This book felt like such a chaotic mess and it didn't work for me at all.

A large part of my dislike for this book stems from not liking the main character at all (not in the sense of 'wow she's so dislikable on purpose' but more just, not caring for her being the main point of view at all). I understand her intense survival tendencies and how that developed due to the trauma she faced, but it felt so overdone at points, and she also quickly lost all her planning skills? Like I did enjoy seeing how intensely she paid attention to how she walked, people around her, and her escape plans, but it all got thrown out of the window so quickly, and she sort of flipped as a character after that. She started just running around and accusing everyone, and I feel like at some point she stopped thinking and only started doing. In a sense, it was interesting to see how her carefully planned life and personality completely fell apart when things actually go wrong, but it was such a dramatic shift that it almost felt like two different characters.

I also felt like the plot itself was quite all over the place, and fell into the mystery/thriller trap of 'the only person the MC never even considered is actually the evil one.' Like I get that's a shocking twist, but at the same time that starts to become predictable in its own sense.

I do have to commend the book for it's absolutely disgusting descriptions of some of these massacres that stil vividly remain in my head. Didn't enjoy it at all, but it was well-written there at least.

I think I would have enjoyed this more had the side characters played a larger role, because I did like the larger idea of a final girl support group, but alas they do spend almost the entire book split it and it's mainly just Lynne, the one character in the group I didn't really care for at all.

I don't think I'll be trying another one of this author's books if they're anything like this, and honestly, I have a large enough tbr anyways,

These books are so tough for me to review just because I enjoy them so much, but it’s hard to explain why. They’re just so fun and chaotic, and work perfectly for me. I just love the characters, their relationships with each other, and the plot, and all 3 come together so well for me.

I already knew this from book 1, but I really love Nick and Seth together and how healthy their relationship seems. They trust each other and love each other and just make each other so happy (while also have their occasional ‘fights’ or sore spots at least). I also love that this book didn’t try to shove in some annoying drama to keep their relationship ‘interesting’, and that jealousy didn’t become some huge thing (which it easily could have, and then reinforced that stupid bi stereotype. But it was all avoided! It was so refreshing!) This book does have a little less of their relationship just because of how the plot works and how things developed, but in the end it was still a good balance of plot and relationship!

The side characters also continued to play a large role in the overall story, and I love how Nick’s other friends got to spend time with him in this book too. We get to see how Nick relies on each of his friends differently, and how the dynamic between pairs of the group differs from the overall group dynamic. It’s a friend group that works altogether but also on a one-to-one basis, which is hard to find (both in books and in real life). They also all felt quite fleshed out and had their own side plots going on that would sometimes contribute to what Nick was dealing with himself, and I liked how interconnected it all was.

I also still just love Nick as a narrator, and getting to see a story with a narrator that has a brain as chaotic as mine. I can’t get distracted while reading because Nick is getting distracted for me instead! He goes on the tangents that I otherwise would!

Lastly, I also enjoyed the plot of this one, even if I had guessed the major twists of this book from the clues in book 1. It was enjoyable nonetheless, and I can’t wait to see where this all leads in book 3! I also really like that the superpowers keep coming in more and more, and can’t wait to see more of that in the next book, too. Overall, just very excited for the next book!

Ahhh I enjoyed this so much, even though it packed quite a lot into such a short book. I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into this either, but I think it was almost better that way.

My absolute favorite thing about this book has to be the writing. It's written in such a way that it feels like letters addressed to the vampire lord/husband of the main character, Constanta. With it's constant use of 'you' to directly address this husband, the whole story feels extremely intimate, while also putting the reader in the uncomfortable position of this husband (due to his actions and accusations Constanta levels at him throughout the letters). I also love the position from which Constanta is writing these letters (after the events of the letters have taken place), as it creates some fantastic moments for foreshadowing. From the beginning, this foreshadowing plays a large role in the story, and it draws the reader in almost immediately. It also serves as a good tool to keep the reader invested, even in scenes that otherwise might seem domestic or simple.

I also loved a lot of the narrative choices beyond letter style and positioning of the narrator, specifically the choice to leave the husband/vampire lord unnamed. The passage that describes Constanta's reasoning behind this has to be one of my favorite passages, and possibly one of the most powerful ones in the book.

