Holy shit. This book hurt me. I feel betrayed and I officially have beef with Rebecca Kuang

A few of my questions form The Poppy War were answered but this book also left me with a few more.

Kitay is still my favorite. I still don't love Rin but I still root for her most of the time. 

I fucking knew Nezha was alive but the way he betrayed her was hard to get past. 

 

I have so many questions about the Empress and the Trifecta so I am starting The Burning God immediately.

This rating is not at the fault of the book at all. This was my first time reading high fantasy so I didn't really know what to expect and I think some of the elements were a little confusing.

The beginning was slow for me but of course, we needed world building. The 2nd person narration for Essun's POV didn't deter me at all, but that could just be because I knew it was coming.

I didn't always feel connected to the characters but I adored Damaya and especially felt for her when 

Schaffa broke her hand but was like "I did it because I love you" UGH

And for some reason I just really love Hoa...idk

So the POVs. 

I figured that they would all converge at some point. I picked up on the time jumps but didn't realize that it was all the same person at different parts of her life until Damaya chose the name Syenite..

One thing that I really hate - and yes I know why it's needed - was the forced motherhood aspect and the way they go about it

Loved that this included trans rep, polyamory, and a discussion of systematic oppression and manipulation

Some of my unanswered questions are - 

why did Alabaster start the season? ( I mean I have an idea but still) - where the heck are Jija and Nassun? - and why has Hoa been following her for 10 years?

 

I had a hard time getting into this book at first because I didn't like how mean Jacob was when they first met. The hate to love is kind of one sided and he was excessively rude sometimes so I didn't love that. Felt more like he was just determined to dislike her

I also understood that Eve's parents were disappointed in her but I thought they were unnecessarily harsh also.

 

Jacob's parents are such shit, so glad he has Lucy

I hate that Eve just assumes that she can have a job that she enjoys and that she's doomed to fail. I also hate that Jacob thinks that because his past relationships didn't work that this one won't either.

  I find that trope very annoying in general, it's one of my pet peeves. 

Loved the ending, loved seeing the whole family together and of course, Gigi in all her glory.

Well this was slightly better than KoS

As far as the plot in this one I felt like it made a bit more sense. The ending was slightly satisfying

 

Was I supposed to happy about seeing Alina again, cause I wasn't. But the Crows, that was awesome.
I like Zoya and Nikolai together. I like Hanne and Nina too but I still think it's weird that she was supposedly so heartbroken over Matthias  but then - ooh you're pretty, I like you.

I still feel like the whole 

Darkling thing was unnecessary. And I feel like she tried to make this a sort of redemption arc for him and I just didn't care and didn't think he deserved it

And how dare she 

kill David on his and Genya's wedding day

 

This book earned it's rating not necessarily because I enjoyed the story - it was okay - but because of the experience created by the audiobook. This is the first time that I've listen to a book that didn't just sound like people recording their voices separately, it was more like listening to a movie and was more immersive than I expected

First time reading a graphic novel and I do enjoy the format. I learned a lot from this because of course - as an American - we are taught nothing about what goes on everywhere else in the world

I didn't hate this but I expected more. I can't believe I'm saying this but Zoya was my favorite part.
There was not nearly enough of Nikolai and I wasn't really feeling Nina's story line. 

I hated that she was hearing "Matthias" in her head in the beginning. I didn't really like him so I didn't care.

I like the budding romance between Nikolai and Zoya that they are both fighting even though I don't know why considering that he was so hellbent on a grisha queen with Alina. Them getting kidnapped by Saints was weird as fuck and didn't make a ton of sense.
I don't know how to feel about Zoya mastering all of the elements. I mean cool I guess? Also, Juris broke her amplifier and said it was useless but then was like, kill me and make me into an amplifier..?

Nina's feeling towards Hanne seem a little instalovey, Especially since she supposedly just lost the love of her life. And naturally she is grisha but also the daughter of Yarl Brum. I wonder if Trassel will come back inRule of Wolves? Also, how is she planning to address all of the pregnant grisha women?

So now they're on the brink of war and for reasons that I can't imagine she really thought that of all storylines to possibly go with that she should bring back the fucking Darkling??

 

This was so disappointing

I felt a lot of things while reading this but could not give it a full 5 because I kinda hate Rin. Even then I'm still rooting for her, I want her to complete the mission that she has set out to do and I want her to succeed.
Kitay is my favorite. I don't know why but he is.
 

Nezha was a good villain with a redemption arc
I thought Altan would last longer in the series so that was a bit of a shock
I feel like Jiang has to come back

I want a showdown with the Empress in book 2. I need to see it

 

Do not read if body horror, torture or sexual assault are triggers for you

What I enjoyed about this book is how real this situation could have been. Ahmed took a real world situation and played it out for us the way that it likely would have taken place.

The reason that I can't give this a higher rating though is because Layla annoyed the crap of me. 

Literally random people come into her home late at night and tell them that they're being "relocated" and her first thought isn't where they're going or the safety of herself or her parents, it's her boyfriend...

And then there's her whole flirtationship with Jake despite the fact that she's supposedly so in love with David. She gets slapped around by the Director and after she doesn't wonder where her parents are or if they're safe....she wonders why Jake hasn't come to see her. I guess his death prevented a weird ass triangle but they could have just been friends instead of it being hella awkward every time they saw each other

 

Otherwise it brings up a really great conversation about the state of America.

2.75

I had to remind myself that this is only 40something pages so instalove is kind of necessary. Unfortunately though I hate instalove so I still struggled with the fact that Nate sees Brianna for the first time and 

immediately starts thinking about fucking her. Then when he sees Evan talking to her assumes she's in a relationship but still follows after her. I also just really hated Evan and the way he was super condescending and thought he was entitled to Brianna.

 

But I love the Criminal Minds references! And while the novellas may not be for me, I'm interested in her full length novels.