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“What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?”
The Hate U Give explores duality, black culture, police brutality, and so much more. It follows Starr Carter, a girl divided between worlds and identities, and what happens after one of her childhood friend gets murdered by a cop. It explores the effects of this in the community, her family, and especially her.
Now, I realize I’m extremely behind on reading this. It’s one of those books that once you miss the original wave of reading it, you just keep putting it off. A scrabble challenge with my discord group finally made me get around to reading it, and I’m glad I did! Part of me was worried that the book might have been overhyped for me by now, and that I knew completely what to expect going in, but that wasn’t the case at all. The book was still new and shocking, even with me having experience the culture and news in the US, as the perspective is still something very different to me.
This novel also has a fantastic audiobook (I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot recently!), and I highly recommend listening to this book. It adds a new layer to the story, more emotion and fragility to Starr’s character, and some scenes were straight up heartbreaking to listen to thanks to how emotional the narrator was able to sound. It made the character of Starr extremely real to me, and therefore her problems even realer than they already were.
This is a hard book to critique because it is both written for me and entirely not. I’m part of the group of people (white, American), that needs more real knowledge of these situations, needs to see the human aspect of the stories we always hear on the news. At the same time, this book is written to be the voice of the marginalized group that exists in America, the group of people constantly harrassed, threatened, and murdered by cops for the most flimsy of reasons. This is their chance to feel seen and heard, and I cannot criticize nor discuss that. It’s simply not my place to discuss how accurate or real this book is, whether I felt the plot was realistic or the characters relatable. This was not a story made for me to relate to.
As many others have said, and shown by the insane hype and publicity surrounding this book, The Hate U Give is an important novel that everyone needs to read. It is a multi-faceted book and therefore important for a variety of audiences. It showcases and starts the discussion on a variety of issues, all of which are extremely important to the world we live in today. From the idea of police brutality, a very American issue, to the idea of duality and fractured identity, a more global and growing ‘issue’, there is a lot to unpack in this book.
I’m excited to see the movie now, to see these voices and scenes visualized in a way the audiobook couldn’t, and I’m curious to see what Angie’s other books will bring!
The Hate U Give explores duality, black culture, police brutality, and so much more. It follows Starr Carter, a girl divided between worlds and identities, and what happens after one of her childhood friend gets murdered by a cop. It explores the effects of this in the community, her family, and especially her.
Now, I realize I’m extremely behind on reading this. It’s one of those books that once you miss the original wave of reading it, you just keep putting it off. A scrabble challenge with my discord group finally made me get around to reading it, and I’m glad I did! Part of me was worried that the book might have been overhyped for me by now, and that I knew completely what to expect going in, but that wasn’t the case at all. The book was still new and shocking, even with me having experience the culture and news in the US, as the perspective is still something very different to me.
This novel also has a fantastic audiobook (I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot recently!), and I highly recommend listening to this book. It adds a new layer to the story, more emotion and fragility to Starr’s character, and some scenes were straight up heartbreaking to listen to thanks to how emotional the narrator was able to sound. It made the character of Starr extremely real to me, and therefore her problems even realer than they already were.
This is a hard book to critique because it is both written for me and entirely not. I’m part of the group of people (white, American), that needs more real knowledge of these situations, needs to see the human aspect of the stories we always hear on the news. At the same time, this book is written to be the voice of the marginalized group that exists in America, the group of people constantly harrassed, threatened, and murdered by cops for the most flimsy of reasons. This is their chance to feel seen and heard, and I cannot criticize nor discuss that. It’s simply not my place to discuss how accurate or real this book is, whether I felt the plot was realistic or the characters relatable. This was not a story made for me to relate to.
As many others have said, and shown by the insane hype and publicity surrounding this book, The Hate U Give is an important novel that everyone needs to read. It is a multi-faceted book and therefore important for a variety of audiences. It showcases and starts the discussion on a variety of issues, all of which are extremely important to the world we live in today. From the idea of police brutality, a very American issue, to the idea of duality and fractured identity, a more global and growing ‘issue’, there is a lot to unpack in this book.
I’m excited to see the movie now, to see these voices and scenes visualized in a way the audiobook couldn’t, and I’m curious to see what Angie’s other books will bring!
“It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.”