I also just really loved the characters in this one, and how they were developed and grew attachments to each other. While it was impossible to actually love the relationship between the husband and Constanta, because of its toxicity, I did enjoy the complexity of it and how the author navigated the concept of utter love and devotion even in times of pain and suffering, especially when that suffering is brought on thanks to the person they love. On top of this, there were also wonderfully complex relationships between Constanta and her husbands' other brides, Magdalena and Alexi. Every relationship is so different and varied, and it really solidifed this story as a 5 star read for me.

I was absolutely enthralled by this book, even if it was tough to read at points due to the content. Overall, would highly recommend this!

I haven't read a lot of short story collections like this beyond just anthologies, and even those I hadn't read a lot of. I've definitely read very few sci-fi short stories, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect going into this. I was drawn in by the gender diversity this issue focused on (only stories written by women, non-binary, and trans authors!), and was so happy that it fully delivered on this front as well.

The biggest stand out aspect of this collection has to be the diversity. The stories are rich with many levels of diversity, and I especially enjoyed seeing so many gender queer characters. Sci-fi, and fantasy, are genres that have long been dominated by cis white men, and while we see more and more books in both genres written by marginalized authors, it never quite seems to be enough. This collection was a breath of fresh air in that regard, and I definitely want to try more issues of Planet Scumm to see if they're just as diverse as this issue was.

I also thought the individual stories were extremely impressive as well. I sometimes struggle with short stories, often feeling like it's just quite enough space to fully develop an interesting world, but I didn't have that issue here at all. Every story felt like a small piece of a larger world, while still giving enough of a picture of that world as to not leave readers lost and confused. They all drew me in quickly and left me wanting more, in a good way this time!

Overall, I highly recommend Snake Eyes, and can't wait to read more issues!

This book was a lot, and not in a good way. It's kind of disappointing because I felt like it had a really strong start, but it just didn't follow through for me (or followed through way too much).

I love betrayals in thrillers, especially when they keep you so unsure of the side characters around the MC (and sometimes even unsure of the MC themselves), that you also have no idea who to trust, and what's going to happen next. This book definitely achieved that, but unfortunately, it just kept on going beyond that. It overshot the mark of 'uncomfortably aware of how untrustworthy everyone is' straight on to 'I can't even keep track of it all anymore, so what does it even matter.' It was here the book fully lost me, as the confusion could've made me enjoy the book even beyond the other issues I had with it.

I think I overall liked having LGBTQ+ history and issues being the core of this book, even beyond just having a few queer characters, but it felt a little heavy-handed at points too. I like that our main character struggled with the morality of the situation he found himself in, and that the book tried to tackle the 'is it really a crime if the victim deserved it?' without leaning too far into victim-blaming, but sadly this dilemma was solved by just making the villain commit crimes against innocents too, thereby nullifying any potential for him to be empathized with.

I also felt mildly uncomfortable the entire time due to the many minor/adult relationships/romantic or sexual encounters in this book, and while the book sort of tries to wrap this up properly in the end, the middle either ignored the ramifications of it too much or weirdly worded it. It wasn't even until the end that the MC really admitted there was something wrong with these relationships, and his role as a victim in them, which can be fair enough on it's own. However, it's coupled with the main character's friends constantly talking about how he's reckless and constantly getting himself into these difficult situations (often being relationships/encounters with older men) that sometimes came off as victim-blamey, and this was never really reconciled. I definitely feel like this aspect was done better than in some other books I've read, but I still didn't like it.

Overall, this book was a wild ride, and I feel like it could've been a pretty good read if it just toned it down a little bit more. I'm generally able to suspend disbelief in these sorts of stories, but there's always that tipping point where I go 'oh come on, that's just too much now', and unfortunately this book shot straight past that.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this, as I'm not super knowledgeable in Arthurian legend in general, and I also haven't seen a lot of nonbinary characters in fantasy and wasn't sure how well it would be done. But I seriously loved this, and I loved Silence so much, and I even had dreams about this book afterwards.

Overall, I felt like Silence and their gender was done extremely well, and I loved seeing the evolution of Silence's perception of themselves, from their gender to their dreams. I loved the way this book framed this journey through a physical journey Silence undertook, and I loved the support Silence got at times, even though most people around them didn't fully understand. I also really loved a lot of the passages dedicated to Silence's gender crisis, and the final scene where Silence accepted their whole self (and the book made the switch to they/them pronouns instead of he/him) was seriously my favorite of the entire book. So much of it just rang true for me.

