it! It definitely made it easier to get through some scenes that felt a bit too slow or repetitive.

I think the biggest reason this book didn’t work for me is because of the following combination: Lina is very isolated throughout almost the entire book, and I didn’t find Lina particularly compelling yet. While Lina’s isolation makes sense, as someone recently betrayed and struggling with the loss of nearly all her friends and loved ones, it also means there aren’t many other characters we get to really know well, or to learn about Lina through. We only see Lina as she sees herself, and that’s honestly just not very positive for most of the book! It also quickly begins to feel repetitive, if you never get a reprieve from a character’s direct thoughts, and that also made the beginning and middle of the book suffer for me. It felt like there was almost too much space to fill as we were waiting for more things to happen or develop, and while I also don’t like when a book moves too quickly in ways that don’t make sense, it did feel like parts of this book were stagnant.

A few other reviews mention that this book suffers in the way of many debuts: overused tropes, too shallow, etc., and I have to agree. While there’s a spark inside this book that has me excited to see what else there is to this world and story, it often felt bogged down by a bit too much, and not having time to truly dive deep into things. It felt like the book was also a bit too action-based, which did feel like it kept me as a reader in a surface-level connection with Lina, even though this book is largely an emotional journey for Lina. However, this does start to get better further into the book, which is why I’m still planning on reading the sequel!

I also just really loved learning more about Korean mythology, and seeing so many various myths blended together, and I hope that continues to be a large part of the sequel! I also think there are some fascinating aspects to the ending and to the relationship that developed between Lina and Rui, and I’m curious to see if this will develop into something truly unique (which I hope!)

Overall, while this won’t be a favorite of mine, I did still generally enjoy the book, and am intrigued to see where the story takes me next!

I’ve only heard amazing things about this author’s adult book, so I was super excited to try out her new YA contemporary! While I feel as if I’m growing a bit too old for YA contemporary, and haven’t yet found a different appreciation for it now that I can’t entirely relate, I hoped that I’d still really enjoy this one! I did overall enjoy this, but I also just never got that into it. Maybe that’s because I’ve been having a hard time with this genre in general, or maybe it was just this specific book, it’s hard to tell!

I think one of the main issues I had with this book was how long it took for the main characters to actually start liking each other. It was definitely a hate-to-love relationship, but not in the way that usually works for me. The hate was more just like extreme dislike, but the sort of dislike that comes with thinking the person in front of you is not someone you could ever see yourself being friends with. And while I know it was all based on incorrect assumptions due to the premise of the book, it felt like it just lingered on too long to make the final relationship feel true enough to me. I just couldn’t get over how much they just, didn’t care to be friends even.

I did really like the setting of the novel, though, and the exploration of this country and culture that I didn’t really know much about. It also didn’t feel like a super Americanized version of it either. While one character was Asian American, there was still so much focus on her family and her history and where she came from, and it didn’t feel like the book was trying to make Indonesia seem like America. It didn’t feel like the book was trying to specifically cater to me, a white American, and I honestly really appreciated that. It also makes me think that this book will be a wonderful read for teens everywhere, especially in the US, since it really does show how often things are reframed from our perspective, even when it's not needed. There was also just so much love here in this book, even as tougher topics were discussed (feeling disconnected from your history, feeling unwelcome in your home country, homophobia/sexism, etc.). I just loved how this book was able to balance both showing how beautiful and wonderful Indonesia is, while also remaining honest about the issues it has (without trying to find some miraculous fix to them, either).

Overall, while this book wasn’t a favorite, I am excited to finally read more of this author’s books, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future books as well!