The Scorpio Races is a story about an island. Every year, deadly water horses make their way on to this island, leading to the annual Scorpio Races. This story follows two main protagonists, both who end up racing for their own ideas of freedom.
This was another book I listened to the audiobook of, and although it wasn't the best (female narrator seemed to always read dialogue as if they were shouting?) it did lead to me finally reading this book! I've loved all the other works by Stiefvater that I've read, and while I didn't like this one as much, it still grew on me.
I'll admit that while the writing style of this book is still good, it wasn't what I've come to expect from Stiefvater. I know authors fluctuate in style between series and books, but I just didn't like the simplicity this style had in comparison to the other books I've read of hers. I was a bit let down, and I think this led to me not getting into this book at all at first.
However, it grew on me. Something about the simplicity of the story, of two people with very pure goals racing for their futures, grew slowly on me, and I didn't even realize until I hit the ending and it affected me as much as it did. I guess it was something about the characters, how compelling their stories were, how real their motivations and personalities were.
I also just fell in love with the racing and cultural aspect of the book. It felt overall really well done, and while there were definitely some gruesome scenes, it just ended up backing the dark descriptions of the water horses. I just also loved the emotion the characters tied to the parts of the island they loved, and how their homes, whether that be in a place, people, or horse, were described and made the focus of the novel.
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book, and while I don't think it'll ever be one of my favorite Stiefvater works, I did end up enjoying it!
The Scorpio Races is a story about an island. Every year, deadly water horses make their way on to this island, leading to the annual Scorpio Races. This story follows two main protagonists, both who end up racing for their own ideas of freedom.
This was another book I listened to the audiobook of, and although it wasn't the best (female narrator seemed to always read dialogue as if they were shouting?) it did lead to me finally reading this book! I've loved all the other works by Stiefvater that I've read, and while I didn't like this one as much, it still grew on me.
I'll admit that while the writing style of this book is still good, it wasn't what I've come to expect from Stiefvater. I know authors fluctuate in style between series and books, but I just didn't like the simplicity this style had in comparison to the other books I've read of hers. I was a bit let down, and I think this led to me not getting into this book at all at first.
However, it grew on me. Something about the simplicity of the story, of two people with very pure goals racing for their futures, grew slowly on me, and I didn't even realize until I hit the ending and it affected me as much as it did. I guess it was something about the characters, how compelling their stories were, how real their motivations and personalities were.
I also just fell in love with the racing and cultural aspect of the book. It felt overall really well done, and while there were definitely some gruesome scenes, it just ended up backing the dark descriptions of the water horses. I just also loved the emotion the characters tied to the parts of the island they loved, and how their homes, whether that be in a place, people, or horse, were described and made the focus of the novel.
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book, and while I don't think it'll ever be one of my favorite Stiefvater works, I did end up enjoying it!
“It's not insane to imagine that sometimes even horrible people are searching for a way out of their own darkness.”
Defy Me is the latest installment in the once again ongoing Shatter Me series. It continues the story of Juliette and Warner in Sector 45, and now adds the voice of Kenji to the mix.
God I wanted to love this book. I was so excited for the addition of three more books to the series, as it's one of my absolute favorites. So I'd thought I'd be the last to ever say this, but Mafi should've stopped the series with Ignite Me.
Mafi has a lot of strengths in writing, ones I've loved in all her works so far. She is magnificient at writing emotion, at fully showing what's going on in a character's head and the depth of what they've gone through or are going through. Her description, no matter the style she writes in, is always fantastic and heartfelt, and is great at imparting scenes, imagery, and emotion on to the reader. Her characters are also amazing, they feel real and heartfelt, full of motivations and emotions and histories. It made me fall in love with the original series as well as her middle grade Furthermore series. The latter also showcased her talent for imagination and the creation of wacky worlds.
It seems, after reading Defy Me, that I may have discovered one of her weaknesses. Plot. I've never really had issues with it before, but that's mainly due to the fact that it's not always the focus of her novels. It's either emotion, romance, or a magical world that is at the front and center of the novel, so when Restore Me and then Defy Me brings the plot to the forefront, you start to see the cracks in Mafi's writing and planning. I don't think I can even get into all the holes that seem to occur in the second trilogy of books being added to the Shatter Me world. It would take too long and I just don't have the energy for it. Mafi just tries to add way too much in both this book and already in Restore Me, and it just feels false. It seems to destroy or replace everything said in the first three books, blamed on things like memory manipulation, lies, and withheld information on every side. It just makes it feel like everything I read before didn't matter, and I just don't like that.