I also really liked the set-up of the plot itself, and while the story spanned years and was 'slow' at points, it was almost comforting. We were watching Silence grow up, figure out what they wanted, and the struggles they went through to get there. I read the beginning 40% of this book over the span of a few weeks, and it was honestly just such a nice story to come back to every once in a while.

My only issue with the book is the false ending that's forced on Silence. This entire story is framed as if it's being recounted by Silence to a bard in a tavern some time after the ending of the story, with the bard curious about Silence as a person and their history. While the actual ending of the story hurt but fit, the bard didn't feel like it was a good ending to the story and changed it up for retelling. The bard's ending rang hollow with Silence's journey, and it just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm glad we get this duplicity of endings just so I can be happy that's not the actually ending, but I can't help and think that this bard really sat there through Silence's whole story and decided he knew of a better ending for them, that went against everything Silence had worked towards.

Overall, I really liked this book, and just try not to think of that final ending too much. Silence has become somewhat of a comfort character now at this point, and I can definitely see myself rereading parts of this in the future!

I had insanely high expectations going into this book, and somehow it still surpassed all of them. I've been hyped for this book for months, and it definitely deserves it! I'm already anxiously waiting for the next one.

Normally there's an aspect of a book that sticks out most for me, whether it be the characters, plot, or world building, but that wasn't the case here. I don't think I can fairly claim any as my favorite, when I'm absolutely obsessed with every aspect of this story in the way that I am. There is so much strength in each aspect of this story, that it never had to rely on a reader's love of the characters or interest in the plot to make up shortcomings. It just excelled on every level.

Zetian was the star of this book, and she absolutely knew it. I loved seeing her power, her ruthlessness, without letting this ever blind her. She learned to hone her rage and to use it to get what she wanted. I also absolutely loved how present this rage was throughout the entire book, and it made the story extra powerful for me. I also loved how her relationships with those around her developed, especially Shimin and Yizhi. She was able to soften her rage for them, while still holding them to the same standards as everyone else. She also wasn't softened by her relationships with them, which can sometimes happen with female main characters.

I also really liked the different perspectives that Shimin and Yizhi brought to the story, and how this seemed to round off the overall picture of the world we got. I also just loved how the relationship between the three of them developed, how much admiration they all had for each other.

The fight scenes were also thrilling to read, and I could see these massive mechs battling giant monsters in my head. I love how complex this battle system got, as well, without ever getting too in depth that it was distracting or confusing. I honestly just loved seeing the sheer power these characters had in these mechs, and the absolute destruction they could wreak with them. It was especially cathartic after some of the tougher scenes we had to read, and Zetian's exhilaration and release while battling only furthered that.

The plot and world also kept me captivated the entire time, and I loved getting more and more pieces to the puzzle that was Huaxia. There were just so many layers upon layers of lore here, and it was woven into the entire plot really well. I can't wait to see what more we find out in book 2, and I'll have to leave off reviewing more here lest I spoil something.

Overall, I was, and am still, blown away by this book, and can't wait for the next one!

This was one of my most anticipated releases this year, and it lived up. I overall haven’t read a lot of horror nor dark academia, though I have extremely enjoyed what I’ve read of either genre. This book is just another to add to the list of reasons I should explore those genres further!

I was at first a bit put off by how young the main characters were (high schoolers, junior and senior), as for some reason I expected college aged characters, but it ended up working really well still. The setting itself still felt college-esque due to it being a fancy high school where students usually stay on campus, and since it was summer, the main characters weren’t dragged down by high school class schedules. The school itself was also so far removed from normal high schools, that it didn’t even feel like a high school story at all. The library setting is what really set the book apart, however, and I loved how the uniqueness of this set up (closed stacks only accessed by people working at the library) played such a large role in the horror that was to come. It was dark, quiet, and terrifying at moments, and I loved it.

The monster/demon/devil didn’t fully click with me at first, as while I found the scenes and dreams he was in terrifying, the missing background and reasoning for his malevolent acts made it hard for me to get fully invested. However, once this story started unraveling more and more, I was hooked. What really sold this story to me overall, and made me rate it 5 stars in the end, had to be the ending itself. I really love how this story was wrapped up, both in terms of this plot/monster and for the characters themselves.