Additionally, by bringing the plot to the forefront, the series loses what I loved about the first three books. Yes, there's still beautiful writing and scenes of utter emotion, but that's just not what the book is about. There're more descriptions of just events and scenes, less of the emotions surrounding it. There's also just less of the character interaction that I loved, as the story seems to keep adding in more and more characters and adding distance between the friendships and relationships I loved, whether it be literal distance or purely mental/emotional.
I also feel like this book was just too depressing. Yes, this series has never been light, but it feels like this book has no hope until the very last few pages (which were just pure fanservice and utter bullshit, just saying). It just made me way too sad? And not in a way I enjoy at all. It was just a lot of missing and losing and torture and pain with no light at the end of the tunnel. No thanks.
I'll be finishing the series of course, I've come this far. But if I ever reread the series again, I think I'll be stopping at Ignite Me.
Defy Me is the latest installment in the once again ongoing Shatter Me series. It continues the story of Juliette and Warner in Sector 45, and now adds the voice of Kenji to the mix.
God I wanted to love this book. I was so excited for the addition of three more books to the series, as it's one of my absolute favorites. So I'd thought I'd be the last to ever say this, but Mafi should've stopped the series with Ignite Me.
Mafi has a lot of strengths in writing, ones I've loved in all her works so far. She is magnificient at writing emotion, at fully showing what's going on in a character's head and the depth of what they've gone through or are going through. Her description, no matter the style she writes in, is always fantastic and heartfelt, and is great at imparting scenes, imagery, and emotion on to the reader. Her characters are also amazing, they feel real and heartfelt, full of motivations and emotions and histories. It made me fall in love with the original series as well as her middle grade Furthermore series. The latter also showcased her talent for imagination and the creation of wacky worlds.
It seems, after reading Defy Me, that I may have discovered one of her weaknesses. Plot. I've never really had issues with it before, but that's mainly due to the fact that it's not always the focus of her novels. It's either emotion, romance, or a magical world that is at the front and center of the novel, so when Restore Me and then Defy Me brings the plot to the forefront, you start to see the cracks in Mafi's writing and planning. I don't think I can even get into all the holes that seem to occur in the second trilogy of books being added to the Shatter Me world. It would take too long and I just don't have the energy for it. Mafi just tries to add way too much in both this book and already in Restore Me, and it just feels false. It seems to destroy or replace everything said in the first three books, blamed on things like memory manipulation, lies, and withheld information on every side. It just makes it feel like everything I read before didn't matter, and I just don't like that.
Additionally, by bringing the plot to the forefront, the series loses what I loved about the first three books. Yes, there's still beautiful writing and scenes of utter emotion, but that's just not what the book is about. There're more descriptions of just events and scenes, less of the emotions surrounding it. There's also just less of the character interaction that I loved, as the story seems to keep adding in more and more characters and adding distance between the friendships and relationships I loved, whether it be literal distance or purely mental/emotional.
I also feel like this book was just too depressing. Yes, this series has never been light, but it feels like this book has no hope until the very last few pages (which were just pure fanservice and utter bullshit, just saying). It just made me way too sad? And not in a way I enjoy at all. It was just a lot of missing and losing and torture and pain with no light at the end of the tunnel. No thanks.
I'll be finishing the series of course, I've come this far. But if I ever reread the series again, I think I'll be stopping at Ignite Me.
First off, I would like to thank the publisher and author for providing me this ARC to review. Please note that the version I read was an advanced copy, and certain events/language may be changed in the published edition.
Stars (Out of 10): 5.5/10 Stars
Favorite Character: Eliana
Spoiler Free: I was super excited when I received this ARC back in the November Fairyloot box, and then proceeded to hide it on my shelf for a few months! I finally picked it up now, the month of release, and I’m actually happy I waited (waiting for the next book is going to suck.)
Overall, this was a really nice read, though there were still some issues I had with it. There was no portion of the story (in terms of world, plot, characters, etc.) that I unconditionally loved, but in the end, I still did enjoy the story!