The characters were a consistent favorite of mine, however. I loved them quickly, and throughout the whole book this love remained. Even when one of them acted weirdly, it was usually well enough explained in their respective POV that it didn’t feel off, even if it was frustrating for plot/romance progression. I also liked the slow unfurling of the romance, and how this seemed to go hand in hand with the unraveling of their selves and thoughts regarding the devil. I also really liked how the side characters were used in the book overall, and for a fairly short, stand-alone book, I felt like we got quite detailed relationships between the MCs and their respective side characters. Additionally, most of these side characters were flawed, especially when it came to family dynamics, and I like how the relationships with these flawed characters were written, and how they weren’t just set as good or bad. It made the story overall feel a lot more complex.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, from the ink imagery it employed to incite terror in the reader to the strength of both of our main characters. I loved watching this story shape them, and I can’t wait to see what this author does next!

I've been excited about this book for a while, especially due to those gorgeous covers, and since the final book just released, I'm finally giving it a go!

My expectations for this book have shrunk a little over time, due to not seeing a lot of others reading it/not a super high goodreads rating, but it ended up really surprising me! I've been reading less and less YA fantasy lately because a lot of it recently has started to feel repetitive, but something about this one just hit different. There were definitely some aspects I'd seen before, but I overall liked how it came together and was done in this one.

The world in this book feels big, but time jumps often skipped over the long days of travelling that can often bog down a story like this with such a wide world, and characters spread all around the world. I'm honestly so grateful we didn't have to see all that, because I sometimes just get so tired of the journeying, unless that's done exceptionally well. The time skips were also done in a way that you still noticed that time had passed, so it didn't feel like the characters were zipping all over the place. I also overall liked having such a large world for the story to take place in, and I'm curious how this will develop more in later books, since this first one is largely spent in one main area.

The cast is also quite large, and I feel like I never could've listened to this on audio whilst also remembering who everyone is. It does quickly become clear who's important to who, and very early on these side characters already begin to overlap in POVs, ensuring you haven't forgotten them by the time you get back to the POV that introduced them. This overlap also corresponds for the main characters as well, since a lot of this first book is them shuffling in different match ups of 2-3 characters working together at once. It's not yet a full ensemble cast, as you see how much they're all connected, but they themselves don't see that yet. I'm also really excited to see how that develops further too, and if we'll at some point have a group where they're all working together, or if it's more semi-individual plots that keep overlapping with each other. Unfortunately I did very much have preferences for which POVs I liked reading most, and was sorta bored with one frequently, but it didn't end up hurting the book too much for me, since the chapters get really short really quickly. Hopefully they're more balanced, interest wise at least, in the next one!

The plot itself is also quite interesting, even if it still feels like it's still getting it's footing in this book. The twists themselves were quite well done, not being totally unguessable/coming out of nowhere, while also not being so obvious that you get frustrated that no one else sees it. I did guess quite a few things, but it almost felt like I was meant to, and by then there wasn't much time left for the reveals themselves to come anyway. It really built up this sense of foreboding, and I enjoyed that a lot!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, more and more as it went on. I can definitely see myself really enjoying this trilogy, so hopefully it keeps on doing what it's doing!

Nah no thanks. That throwaway biphobic line did NOT need to be there and the nonbinary side, side character felt reduced to a flag.

Also this was just 250 pages of jealousy and complaining the person you 'moved on from' was maybe dating someone else (when you yourself had done the same thing) and blaming them for lack of communication when again, you yourself had done the same thing bye

Full Review:

This book was just not it. I listened to an audiobook, but I probably would've been too frustrated to finish it had I been reading it physically. I really do think we need more books about characters who are questioning their identity, even if they don't come out with a label at the end or even if they just find out they're straight or cis, because the act of questioning itself needs to be more normalized, but I just don't think this book was that good as a whole, regardless of the gap it fills.

Beyond the throwaway biphobic line that just pissed me off (there was literally no reason for it to be there, the story would've been the same without it, and now I just had to hear that bullshit again read out loud to me), this book was just quite boring, and when it wasn't boring, it was just annoying. The MC is just, so hypocritical the entire book, and everything that frustrates her about the girl she's into, is exactly the same things she's doing. She just had no self-awareness, and it just grew more and more frustrating as the book went on.

I also just really disliked the MC's friends too, and spent the entire book hoping she'd find better friends. But since none of the side characters are really fleshed out, it felt like this was just pushed to the side and not really resolved. That was overall the case with most side characters, to the extent where it just felt like it was the MC, and either Jasmine or Chase depending on where in the story/timeline we were.

Overall, this book just wasn't it for me, though maybe it'll work out well for others! I can see this possibly being nice for those who are going through the MC's struggles, but hopefully we get some more books to fill this gap as well.