Firstly, we have the expansive world that Legrand creates. Not only are there multiple kingdoms and continents, but also a semi-large magic system that couples with the long-standing fight to keep the angels at bay. While this large world leaves a lot to be explored, and a lot of places to pull surprising twists from, it seems almost too big. There are political issues between the kingdoms, there’s a prophecy, there are patron saints of magic and inner turmoil within the main kingdom, and that’s only in Rielle’s story. We then also have Eliana’s story to understand, which takes place a thousand years later, where magic does not exist and almost all of the kingdoms have been conquered by an “Empire.” This leads to a lot to remember, while also not allowing Legrand to delve deeply into any of the areas. This leads to both an abundance of information and a lack of it. For example, I feel I don’t fully understand how magic works and how it’s called upon. There are moments it is tied to emotion and moments it follow prayers, and I wish Legrand builds upon this later.
We then have the plot, which makes up for the lack of simplicity in the world. It’s fairly straight forward, with a few twists within Eliana’s storyline. By telling both the tale of Rielle and of Eliana, we get both a pretty standard tale of royals in a kingdom (Rielle’s story) as well as a rebel story (Eliana’s story.) This blend, this contrast, kept both sides quite interesting, and I found myself quickly enraptured by each chapter. The only issue here was that you switched back and forth with each chapter, and with such a stark contrast between the two stories, it made some portions hard to follow. Just when I was sucked into the Eliana’s tale, I had to switch back to Rielle’s, and vice versa.
Additionally, our prologue is truly the ending of Rielle’s tale, which means that most of the “twists” are already known to us. This does put the tale in an interesting perspective though, as we look for foreshadowing the crevices of each sentence. It also creates of sense anticipation, as you are constantly waiting for the moments that build up to what we saw come to fruition. However, Rielle’s tale does continue into the rest of the books, so we do not truly get to connect her beginning with her end yet, but I am excited to continue reading for that.
Lastly, the twists contained within Eliana’s tale are all quite predictable due to how much the prologue unfortunately gives away. I’m even quite sure of one of my theories for the later books, as everything else was quite predictable so far.
When thinking more on the characters and relationships, I personally feel this is where the book fell the most flat. Out of the entire cast, I probably find two characters interesting. Thank goodness one was one of the protagonists, Eliana, and the other also played quite a large role, Corien. Compared to the other characters, these feel the most layered. We have Eliana, whose main goal is survival and protecting her family from the expanding Empire, even if it means working for it. Her wavering moral code and steadfastness to this goal is what makes her interesting. She doesn’t flip easily from her set path, and often looks at the world selfishly, trying to see what she can get out of it. While this does not make her the most likable character in the world, it does make her interesting. Corien is a different matter. I can’t say much without spoilers, but he follows a trope I find quite interesting, and changes within the story. Yet he still isn’t a simple mystery to solve either, and I still am unsure of his motivations at the end of this book.
However, the other characters, and relationships between them specifically, are where the problem lies. Most of the cast of both stories felt rather flat, they carried one or two main characteristics and that was it. Additionally, I didn’t see them really grow. While I did like some of them more than others, namely the princess in Eliana’s story and Ludivine. And while I had to love Eliana’s little brother, the rest of the characters often felt like shadows, clinging on to a small part of personality. The romance was, unfortunately, even worse. Both MC’s are involved in a relationship or two, yet none feel real, and all moved too quickly/felt fake. I wasn’t invested in any of them by the end (even though I did start invested in Rielle’s romance.)
All in all, this kind of brings me to a conclusion. I didn’t love this book, but I did like it, and enjoy the time I spent reading it. It might not be a book I preorder, but it is definitely a series I will continue reading when I can!
Stars (Out of 10): 5.5/10 Stars
Favorite Character: Eliana
Spoiler Free: I was super excited when I received this ARC back in the November Fairyloot box, and then proceeded to hide it on my shelf for a few months! I finally picked it up now, the month of release, and I’m actually happy I waited (waiting for the next book is going to suck.)
Overall, this was a really nice read, though there were still some issues I had with it. There was no portion of the story (in terms of world, plot, characters, etc.) that I unconditionally loved, but in the end, I still did enjoy the story!
Firstly, we have the expansive world that Legrand creates. Not only are there multiple kingdoms and continents, but also a semi-large magic system that couples with the long-standing fight to keep the angels at bay. While this large world leaves a lot to be explored, and a lot of places to pull surprising twists from, it seems almost too big. There are political issues between the kingdoms, there’s a prophecy, there are patron saints of magic and inner turmoil within the main kingdom, and that’s only in Rielle’s story. We then also have Eliana’s story to understand, which takes place a thousand years later, where magic does not exist and almost all of the kingdoms have been conquered by an “Empire.” This leads to a lot to remember, while also not allowing Legrand to delve deeply into any of the areas. This leads to both an abundance of information and a lack of it. For example, I feel I don’t fully understand how magic works and how it’s called upon. There are moments it is tied to emotion and moments it follow prayers, and I wish Legrand builds upon this later.
We then have the plot, which makes up for the lack of simplicity in the world. It’s fairly straight forward, with a few twists within Eliana’s storyline. By telling both the tale of Rielle and of Eliana, we get both a pretty standard tale of royals in a kingdom (Rielle’s story) as well as a rebel story (Eliana’s story.) This blend, this contrast, kept both sides quite interesting, and I found myself quickly enraptured by each chapter. The only issue here was that you switched back and forth with each chapter, and with such a stark contrast between the two stories, it made some portions hard to follow. Just when I was sucked into the Eliana’s tale, I had to switch back to Rielle’s, and vice versa.
Additionally, our prologue is truly the ending of Rielle’s tale, which means that most of the “twists” are already known to us. This does put the tale in an interesting perspective though, as we look for foreshadowing the crevices of each sentence. It also creates of sense anticipation, as you are constantly waiting for the moments that build up to what we saw come to fruition. However, Rielle’s tale does continue into the rest of the books, so we do not truly get to connect her beginning with her end yet, but I am excited to continue reading for that.
Lastly, the twists contained within Eliana’s tale are all quite predictable due to how much the prologue unfortunately gives away. I’m even quite sure of one of my theories for the later books, as everything else was quite predictable so far.
When thinking more on the characters and relationships, I personally feel this is where the book fell the most flat. Out of the entire cast, I probably find two characters interesting. Thank goodness one was one of the protagonists, Eliana, and the other also played quite a large role, Corien. Compared to the other characters, these feel the most layered. We have Eliana, whose main goal is survival and protecting her family from the expanding Empire, even if it means working for it. Her wavering moral code and steadfastness to this goal is what makes her interesting. She doesn’t flip easily from her set path, and often looks at the world selfishly, trying to see what she can get out of it. While this does not make her the most likable character in the world, it does make her interesting. Corien is a different matter. I can’t say much without spoilers, but he follows a trope I find quite interesting, and changes within the story. Yet he still isn’t a simple mystery to solve either, and I still am unsure of his motivations at the end of this book.
However, the other characters, and relationships between them specifically, are where the problem lies. Most of the cast of both stories felt rather flat, they carried one or two main characteristics and that was it. Additionally, I didn’t see them really grow. While I did like some of them more than others, namely the princess in Eliana’s story and Ludivine. And while I had to love Eliana’s little brother, the rest of the characters often felt like shadows, clinging on to a small part of personality. The romance was, unfortunately, even worse. Both MC’s are involved in a relationship or two, yet none feel real, and all moved too quickly/felt fake. I wasn’t invested in any of them by the end (even though I did start invested in Rielle’s romance.)
All in all, this kind of brings me to a conclusion. I didn’t love this book, but I did like it, and enjoy the time I spent reading it. It might not be a book I preorder, but it is definitely a series I will continue reading when I can!
3.5 Stars (one of those books where I really wish there were half stars)
I feel like there's so much to think about and consider with this book, and it managed to cover a large swath of topics in it's 300ish pages. This depth and intensity is mainly why I rated it as I did, as there's a lot I didn't necessarily like about focus and writing style.
It's a book that seems like it's meant to push you away at first, as of the writing styles, Leah's POV was definitely the most difficult to understand and get through. However, I did end up liking hers and Natalie's the most, especially how well the two bounced off of each other and paired up with each other.
I feel like this is a book I might think about for a while, and I'm definitely excited to discuss this more in depth in my uni course.
I feel like there's so much to think about and consider with this book, and it managed to cover a large swath of topics in it's 300ish pages. This depth and intensity is mainly why I rated it as I did, as there's a lot I didn't necessarily like about focus and writing style.
It's a book that seems like it's meant to push you away at first, as of the writing styles, Leah's POV was definitely the most difficult to understand and get through. However, I did end up liking hers and Natalie's the most, especially how well the two bounced off of each other and paired up with each other.
I feel like this is a book I might think about for a while, and I'm definitely excited to discuss this more in depth in my uni course.
Was about to rate this 4 stars but then they messed with the romance the way they did...
I'm sick of this trope let's get rid of it.
Spoiler
I hate when the female MC denies a princely/royal/famous love interest right at the end because they feel like they're not worthy or good enough,,,
First off I'd like to thank Netgalley as well as the publishers for giving me an advanced copy of this comic to read and review! All thoughts and opinions are still my own.
After seeing the not so positive reactions on Goodreads to this, I wasn't going in with all that high expectations. And even with that, I was still let down.
Let me start off by complimenting the art. For the most part, it was quite gorgeous, and I loved the colors used. Even here though, there were moments when faces looked weird, and I feel like the artist could have done a lot more with some of the clothes. Generally though, I did quite like the style.
The story was what really let me down. It felt very weak and shallow, and while Mera is supposed to be a warrior first and wife/lover second, she still seems to quickly be defined by love and romance later on, which was unfortunate. However, the book still ended with
It was also insane insta-love, and I get that this comic is coming from source material that already existed, and it wasn't an authorial choice, I feel like more depth and intensity could have been given to the characters before this great love. Instead, the instant love was only amplified in speed by the format and length of the comic it appears in, and overall I just wasn't into it at all.
I'll be giving the rest of the DC Ink line a chance for sure, as I love the characters it seems to be focusing on, but I'm not impressed so far.
After seeing the not so positive reactions on Goodreads to this, I wasn't going in with all that high expectations. And even with that, I was still let down.
Let me start off by complimenting the art. For the most part, it was quite gorgeous, and I loved the colors used. Even here though, there were moments when faces looked weird, and I feel like the artist could have done a lot more with some of the clothes. Generally though, I did quite like the style.
The story was what really let me down. It felt very weak and shallow, and while Mera is supposed to be a warrior first and wife/lover second, she still seems to quickly be defined by love and romance later on, which was unfortunate. However, the book still ended with
Spoiler
the pair separating, but not after a long ballad of not wanting to ever leave each other's side... oof.It was also insane insta-love, and I get that this comic is coming from source material that already existed, and it wasn't an authorial choice, I feel like more depth and intensity could have been given to the characters before this great love. Instead, the instant love was only amplified in speed by the format and length of the comic it appears in, and overall I just wasn't into it at all.
I'll be giving the rest of the DC Ink line a chance for sure, as I love the characters it seems to be focusing on, but I'm not impressed so far.
I don't even remember how I actually felt about this book, but after some recent revelations about the extreme racism in this book (which I hate to admit I didn't see at first, as I did read this when I was a lot younger), I've decided to rate this book one star.
This thread shows some very problematic scenes and lines that perpetuate Asian/Korean stereotypes as well as romanticize racism: https://twitter.com/naomigiddings/status/1128704083106377729?s=19
After seeing all this and realizing how racist this book is, I don't feel comfortable rating this book any higher than one star.
This thread shows some very problematic scenes and lines that perpetuate Asian/Korean stereotypes as well as romanticize racism: https://twitter.com/naomigiddings/status/1128704083106377729?s=19
After seeing all this and realizing how racist this book is, I don't feel comfortable rating this book any higher than one star.
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Edit: I just lowered this even further to 1 star because I have been trying to figure out the lore for the past half hour with two others who have read the book and we are getting absolutely nowhere because of what a mess it all is.
1 Star
Full review to come
There were a few scenes I genuinely enjoyed, and I could see myself loving this book if it didn't have some really shitty plot choices, character traits, and world building issues that overshadowed and ruined literally everything.
1 Star
Full review to come
There were a few scenes I genuinely enjoyed, and I could see myself loving this book if it didn't have some really shitty plot choices, character traits, and world building issues that overshadowed and ruined literally everything.